Campaign Notebook
Clinton to campaign for Kerry, aide says

Former President Clinton to appear at Kerry rally.

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DAYTON, Ohio — Former President Clinton will campaign for Sen. John Kerry early next week in Philadelphia, a senior Democratic official who is familiar with the former president's plans said yesterday.

It was unclear whether Kerry would be there, too. But Clinton, who is recovering from heart surgery, has agreed to appear for his fellow Democrat, who is locked in a tight race against President Bush, the official said.

Kerry's campaign also has outlined for Clinton other ways he can help rally voters and participate in the last two weeks of the presidential campaign, including visits to battleground states.

"We're hoping that something will be able to come together," said Kerry adviser Mike McCurry, who served as White House press secretary under Clinton.

Judge tells Michigan: count provisional votes

LANSING, Mich. — A federal judge ignored a Justice Department argument yesterday and ruled that Michigan must count provisional ballots cast by voters who show up at the wrong polling precincts but are in the right city, township or village.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson issued an injunction barring Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land from ordering election officials not to count provisional ballots unless voters are shown to have voted in the right precinct.

Provisional, or backup, ballots are used when voters say they are properly registered but their names do not appear on the voter registration rolls.

Lawson agreed with Michigan Democrats, the NAACP and voter-rights groups who filed suit against Land. They said it should be enough that voters cast ballots in the jurisdiction — city, township or village — where they live, regardless of whether they show up in the correct precinct.

His ruling echoed one last week by a federal judge in Ohio. But the Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday that people who cast provisional ballots at the wrong precinct in that state are not entitled to have their votes counted.
 
"Fahrenheit 9/11" won't be on TV before Nov. 2

Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," won't make it to television before the election after all. The In Demand pay-per-view service has canceled a Nov. 1 "Michael Moore Pre-Election Special" during which the film was to have aired.

The Fellowship Adventure Group, which is handling Moore's documentary, is contemplating legal action maintaining that In Demand violated its contract. Proceeds from the broadcast were to go to the Fallen Heroes Fund.

In Demand, which is owned by Time Warner, Comcast and Cox Communications, said the move was in response to "legitimate business and legal concerns."

Dueling ads aired featuring 9/11 families

WASHINGTON — In emotional appeals, people whose loved ones died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks vouch for President Bush or Democrat John Kerry in new TV ads that try to convince voters that each would best lead the country in a time of terrorism.

"I want to look in my daughter's eyes and know that she is safe, and that is why I am voting for John Kerry," Kristen Breitweiser, whose lost her husband, says in an ad by the Democrat's campaign. "I fought for the 9/11 Commission, something George W. Bush, the man my husband Ron and I voted for, didn't think was necessary. And during the commission hearings we learned the truth: We are no safer today."

In another commercial by a Republican interest group, Ohio teenager Ashley Faulkner recalls being comforted by Bush after her mother died in the attacks. The president is shown embracing her. "He's the most powerful man in the world, and all he wants to do is make sure I'm safe, that I'm OK," the girl says.

The commercial by Progress for America Voter Fund is meant to appeal to voters on the fence, particularly women and seniors.