The Note: Very Dignified

— -- WASHINGTON, Oct. 11

NEWS SUMMARY
Having finished their Habitat for Humanity participation this morning, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush will visit the reopening of Delisle Elementary School in Pass Christian Mississippi at 9:35 am ET.

In a television interview on another network this morning LIVE from his Habitat event, the President committed no serious news, but he did laugh at a lot of the questions (for reasons any student of George W. Bush would well understand), and he did allow himself to be shown hammering purposefully, with a peppery combination of cowboy swagger and yuppie self-consciousness.

The President is scheduled to arrive back at the White House at 3:25 pm ET.

The First Lady goes on to visit J.S. Chick Elementary School and participate in a "Helping America's Youth" discussion at 1:15 pm ET in Kansas City, MO.

New York Times reporter Judith Miller is expected to meet with the special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald, heading up the CIA leak investigation in Washington, DC. Sadly, no one seems to think that there will be a photo op, with or without shouted questions.

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card delivers a keynote address at the grand opening of the Hudson Institute's new headquarters in Washington, DC. The event runs from 5:30-7:30 pm ET.

Beginning at 10:00 am ET, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Brown v. Sanders, a death penalty case, and Lincoln Property v. Roche, a diversity jurisdiction case.

President Bush's Tax Reform Panel meets at 10:00 am ET at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) addresses the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH at 7:00 pm ET.

In remarks to the NAACP in Waterbury, CT this morning, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman was expected to respond to recent criticism from DNC Chairman Howard Dean. In remarks prepared for delivery, Mehlman is expected to say, "Chairman Dean said it took nerve for me to join you today. The only person with nerve is Howard Dean, who continues to take the African American vote for granted. . ."

At 10:30 am ET, former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (R) will discuss Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine's (D) personal opposition to the death penalty from his days at Harvard to his 2001 call for a moratorium on the death penalty.

In the hopes of creating a "Western Primary" with some heft, Jon Huntsman, the Republican governor of Utah, will announce at 1:30 pm ET today in the Santa Fe office of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that he will work to persuade Utah's legislature to schedule the state's 2008 presidential primary for Tuesday, Feb. 5 so that it falls on the same day that New Mexico and Arizona expect to hold their nominating contests.

Separate and apart from today's announcement, some Democrats from the West are hoping that the DNC will choose a Western state to be one of the two to four states that will join Iowa and New Hampshire in the pre-Feb. 5, 2008 window.

In the hopes of drumming up support for his ballot measures, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) will call into nine talk radio shows today.

At 7:30 pm ET, Republican Doug Forrester and Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) will go head to head as they answer caller questions in a live 101.5 FM gubernatorial debate.

John Edwards is in New York City today to help raise some money for Fernando Ferrer's campaign. Ferrer and Edwards will also attend the Local 1199 SEIU delegate assembly with 2,000 member activists at 6:30 pm ET.

In Cambridge, MA at 6:00 pm ET, Harvard's Institute of Politics is hosting a forum moderated by Tom Brokaw with Roger Ailes, Paul Begala, Jehmu Greene, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, and Judy Woodruff to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of George, the political magazine started by the late John F. Kennedy Jr. Scheduled to appear via remote hook-up are former President Bill Clinton and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. LINK

HBO and the Nixon Center screen "Last Best Chance," a documentary concerning the threat posed by vulnerable nuclear weapons and materials around the world," at 6:30 pm ET in Washington, DC. The screening will be followed by a discussion with former Sen. Sam Nunn, co-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and Dr. Andrei Kokoshin, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with the Diaspora.

The George Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs holds a discussion with Henry Farrell, assistant professor of political science and international affairs, titled, "Welcome to the Blogosphere: How Blogs are Changing Politics," in Washington, DC.

The Fitzgerald investigation:
In response to one of Matt Lauer's follow up questions about Karl Rove and the leak investigation, President Bush said, "Thank you for asking," before issuing his standard "I'm not going to discuss the case" response.

