Poll: Kerry, Bush still tied nationwide
NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- An American Research Group poll released Thursday shows the U.S. presidential race remains tied both among Americans registered to vote and among likely voters.
The ARG ballot preference test between John F. Kerry and George W. Bush among registered voters found that 48 percent said they would vote for Kerry and 46 percent said they would vote for Bush, within the plus or minus 3-percent margin of error.
When liberal independent Ralph Nader is added, 46 percent said they would vote for Kerry, 45 percent said they would vote for Bush, and 3 percent said they would vote for Nader.
Among registered voters considered likely to vote in November, Bush is at 48 percent and Kerry is at 47 percent in a two-way contest; with Nader in the race, Bush and Kerry tie at 47 percent while Nader remains at 3 percent.
The results are based on 1,014 completed telephone interviews conducted among a nationwide random sample of registered voters. Of the total sample, 800 are likely voters in November. The interviews were completed Aug. 30 through Sept. 1, 2004.
Media's 'love affair' with McCain ends, writer says
NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Prominent conservative writer Noemie Emery said Thursday Sen. John McCain's GOP convention speech ended the liberal media's love affair with the Arizona Republican.
"For years, liberals professed their love for John McCain. They loved him, they said, because he was independent, unpredictable, and told the truth as he saw it, but mainly because he managed to rile" President George W. Bush, Emery wrote for the Thursday edition of The Weekly Standard magazine's daily convention publication.
"Then McCain spoke his mind (in New York) Monday night, saying George W. Bush ought to be re-elected, and especially endorsing the Iraq invasion," she wrote. "This was not the straight talk they were expecting, and the love stopped."
McCain's convention speech, she wrote, was "not the straight talk that liberals wanted," adding they then "burned with rage" the next day, citing a piece on the convention blog of the liberal American Prospect that said, "The existential question becomes how John McCain ever looks at himself in the mirror."
"The liberals," Emery writes, "just wanted to use McCain. It was never love at all."
NYU professor says Bush represents subversives
NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- President Bush faced rising poll numbers and rising criticism from political opponents Thursday as he prepared to address the 2004 GOP national convention.
One critic, noted author and New York University Professor of Media Studies Mark Crispin Miller, called the Bush administration a "regime that is not conservative, but represents a radical subversive movement."
Miller, author of the just-published "Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order," said the administration is ultimately driven by "irrational" motives.
"What ultimately drives them is irrational," Miller said. "They're neo-Calvinists, quite clearly working toward the imposition of theocracy on the United States, and then on the whole world," adding that under the current administration, U.S. mainstream political traditions are being junked.
Republicans were quick to dismiss Miller's observations as reflecting an understanding of democracy different from most people's. "That's just a bizarre analogy," GOP pollster David Winston said.
Republicans bed down early -- and alone
NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Republicans failed to ignite New York's infamous sex industry during the first two days of the party's national convention, the N.Y. Post reported Thursday.
Tony Maraio, manager of pornographer Larry Flynt's Hustler Club on 12th Avenue, told the paper the Big Apple seemed all too quiet after the GOP's opening salvos and that attendance at the so-called gentlemen's clubs was under-whelming.
"Nothing over the top," Maraio said, adding he had hoped the partying would improve as conventioneers began to loosen up.
"High-priced escorts and strippers," the Post said, "had been salivating for months over the expected Bush love-athon," flying in extra workers in anticipation of a spike in demand from the 5,000 delegates and 45,000 others coming into the city.
"But insiders at strip joints such as the Hustler Club and Scores West Side said that while there were plenty of reservations for private rooms, business was disappointing overall."
Kerry launches two new ads
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The Kerry campaign released two new ads focusing on the economy Thursday and is set to spend $50 million broadcasting them and others in 20 states.
"Economy-Ohio" focuses on Kerry's ability to help Ohio, while the other, "Time," explains Kerry's plans to combat outsourcing, make healthcare less expensive and develop alternative sources of energy.
"It's time for a president who understands that a stronger America begins at home," Kerry says in "Time."
"It's time to stop rewarding companies for shipping jobs overseas, to get healthcare costs under control and to end America's dependence on Middle East oil."
The new ads are part of a $50 million blitz the Kerry campaign has slated for the last eight weeks before the election. The advertising will be focused on contested states.
Judge shuts down 'Tax Toolbox'
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A judge in Nashville ordered a Franklin, Tenn., man to stop selling the "Tax Toolbox," which the Justice Department said Thursday promoted false claims.
The federal judge told Daniel Gleason to stop selling the program after ruling Gleason falsely told customers they could claim federal income-tax deductions for such non-deductible personal expenses as travel, meals, golf, cars, medical expenses and children's allowances.
The judge also found Gleason made "repeated false claims to induce customers to buy the Tax Toolbox," including giving a false "customer testimonial" from one of Gleason's salespersons.
The court order requires Gleason to provide the Justice Department with any records identifying the persons who purchased the "Tax Toolbox" and to provide his customers with a copy of the order. Gleason and those working with him also must post the injunction order prominently on their Web sites, the department said.
Edwards slams Georgia Sen. Zell Miller as 'sad'
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Sen. John B. Edwards Thursday slammed fellow Democrat Sen. Zell Miller, saying his speech to the Republican National Convention was "over the top" and "sad."
In an interview on the Fox News Channel, Edwards of North Carolina, the vice presidential running mate of Democrat presidential candidate John F. Kerry, described Miller's Wednesday night speech "way over the top. It was sad, actually."
Edwards said Miller's speech involved "a lot of anger, a lot of negative attacks." The "focus" of the Bush-Cheney '04 re-election campaign "is on personal attacks, smears about John Kerry," he said.
Miller, the senior senator from Georgia, has long supported the president going back to the period in which both men served as governors of their respective home states. He is not seeking re-election.
