June 15


Further evidence that the President might end up being hurt rather than helped by the associations with former President Ronald Reagan, and even, ironically, in comparison with his father.

Meanwhile, Jim VandeHei in the Washington Post posits that the President's Democratic challenger still can't seem to gain a foothold.

He writes: "John F. Kerry has shattered fundraising records, unified an oft-warring party and pushed past President Bush in some national polls. Yet many Democratic voters, officials and even members of Kerry's staff express an ambivalence - or angst - about their presidential candidate that belies this strong public standing."

The New York Daily News reports the latest Time poll which shows the Bush camp uneasy about a possible swing to Kerry among Catholic voters as the election approaches.

Also according to the Daily News, an advance screeing of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" with families of September 11 victims resulted in the filmmaker receiving a ten-minute standing ovation. The New York premiere is tonight at the Zeigfeld theatre in midtown.

June 13

Politics as usual is set to resume in earnest following the suspension of hostilities for the tributes to Ronald Reagan.

The Bush team says it has no plans to use Reagan's image directly in ads, which Frank Rich in the New York Times thinks is probably a prudent strategy.

The harsh tone of political ads might also backfire on the candidates, John Marelius writes in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A Christian Science Monitor poll shows President Bush's approval slipping, confirming other recent snapshots, but the Washington Post finds that John Kerry might have a problem with apathy among the key college student demographic.