Election Recycling: If It Did Happen Edition
• 9/11 commission presses Bush administration to explain its classification of thousands of related documents from the Clinton administration; McClellan: "We are providing the commission with access to all the information they need to do their job." Kerrey: "If it did happen, it's an unintentional mistake or it's another intentional act of the White House that will backfire." [NYT and WP]
• Following Bush model, Kerry raised $43 million in three months, surpassing Dean's Democratic record. "You can easily see a scenario where he hits $120 million, particularly given the fact the race is so close and will continue to be close," said a Democratic strategist. Bush now has 187 Rangers, 268 Pioneers, and 32 Mavericks. [WP and LAT]
• Vatican officials and Roman Catholic bishops find conflict between Kerry's professed Catholicism and his stances on abortion rights and stem cell research. [NYT]
• Powell visits German high school for question session. [WP]
• In ad, Kerry attacks Bush for sending jobs overseas; Bush quickly responds with attack on Kerry's plan to raise taxes. [WP and NYT]
• Kerry outlines plan to combat off-shore tax avoidance; "U.S. firms doing business in the U.S. are taxed more heavily than many of their foreign competitors. That's demonstrably true," said international tax expert. [WP]
• Jokes about Bush creep onto prime time TV: "I can't believe he's in there doing to my bathroom what he's done to the economy!" [NYT]
• Kerry's daughters and Chris Heinz credited with humanizing him. [LAT and LAT]
• Kerry repeats call for debates. [USAT]
• Federal judge orders agencies to release withheld documents from Cheney's energy task force. [WP]
• Democrats call for Treasury Department to investigate Bush's tax plan as they did for Kerry's. [WSJ]
• House GOP stalls effort to force a former Medicare official to testify about cost estimates. [WP]
• House Republicans defy Bush with support of large transportation bill; Bush may veto. [WP]
• Bush signs Laci and Conor's Law: "As of today, the law of our nation will acknowledge the plain fact that crimes of violence against a pregnant woman often have two victims." [WP and WT]
[He's dancing! CameraWorks/WP]