Skip to main content
CNN.com International
The Web    CNN.com      Powered by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ON TV
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Inside Politics
The Morning Grind / DayAhead

Their finest hour?

By Robert Yoon
CNN Political Unit

ON CNN TV
Stay with CNN for updates and analysis from the campaign trail and for perspectives on the anniversary of President Bush's speech declaring the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
more videoVIDEO
CNN's Bruce Morton on Dick Cheney's role.

President Bush speaks about his meeting with the 9/11 panel.

CNN's John King on Bush, Cheney and the 9/11 panel.
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Morning Grind
George W. Bush
John F. Kerry
SPECIAL REPORT
• The Candidates: Bush | Kerry

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As Dick Cheney did earlier this week, John Kerry on Friday will take a crack at reaching the heights of oratory when he heads to Fulton, Missouri, for a speech at Westminster College, where Winston Churchill warned of an "Iron Curtain" descending across Europe near 60 years ago.

Kerry's address will focus on Iraq, and since Saturday is the anniversary of President Bush's nationally televised speech declaring an end to major combat in Iraq, it's a safe bet that the senator from Massachusetts won't have words of praise for the administration's handling of the war effort. (Full story)

But Kerry's criticism of the Bush-Cheney team will be in broad strokes, most likely to draw a contrast with the redder-meat remarks the vice president served up Monday.

"We stand on the eve of an anniversary in this country -- the day that major combat operations were declared over in Iraq and the president declared, 'Mission accomplished,' " Kerry is expected to tell the crowd in the same Westminster gymnasium where both Churchill and Cheney spoke. (While not actually uttering the words "mission accomplished" then, Bush stood under a banner with that phrase and said that "the United States and our allies have prevailed.")

"I don't think there's anyone in this room today or 6,000 miles away who doesn't wish that those words had been true. But we've seen the news. We've seen the pictures. And we know we are living through days of great danger," Kerry's speech will continue.

Copycat?

In contrast, Cheney referred to Kerry by name more than 30 times and once as "the junior senator from Massachusetts." His remarks drew the ire of Westminster College President Fletcher Lamkin, who apologized via e-mail to students and faculty for the "Kerry-bashing" and offered the Democratic contender equal time.

Kerry's speech incidentally was first billed to the press simply as "Speech," then was changed to "John Kerry Speaks at Westminster College," and now the campaign has settled on "Speech About the Important Issues Facing Our Country." Not quite the same ring as the "Iron Curtain" speech, but it gets the message across, if not eloquently: This is a speech about policy, not politics.

The Bush-Cheney folks said they don't mind at all that Kerry will speak at the same venue that Cheney used.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," said campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel. "Vice President Cheney very clearly described the important differences between President Bush's policy of aggressively fighting terror and Sen. Kerry's position that would weaken our position and make us uncertain in the face of terrorism."

No politics, please

Meanwhile, Cheney is still dealing with some minor repercussions from his Westminster speech.

The vice president will spend the anniversary day in Tallahassee, delivering the commencement address at Florida State University. But some College Democrats there have written the university president asking him to get assurances from the vice president's office that their graduation day won't be sullied by political attacks (because as you know, College Democrats and Republicans simply detest politics).

An FSU spokeswoman said the university believes Saturday's commencement speech by the vice president will not be political. The spokeswoman said there is every indication that Cheney will deliver a "motivational, inspirational" speech that focuses on FSU and its commencement.

According to Mary Coburn, FSU's vice president (for student affairs), the school "was told that the speech is written to be a positive message to the graduates. Unlike the intention of the issue-based speech on foreign policy that the vice president was invited to give at Westminster, politics is not the purpose of the FSU speech."

Campaign cash

In addition to the the speechifying, both the Bush-Cheney and Kerry campaigns will continue to raise money before Friday's midnight filing deadline with the Federal Election Commission.

The Kerry campaign announced Thursday that it reached its $80 million fund-raising goal after having raised what a campaign official described as more than $25 million in April. That includes Friday night's expected haul from a St. Louis, Missouri, fund-raiser with singer-songwriter Carole King.

The Bush-Cheney team did not release numbers Thursday, but a painstaking review of the its 2004 online donor database by the CNN Political Unit and at least two unpaid interns (thanks Steve and Jared) shows that the campaign has raised at least $11.9 million from April 1-21, which puts its total raised figure at $198 million, about double the amount it raised for the entire 2000 campaign.

The campaign's April fund-raising is less than its March take of $26.2 million and roughly on par with its $13 million takes in January and February. But as spokesman Stanzel points out, the campaign at this point would rather raise money for other Republicans, which is why before heading Saturday to FSU, the vice president will headline a GOP Victory 2004 fund-raiser Friday morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"We've turned our attention to helping the Republican Party and other committees to make sure that President Bush doesn't have a lonely victory," Stanzel said.


Story Tools
Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time! cover
Top Stories
Panel: Spy agencies in dark about threats
Top Stories
EU 'crisis' after summit failure

CNN US
On CNN TV E-mail Services CNN Mobile CNN AvantGo CNNtext Ad info Preferences
SEARCH
   The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
© 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.
external link
All external sites will open in a new browser.
CNN.com does not endorse external sites.
 Premium content icon Denotes premium content.