Posted by Frank James at 3:19 pm CDT

Jennifer Skalka of our sister publication, the Baltimore Sun, had a story in that paper today that examined what’s at stake tonight in the Maryland senate race that could very well put a second African American in the Senate.

Tonight’s Maryland Democratic debate is between Rep. Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and former president of the NAACP. A recent poll shows Cardin, who's white, ahead of Michael Steele, Maryland’s black Republican lieutenant governor, while Mfume, who's also black, lags behind the GOP candidate.

Read Jennifer’s story below.

Challenge moves to TV
Democratic Senate candidates Cardin, Mfume to spar tonight

It's "do or die" time for Mfume, who has trailed Cardin in polls, according to Zach Messitte, assistant professor of political science at St. Mary's College.

Posted by David Lightman at 12:52 pm CDT

Connecticut is one of the key states targeted by organized labor in this fall's election. It's got 3 sizzling races where Democrats are trying to topple incumbent Republicans, or one-fifth of the 15 seats Democrats need to retake control of the House. Here's my story from today's Hartford Courant on organized labor's plans.

$40 Million Plan Targets Races In Connecticut And 20 Other States

AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and political director Karen Ackerman methodically detailed how unions would blitz the targeted states with phone calls, volunteer recruitment, e-mail pleas and special efforts to talk to union family members about candidates.

Posted by John Crewdson at 12:34 pm CDT

Since Sept. 11 it has become the hymn sung by those charged with protecting the U.S. and Europe against terrorism: the defenders have to get it right every time, while the terrorists only have to get it right once.

Those abysmal odds have given rise to a corollary: it is not a question of whether the terrorists will succeed again, but where and when.

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:10 am CDT

SALT LAKE CITY – President Bush, framing the war against terrorism as "the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st Century'' and the war in Iraq as its central front, launched a new, three-week initiative today to reclaim sagging American support for the struggle in Iraq.

As the Bush administration works to portray an American conflict with "radical'' Islamic terrorists as the historic successor to the 20th Century wars against fascism and communism, the president also is pointing to the imminent, fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 as a reminder of when this 21st Century war came ashore in the United States.

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 10:33 am CDT

MASAI MARA, Kenya – When the lion finally lifted its head, the mouth and whiskers were colored blood red. It was the shade of wildebeest blood, a pinkish stain that came from eating a carcass only moments after suffocating it here on the flat plains.

As though a live episode of Wild Kingdom was unfolding, it was impossible to turn away as the lion gnawed through the brown, brittle hide of a wildebeest that got snared. The lion didn't roar, but heartily ate its dinner before an audience of a half-dozen jeeps filled with camera-toting tourists.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:05 am CDT and updated at 9 am CDT

SALT LAKE CITY -- They don't call this a Red State for no reason.

When President Bush landed here last night, preparing to address the American Legion's convention today with the first in a three-week series of speeches about the "global war on terror'' timed for the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, local leaders had assembled 2,000 people on the tarmac for a screaming, rock-star's welcome for the president, who agreed to address the adoring crowd. Of course, this served mainly as an antidote to an even larger anti-war rally that the mayor organized here.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, August 31, as compiled by the Associated Press.

9:30 a.m. AGENT ORANGE — South Korean veterans of the Vietnam War hold a rally to bring attention to the problems of troops who fought with U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.
Location: Lafayette Park.

10 a.m. ECONOMY-CHAMBER — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce holds a briefing to discuss the economic outlook, immigration reform and pensions.
Location: 1615 H St. NW.

10 a.m. NAACP-IRS — NAACP President Bruce Gordon and Board Chairman Julian Bond hold a news conference to discuss the investigation of the NAACP by the IRS.
Location: National Press Club.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:20 pm CDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – President Bush said today that he hopes no one will read political motives into his planned speech about the "global war on terror'' at the American Legion in Salt Lake City tomorrow, and then tonight he spoke at length about the war at a fundraising dinner that collected more than $1.5 million for a Republican candidate for Senate and the state party.

"If we leave Iraq before the job is done, it will embolden people who want to harm America,'' Bush told the diners at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza hotel in downtown Nashville. If the U.S. leaves Iraq, he said in a repeating refrain, "it will shred the credibility of the United States of America.''

President Bush made a point of impressing upon a few hundred people who helped raise more than $1.5 million for the Republican Party and its candidate for Senate here the importance of fighting the war in Iraq. Photo by Mark Silva.

Posted by Andrew Zajac at 5:25 p.m. CDT

This just in from the U.S. Department of Justice:
The number of suspects and defendants processed in the federal criminal justice system grew substantially during the 10-year period of 1994 to 2003, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today.

