ABC News' The Note: First Source for Political News
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 16, 2004—<br> -- NOTED NOW
TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)
FUTURES CALENDAR
Morning Show Wrap
Evening Newscasts Wrap
14 days until the Republican convention78 days until election day
NEWS SUMMARY
Sure, the Bush campaign is making another attempt this week to paint John Kerry as unqualified to be Commander-in-Chief — with its usual patented mutually-reinforcing mix of paid media, big time candidate statements, surrogate conference calls, muscular talking points, and an e-mail or 70.
And, sure, the Kerry campaign is making another attempt to paint George Bush as too beholden to special interests — with its usual patented scattershot mix of cognitive-dissonance-causing mélange of paid media, confused and forceless candidate statements, surrogate conference calls based on weak talking points, and an e-mail or 90.
But between weather, sports, celebrity trials, and summer vacations (including some by candidates), this is by our estimation the last pre-November week in which presidential politics won't be at a full gallop.
Next week, we will be just seven days out from the Republican convention in Gotham City, and we remain convinced that more news will be made inside and outside the hall than was seen in Boston.
Some will be purposeful and orchestrated by the BC04RNC forces; other newsy things will happen through the natural progression of events.
So we ease you into the week by telling you to pace yourselves for seven more days, because, after that, there will be no rest for the weary — or the wary.
And now we will tell you about the must-reads of the last 72 hours and currently:
1. A trio of New York Times pieces:
A. Eric Lichtblau explodes across the front page breaking the news that FBI agents are visiting with potential protesters in a way some are finding chilling. Watch for this one on a campaign trail near you, coming soon. LINK
B. The formidable team of Worth, Justice, and Lichtblau find thinnish gruel in trying to cast Kerry's money machine as nefarious. LINK
C. With sourcing as ethereal as Natalie Portman in "Garden State" (LINK), David Kocieniewski and Laura Mansnerus claim that New Jersey Democrats met and conference called all weekend to try to figure out how to get McGreevey to quit before Sept. 3 in order to have Senator Corzine elected in a special. LINK
2. The Star Ledger's Kinney and Margolin go even farther, saying that some prominent Democrats are going to open their mouths in public and make the call for McGreevey to go. LINK
3. The Washington Post 's eagle-eyed John Harris sums up his five days in a row with the president on the hustings and comes away obviously impressed with the fire and focus of the Campaigner-in-Chief. LINK
4. Maura Reynolds' looked in Sunday's Los Angeles Times at how President Bush is brilliantly balancing his appeals to centrist and base voters on the stump. LINK
5. Read David Broder's Sunday treatise in the Washington Post examining two of President Bush's great vulnerabilities as an incumbent that "have almost nothing to do with his opponent, John F. Kerry": the decision to attack Iraq and avoiding paying for it. "If Bush can win reelection despite the failure of his two most consequential — and truly radical — decisions, he will truly be a political miracle man. But as his own nominating convention approaches, the odds are against him." LINK
On the stump this week, President Bush plans to be all about the military, foreign policy and national security, and in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati today at 11:00 ET, he will explain his plan to bring home about 70,000 uniformed U.S. troops currently stationed around the world — the largest troop realignment since the end of the Cold War.
As anyone who cares about this has read by now, these troops will largely be pulled from Europe and Asia and re-based to the U.S.
Senator Kerry will speak in the same city to the same group on Wednesday.
President Bush talks more about homeland security later this week during stops in Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is also in Cincinnati to speak to the VFW and do a little battleground state campaigning-type events, touring the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Later in the day President Bush holds a campaign rally at 4:20 pm ET in Traverse City, MI, becoming the first sitting President to visit the city since Gerald Ford did so in 1975.
Senator Edwards is in Missouri and Georgia today to raise a new line of domestic-policy criticism: that President Bush is stacking his government with friends who are gutting regulations on U.S. corporations. (Ring a bell to front page Washington Post and New York Times weekend stories?)
He does so in rallies in Willard, MO, at 1:00 pm ET; in College Park, GA at 5:30 pm ET; and at a fundraiser in Atlanta at 7:15 ET.
Senator Kerry and Vice President Cheney are both on vacation today with no public events.
In Washington today, the Senate Armed Services Committee begins two days of hearings on the effort to overhaul intelligence — that tomorrow will include the first testimony since the 9/11 Commission report from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers.
The Commerce Committee discusses the same topic today with 9/11 Commission chair and vice-chair, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton.
The Week Ahead:
Tomorrow President Bush speaks in Ridley Park, PA, and at Hedgesville High School in Hedgesville, WV.
Vice President Cheney is on vacation.
Mrs. Bush delivers remarks at a "W. Stands for Women" rally, St. Louis, MO.
Senator Kerry travels from Ketchum, ID to Cincinnati, OH.
Senator Edwards campaigns in Fort Smith, AR and Birmingham, AL.
And the Consumer Price Index for July is released.
