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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Miami sound machine
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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 VIDEO |
 CNN's Bruce Morton on a lead for Bush indicated in a new poll.
 CNN's Beth Nissen on the rules for the upcoming debates.
 CNN's Aaron Brown talks to voters in a Seattle coffee shop.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's way early, but our educated gut tells us the zingers emerging from the Melee in Miami on Thursday will sound something like this:
President Bush: "It's a little tough to debate you here, senator, because you keep changing your positions, especially on the war. In fact (heh heh ... wrinkled brow, wink to the cameras) you could probably spend this entire 90 minutes debating yourself! Heh heh ... heh heh."
John Kerry: ''President Bush hasn't come clean on Iraq. He's still trying to hide from the American people. He won't tell you the truth. But I will." To the question of his flip-flops, Kerry will have a new, tighter retort: ''I've had one position steady, all the way, folks, that we ought to stand up and hold Saddam Hussein accountable. But we ought to do it the right way.''
OK, so we cheated a little. Those crowd-pleasers came almost verbatim from remarks Bush and Kerry made at rallies yesterday. (But of course, you already knew that.) Still, we're willing to put money on the fact that they aren't going to be wasted on podunk towns in Ohio and Wisconsin. (Kidding!) Those lines, and others, will soon find their way into prime time. (Stakes are high heading into the debates; Memorandum of understanding on the debate rules, PDF)
(Now, if you really want fireworks, wait 'til the VP rally in Cleveland next Tuesday. Responding to a new GOP ad attacking Kerry, John Edwards yesterday claimed that Bush-Cheney "will absolutely lie about anything.")
Kerry remains today at a remote golf resort (hey, at least he's not windsurfing) in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Bush is back at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Both are practicing for Thursday night's opening debate. (If you watched TV live shots from outside the respective filing centers, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the rustic settings.) (Special report: America Votes 2004)
Meanwhile, we did get a glimpse yesterday of what Thursday will look like for Camp Kerry.
Democrats' predebate drum roll will actually begin Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET, when Mike McCurry holds a conference call with a foreign policy adviser (probably Susan Rice), to start framing the questions, and answers, for the debate.
Democratic surrogates confirmed to be hanging out in the Miami spin room Thursday will include a Florida contingent (Sens. Bob Graham and Ben Nelson, as well as Miami Rep. Kendrick Meeks), as well as retired Gen. Wesley Clark, retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, California Rep. Jane Harman, former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Robert Menendez.
Teresa Heinz Kerry will travel with her husband to Miami, while other ticket principals will fan out across the country to swing states where they'll watch the debate.
Edwards will be in Columbus, Ohio, while his wife, Elizabeth, goes to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Their eldest daughter Cate is in Grand Rapids, Michigan. All members of the Heinz-Kerry clan are accounted for -- except for Alex Kerry, who's traveling out of the country, and of course that elusive John Heinz IV. Andre Heinz heads to Eau Claire, Wisconsin; daughter Vanessa Kerry will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Chris Heinz is in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bush-Cheney strategists Ken Mehlman and Matthew Dowd hold a 1 p.m. ET conference call to preview the debate today, and the Republican National Committee is releasing a seven-minute video of GOP officials in debate prep.
Filling silence
At least four new TV ads debut today, filling the silence left by candidates who are down until Thursday for debate prep. Three spots hit the topic de la semain (foreign policy), while one, airing only in Ohio, is about jobs.
Bush-Cheney's new ad in 16 markets, called "Peace and Strength," hits Kerry and "congressional liberals" for trying to cut $6 billion from the defense budget after the first World Trade Center attack.
Camp Kerry is releasing a new commercial Wednesday starting with the mission accomplished trip, saying "Sixteen months later, he still doesn't get it. ... How can you solve a problem when you can't see it?"
The DNC releases its own ad in Iowa and Wisconsin that hits Bush's failure to focus on the hunt for Osama bin Laden. In the spot a narrator says, "Word tonight that Osama bin Laden is very much alive, and coordinating plans for new attacks on America and American allies" followed by the 2002 comment from Bush that, "I don't know where he is. ...I truly am not that concerned about him."
Also, the Media Fund launches a $3 million ad campaign in Ohio. The ad features a blue-collar worker who says he's "not a big Bush fan," but doesn't know a lot about Kerry's plan. The spot then mentions Kerry's record on jobs and says that Ohio "has lost 230,000 jobs [under Bush-Cheney] while they give no bid contracts to Halliburton."
Nader update
In New Mexico today, the state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case of whether Ralph Nader should be allowed to appear on the Land of Enchantment's November 2 ballot. Next to Florida, this is the state where Democrats are most concerned about Nader. Al Gore carried New Mexico by 366 votes in 2000; Nader took 4 percent as the Green Party nominee. Absentee voting in the state is just a week away.
Odd couples
Gore and Bob Dole take questions from students at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. (David Gergen moderates.) And in New Hampshire, Barbara Bush and her granddaughters, Jenna and Barbara, deliver remarks at a high school in Exeter.