Ya think?

After 20 years of crime crackdowns and 'sentencing reforms', not to mention the growing concern about illegal aliens, and the post 9-11 focus on rounding up illegals, this might not be the most surprising or enlightening way to begin a press release about the feds' latest round of crime number crunching.

But we blog with what we have.

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:59 pm CDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The fur is flying in Tennessee, where the only Republican-held Senate seat which an incumbent is forfeiting this fall has created quite a contest between Republican Bob Corker, a millionaire builder and former mayor of Chattanooga, and Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis.

President Bush will enter the fray today, arriving to raise money for Corker at a $2,100-per-head fundraiser at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel – the place where Tennesseean Al Gore made his 2000 election-night campaign headquarters, only to watch his home state abandon him for Bush. The fact that Bush carried this state then and later outran Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts by 14 points here in 2004 gives Republicans a lot of comfort.

But if the GOP is really comfortable with this seat that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will retire at year's end, you couldn't tell it in the attacks they are leveling against Ford – portraying him as a "fancy'' fellow with big-city tastes and even an affinity for "parties with Playboy playmates.'' Ford is fighting back, accusing Corker of currying the favor of "Big Oil.''

War and Bush protestors mingle with supporters of Republican Bob Corker across the street from the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza in Nashville. Photo by Mark Silva.

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:16 pm CDT and updated at 2:18 pm

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – If that sounds like a drum-beat you're hearing – with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's tough talk for war critics and Vice President Dick Cheney pressing the administration's case at the Veterans of Foreign Wars this week – you're right.

And President Bush is getting ready to pick up the beat, with a planned address to the American Legion in Salt Lake City tomorrow which will serve as the first in a series of speeches on "the global war on terror'' that the president plans in conjunction with the imminent fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Bush plans to complete this series with his annual address to the United Nations in New York, on Sept. 19. While critics view this as a political play as midterm elections near, Bush said today: "I sincerely hope people wouldn't politicize these issues that I'm going to talk about.''

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 8:26 a.m. CDT

MASAI MARA, Kenya – It's the height of migration season here on the Mara, the time of year between July and September when an untold number of animals move from the Serengeti in Tanzania to this colossal game reserve across the border in southern Kenya.

Elephants, lions, buffaloes, rhinos and leopards – considered the must see, big five – make their trek across sweeping, grassy plains that stretch as far as the eye can see. Giraffes, gazelles, wildebeests and zebras do, too, creating a spectacle of nature paralleled by few places in the world.

One day last week, the management at Basecamp Explorer on the Mara received an unexpected telephone call from the Kenyan military. A guest of the Kenya government – an official state visitor – would be coming.

Posting by Frank James at 11:57 am CDT

The Gallup Poll organization has a report out today which suggests that a wise strategy for Republicans hoping to keep control of the House would be to encourage regular church goers to go the polls on election day, so long as they’re not black.

Recent Gallup polling indicates that what I’ll call the church gap between Republicans and Democrats hasn’t lessened, with registered voters who describe themselves as regular churchgoers being much more likely to vote Republican than less frequent churchgoers who tend to be Democrats.

Posted by David Lightman at 9:46 am CDT

Sometimes what matters is what a speaker doesn't say. Senate Democratic campaign committee chairman Charles Schumer spoke carefully about the Connecticut race between Democrat Ned Lamont and Independent--but still a Democrat--Joe Lieberman yesterday...

By DAVID LIGHTMAN
Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic Campaign Chairman Charles Schumer on Tuesday ticked off five Senate races in which his party could oust Republicans in November - meaning the Democrats would need only one more to take control.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, August 30, as compiled by the Associated Press.

Aug. 28 - 30. SPECIAL EDUCATION — The Education Department's Office of Special Education Programs holds its annual leadership conference, "Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004."
Location: Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave. NW.

Aug. 29 - Sept. 1. MINORITY BUSINESSES — The U.S. Small Business Administration and the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency will take part in the 24th National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Conference. Under the theme, "Mastering the Supply Chain," the MED Week conference will provide a forum for successful supply chain executives from UPS, Tyco, FedEx, IBM and Wal-Mart to share with minority-owned firms information on strengthening their position in the global and domestic supply chain and building and sustaining quality relationships with suppliers, customers and clients.
Highlights:

7:30 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. "Meet Your White House Breakfast with Lurita Doan, Administrator, U.S. General Service Administration.

