ABC News' The Note: First Source for Political News

ByABC News
July 22, 2004, 9:35 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, July 22, 2004&#151;<br> -- NOTED NOW

TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)

FUTURES CALENDAR

Morning Show Wrap

Evening Newscasts Wrap

4 days until the Democratic convention39 days until the Republican convention103 days until election day

NEWS SUMMARY:Today, we bring you news from the world of politics.

Or more exactly, we bring you news of two new ways you can plug into ABC News coverage of politics and the conventions.

From now until election day available to you 'round the clock ABC News Now and Noted Now.

CONSIDER OUR RARE USE OF ALL CAPS HERE AS THE DIGITAL EQUIVALENT OF OUR GRABBING YOU BY THE LAPELS AND YELLING SWEETLY IN YOUR EARS:

WE LOVE POLITICS AND WE LOVE MEDIA AND IF YOU ARE A NOTE READER, WE HOPE YOU TRUST OUR SENSIBILITIES ABOUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT AND GOOD AND KEY.

DON'T SKIM AND DON'T IGNORE.

WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT TWO NEW WAYS FOR THE JOURNALISTS OF ABC NEWS TO GET YOU THE BEST POLITICAL COVERAGE AVAILABLE ANYWHERE, BUT YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO ADJUST YOUR HORIZONS AND BUILD UP YOUR TECH MUSCLES JUST A LITTLE BIT.

OK resuming in a normal tone of voice and volume.

Let's start with the gavel-to-gavel sound and picture and reporting . . .

Launching this Monday at the start of the Democratic National Convention, ABC News Now extends to digital cable the 24-hour news programming already available via our broadband service on ABCNEWS.com.

As we alluded to both last week and this, ABC News will feature primetime coverage of the Democratic convention from 10:00 p.m. ET to 11:00 p.m. ET on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday on our broadcast affiliates all over America.

But you don't have to wait that long to find out what's going on. ABC News Now will cover the Democratic convention in Boston and the Republican convention in New York, gavel-to-gavel, anchored by Peter Jennings and you can watch it on TV over either your digital TV or cable signal, or on your PC by signing up with one of our broadband partners or on ABCNEWS.com.

But it doesn't stop there.

ABC News Now isn't just a convention phenomenon; it will remain on the air, on your digital signal and broadband connections, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, right through the election and through it we'll cover many Bush/Cheney and Kerry/Edwards campaign events live and in full that you won't be able to find on any other cable channel or anywhere else on the Web.

So you will be able to watch at home or office or dorm room anytime.

It's ABC News political coverage as you have come to expect it streaming video, just like on "regular" TV just delivered in a myriad of modern ways.

We'll also have regular newsbriefs from our anchors and news reports from ABC News correspondents around the world.

Again, beyond all the coverage of politics and news you will get from ABC News, this will be THE place for live events all day and into the night.

How often have you been all excited this year to see a speech by President Bush or John Kerry and found the cable networks either cutting away or not covering the event at all?

ABC News Now is now starting Monday an indispensable product in your political media life.

If you are working on the campaign, covering the campaign, or simply intensely interested in the outcome, you are going to want to spend a little time today making sure you know how you are going to be able to watch starting Monday.

How do you get to see all this fantastic coverage? Several ways:

Digital cable at home: All 10 ABC owned affiliated stations will have the digital channel, and like many non-owned affiliates, they will be arranging for cable coverage within their local markets.

These stations are: WABC (New York City), KABC (Los Angeles), WLS (Chicago), WPVI (Philadelphia), KGO (San Francisco), KTRK (Houston), WTVD (Raleigh/Durham), WJRT (Flint, Mich.), WTVG (Toledo, OH), and KFSN (Fresno, Calif.).

We will have more announcements of affiliate plans and affiliate/network collaboration in the future, and more information on where to find the channel on the cable system where you live.

On your PC: Go to ABCNEWS.com and subscribe to ABC News On Demand. You get a free trial period, and after that it's a mere $4.95 a month (LINK).

Or

You can also go to REAL.com (LINK) and subscribe to RealNetworks' SuperPass, which gives you a free trial, and then costs just $9.95 a month.

