May 7

With both defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his boss under increasing pressure, President Bush resumes his bus tour in the midwest today, as new poll numbers show his support slipping.

However, the White House would argue, the recent bad news from Iraq hasn't given John Kerry a significant boost either - the two men appear tied at 47 per cent, indicating the polarised nature of the country.

What might be most interesting about the latest poll, though, is that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed now say they're taking "a close interest" in the campaign. With six months still to go, there are concerns in both camps that their man has much to do.

Meanwhile, Teresa Heinz Kerry is to appear on 20/20 with Barbara Walters tonight.

May 5

As the row escalates over treatment of Iraqi detainees, President Bush is to go on Arab television to address the considerable and mounting concerns. Condoleezza Rice has already gone on Al-Arabiya, saying the US "will get to the bottom" of the scandal, while there are fears that the anger generated could lead to retaliation against US forces.

According to the Chicago Tribune:

The State Department announced Tuesday that it would delay the release of a report titled "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2003-2004." It said the postponement was due to "technical reasons that have held up completion of the report."

The president has been on a bus tour of Ohio - a state which has lost a huge number of manufacturing jobs recently and is set to be as pivotal a battleground state as Florida was last time around - and the Cincinnati Enquirer has an account of the trip, with Bush saying he was here to "fertilize the grassroots"..

An indication of just how important the state could be is offered by the amount of - mostly negative - advertising the Bush team has ploughed into the region. And it's accomplishing one of its functions: it's forcing John Kerry to spend money to respond.

Maybe both candidates ought to be putting more thought into their mode of transportation.

Greg Palast was on Washington Journal this morning talking about the possible problems with electronic voting in the upcoming election, a theme echoed by today's Washington Post.

Finally, though, the row looks set to run and run surrounding Disney's blocking of distribution of Michael Moore's new film, 'Farenheit 911' about the connection between the Bush administration and the Saudi royal family.