However, the President did go on to say that he thought Fitzgerald was conducting the investigation "in a very dignified way." We wonder what that means for Republicans who may want the option to try and discredit the well-respected Fitzgerald at some point in the future.

On the day Judith Miller is to meet again with Fitzgerald, he gets the once over in USA Today from Judy Keen, who finds that despite his critics, Fitzgerald is generally viewed as a "boy scout." LINK

Karl Rove will "share a stage" with gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Kilgore in Fairfax County this weekend, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. LINK

Harriet Miers for Associated Justice:
ABC's Arianne DeVogue reports Dr. James Dobson has decided to devote his Wednesday and Thursday radio show to the question of what the Christian conservative leader learned from Karl Rove about Harriet Miers.

Spokesman Paul Hetrick tells DeVogue, "Dobson is going to explain what he thinks needs further explanation. . . He's a doctor and he believes in the privilege of private conversations unless the other party has agreed to lift that privilege."

Hetrick went on to say that he didn't know whether Rove had been asked to lift any such privilege.

Based on a February 2005 Senate investigation report that came to light on Monday, the Washington Post's Becker and Pomfret report that while Miers was running Locke Liddell & Sapp the firm helped accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP sell a "sham tax shelter" in 1999 by advising investors that they "should" be able to beat the IRS in court. LINK

While Noting that the firm said Miers wasn't involved with the shelter, Bloomberg's Donmoyer has White House spokesman Allen Abney saying: "The transactions involved appropriate tax strategies." LINK

We would hate to see a Giuliani-Noriega dynamic take hold, where everything Miers' law firm ever did is laid at her feet. We really would hate that.But, for instance: The Boston Herald writes up her former law firm's PAC's donation to Hillary Clinton's 2000 campaign. LINK

Regarding yesterday's dump: "The documents, including many minutes of meetings of the Texas Lottery Commission, which Ms. Miers headed, shed little light on her legal thinking, but underscore her ties to Mr. Bush," write the New York Times' Blumenthal and Romero of the 2,000 pages of Miers documents from 1995-2000 released by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. LINK

Two great nuggets of correspondence included in the New York Times report:

1. Harriet Miers wrote to then Gov. Bush telling him he is "the best governor ever."2. Visiting with Gov. Bush on his plane is described as "cool" by Miers. (It is hard to know how much irony to read into that.)

Drawing on lessons learned from the Justice Kennedy experience, the Wall Street Journal ed board urges the White House to drop its "not-too-subtle promotion" of Miers' religion and personal views on abortion.

Writing in the Washington Times, Bruce Fein attributes the Miers nomination to the fact that Bush is "thoroughly unschooled in constitutional law and ill-equipped to recognize gifted and longheaded minds." LINK

Also in the Washington Times, Mona Charen takes a Brownsteinian world view and claims the Miers pick was made out of "arrogance," not cronyism. LINK

Bush agenda:
Bush's Social Security plan is officially "dead," according to USA Today's editorial board, which writes the lesson is that large social problems cannot be approached on a "partisan basis," which the President has always believed too. LINK

As US Trade Representative Rob Portman puts forth specific new concessions aimed at curbing trade-distorting farm subsidies, some leaders around the globe are trying to "tamp down" public expectations of a breakthrough at the December WTO conference in Hong Kong, the Wall Street Journal's Hitt and Miller report.

The politics of Katrina:
Anne Kornblut of the New York Times traveled to New Orleans with the President and provides an update on the Administration's Katrina-related legislative initiatives. LINK

"In his speech on Sept. 15, Mr. Bush proposed creating a Gulf Opportunity Zone that would stretch across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to provide incentives and tax breaks for businesses in areas hit by the storm in order to speed the rebuilding process. Mr. Duffy, the White House spokesman accompanying the president on Monday night, said the proposal was 'pending in Congress' although no legislative blueprint had been issued by the White House or sent to lawmakers."

