June 25

Much talk today about reports of Vice-President Dick Cheney's use of the F-word in the Senate during a heated argument with Patrick Leahy.

While the Washington Post reprints the exchange uncensored, the New York Times is a little more circumspect.

A California fund-raiser for John Kerry last night - what comedian Billy Crystal called "Woodstock for really really rich people" - raised about $5m for the Democratic challenger's campaign.

Tonight's 'Nightline' on ABC will feature a behind-the-scenes look at the Kerry campaign on the road.

Still on the 'creative industries', the buzz around "Fahrenheit 9/11" continues to grow as Michael Moore's movie opens nationwide, despite some increasingly desperate opposition.

President Bush himself, meanwhile, is in Ireland for the EU summit this weekend, and possibly in one of his idle moments wondering how he could possibly achieve even a portion of the almost Kennedy-esque affection the Irish people had for his predecessor.

New York City is set to go into virtual lockdown while the Republican convention is in town at the beginning of September; and the logistics of policing the event probably mean that there won't - despite all the rumours - be a Bruce Springsteen concert in town at the same time, either in Central Park or at Giants Stadium.

June 21

Further to the preliminary findings of the 9/11 Commission, the Washington Post asks to what extent will President Bush's credibility actually suffer any damage over the revelations?

Dana Millbank reports:

"The 9/11 report is just one more issue that casts doubt on the truthfulness of this White House," said Stephanie Cutter, Kerry's campaign spokeswoman. "This White House is operating under a cloud of secrecy, and the American people have lost the ability to trust them."

The Kerry team, having recently announced the plan to increase the minimum wage, gets a boost from organised labour in a battleground state.

Ron Fournier of the AP, meanwhile, reports that on the latest in the Veepstakes.

More controversy over electronic voting - this time reported in the Boston Globe.

Just as the Clinton hype machine gets into top gear - although maybe this is this going a little too far - ahead of the release of the former President's memoirs, Michael Moore's PR blitz ahead of the commercial release of "Fahrenheit 9/11" gets him a cover in Newsweek.

David Gates writes:

"....since just under half of Americans now approve of Bush's performance — presumably not just because he balked at the Kyoto Protocol — this reading of recent history is hardly a seditious salvo from the extremist fringe. Last week alone, two mainstream bipartisan groups—the 9-11 Commission and a delegation of retired diplomats and generals calling for "regime change" in Washington—made some of the same points Moore does, though without the entertainment value."

June 20

President Clinton stepped back into the spotlight this weekend ahead of the release of his book. He appeared on 60 Minutes tonight, telling Dan Rather:

"There have been more terrorists move into Iraq in the aftermath of the conflict. I still believe, as I always have, that the biggest terrorist threat by far is al Qaeda and the al Qaeda network."

This comes on the heels of the 9/11 Commission's findings that show no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the planning or execution of the attacks.

Vice President Cheney, however, remains adamant on the connection.

The 9/11 Commission's final report is due later this summer.

Veteran pollster Bob Teeter died this week, aged 65.