Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush administration appear to be feeling the growing public opposition to the USA Patriot Act. Rather than push safeguards and increase transparency, Ashcroft has hit the road in a publc relations campaign to convince the public that the Patriot Act is nothing to fear. Public concern over the Patriot Act is gaining momentum, drawing opposition from a diverse set of players, including the American Conservative Union and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press recently issued questions for reporters to ask Ashcroft to illuminate how often the act has been used in government investigations and whether one of its provisions could require journalists to turn over notebooks and reveal sources. In a vote that even took the White House by surprise, the House recently voted overwhelmingly (309-118) to repeal the “sneak and peek” measures. Nonetheless, this opposition is portrayed as marginal in talking points distributed as part of the Ashcroft summer tour (available through a special government web site). The tour is not just about regaining support for the Patriot Act. Ashcroft is also looking to garner support for the new VICTORY Act (Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act). Victory contains some of the provisions of the doomed Patriot II, increasing secret searching capabilities, easing secret access to business records, and creating a new category of crime, “narco-terrorism” (an apparent merger of “the war on terrorism” with the “war on drugs”). Speculation is that Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) will introduce that legislation when Congress reconvenes in the fall.