Washington Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Steve Chaggaris, Clothilde Ewing, Nicola Corless, Smita Kalokhe and Joanna Schubert of The CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.

Who Runs: Individuals must declare candidacies at least 59 days before the election (August 11) To get on the ballot, candidate must file 65 signatures from registered voters and pay $3,500, or file 10,000 signatures instead of filing fee.

Declared Candidates: Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from Vista, who largely funded the recall drive; Green Party candidate Peter Camejo.

Possible Candidates: On the GOP side, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger; businessman Bill Simon, who lost to Davis in November; state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks. State's leading Democrats have closed ranks behind Davis and said they don't intend to run.

Cost: Estimated at $30 million to $35 million. Bulk of cost to be born by California's 58 counties.

Ballot: The election will have two parts: Voters would answer yes or no on recalling Davis, then choose from list of potential successors. If recall succeeds, candidate with most votes would replace Davis.

Other Measures on the Ballot: Recall ballot will include a racial privacy initiative, which would ban government agencies and schools in the state from collecting most kinds of racial and ethnic information; and a proposed constitutional amendment to dedicate an increasing portion of the state's budget to infrastructure spending. Those measures have already qualified for the ballot in California and will appear on the recall ballot because it is the next statewide election.

Bossie's Back: The Boston Globe reports that a conservative group that backs President Bush is using an official Navy photo of the president aboard the USS Lincoln in a fundraising pitch. Although the group, Citizens United for the Bush Agenda, is not affiliated with the Bush campaign or administration, the fundraising letter seems to go against White House assertions that the president's landing on the aircraft carrier in a Navy jet would not be used for political gain.

The group sent a letter containing the photo to 30,000 people asking for $1,000 a piece. For an additional $43 – a reference to Mr. Bush being the 43rd president – the group will mail donors a baseball hat with an image of the USS Lincoln. (Bargain-hunting Republicans can save a few bucks by purchasing two hats for $75.)

In the letter, the group's president, David Bossie, writes of President Bush: "He is clearly a commander-in-chief who is proud to be in the company of his troops – a striking contrast to former President Bill Clinton, who openly 'loathed' the military. But while sailors and Marines on the USS Lincoln were still cheering and saluting him, left-wingers back home in both Congress and the media bitterly attacked him for visiting the troops."

The Globe reports that Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dick Gephardt shook his head when he saw the letter and photo, which were received by the husband of a former New Hampshire Democratic state senator.

Jim Jordan, Sen. John Kerry's campaign manager, was more animated, telling the Globe: "This is the most grotesque, twisted thing I've ever seen in politics, war profiteering taken to a new tasteless low. And I suspect that the families of the brave soldiers who have died in Iraq, 87 since Bush's phony aircraft carrier stunt, would agree."

An RNC spokesman said the group is not affiliated with the party or the campaign, and is therefore allowed to send out any photos it wants. "I don't know that we can stop them," the spokesman, Jim Dyke, said. (The Navy tells the Globe that since the picture is properly credited and appeared on the Navy's Web site, it is public domain and therefore allowed to be used by the group.)

Bossie - a Boston resident who resigned his post as chief investigator on the House Government Reform Committee in 1998 following a dispute over the accuracy of the committee's transcript of tape recordings being used in the Whitewater investigation – defended his use of the photo in a political context.

"We may be the only national organization actively out there to support President Bush and I think … now it's even more important, with all the attacks he is under from all the liberals and the presidential wannabes … The welcome he got from the troops was so genuine and that's what we tried to show. That was not a political, staged event, in the sense of a bunch of people standing around having to watch this guy go by. They were absolutely excited he was there," Bossie told the Globe.

See the Children Left Behind: President Bush visited a federal check-processing center in Pennsylvania today where he watched some of the first child tax credit checks being cut and touted his plan to help millions of middle class families.

With child tax credit checks scheduled to begin going out to 25 million families on Friday, Democrats and advocacy groups used the occasion to revive the issue of who's not getting the checks, namely the low-income families who don't pay enough in federal income taxes to qualify for the new benefit. On Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she and her fellow Democrats will not go home without the changes and that they are ready to make this a "week of hell" in an effort to raise the ante.