"'I think there was an expectation the White House would send a big 'Here's our recovery' package,' Mr. Duffy said. 'I think it's more like Congress is going to be moving various pieces of legislation.'"

While overnighting in New Orleans last night, the President "chose [a] luxury hotel" for his accommodations, the Associated Press Notes twice in the same article. LINK

The President's self-imposed deadline of mid-October for emptying all of Katrina's temporary shelters may be in jeopardy, reports the Los Angeles Times. LINK

Jason DeParle of the New York Times looks at the erosion of the post-Katrina hope by many liberals that the federal government is going to move to cure all the ills of poverty exposed in the aftermath of the storm. LINK

Big Casino budget politics: Medicare:
The New York Times' Robert Pear provides a handy Q & A on the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. LINK

Pear also writes, "Information issued by the government, while generally accurate, tends to give an upbeat assessment of the new benefit, emphasizing the advantages. But the new program is so complex that the government, by its own account, has made two significant errors in explaining it to the public."

"Federal health officials incorrectly described the standard minimum drug benefit in an advertisement that appeared on Sept. 25 in Parade magazine, the Sunday newspaper supplement with a circulation of more than 37 million. In addition, the official Medicare handbook, sent to all beneficiaries, significantly overstates the number of prescription drug plans that will be available without any premiums for low-income people."

"The Bush administration has notified Congress of the errors and says they will be corrected in future brochures and on the Medicare Web site."

DeLay:
Janet Elliot of the Houston Chronicle focuses on the background of the 2003 corruption law which is at the center of the DeLay controversy. LINK

2008:
With ABC's smash hit show "Commander in Chief" as her backdrop, Susan Page takes a long look at whether a woman -- like, say, for argument's sake, Sen. Hillary Clinton -- could actually win the presidency. She hints 2008 might be a "breakout year" for women in the White House. LINK

Corky Siemaszk of the New York Daily News writes-up the new book by Dick Morris and wife Eileen McGann "Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race," in which they "explain" why the Secretary of State is the only person who can defeat the former First Lady. LINK

2008: Republicans:
Sen. John McCain's decision to campaign yesterday with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for the his favored ballot issues is leading to accusations of hypocrisy, according to the Los Angeles Times: McCain is supporting Schwarzenegger, who has raised $76 million since the recall, but four years ago called former Gov. Gray Davis' attempt to raise $26 million "disgraceful." LINK

The San Francisco Chronicle picks up the theme, suggesting McCain could be hurting himself by appearing with the wildly unpopular Schwarzenegger. LINK

In North Carolina yesterday Bay State Gov. Romney spoke to Republicans and politicians about terrorist goals of 'theocracy,' and touted the reduction of his state's deficit in what Romney called, "Taxachusettes." LINK

Note the Globe's attempt to turn the story into some sort of gotcha, which in this case we don't really get.

Many Governor's are trading in their SUV's for more economic means, but not Gov. Huckabee (R- AK) the AP reports he 's keeping his gas guzzler because it would cost more money to change the lease than to switch cars. LINK

2008: Democrats:
The Des Moines Register's Tim Higgins reports that corn-crazed Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA) has discovered ways to utilize the creatively fuel-efficient ethanol pale in comparison. LINK

Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen tries to discern whether voters care enough about John Kerry to offer the Senator a comeback opportunity in 2008, or whether new Blue blood might take the Democratic ticket. LINK

For David Wade, at least, it is a must-read, and the Kerry-Edwards Alumni Association will be burning up the message boards today discussing this paragraph: "Kerry understands why he lost. Strategists in his camp say if he does run again, the campaign will be more nimble in responding to attacks than it was in 2004. He won't be isolated from key Democrats seeking to offer advice."

