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The Morning Grind / Political Hot Topics |
Kerry's cash
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Kerry aides said further personal financial moves might be forthcoming.
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Connecticut Gov. John Rowland and his wife Patricia call on God and Santa Claus in response to charges of illegal spending.
President Bush praises the staff at a Washington hospital after visiting injured troops and having MRIs of his knees.
An Osama bin Laden image is used to attack candidate Howard Dean's security credentials.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Check out the links below to hot political stories around the country this morning.
• DEEP POCKETS: John Kerry recently loaned $850,000 to his struggling presidential campaign to pay staff salaries and other expenses, and is now scouting banks for a multimillion-dollar mortgage package on his Beacon Hill home. Kerry's fund-raisers say he is sending a signal to donors that they should not walk away from his candidacy, because he is far from giving up on it, in spite of a slew of recent opinion polls showing him trailing Howard Dean.
The Boston Globe: Kerry mortgage to help fund race
• DEAN STRIKES BACK: Dean bluntly answered his Democratic rivals' intensifying attacks on his foreign policy expertise Thursday, saying their "blather" is damaging their entire party's credibility on anti-terrorism issues. Dean not only repeated his controversial contention that the capture of Saddam Hussein "has not made America safer," but he said the nation is also "no safer today than the day the planes struck the World Trade Center."
The Manchester Union Leader: Dean fires back at Democratic rivals
• Many leading Democrats say they are uneasy about Dean's candidacy for president and are reluctant to cede him the nomination for fear that his combative style and antiwar stance will leave Democrats vulnerable in November. They acknowledge Dean has run a strategically savvy campaign that has made him the candidate to beat. But their worry has been heightened anew, they say, by Dean's statement this week that the capture of Saddam Hussein "did not make America safer" and by his suggestion that Saudi Arabia warned President Bush about Sept. 11 even though "I did not believe the theory I was putting out."
The New York Times: Some Democrats uneasy about Dean as nominee
• GO PATS: In a new TV ad, Wesley Clark takes sides in a New England-New York sports battle: Jets, schmets. He's a Patriots fan. In the spot, he tells New England viewers that "You have to be strong on defense," as the camera pulls back to reveal that he's wearing a Patriots sweatshirt. "You also need to be strong on offense. And having a heck of a quarterback doesn't hurt." He concludes, with a little smile, "We are all Patriots."
The Boston Globe: Clark's message: 'Go Pats'
• Clark, a former NATO commander, told the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague that Yugoslavia's former president, Slobodan Milosevic, said in 1995 that he had prior knowledge of the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, the worst act of slaughter of the Bosnian civil war, according to transcripts of Clark's testimony released Thursday. Clark also told the tribunal that he believed that Milosevic was the "guiding force" of the ethnic wars in the Balkans and that Bosnian Serb militias took direction from and reported to the former president.
The Washington Post: Clark calls Milosevic 'force' behind wars
• Clark said in a conference call Wednesday that President Bush has shown a lack of will in pursuing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
CNN: Clark: Bush lacks will to find bin Laden
• THE NEW JOE: Hours after Joe Lieberman sustained one of the most stunning jolts of his political career -- word that Al Gore would endorse Dean -- the Connecticut senator appears relaxed, determined, and his genial old self. Lieberman has been hurt, politically and personally, by Gore's failure to reach him before the news was leaked. Lieberman, known for his civility, speaks without a trace of anger. But in what many see as a sign of his political acuity, he's also capitalized on the sympathy inspired by Gore's handling of the affair -- though it's been clear since the two ran together that they disagree on many issues.
The Christian Science Monitor: Center, but not front: Lieberman's quandary
• NO FAITH IN BUSH: Kerry said Thursday the Bush administration is violating the principle of separation of church and state because it wants to give more federal money to religious organizations.
AP: Kerry vows separation of church and state
• POLL UPDATE: A new poll shows Dean still trouncing Kerry in New Hampshire, but has a bright spot for the senator next door. The American Research Group survey showed Kerry jumping from 13 percent to 20 percent. The poll shows Dean at 45 percent.
The Boston Globe: Kerry makes gains in new N.H. poll
• Buoyed by a surge in publicity -- including former Vice President Al Gore's endorsement -- Dean moved into a solid lead in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey of 277 likely Democratic Georgia voters, conducted Monday and Tuesday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Poll: Dean tops with Georgia Democrats
• DeLAY VS. FROST: Aides to the two main combatants in the Texas redistricting fight -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his prime target, Democratic Rep. Martin Frost -- sparred Thursday over whether Frost's chief of staff spent an inordinate amount of time in Texas last summer.
The Dallas Morning News: DeLay, Frost aides disagree about campaign duties
Compiled by Mark H. Rodeffer
