Inside the Beltway

Bush 1, Kerry 0

Louise R. Kilcullen knew the end was near, so the 86-year-old Alexandria woman, who died last Wednesday, made sure she voted by absentee ballot in the 2004 presidential election (we have it on good authority she cast her vote for President George W. Bush).

“She was kidding around … in the hospital that she wouldn’t be around on November 2, and she wanted to make sure she voted before she died,” the Rev. Dennis Kleinmann, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Old Town Alexandria, tells Inside the Beltway.

“I’m not sure about the [voting] guidelines if a person dies before [Election Day], but she did vote,” the priest reveals.

We also have it on good authority that Mrs. Kilcullen — a widow and loving mother of four children, seven grand-children and four great-grandchildren — requested that a “Bush-Cheney 2004” bumper sticker be attached to her coffin during her funeral services.

“It did not happen in church,” stresses Father Kleinmann, forbidding church and state to merge to such a degree in the hallowed sanctuary of Virginia’s oldest Catholic church.

“However,” the priest confirms, “when the coffin was pulled from the hearse at the cemetery and carried to the burial space, it did have a Bush bumper sticker on it.”

In fact, the amused Father Kleinmann tells us, the bumper sticker was glued to the end of the casket where he stood to recite the burial rites — “staring me in the face,” he laughs. “She was buried with the bumper sticker.”

Federal Election Commission spokesman Ian Stirton says the case of Mrs. Kilcullen is indeed “an unusual one,” and seemed relieved that the FEC has no say in such matters.

We’ll similarly leave it to a higher authority.

Pre-convention

A group of Democrats calling themselves “progressives” plan to use the Democratic National Convention to take back their party — and America.

On Tuesday, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean will lead a rally at Boston’s Royal Sonesta Hotel, followed by former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich and Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, who will discuss “kitchen table” economic issues facing everyday Americans.

Next on tap, Illinois Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy will outline this “united movement.”

On Wednesday, the progressive cast includes Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Sens. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Maria Cantwell of Washington, United Steelworkers of America President Leo Gerard, and a return appearance by Mr. Sweeney, to announce a program for “new energy” in America.

Later that day, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, Reps. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, and Barbara Lee of California will plead their cases about the role of the United States in Iraq and the world.

Last, but never least, the Rev. Jesse Jackson closes the pre-convention powwow Thursday by detailing the group’s grass-roots efforts.

Four more years

You know the 2004 election is looming when the introduction of a new anthology is written by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, with contributions from Republican stalwarts George Shultz, William Bennett, Edwin I. Meese III, Mike Huckabee, Phyllis Schlafly, James Dobson, Art Laffer, Stephen Moore and Grover Norquist, among others.

The book, “Thank you, President Bush: Reflections on the War on Terror, Defense of the Family and Revival of the Economy,” is set for release on Aug. 30, the opening day of the Republican National Convention.

Editors of the book are Rod D. Martin and Aman Verjee, the latter co-founder of American Thunder, a leading NASCAR magazine.

Commies for Kerry

It’s official: The Communist Party USA is backing John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

“The main question before us at the moment is: How will the Communist Party USA and [the Young Communist League] do our part in this historic battle to deliver a decisive defeat to Bush and the far-right agenda?” says a party statement.

After describing her party’s “Push Bush Out the Door in 2004” efforts, CPUSA political action committee Chairwoman Joelle Fishman writes: “Kerry reflects a liberal agenda, his campaign represents a moderate-progressive coalition. … He is the vehicle by which George W. Bush, representing the most extreme reaction, can be defeated.”

Among other “progressive” candidates praised by Miss Fishman are former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Georgia Democrat, Democratic Senate candidate Barack Obama in Illinois, and Democratic Senate hopeful Inez Tenenbaum in South Carolina.

• John McCaslin, whose column is nationally syndicated, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.