Election Recycling: Welcome NYT Readers!
• Bush, Kerrypractice spinning WMD report.Bush: Hussein"retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction."Edwards: Bush, Cheney"need to recognize that the Earth is actually round." [ WP , NYT , LAT , LAT , BG ]
•Hundred-plus "uncommitted voters," selected by Gallup, to participate in tonight's debate. Questions reviewed byCharles Gibson, no variations allowed. Candidates can only move within designated area and "may not overlap." [ WP , BG ]
• Bush's dependence on choreographed events likely to put him at disadvantage during unscripted debate tonight. Scholar: "His handlers think they're doing him a favor, but they're not." [ WP , USAT , LAT ]
•NewBushrhetoric disregards facts. Scholar: "It's a matter of taking sentences out of context or parts of sentences out of context. And it's hard for journalists to write the context back in because it takes time." [ NYT ]
• Bushcan lean on his likeability tonight;Kerry, not so much, can try to humanize image. [ WSJ , USAT ]
• Bush's decision to stick with tax cuts in face of deficits will be permanent legacy. [ WP ]
• Edwards, in New Jersey, attacks the administration for homeland insecurity. [ NYT ]
•FromRumsfelddown, Pentagon aims high with goal of 100% voter participation. [ NYT ]
• BC04thinks Wisconsin's 20-year Democratic itch can be scratched for 10 electoral votes. Scholar: "It's clearly a place that's going to be close until the bitter end. The 527s are here because it's a competitive race and because it's cheaper to play here." [ LAT ]
• BC04reduces ad spending in Washington. GOP state chairman: "Look at a map and you see clearly that the West Coast and the Northeast are very different from the rest of America." [ LAT ]
•Petitions forNadershady; thousands of signatures invalid. [ NYT ]
• Bush, Kerrystaunchly split on negotiating with North Korea. [ BG ]
•Job-creation solutions overlook root causes. [ BG ]
•On marine base in Iraq, all but one supportBush: "I think 'W' is the man." [ BG ]
• Kerrywas a worldly thinker at a young age. In 1954, "I became profoundly intrigued by global confrontation." [ WP ]
• Bush's dislike of regulations traced to his own "entrepreneurial spirit" in Texas. [ NYT ]
•Red, blue neighbors represent red, blue nation. Homeowner: "The driveway offers a weird analogy. It's a symbol of the weird cooperation we have to have, even though we're so opposed to each other in other ways. . . ThoseBushsigns pushed me over the edge." [ LAT ][ Eric Draper/White House/Handout ]