The Center for Community Change has sponsored an ad featuring pictures of working people, sad young children and an empty mailbox. It says that the children of "hard working Hispanics, nurses, teachers' aides and military personnel" have no need to run to their mailboxes, because the "check is not in the mail." The English language version is scheduled to begin on DC cable on Thursday and a Spanish language version will air in El Paso, Miami and Orlando.

Thomas Comes Clean: In the wake of last Friday's fracas during a House Ways and Means Committee meeting, chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., hit the floor for an emotional mea culpa Wednesday.

Criticism mounted against Thomas after he was accused of summoning the Capitol Police to force Democrats to return to the meeting after walking out in protest. And as the days dragged on, the critics weren't just Democrats but from members of his own party, who told the extremely stubborn Thomas he needs to work better with others.

Former House Republican Leader Dick Armey even went so far as to say that his party, not just Thomas, may have gone over the edge. "They (Republicans) have had control for 10 years, they've gotten arrogant, they demean the institution, they demean democracy by virtue of the heavy-handed way they run the House, minority rights are downtrodden, and it's time, Mr. and Mrs. America, to make a change," Armey told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Clearly, the growing drumbeat was the catalyst for Thomas' floor speech yesterday in which he, while choking back tears, admitted to using poor judgment in asking the House Sergeant at Arms to use the police during the fracas.

"In hindsight, calling the Sergeant at Arms for help in the committee room, I still believe was good judgment. My instruction to use the Capitol Police if necessary in the library, was not," Thomas said.

"I learned a very painful lesson on Friday. As members you deserve better judgment from me, and you'll get it."

"Because of my poor judgment, the stewardship of my party, as the majority party in this House, has been unfairly criticized," he continued. "For the remainder of my time in this, the people's House, I want to rededicate my efforts to strengthening this institution as the embodiment of what is best about us."

Ways and Means Committee ranking member Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., then addressed the House thanking "the chairman of my committee for what had to be a very difficult task for him in coming before this august body and expressing regret for poor judgment."

"I thank you for coming forward and giving us the opportunity to say 'Can't we take this House to a higher level? Can't we go back home and make the people proud of us?"

After the dust settled, some Democratic leaders still weren't completely satisfied. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was one of a few Democrats who didn't participate in the standing ovation for Thomas at the conclusion of his floor speech.

Can A Dark Horse Change His Spots?: Ohio congressman and long-shot Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is paying more attention to his personal style, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Jay Leno teased Kucinich for "leading the Democratic candidates in the worst hair department," but now the flop of messy thick brown bangs he's worn since his days as the "boy mayor of Cleveland" are gone. He's also traded in his trademark white shirts for blue ones saying, "I'm a blue-collar guy at heart, you know."

Along with the new look, Kucinich hopes to boost his campaign with some support from movie fans and one country music icon. Friday, "Seabiscuit," a movie about the racehorse that beats the odds, will open in theaters and Kucinich volunteers will be there to convince inspired fans that a "long shot" can win.

On his Web site, Kucinich urges supporters to attach the Kucinich 10 Key Issues Flyer to Seabiscuit promotional handouts and give them to people as they leave the theaters on Friday. The campaign is hoping to "inspire a nation," just as Seabiscuit did during the Great Depression when he became a big winner despite expectations. "Remember that the best time is when the moviegoers are leaving, after they have seen the film and are still feeling good about a 'long shot that became a winner.'"

With movie fans under their belt, the Kucinich campaign also hopes to find a stronghold with country music lovers. According to the AP, Willie Nelson will play his guitar and croon for the Kucinich campaign with stops in Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin. Venues have not been decided, but the first concert will be on Labor Day in Des Moines, Iowa.

Quote of the Day: "I think there's no escaping the fact that Sept. 11 is going to be analyzed from a political point of view." – former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on whether the Bush campaign or the Democratic presidential hopefuls will politicize Sept. 11. (New York Post).