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Inside Politics
The Morning Grind / Political Hot Topics

Bush looks outward, Kerry looks in

By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai seeks additional U.S. aid.
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Morning Grind

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- While President Bush spends Tuesday morning feting Hamid Karzai and highlighting how the war on terror has played out in Afghanistan, Sen. John Kerry will be keeping his focus studiously domestic, well removed from the red-carpet doings in Washington.

The telegenic Afghan leader addresses a joint meeting of Congress and then goes to the White House for the Oval Office/Rose Garden treatment. But as Karzai is up on Capitol Hill, making his case for the success of the U.S.-Afghan partnership in his country, Kerry on Tuesday jets from New Jersey to Ohio to continue his two-week assault on the Bush economy.

Kerry addresses the AFL-CIO in Atlantic City at 9 a.m. ET on the economy and middle class (but, apparently, not about the recent growth in job creation). Camp Kerry released a report Monday claiming that despite new job growth, the middle class is still being hurt by lower incomes and higher costs. The report calls the Bush administration's job record "weak" and maintains health care, energy and education costs are "squeezing" those with jobs.

"I'm running for president because I want an economy that strengthens and expands the middle class, not one that squeezes it," Kerry said in a statement released Tuesday morning.

Kerry then flies to Ohio, where he holds a 2 p.m. ET fund-raiser in Cincinnati, and later he attends a rally in Columbus.

Dodging criticism

Anticipating criticism for sidestepping the dramatic improvement in job creation over the past several months, Camp Kerry released a bunch of statistics Monday night showing how the economy is still dragging.

  • 1.6 million households filed for bankruptcy in 2003, 33 percent more than in 2000.
  • 1.8 million people have been jobless for more than six months, the longest long-term unemployment since 1984.
  • The typical family health insurance premium has gone up $2,630 since 2000, college tuition is up $1,207 per year and child care costs $2,050 a year for a two-child family.
  • Bush-Cheney struck back on the economic theme, releasing a policy memo on the economy and middle class and mocking Kerry's "pessimism and misery tour." The campaign's statement says, "The U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders" and claims that "despite this positive news, Kerry continues his misery tour and furthers his efforts to talk down the growing economy."

    The report highlights increased economic growth over 10 quarters, new job-creation figures, steady consumer-spending numbers and "exaggerated and distorted" reports on outsourcing.

    On Tuesday, Bush-Cheney rolls out Steve Forbes in a 3 p.m. ET conference call. Aides say Forbes will discuss "America's economic progress."

    Also Tuesday, we will be watching closely an ethics complaint set to be filed against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas. Fellow Houston-area Rep. Chris Bell, a freshman Democrat who's retiring this year after his district was eliminated in a DeLay-backed House remap, claims in his complaint that DeLay solicited donations in return for legislative favors, laundered illegal campaign donations through his Texas political action committee and improperly involved a federal agency in a Texas partisan matter (the 2003 redistricting effort).

    Bell's ethics complaint, the first case known to be filed since 1997, is also ready stirring some of the same partisan juices that helped bring down two ethically challenged speakers in the 1990s, Democrat Jim Wright and Republican Newt Gingrich.

    Rep. John Doolittle, a GOP ally of DeLay, told The Washington Post that Republicans "are going to have to respond in kind" by filing ethics charges against key Democrats. From now on, the Californian Republican said, it's a matter of "you kill my dog, I'll kill your cat."

    Doolittle, who by his comments clearly bears no relation to the doctor who talked to animals, told the Post he plans to file ethics charges against a prominent Democrat, but he wouldn't name the target.

    Raising the funds

    Speaking of fund raising, but of a very different kind, Kerry spent Monday night raising money at the New Jersey mansion of Jon Bon Jovi. Meg Ryan, James Gandofini, Steve Buscemi (whom Gandolfini recently capped on "The Sopranos" season finale) and Richard Belzer were among stars in attendance.

    Bon Jovi performed several songs, including an encore of The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun." Kerry referenced some of Bon Jovi's hits in his speech, telling the crowd, "I'm running for president because no one in the United States of America should be suffering, 'livin' on a prayer' or 'bad medicine.' " More than 300 people attended the private event, which brought in $1 million for the campaign.

    Kerry spent the night at Bally's in Atlantic City. In the line of the night, he told donors at the Bon Jovi party, "I know it makes a lot of you nervous, the idea of my coming here to a fund-raiser, leaving at 8:30 p.m. with a million dollars, and then at 11 o'clock, I'm on the news at the blackjack table in Atlantic City," he said. "I promise I will not gamble with your money the way George Bush has gambled with the money of this country."

    (Earlier at an airport rally in Atlantic City, Kerry joked that he had a lot in common with JBJ. "Jon Bon Jovi was one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people, and I like to read People magazine," he said).

    Also Tuesday, MoveOn PAC starts running a new 30-second TV ad in battleground states that chides the Bush administration for providing no-bid contracts to Halliburton Corp. The ad depicts an open silver platter exposing contracts and a place card that reads: "Halliburton: No-bid contracts." The spot will run for a week in Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon for a total buy of roughly $1.1 million.

    And finally, we answer the question that all America is asking -- what's up with Al Sharpton?

    A Democratic source tells CNN's Rick Martin that Washington Mayor Anthony Williams is planning to host a fund-raising event for Sharpton's campaign of the Urban Agenda on June 23 in Washington.

    Money matters

    The Bush-Cheney campaign raised $13.2 million in May, according to the CNN Political Unit's review of the campaign's donor database. This brings Bush-Cheney's total one-year haul to $215 million. The campaign began raising money in May 2003.

    Bush-Cheney received almost 223,000 contributions in May, ranging from $1 to the maximum $2,000.

    The Kerry campaign has not released its May fund-raising figures. Kerry has outraised Bush in the past several months, although with about $117 million raised through the end of April, he still trails Bush in overall fund raising.

    Both campaigns are required to file May fund-raising reports with the Federal Election Commission by Sunday.


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