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Anyone with a theoretical chance should be allowed to take partDemocrat John Kerry on Thursday accepted a schedule for three presidential debates and one vice presidential showdown, proposed by a commission controlled entirely by the Republican and Democratic parties. The first presidential debate, set for Sept. 30 at the University of Miami, will deal with domestic policy. The third, on Oct. 13, on the subject of foreign affairs, is scheduled for Arizona State University. The second forum, on Oct. 8, will feature a supposed "town hall format" at Washington University in St. Louis, where "undecided voters will question the candidates...

Here are a couple of things Bush can do to nail down victory for 2004: 1. TOW THE HARD LINE ON CRIME. Bill Clinton had a dismal record on, well, just about everything in Arkansas, especially criminal law enforcement. Bush's father failed to drop the crime bomb on Clinton; if he had, it may well have rocketed him to victory. Like Clinton, John Kerry is weak in this area, and it can be used to Bush's advantage. Stress the need to lock up violent criminals and keep them there. Stress the heinousness of murder, the severe danger posed by traitors,...

<p>WASHINGTON -- When Matthew Dowd, a senior strategist for the Bush campaign, was asked in a conference call with reporters last week why the president had gained strength in two of the latest national surveys despite the worst month of bloodshed in Iraq, the headlined investigation of pre-9/11 intelligence failures and Bush's rocky prime-time televised news conference, he had a ready answer.</p>

<p>DES MOINES, Iowa — The race for the Democratic presidential nomination remains in a statistical dead heat in the vital Iowa caucuses but it has a surprise twist -- Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (search) has taken the lead, according to the latest tracking poll, released Thursday.</p>

FORT DODGE, Iowa, Jan. 14 — Former ambassador Carol Moseley Braun plans to drop out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and endorse Howard Dean on Thursday, giving him an important symbolic boost just four days before Iowa's leadoff caucuses, Dean campaign aides said on Wednesday. Ms. Braun, a former senator from Illinois and ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, had failed to garner much money or support in polls, but had distinguished herself with eloquent performances in several nationally televised debates. She and Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, had developed a mutually respectful relationship throughout...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says it is unlikely he will ever run for president and has no regrets about seeking re-election to the Senate this year rather than joining the fray for the Democratic presidential nomination. Asked whether he might seek the presidency in the future, Daschle told The Associated Press this week: "I guess you never say never, but my current and only focus is my re-election, and we'll worry about other questions like that down the road. But I would say unlikely, but I suppose only time will tell." Daschle said campaigning for...

The polls have not been kind to erstwhile front-runner John Kerry, so the Democratic presidential candidate has settled on a novel solution: make 'em up. "Let me tell you something," he said Thursday on the CBS "Early Show." "John McCain was 30 points behind Bush in New Hampshire at this point in time." The point was clear: Kerry, far behind Howard Dean in New Hampshire, would have a come-from-behind victory, just as McCain did over George W. Bush in 2000. Well, not exactly. At this time four years ago, an American Research Group poll found McCain with a 37 percent...

Diane Rehm: ``Why do you think he (Bush) is suppressing that (Sept. 11) report?'' Howard Dean: ``I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?'' -- The Diane Rehm Show, NPR, Dec. 1 It has been 25 years since I discovered a psychiatric syndrome (''Secondary Mania,'' Archives of General Psychiatry, November 1978), and in the interim I haven't been...