US: RTÉ's Carole Coleman may not be well in with the White House these days, but apparently I am. This week I received a photograph of the President and First Lady personally signed by each writes Conor O'Clery
The message on the photograph reads: "To Conor O'Clery, thank you for your early commitment and dedication as a Charter Member of the campaign in New York. Grassroots leaders like you are the key to building a winning team."
There is an accompanying letter from Marc Racicot, chairman of Bush-Cheney '04, that starts "Dear Friend", except the word "Friend" is crossed out and "Conor" written by hand. Mr Racicot says he would be "thrilled to tell the president you are with us" if I would join the Bush-Cheney '04 team as a charter member. (I thought from the photograph I already had).
As a token of appreciation, Mr Racicot states that he is "proud" to present me with the personally inscribed picture of the First Couple. There are only two things he wants me to do, he writes. Send back the enclosed confirmation form "to let me know that your photograph arrived in good condition and is suitable for framing and display". Oh, and by the way "when you send back your receipt confirmation please include a contribution of $1,000, $500, $250... or whatever you can afford" to support the president's "compassionate conservative agenda." Aye, there's the rub. Now I see that the signatures of Mr and Mrs Bush are rubber-stamped and that there are two misspellings in my name. The same letter has clearly gone to everyone who ever registered at a Republican event, as I have done in the course of my work. I am devastated.
In the unlikely event that I should send $1,000 or $500 or $250 to the Bush Cheney '04 team, or to the Kerry campaign, it would soon be known all over my apartment building in lower Manhattan. All political campaign donations are now recorded on a web site called www.fundrace.org. which shows who gave what and to whom and where they live. From this I see that I am residing in a Republican redoubt. The neighbours with whom I share the elevator have already contributed $2,883 to Mr Bush this year, with a Mr Botts topping the list with $1,000. Mr Kerry got only $250 from the 43-storey building, in one lone contribution from a Ms Heatherton. But in the apartment block across the road, I note that a Mr Sabin gave $2,000 to Howard Dean and a Mr Weinberger $1,000 to John Kerry, which balances things out a bit. A map on the web site shows that there are overwhelmingly more Democratic donors in downtown and midtown Manhattan this year, and that the Republican convention in New York next month will take place in fairly hostile territory. The most profitable building for the Democrats in all of the United States is the San Remo at 146 Central Park West, which houses bankers, investors and lawyers, as well as such celebrities as Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin and Demi Moore. Its contributions to the Kerry campaign are well over $200,000. The most lucrative fund-raising address for Republicans is 865 South Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles, a tower block that houses a company called Trust Company of the West, whose executives are big-time Bush donors. It has contributed over $300,000 to Bush-Cheney '04. The signatures on the photographs of the President and First Lady that hang in 865 South Figueroa are probably genuine.
There was a time when everyone said that George Bush would wipe John Kerry off the map because of the huge war chest amassed by the Republicans for the presidential campaign. In March the president boasted to visitors to the White House that he had accumulated $180 million in a fund-raising blitz across the US. This has since risen to $213 million. But Democrats are so energised this year that Kerry has now accumulated $180 million himself, a record for any presidential challenger, and the money keeps pouring in. Just on Wednesday the Massachusetts senator took in more than $3 million online, setting a record for single-day Internet fundraising and causing the campaign's computers to crash. What a contrast with last autumn when Kerry had to mortgage his home in Boston to stay afloat and Howard Dean was scorching the earth. With so much cash on hand, Kerry's election campaign has now gone upmarket. He travels these days in a chartered 757 jet with bar, first-class seats and bedroom, and stays in top class hotels across the country. The Democratic candidate hopes to match the Republicans by the end of this month. Then he has to stop. Under campaign law, no more fund-raising is allowed after the candidates are formally nominated at party conventions, though they each get $75 million in public finance to spend between then and the election. This gives the Bush campaign an advantage, as the Republicans hold their convention in New York four weeks after the Democrats nominate Kerry in Boston at the end of this month.
We may know by Tuesday whom Kerry intends to bring to Boston as his running mate.
Three front-runners have been told to keep that day free of appointments: John Edwards, Dick Gephardt and Tom Vilsack. Tom who? Most Americans have never heard of Tom Vilsack, the Governor of Iowa, but he is a strong contender. He has a compelling personal story. As a baby he was abandoned by his mother on the doorstep of a Pittsburgh orphanage, and brought up by an alcoholic stepmother who used to whip him with a belt until he bled. He was a successful trial lawyer before entering politics. Like Kerry, he is aloof and reserved and tends to think he is the smartest guy in the room. The two are warm friends. But then Kerry is also a close buddy of Missouri congressman Dick Gephardt. Of the three he is coolest towards Edwards, and was once overheard remarking during the primaries, "What's he doing running for president?" But the North Carolina senator is favourite to get the nod, if only because he would provide such a fresh, idealistic contrast to Dick Cheney in the vice-presidential debates.
Bill Clinton will be the opening-night attraction of the Democratic convention in Boston, party officials have decided. John Kerry has no qualms about tapping into the adulation reserved for the former president, who was sidelined by Al Gore four years ago. Now it is Al Gore's turn to wonder what his convention role will be. The Democratic candidate is said to be ambivalent about the ex-vice president, as he would resurrect the bitterness of the lost 2000 campaign. However, the formerly wooden Gore has developed such a fiery oratorical style since then, that many Democrats feel he would get the delegates worked up nicely and inspire Democratic voters to go to the polls in November. The Republicans for their part are relying on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, former Mayor Rudi Giuliani of New York and Senator John McCain of Arizona to do the warm-up acts for Mr Bush in New York.
A gag from Jay Leno's Tonight Show on NBC. Former President Ronald Reagan's son, Ron Reagan, has attacked President Bush, saying he made a terrible mistake in Iraq. President Bush is furious! He said, "What does the son of a former President know about Iraq?!"