Florida. Trailing narrowly in most state polls, John Kerry is breaking out liberal bête noir Joe Lieberman to help solidify support among south Florida Jews. Lieberman spent Wednesday in town-hall meetings in Miami and West Palm Beach touting Kerry's positions on Medicare and Israel while reminding voters of his own failed bid for the vice presidency in 2000. Lieberman's communications director, Matt Gobush, meanwhile, is on loan to the Democratic effort in Florida (he's been assigned to Fort Myers). And Teresa Heinz Kerry spent Tuesday in the Fort Lauderdale area pitching her husband's virtues to Native Americans. She said John Kerry would ensure increased funding for social programs directed at Indians and instill a greater respect for tribal sovereignty.
Kerry himself has been working on the African American vote, making an appearance at Friends Missionary Baptist Church in Miami, where the minister referred to Kerry's opponents as "liars and demons." The Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were there.
Meanwhile, Marc Racicot, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, launched a new gambit Sunday to paralyze the Democratic ground game in Florida. He wrote a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney complaining about disorderly conduct at several union-sponsored protests and complained about unrelated, but more violent, issues. "We will hold you and your organization accountable for the actions of your members," the letter threatened.
Ohio. David Gergen told a luncheon crowd this week in Cleveland, "The whole country is turning its eye on Ohio." And no wonder: Nearly every major poll taken here since September has placed both candidates within the margin of error. The latest poll is no different, though it does seem to indicate a degree of upward momentum in the Kerry camp. A Chicago Tribune poll taken after the last debate and released on Wednesday gave Kerry a narrow 49 percent to 45 percent lead over George W. Bush. The poll also found that Bush's approval rating has slipped well below 50 percent.
The Kerry campaign also received a boost on Tuesday when a federal judge, citing widespread fraud and signature forgery in petitions used to gather signatures on Ralph Nader's behalf, ordered Nader's name off the ballot.
Pennsylvania. Though Dick Cheney spent Wednesday stumping across western Pennsylvania (and, in typical fashion, leaving death and carnage in his wake; one of his motorcycle escorts reportedly hit a deer), there hasn't been a lot of good news for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign since the first presidential debate. In the time since, three major state polls show Kerry leading: A Quinnipiac poll puts him ahead by 2 points (49 percent to 47 percent), an American Research Group poll also has him ahead by 2 points (48 percent to 46 percent), and the most recent Keystone Poll from Franklin & Marshall College shows him leading by 6 points (49 percent to 43 percent).
But rumors that the Bush campaign is conceding the state, fueled by a New York Daily News piece Wednesday, appear to have been premature. Karl Rove and other campaign officials have since told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the president is, in fact, scheduled to return to Pennsylvania next week. In addition, campaign officials say they're ramping up ad buys.
Meanwhile, a state judge has struck Ralph Nader's name from the ballot after an exhaustive review revealed that almost two-thirds of Nader's petition signatures were fraudulent. Judge James G. Collins wrote, "I am compelled to emphasize that this signature-gathering process was the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court." The magnitude of fraud, he continued, "shocks the conscience of the court."
Wisconsin. With conflicting polls churning out every couple of days, it's getting harder to gauge the state of play in Wisconsin. In a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll early last week, Bush led Kerry 49 percent to 46 percent. But in a Chicago Tribune poll taken over the weekend, Kerry is up by 4 percentage points. “I think it's dead even,” Karl Rove told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a pre-debate interview on Wednesday.
To win Wisconsin, Kerry must venture away from Madison and Milwaukee to the state's rural areas, as well as to towns lining the banks of the Mississippi River. (Ad buys in that region are a twofer, as many media markets there cross state lines into Iowa.) But he'll have to hit those on a return trip, as the Kerry campaign is instead moving northward along Lake Michigan October 15 as it stops in Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Appleton.
Wisconsin offers the Democrats yet another headache in the form of third-party candidacies. Kerry must woo Wisconsin's Green Party voters, which is no small challenge. The Wisconsin Green Party is a strong one, with Greens holding seats on local governments across the state, from the Douglas County Board to the Madison School Board to the Racine City Council. Nader ran on the Wisconsin Green ticket in 2000 and received more than 95,000 votes here -- this in a state where Al Gore squeaked by with only 5,700 votes to spare. This year, however, the Wisconsin Greens will back David Cobb for president, not Nader, who will run on a separate ticket. The Nader-Cobb factor just might make all the difference in the Badger State. A Strategic Visions poll here on October 11 showed Nader with a 2-percent share of the vote, but that figure does not include votes for Cobb.
Compiled by the Prospect staff. Click here to read the previous edition of “Purple People Watch.”
