WASHINGTON, D.C.

Survey: Powell, Giuliani top potential VP choices

More than half the delegates to next week’s Republican National Convention surveyed by The Associated Press were willing to suggest a new running mate for President Bush if Dick Cheney leaves the ticket.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani top the list. But the president’s support of Cheney remains bedrock — and no delegates said outright they wanted to get rid of him, even as a few spoke wistfully of other names.

Roughly 9 percent of delegates named Powell, who spurned Bush’s vice presidential overtures in 2000, the AP found. That was slightly ahead of Giuliani, considered a potential 2008 presidential hopeful.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was third at more than 7 percent, followed by two influential GOP senators — John McCain of Arizona and Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Poll: Kerry loses ground in some key areas

Democrat John Kerry has lost ground with voters in their perceptions of his honesty, leadership skills and Vietnam experience during the heated debate over his war record as a swiftboat officer, a poll found.

Ads paid for by a group called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have questioned Kerry’s Vietnam service and claim he lied about his actions while piloting a swiftboat on a Vietnam river in the late 1960s. The Kerry campaign has rebutted the claims with Navy documents and other veteran accounts, and Kerry has accused President Bush of being behind the ads paid for by an independent group. Bush has denied that charge.

A month ago, Kerry and President Bush were tied on the question of who has the honesty and integrity to serve as president. Bush now has an advantage on that question, 46 percent to 39 percent, according to a Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Democrats unveil ad as convention preview

Democrats unveiled an ad on Thursday portraying President Bush’s record on the economy as dismal, a preview of their theme for next week’s Republican National Convention: Mission not accomplished.

The 30-second ad, which will air in 21 battleground states starting Friday, shows an empty warehouse as a narrator recalls several of Bush’s statements, including “our economy is strong and growing stronger” and “manufacturing activity is as good as it’s been in 20 years.”

The Democrats, as the Republicans did in Boston last month, will establish a rapid response operation for the convention, located a few blocks from Madison Square Garden, to counter criticism of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.