9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Opening Session: "Minority Business Enterprises: Mastering the Supply Chain Panel Discussion. Participants are Dr. Anne Habiby, Senior Advisor, ICIC; A. Michael Knemeyer, HBR Author; Reuben Slone, Office Max; Thomas Choi, Prof. of Supply Chain Management, Arizona State University; John B. Menzer, Vice Chair, Wal-Marts; Mary McDaniel, Vice President, Materiel & Corporate Sourcing, FedEx Express; and Marcelo Claure, President and CEO, Brightstar Corp.

Location: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW.

Posted by Frank James at 7:39 CDT

Glenn Thrush, a reporter in the Washington bureau of Newsday, a Tribune newspaper, has an interesting story in tomorrow's paper about Sen. Hillary Clinton's cash-starved, Democratic primary challenger, Jonathan Tasini. Read it below.

By Glenn Thrush
Newsday Washington Bureau

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s anti-war challenger in the Democratic primary has nearly sapped his $50,000 life savings in a thus-far futile attempt to draw the pro-war senator into a public debate about Iraq.

Posted by William Neikirk at 7:10 p.m. CDT

In Salt Lake City today, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld implicitly accused critics of the Iraqi war of appeasing "the rising threat of a new kind of fascism."

Defending the Bush administration in a speech before the American Legion, Rumsfeld said, "It seems that in some quarters there is more of a focus on dividing the country, than acting with unity against the gathering threats."

Posted by Mark Silva at 5:01 pm CDT

NEW ORLEANS -- It was comfortable inside the old high school auditorium where President Bush delivered his address today on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It should have been – massive temporary ductwork had been installed to pump the product of massive portable air conditioners into the auditorium of a school that is set to reopen after the flooding next week but still lacks central air conditioning.

The setting that the president chose today – much like the setting of Jackson Square where he had delivered a nationally televised address after the hurricane last September – was artificially enhanced to make a point. That point, of course, is that New Orleans will come back. But, like those White House-imported floodlights that illuminated St. Louis Cathedral in the heart of the darkened city last year, the labyrinthine hoses that chilled the auditorium of Warren Easton Senior High today serve as tangible reminders that sometimes it takes a pretty big prop to prop up a promise when the president comes calling.

Outside Warren Easton Senior High School, massive air conditioners were positioned to pipe cool air into the auditorium for the president's appearance here today. Photo by Mark Silva.

Posted by Frank James at 4:15 pm CDT

A fundraising pitch put out by the Republican National Congressional Committee caught my attention today. I made it sound like people at the NRCC were running around with their hair on fire.

Here’s an extended excerpt to give you a flavor of it. The email solicitation is from Sally Vastola, the NRCC’s executive director.

Posted by William Neikirk at 3:10 p.m. CDT

Who is this radical politician named Dick Lugar? Reported to be a quiet, solid conservative from quiet, solid Indiana, Lugar came out today with an aggressive plan to make the nation more energy independent.

And he had the temerity to criticize our political leadership on the energy question, which may seem a bit odd since he is a GOP senator from Indiana.

Posted by Frank James at 3:35 pm CDT

What do Sen. John McCain (D-Ariz.) and Michael Jackson, the pop music icon and curiosity, have in common.

Nothing, really, except for their birthdays, which are today.

That didn’t stop someone associated with the Senate Majority Project, a Democratic group whose name makes its reason for being self-evident, from trying to find some other commonalities.

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:21 pm CDT

NEW ORLEANS – President Bush, declaring that "New Orleans is calling her children home,'' returned today one year after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of this city and vast reaches of the Gulf Coast with a pledge that the federal government will stand by the city and the region until it is rebuilt.

"I have returned to make it clear to people that I understand we're marking the first anniversary of a storm, but this anniversary is not the end,'' Bush said on the stage of the oldest public school in New Orleans, which is set only now to reopen, next week. "We will stand with the people of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi until the job is done.''

President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush appeared on the stage of Warren Easton Senior High School, the oldest in New Orleans, flood-damaged and set to reopen next week. Photo by Mark Silva.

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:20 am CDT

NEW ORLEANS -- People assembled in public at 6:10 am CDT this morning in Plaquemines Parish south of New Orleans for a remembrance at the moment of day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall one year ago.

Bells will ring at City Hall this morning, a traditional New Orleans jazz funeral will make its way to the Superdome this afternoon, and tonight they will unleash a show of fireworks on the river in the Gulf Coast city that was inundated by Katrina's flooding. And this, after all, is New Orleans, where Harrah's, the downtown casino, will host a masquerade ball tonight to cap the day's remembrances.