FROM
ABCNEWS NOTED NOW:
MIAMI, WE HAVE A PROBLEM: A senior Republican official tells ABC News' Jonathan Karl that the first presidential debate, scheduled for Thursday in Miami, could be canceled unless there is a breakthrough soon in negotiations between the two campaigns and the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The only remaining sticking point, Karl reports, is the reluctance of the Commission on Presidential Debates to sign the agreement negotiated by the Bush and Kerry campaigns.
The commission and the campaigns have been negotiating a side letter the commission (and moderators) would sign instead of the agreement, but the Bush campaign finds the current draft of the letter too weakly worded.
DEBATE PREP: ABC News has learned (TA DA!!!) that Washington superlawyer Bob Barnett -- who played Dick Cheney during Joe Lieberman's 2000 debate prep -- will reprise that role for John Edwards. He joins Judd Gregg (Kerry), Gregory Craig (Bush), and Rob Portman (Edwards) in the 2004 stand-in crowd...