Kerry, Romney will speak when the Democrats meet

Ralph Nader plans to submit signatures in the Bay State.

Two big names in Massachusetts politics, Senator John F. Kerry and former governor Mitt Romney, will be speaking in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention next week.

Kerry is part of the official program. Organizers said yesterday that the 2004 Democratic nominee will talk Wednesday night, when the theme is "Securing America's Future." Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island is also scheduled that night.

Romney is not on the official list, but is to speak Tuesday at a counter-rally organized by Republicans in Denver near where Democrats will be gathered.

GLOBE STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS

DNC says McCain joke signals he's out of touch
Democrats are jumping on a joke made by Republican John McCain as more evidence that he's out of touch with ordinary Americans.

During a forum on faith Saturday night at Saddleback Church, McCain was asked, "Where do you move from middle class to rich?"

"If you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?" McCain quipped.

The Democratic National Committee yesterday released a Web video that features that remark and points out that only 1 in 1,000 Americans make $5 million or more a year. Democrats say McCain's plan to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent would give his own family a tax cut of $370,000, while giving the average middle class family only $319 in savings.

FOON RHEE

University refuses to open Obama-related records
WASHINGTON - The University of Illinois yesterday refused to release records relating to Barack Obama's service to a nonprofit group that has been linked to former 1960s radical activist William Ayers.

The university's Chicago campus said the donor of the records that document the work of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge has not yet turned over ownership rights to the material. The university is "aggressively pursuing" an agreement with the donor, and as soon as an agreement is finalized, the collection will be made accessible to the public, the school said.

Ayers, an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in his youth cofounded the Weatherman organization, which espoused violence as a necessity for political change.

In the 1990s, Ayers was instrumental in starting the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was awarded nearly $50 million by a foundation to help reform Chicago schools. Obama was the first chairman of that group.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Obama, McCain call truce over political ads on 9/11
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama and John McCain plan to pull ads on the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, that criticize each other, a respite from the political fray to honor the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

A group called MyGoodDeed.org urged the truce. It wants Sept. 11 to become a national day of voluntary service and asked that Obama and McCain perform acts of community service instead.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain did not plan to advertise at all on the anniversary. "9/11 is not a day for politics," Rogers said.

The Obama campaign said it plans to stop airing anti-McCain ads on Sept. 11.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nader to turn in 17,000 names for Mass. ballot
Ralph Nader's campaign announced yesterday that it will submit the signatures necessary today to get on the November presidential ballot in Massachusetts.

The campaign plans to turn in about 17,000 validated names - well more than the 10,000 needed - to the Secretary of State's office. To qualify for the ballot, the campaign submitted more than 22,000 signatures to 332 towns and cities on July 29, in what it called "the most complex petition submission in the nation."

Once made official, Massachusetts would become the 34th state where Nader will appear on the ballot, his campaign said.

FOON RHEE

Libertarian cites poll for inclusion in debates
Libertarian Bob Barr, trying to squeeze into the presidential debates, yesterday cited a recent poll by Zogby that shows that 55 percent of all voters want him included.

In the survey, 69 percent of independents favored inviting Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia. Younger voters were more open to including Barr, Zogby said.

"We're very pleased to hear the results of the poll and are heartened to learn that most voters don't buy into the 'spoiler' argument," Russell Verney, Barr's campaign manager, said.

FOON RHEE