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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Abortion politics take center stage
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Abortion rights, and the perceived threat to their survival, will dominate the weekend in politics -- and in Washington -- starting Friday when Sen. John Kerry attends a downtown rally and continuing through Sunday when the March for Women's Lives will likely draw untold thousands to the Mall.
Notably, however, neither Kerry nor President Bush will attend the Sunday march. Kerry will be in Iowa (his first trip to the Hawkeye State since caucus voters there revived his ailing campaign in January), while Bush, the target of most of the march organizers' wrath, has no public events scheduled that day.
One of those organizers, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wins this week's prize for the best Internet political ad.
The cartoon, which features anti-abortion conservatives as "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" characters trying to change a mixed-race couple's sexual habits, is nearly as funny as the Republican National Committee's anti-Kerry spots. (The Rev. Jerry Falwell, for example, is billed as the "Piety Pusher"; Pat Buchanan is the crew's "Culture Coordinator." You get the idea).
"The whole 'right to choose' thing -- that is sooo pre-right-wing-takeover!" an effeminate-sounding Ralph Reed (aka the "Sexuality Savant") counsels the woman. "Your choices about pregnancy are best left in the hands of men. Like us."
The spot
also features Rush Limbaugh throwing away the couple's condoms and stealing prescription drugs.
Kerry supports a woman's right to an abortion and the promotion of family planning resources. Bush opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the procedure would save a woman's life. (Read more about the candidates' positions on the issues in CNN.com's Special Report.)
For his part, Bush spends Friday campaigning and fund-raising in Florida, jetting from Naples on the Gulf Coast in the morning to Coral Gables in the afternoon. The money raised will go toward the RNC's Victory 2004 program, which helps Republicans on all parts of the ballot.
Kerry will hold a campaign rally Sunday in Des Moines, attended by Iowa's three Toms -- Gov. Vilsack, Sen. Harkin and state Attorney General Miller. Forgive Kerry, of course, if he spends a little extra time thanking Miller, the only one of the three Iowa Democrats who backed him during his campaign's dark days. Miller's endorsement, which came in the same week that Harkin backed former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, offered one of the early signs that Kerry was still kicking.
Rotating messages
Next week, Camp Kerry's message will pivot once again. He'll move from this week's message on the environment, through this weekend's abortion-rights theme, to a three-day jobs tour in Midwest battleground states and West Virginia.
The plan is for Kerry to campaign in West Virginia and Pennsylvania on Monday, in Ohio on Tuesday and Wednesday, and in Michigan on Wednesday. The tour will include a visit to a West Virginia mine and a manufacturing summit featuring a roundtable discussion with Ohio mayors, business leaders and economists.
Speaking of the environment, Kerry stumbled Thursday through an interview on whether he owns an SUV. Apparently he doesn't. But his family does.
"I don't own an SUV,'' he said, before pausing over what car his wife, Teresa, drives at their home in Idaho. Kerry said he owns and drives a Dodge 600 and recently bought a Chrysler 300M. He said his wife owns a Chevrolet SUV. "The family has it," he said. "I don't have it.'
Thursday night at a Houston hotel, Kerry collected $2.1 million, which will be split between his campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Kerry said at the opening that this was the largest Texas money event for a Democratic presidential candidate in the party's history. The fund-raiser may have brought in loads of cash, but the ballroom was nowhere close to full.
Kerry delivered his standard speech. But it being Texas and all, he had a couple of lines about the state's former governor. "I learned the lieutenant governor in Texas has all the power," he said. "The governor doesn't really do anything at all ... even after he's elected president."
Also this weekend, North Carolina Democrats, who backed Sen. John Edwards in their recent caucus vote (albeit somewhat narrowly), will hold their Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. The party has chosen Edwards as its honored guest, perhaps as a way to urge Kerry to choose the senator from North Carolina as his running mate.
CNN's Sasha Johnson contributed to this report.
