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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Bush, Giuliani and Edwards -- The Whole Enchilada
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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 VIDEO |
 Ben Ginsberg talks about his resignation from Bush-Cheney.
 CNN's Bob Franken on the GOP's search for convention unity.
 CNN's Anderson Cooper on Cleland's trip to Crawford, Texas.
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Invigorated by a week of down time in Crawford, Texas, and a new poll that says he's edging ahead of John Kerry, President Bush today starts his seven-day, eight-state trek to New York in his own private "Florida," the increasingly Democratic and independent New Mexico, which he lost in 2000 by just 366 votes.
It's unclear this morning whether he can turn the corner, brushing off the bad day he suffered yesterday at the hands of Ben Ginsberg, his former outside chief counsel, and an overly zealous media focused on a story that looks more like inside baseball everyday. (Bush-Cheney lawyer resigns over veterans flap)
Bush will be joined in the Land of Enchantment (his fourth trip here this year) by Rudy Giuliani, who's sure to offer his guidance on which Gotham firehouse Bush should visit to watch Dick Cheney's speech next Wednesday. (More on this below.)
The duo will be joined here today (not really) by John Edwards, who holds a rally in historic Mesilla this afternoon. The Bush and Edwards visits to the Las Cruces area give new meaning to the city's annual Whole Enchilada Festival.
Recent voter trends in the state are not particularly encouraging for Republicans. Almost 32,000 state voters have registered as Democrats in the past 10 months, compared with some 16,000 Republicans. Independent voters have grown by nearly 20,000 in the same time period.
But Bush-Cheney prefers to look at things this way: Las Cruces, the site of Bush's first stop this morning, has nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans, but Bush lost the county by a mere 2,600 votes. Albuquerque, where Bush and Giuliani address a rally this afternoon, is also heavily Democratic. But Republicans have held the city's congressional seat here for more than 30 years.
Also visiting New Mexico these days -- Ralph Nader, who arrives Saturday in Albuquerque. Nader must turn in 14,527 valid signatures by September 7 to gain a spot on the state's ballot.
Back to the poll, which shows Bush now leads Kerry nationally by 3 points. Bush, who trailed by 2 points before the Democratic convention last month, is apparently doing a good job drawing Dems to his campaign, according to the survey, which the Los Angeles Times conducted Saturday through Tuesday. Bush drew 15 percent of all Democrats and 20 percent of Democrats who consider themselves moderate or conservative. Kerry only drew about 3 percent of all Republicans.
Nearly half of poll respondents said they'd seen the swift boat ads, but only a small fraction said they were affected by them. About 18 percent of those surveyed said they think Kerry misrepresented his war record and does not deserve his war medals, while 58 percent said Kerry fought "honorably" and deserves the medals.
Convention prep
Meanwhile, back in the Big Apple, the convention awaits. And so does the Democratic response. In Washington today, DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe holds an 11 a.m. ET press conference to announce that the "Mission" is "Not Accomplished." MNA, as they're calling it, will be the shorthand name for the party's countermessage operation during BushFest. (Special Report: America Votes 2004, the Republican convention)
The Democratic response will be led by McAuliffe and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who'll conduct 10 a.m. ET briefings everyday next week with other Kerry surrogates. Vilsack will offer a viewpoint from the nation's heartland, Dems say. Some events may take place around the city. New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer and Rep. Charles Rangel will participate, as will Gen. Merrill McPeak. McPeak, a former Air Force chief of staff, is featured in a Democratic campaign ad saying he switched his support to Kerry from Bush.
We're also monitoring the Census Bureau, which is expected to release new numbers on poverty and health insurance. Of course, census numbers are always the most unlikely but most reliable source of controversy. Today is no different as Democrats are complaining that Bush is trying to soften the political impact of the reports, which are expected to show there are more poor people and fewer insured.
The numbers normally are released separately in late September -- one report on poverty and income, the other on health insurance. But this year they're being released together today, much further away from Election Day. Census Director Louis Kincannon, a Bush appointee, is participating in the news conference.
More stunts
Meanwhile, our nominee for political stunt du jour: In response to what they call the "growing grassroots support among right-wing Republicans for Ralph Nader," TheNaderFactor.com launched a new petition that calls on RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie to let Nader speak at Madison Square Garden. The anti-Nader group will personally deliver a letter to Gillespie at 1:00 p.m. ET at RNC HQ.
The letter from the group states. "We think its only fair after all the ballot and financial help Republicans have given Nader -- let alone all the help Nader is taking from Republicans -- that we do our part to bring you all together for next week's big Republican party in New York City," said Chris Kofinis, senior advisor to TheNaderFactor.com. "After seeing the passion and hard work that right-wing has put into helping Nader, we thought it only fair that Nader have a chance to speak at the Republican Convention."
Speaking of stunts, the New York Daily News reports that Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger want to watch the convention (specifically Dick Cheney's speech on Wednesday) from a New York firehouse, where they can "bond" with the city's bravest. We can only assume that Bush-Cheney is hoping that the pictures will rekindle memories of one of Bush's finest moments -- the "I Can Hear You!" sound bite, when Bush stood in the 9/11 rubble with a bullhorn, surrounded by weary firefighters.
For his part, however, Schwarzenegger is keeping an uncharacteristically low profile while on the East Coast. Aides said yesterday that cameras will be banned when he arrives Monday and he's turning down all requests for media interviews while in New York. He will visit a school in Harlem, attend a gala at Planet Hollywood and leave town before Bush speaks Thursday.