On Wednesday, President Bush speaks in Chippewa Falls, WI, participates in an "Ask President Bush" event in St. Croix, WI, and speaks at a rally at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. Mrs. Bush speaks at a BC'04 event in Denver and speaks at a Victory 2004 reception in Houston. Senator Kerry speaks to the VFW in Cincinnati, OH. Senator Edwards campaigns in New Orleans, LA.
On Thursday, President Bush is at his Crawford ranch with no scheduled events through Sunday. Senator Edwards is in Washington, D.C. with no scheduled events through Friday. And don't forget that Thursday is the deadline for Ralph Nader to submit signatures to get on the ballot in Ohio.
And former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani will speak on the president's behalf in New York City on Friday.
New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey has no public events scheduled as of this writing.
The politics of Hurricane Charley:
All together now: "LEARNING THE LESSONS OF HIS FATHER … … "!!!!
And will all this really delay or disrupt the Senate primaries in two weeks and one day?
The Miami Herald 's Lesley Clark Notes that as he toured the western coast of Florida ravaged by Hurricane Charley, President "Bush made it clear Sunday that he has learned from President George H.W. Bush's experience" when his administration was criticized for responding slowly to the devastation left by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. LINK
"With a recent Florida poll showing Democrat John Kerry taking a slight lead in the state that delivered Bush the presidency in 2000 by just 537 votes, Bush wasn't taking any chances, inspecting wind-ripped Southwest Florida by helicopter and motorcade."
Clark also Notes the rock-and-a-hard-place position of Senator Kerry, whose campaign is concerned that a Florida visit would be inappropriate.
The Orlando Sentinel's Wes Smith reports that President Bush promised Florida residents that "help is on the way," and Notes that President Bush was joined on a motor and foot tour by [Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Wayne P.] Sallade and Reps. Porter Goss and Mark Foley. LINK
Almost a million Florida residents are still without power, reports the Orlando Sentinel. LINK
The St. Petersburg Times reports that 16 fatalities have been confirmed in the wake of Hurricane Charley, and President Bush Noted that the number of people who evacuated when advised to minimized the number of deaths that could have occurred. LINK
The Washington Post 's Ceci Connolly was with President Bush during his visit to Florida this weekend, where he pledged that the victims of the hurricane would get the assistance they need, underscoring the lesson learned by his father's slower response to the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Andrew in Florida in 1992. " … the government's job is to help people help rebuild their lives, and that's what's happening," Bush said. LINK
There's a "huge supply chain" providing relief supplies to the region, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown said Sunday, the Palm Beach Post reports. "'It's a chain that we will keeping feeding until we overfeed this beast,' said Brown, who toured the airport with Gov. Jeb Bush Sunday afternoon." LINK
The President's darned if he does, darned if he doesn't response to the political question thrown at him during his Punta Gorda visit sounds pretty spot-on to us. LINK
And make sure you check out the photo BC04RNC hoped for gracing the front page of the Los Angeles Times.
On Sunday, the New York Times ' Hulse and Wald gave President Bush and Senator Kerry a little direction in how they should handle the disaster in that vital battleground state of Florida. LINK
Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times touched on the same issue Sunday, and how Bush 43 folks are just hoping the aftermath of Charley does not grow up to be anything like the aftermath of Bush 41's Andrew.LINK
Senator Kerry has instructed Florida campaign staffers to "provide food, clothing, shelter or other assistance to people whose lives have been disrupted by the hurricane," the AP's Nedra Picker reported Saturday. LINK
Finally, amateur meteorologist and close Bush-Cheney watcher Adam Levine looks at what those wagsters at NOAA have come up with in their list of names for upcoming Atlantic storms — and Notes some interesting choices:
Danielle Earl Frances GastonHermineIvanJeanneKarlLisaMatthewNicole (sic) OttoPaulaRichard (as in "Cheney") SharyTomasVirginieWalter
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
Anne Kornblut of the Boston Globe previews today's speech by President Bush and highlights the Kerry campaign's recent push-back on Bush attacks on his commander-in-chief qualifications. LINK
The Wall Street Journal 's Neil King previews President Bush's military redeployment plan set to be laid out during the VFW convention today. An adviser to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry called the plan 'a long-term strategic mistake' that would do nothing to address current strains on U.S. military forces. 'We are already overstretched, but this plan will simply move our forces around without increasing our capabilities,' said Ashton Carter, a former Defense Department official who is a Kerry adviser."
"President Bush will speak to Veterans of Foreign Wars convention delegates here today about U.S. troop realignment, but they are likely to be most interested in what he has to say about veterans' health care," reports the Cincinnati Enquirer's Howard Wilkinson. LINK
And seriously, in case by some accident of the fickle universe you missed David Broder in Sunday's Washington Post , we bring you the link again, and urge you to avail yourself of The Dean's look at what the president needs to tell voters about his decision to engage in the Iraq war, and how he's paid for it — or not. LINK
ABC News' Karen Travers reports that today, the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign will release a new ad, "Intel," that criticizes Senator Kerry's attendance record on the Senate Intelligence Committee and his record in intelligence spending.
The Fox Friday airing notwithstanding, the ad will air on national cable and local markets in 19 states, and joins three other spots on national cable ("Victory," "Solemn Vow," "Ownership").
