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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
A deja vu day
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's a deja vu day. From Iowa to Iraq. From Washington to Waukesha.
John Edwards campaigns solo in Iowa -- for the first time as John Kerry' s running mate, but certainly not for the first time. (While Edwards looks for votes, wife Elizabeth is looking for pork chops. More on this below).
Next door in Illinois, Republicans again court a larger-than-life celeb to rescue them in a statewide election. (Mike Ditka's not a Schwarzenegger, a Clinton, a Dole or a Gore -- remember when Tipper almost ran for Senate in Tennessee? But he might as well be.)
Playing his role in the "Midwest battleground" story line, President Bush starts the day in Milwaukee and begins a three-city bus trip through Wisconsin. At his first stop, he speaks in Waukesha before participating in an "Ask President Bush" event in Fond du Lac. He ends the day at a red-meat rally in Ashwaubenon.
And on Capitol Hill, the Senate backs away from an up-or-down vote on gay marriage, choosing instead to cast a largely meaningless procedural vote today. Kerry and Edwards, both "no" votes on the constitutional amendment, are unlikely to attend. Majority Leader Bill Frist, conceding he may not be able to bring the issue back up before November, said the issue is not going away. "Will it be back? Absolutely, yes," Frist said. (Marriage amendment expected to die in Senate)
Kerry is in Boston again today.
In his first trip as a candidate to Iowa since his surprise second-place showing in the January 19 caucuses, Edwards will headline an early afternoon rally on the state Capitol steps. He'll be joined for first time since the veepstakes by Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who notably won neither a VP appointment nor a prime-time speaking role in Boston. The latter went to his wife, Christie, who, while relatively unknown, distinguished herself by endorsing Kerry before the caucuses. She joined the Kerry bandwagon three days after Iowans gave him plenty of cover.
Also on hand today in Iowa: Elizabeth Edwards, who told The Associated Press last night that while she's there she wants to "look up some old friends and find a pork chop someplace." (Hey, we don't tell these people what to say. We just write it down.)
Edwards' solo campaign
Edwards' first solo campaign swing since joining the Kerry ticket will take him to Chicago today for an 8:45 p.m. ET reception. Tomorrow, he's in New Orleans and Houston. On Friday, he travels to Los Angeles. This weekend, he campaigns in Florida and North Carolina.
But, we can't leave Iowa yet. Bush-Cheney worked hard drafting their pre-buttal to Edwards' trip, and we should share their research.
In an e-mail distributed to reporters last night, Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt notes that the last time Kerry was in Iowa, over the July Fourth weekend, he first declared his belief that "life begins at conception."
"This is the same John Kerry who has cast at least six out-of-the-mainstream votes against banning partial-birth abortion and has received a perfect rating from NARAL," Schmidt noted.
"It will be interesting to see how Iowans react to Edwards's Two Americas speech considering that he created a tax shelter in 1995 enabling him to avoid paying $591,112 in Medicare taxes," he wrote. "Edwards's charge that tax shelters undermine Medicare should have an especially large impact on Iowans considering that they suffered from one of the lowest Medicare reimbursements rates in the nation prior to President Bush's Medicare reform."
Schmidt also reminds us that it was in Iowa that Kerry made his famous diapers comment about Edwards, stating in January that when he came home from Vietnam in 1969, he didn't know if Edwards was out of diapers. In fact, Edwards was 16 and Kerry later retracted his statement.
"Iowans know as well as anyone that Kerry's selection of Edwards was the biggest flip-flop of his entire campaign," he said.
Iowa GOP Rep. Jim Nussle will release a statement later today, on behalf of Bush-Cheney, addressing Edwards' trip.
Bush twins join the campaign
Meanwhile, the Bush daughters continue their political coming-out today, this time with their mom. (Bush twins break silence)
Barbara joined her dad on the Midwest swing yesterday and Jenna will introduce her mother at two private events today as the first lady raises money in Birmingham, Alabama, and Georgia. Though cameras won't be inside, it will be the first time Jenna Bush has spoken publicly for her parents. (Laura Bush also has a public event at a school near Birmingham in the late morning, it's unclear whether Jenna will be visible at that event.)
The Bush daughters are also featured in an interview and photo shoot in the upcoming Vogue magazine, due on newsstands Friday. In excerpts released last night, Jenna (aka "Twinkle," per the Secret Service) said the daughters decided on their own to campaign for their dad. "It's not like he called me up and asked me. They've never wanted to throw us into that world and I think our decision probably shocked them," she said. "But I love my dad and I think I'd regret it if I didn't do this."
Vogue reports that the twins call each other "sister" and finish each other's sentences. They drink Starbucks soy lattes, wear tight jeans, tiny tops and flip-flops, eat sushi and like people who are "hilarious."
Another celeb candidate?
CNN's Joe Johns reports that Virginia Sen. George Allen, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the son of a football legend, met in Illinois last night with former Chicago Bears football coach Mike Ditka about a run for Senate. (Ditka for U.S. Senate)
A GOP source tells CNN that Allen "laid out the things to think about" and gave Ditka "the lay of the land." The source said Allen wanted to know "who is giving [Ditka] advice as he speaks to the media regarding a possible run for the Senate." While the meeting could have been conducted by surrogates, the source said, "Allen felt he had to do it himself."
While there was no express timetable for Ditka to decide whether to run, one Republican suggested that a decision by Thursday or Friday would be nice. Stay tuned.
