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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Forgotten Tuesday
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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It's voting day in three states, but most attention is on the two men who have now fully joined the race: Nader and Bush.
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Watch for live coverage of the results of Tuesday's caucuses in Hawaii and Idaho and the primary in Utah -- and reactions to President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage -- throughout the evening on CNN-USA.
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VIDEO
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CNN's John King on President Bush's new campaign offensive.
CNN's Kelly Wallace on John Kerry's reaction to the Bush address.
CNN's Kitty Pilgrim on John Edwards' emphasis on jobs and trade.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrats vote today in Idaho, Utah and Hawaii, where more than a few caucus quirks leave some wags predicting a respectable showing by Howard Dean. Combined, these small states have more delegates than Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Wisconsin. But as Dean now knows, this race is not just about delegates. It's about mo'. And as John Edwards has decided, you get no mo' in Idaho.
And on we go, to the stories people are actually talking about today: Specifically, the two candidates who this week fully joined the '04 campaign: Ralph Nader and George W. Bush.
While Nader got a full day of press attention yesterday, Bush's highly touted speech last night before the Republican Governors Association could be overshadowed today by Secretary of Education Rod Paige's comment likening the National Education Association to a "terrorist organization."
In a statement he released yesterday, Paige called his choice of words "inappropriate," but he said the NEA's lobbyists use "obstructionist scare tactics."
Bush defines 'choices'
Undaunted, Bush went to the RGA reception last night and while he allowed his campaign chairman to unleash the day's harshest GOP attacks against John Kerry, he sought to frame this fall's campaign as a series of "choices."
"It's a choice between keeping the tax relief that is moving this economy forward -- or putting the burden of higher taxes back on the American people. It's a choice between an America that leads the world with strength and confidence -- or an America that is uncertain in the face of danger," Bush said. "The American people will decide between two visions of government: a government that encourages ownership and opportunity and responsibility -- or a government that takes your money and makes your choices."
The president also sought to discredit the Democrats' so-far successful strategy of rallying their base with virulently anti-Bush rhetoric. He said Democrats "have not offered much in the way of strategies to win the war, or policies to expand our economy. So far, all we hear is a lot of old bitterness and partisan anger. Anger is not an agenda for the future of America."
Super Tuesday ads
Meanwhile, back in the Super Tuesday race, Kerry and Edwards both focused on what will be the clear battleground next Tuesday, launching new TV ads in Ohio, Georgia and New York (upstate, at least, where the air is cleaner and cheaper).
Edwards is running two 30-second ads, both of which have run previously in other states. One features his "two Americas" stump line; the other, titled "American Jobs," talks about how he opposed NAFTA in 1994, as a trial attorney.
In one previously seen Kerry ad, called "Del," one of the senator's shipmates during the Vietnam War calls Kerry a "good American" and says the decisions Kerry made during the war "saved our lives. He had unfailing instinct and unchallengeable leadership."
A new Kerry ad, featuring ex-Sen. Max Cleland and Rep. John Lewis, will soon air in Georgia. Another new ad on the economy will air in Ohio over the next few days.
Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter told CNN's Kelly Wallace that Kerry's ads will run through Super Tuesday and that this is the campaign's ad plan "right now" but that it could change. She said the campaign always planned to run ads in Ohio because it is an important state in the primary and general election and that it "made sense" to go up in Georgia.
Kerry currently has no plans to run ads right now in California. "Definitely too expensive," Cutter said.