Wesley Clark, speaking to Alabama Democrats, delivered a fervent we-Democrats-pray-too litany. LINK

2005:
The New York Times' Cardwell writes of Fernando Ferrer's fundraising woes in a must-read for all. LINK

"Whether out of fear of retaliation from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg or a simple lack of desire to see Mr. Ferrer replace him, few of the deep-pocket supporters whom candidates have traditionally relied on have opened their checkbooks for him."

Rutenberg and Healy of the New York Times write up the Ferrer campaign's leaning into the political suspicions some have expressed surrounding the recent subway security increase, an idea wholly dismissed by Team Bloomberg. LINK

The New York Times rounds out its mayoral campaign coverage with Mike McIntire's look at a Bloomberg campaign ad asserting a third property tax rebate on its way, long before 2006 budget negotiations have begun to determine the realistic chances of such a rebate. LINK

The New York Post reports that -- in an effort to cultivate an openly pro-Bloomberg gay community -- Mayor Bloomberg is hiring former Democratic candidate for Manhattan borough president Brian Ellner. LINK

Per the Post: Howard Dean can't answer Fernando Ferrer's "where's-my-$1 million-from-the-Democrats" question. LINK

David Chen of the New York Times explores the different styles in retail politics between Corzine and Forrester. Chen rightly Notes that retail politics will play little to no role in the homestretch of this race. LINK

The New York Post reports on the latest polls in New Jersey gubernatorial contest showing a very close race. LINK

Rudy Giuliani and First Lady Laura Bush will be the high profile Republicans sharing a stage with Forrester this week.

2006:
Sensing a political opening, House Democrats are planning on unveiling their 2006 agenda in the coming weeks instead of waiting until early 2006.

Per Roll Call's Erin Billings, among the proposals are: "'real security' for America through stronger investments in U.S. armed forces and benchmarks for determining when to bring troops home from Iraq; affordable health insurance for all Americans; energy independence in 10 years; an economic package that includes an increase in the minimum wage and budget restrictions to end deficit spending; and universal college education through scholarships and grants as well as funding for the No Child Left Behind act."

"Democrats will also promise to return ethical standards to Washington through bipartisan ethics oversight and tighter lobbying restrictions, increase assistance to Katrina disaster victims through Medicaid and housing vouchers, save Social Security from privatization and tighten pension laws."

We will believe it when we see it, but don't mark us down as skeptical.

Keying off of NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds' pen-and-pad briefing last week, Roll Call's David Drucker reports that the GOP is planning on focusing on its ground game, tailoring the strategy of each campaign to "the unique political dynamics that exist in individual House districts."

"Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) says he won't run for governor," reports the AP. LINK

In his Boston Globe op-ed Scot Leigh Notes that as Massachusetts elections heat up, gubernatorial challenger Attorney General Tom Reilly has a ready war chest, large polls numbers, and willingness to debate -- which is more than some other politicians. LINK

Politics:
Fernanda Santos of the New York Times provides an excellent look at Justice Scalia's day as grand marshal of New York City's Columbus Day Parade. LINK

Gov. Jeb Bush's support for a bill in Congress allowing off-shore drilling close to the Florida coast is drawing fire from both parties in his home state. LINK

The FBI is thinking about relaxing its hiring rules over how often applicants could have used marijuana or other illegal drugs earlier in life, the AP's Ted Bridis reports. LINK

In a piece looking at the growing Capitol Hill presence in the blogosphere, the Washington Post's Brian Faler Notes that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) caught some attention on the Huffington Post last month by posting a 2,000-word response to bloggers' complaints about Democrats who supported John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court. LINK

The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne praises William F. Buckley Jr.'s attempts at conservative fusionism. LINK

The Watergate has been sold. LINK

Professor Wolfson is teaching politics at the New School, per Page Six, although given what he looked like on "The Road to City Hall" last night, we suggest he consider becoming a Weight Watchers instructor instead (or, perhaps, in addition). LINK

Congratulations to the potent and powerful Patrick Ruffini, who is returning to the RNC to assume the role of RNC eCampaign Director.