Politics

"Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has made a public vow: If John Edwards is chosen as John Kerry's running mate, the chamber will abandon its traditional stance of neutrality in the presidential race and work feverishly to defeat the Democratic ticket.

The former head of a GOP Marketplace, a Republican consulting group, has pleaded guilty to jamming get-out-the-vote efforts on election day in New Hampshire two years ago. The company used computer-generated phone calls to flood phone lines that were set up so voters could call for rides to the polls.

Michael Crowley looks at the Media Fund and Americans Coming Together (ACT), two liberal 527 committees who may spend as much as $150 million before Nov. 2 in an attempt to defeat George W. Bush. Although they are officially nonpartisan, 527s - used by both parties - use a loophole in election laws to get around limits on "soft money" spending by political parties.

Citizens for a Sound Economy, a right-wing corporate front group opposed to everything Ralph Nader has struggled for, is working hard to help his 2004 presidential campaign in an effort to defeat John Kerry. "'Ralph Nader is undoubtedly going to pull some very crucial votes from John Kerry, and that could mean the difference in a razor-thin presidential election,' reads a script used by Citizens for a Sound Economy in its phone calls [to Republicans in the state of Oregon].