Do Newspaper Presidential Endorsements Matter?; Battle for Colorado; Social Security and the Election; Colorado's Amendment 36 - Part 1.

(From CNN News)

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ANNOUNCER: Sparring over security: John Kerry says George Bush must face the truth on Iraq. SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The truth is beginning to come out, and it's beginning to catch up with him. And on November 2nd, it will catch up with him. ANNOUNCER: The president in New Jersey, invoking memories of 9/11 to hit Kerry on terror. GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The war on terror -- there's no place for confusion and no substitute for victory. ANNOUNCER: And black and white: Who's winning the race for endorsements, and does it matter anyway?

Rocky Mountain highs and lows: Will the closer-than-expected race in Colorado lead to problems on Election Day?

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Now, live from the CNN Election Express in Boulder, Colorado, JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS. JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST: Thank you for joining us here in Colorado, which is proving to be more of a presidential battleground this year than many had predicted. We are at the beautiful University of Colorado campus at Boulder. And like so many college campuses, many students here appear to be fired up about this election -- now just two weeks and one day away. A new Colorado poll of likely voters suggests the often-changing race here has widen again, with Bush now leading Kerry by five points. Early voting began here today in Colorado and several other states, including Florida, where some problems are being reported, mostly computer glitches. John Kerry is urging Florida voters to take advantage of early voting to help prevent a repeat of the 2000 presidential standoff. The Democrat is hopscotching across the State of Florida today, and CNN's Frank Buckley is traveling with him. Hello, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Judy. Yeah, Senator Kerry in Tampa Bay, Florida, today to deliver a speech on healthcare policy -- one of a series of speeches that aides have called closing arguments leading up to Election Day in a couple of weeks. The senator essentially doing a couple of things in these speeches: criticizing President Bush on a particular issue or policy of the day, and then offering his own plan, his own proposals for what he would do if he is elected president. Senator Kerry speaking right now here at the Performing Arts Center on the issue of healthcare. That's the primary topic. But he's also criticizing President Bush on Iraq today. The senator picking up on a "Washington Post" article today that the former top commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, complained of dire supply shortages in the winter of 2003 in a letter that he sent to the Pentagon. Senator Kerry using the article to press his argument that President Bush has misled Americans on Iraq.

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KERRY: The day after General Sanchez wrote his letter, George Bush went out and told the American people our troops were properly equipped. Despite the president's arrogant boasting that he has done everything right in Iraq and that he's made no mistakes, the truth is beginning to catch up with him.

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BUCKLEY: The Kerry campaign also picking up on this theme in an ad it released today. It's called Bush's mess. It criticizes President Bush on Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror, talking about the frequent number of attacks on American troops in Iraq and criticizes President Bush for allowing Osama bin Laden to get away in Afghanistan, saying it was President Bush's policies that allowed that to happen. The Bush campaign coming back saying that this is once again another situation in which Senator Kerry is grasping at headlines and the senator is being hypocritical, given his vote against funding the troops the $87 billion in post-war Iraq. So, Iraq not going away, but meanwhile here in Florida, Senator Kerry talking about healthcare policy and trying to encourage voters to get out to vote on this early voting day. Earlier today, helping in the get out the vote…