Or

If you're an AOL subscriber, it's available at AOL.com for no extra charge. Via AOL News, click on ABC News 24/7 to watch. There's also a free trial period if you aren't yet a subscriber.

It's also available to SBC/Yahoo and Bell South DSL customers.

Hand-held devices: Sprint PCS Vision customers download MobiTV from the applications menu, and tune in to Channel 5.

For even more information: LINK

If all that seems complicated to you (Yes, we mean you, Fred Hochberg . . .), go find a tech-savvy friend and say "I want me ABC News Now now," and they will figure out how to sign you up and tune you in.

Now, on to you strictly word Internet types who like hitting "reload" for your political news from ABC News all day

For the past couple of months, many of you have tuned in to Noted Now for the latest and best political reporting, updates from the campaigns, and information both from the road and from the inside.

Now we've made it better. That's right, people, a separate, bookmarkable (dare we say, PERMALINK?) page for your Noted Now pleasure more readable and updated all the time.

And it's right here: LINK

So log on, tune in, and stay that way and check back with ABC News throughout EVERY day for the latest, most up-to-the-minute political news.

Tonight on World News Tonight, Peter Jennings is live in Detroit in the battleground state of Michigan to chat with Senator John Kerry and take a look at the pulse of the Wolverine State with ABC News' John Cochran. Watch it, read excerpts on the interview on Noted Now, listen to them on ABC News Radio . . . you get the idea.

Sept. 11 is the lead today: at 11:30 am ET, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the U.S. releases its final, 575-page report. Watch the unveiling live on ABC . . . then go to your favorite local bookstore to buy it.

President Bush received the briefing from the Commission's chairman and vice-chairman at 8:50 am ET this morning. At 9:50 am ET, Bush signs the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 at the White House, and this afternoon is in the non-battleground state of Illinois to tour and speak about national security at the Northeastern Illinois Public Training Academy at 4:40 pm ET. He ends the day in Winnetka, Ill., where he raises money for the RNC.

We wonder if he'll be talking about the KE04 Radio City Music Hall fundraiser and John Edwards in People magazine today too we hear that stuff really gins up the ol' money machine, even if it's arguably outside the realm of the strictly "presidential."

As you inferred from the above Senator Kerry is in Detroit, speaking to the National Urban League Conference (at 10:00 am ET) and receiving the endorsement of former opponent Rep. Kucinich in Detroit at 12:50 pm ET. Kerry travels to Denver late this afternoon preceding his pre-convention national campaign swing that will begin tomorrow.

Jenna and Barbara Bush are in and around Philadelphia today for more closed-door events with Bush-Cheney supporters.

Senator Edwards is in Hartford today for a 1:15 pm ET fundraiser. He also flies to Denver this evening in advance of tomorrow's event in Kerry's birthplace of Aurora, Colo.

Ralph Nader's campaign is in a Texas court today arguing that his more than 50,000 signatures should be accepted despite missing the deadline for submission.

And the Senate votes on judicial nominations and takes up the DOD Appropriations bill.

The politics of the 9/11 commission:"The unanimous final report of the Sept. 11 commission will sharply criticize Congress for failing in its role as overall watchdog over the nation's intelligence agencies and will call for wholesale changes in the way lawmakers oversee intelligence agencies and the Homeland Security Department," reports the New York Times ' Carl Hulse and Philip Shenon. LINK

The Washington Post 's Dan Eggen and Dafna Linzer preview the report, which roams "far beyond the hijacking plot and the government's failure to detect it, touching on issues including weapons-proliferation policies and the United States' treatment of detainees captured in the war on terrorism." LINK

The New York Times ' David Sanger looks at the different angles to be taken in Washington concerning the Sept. 11 commission's final report. LINK

"When the dust settles, today's 9/11 Commission report may well be remembered as much for what it did not contain as for its factual exposition and recommendations," writes Rep. Christopher Cox in his preview of the 9-11 commission's final report and its impact.

"The commission's report 'exonerates the Saudis to a large degree,' said a Senate official who attended a recent briefing by the Sept. 11 panel," writes Greg Miller of the Los Angeles Times. LINK

The Chicago Tribune's William Neikirk looks at the partisan battle political hot potato, more like Republicans and Democrats are waging as the final 9/11 commission report is released, and wraps in the effects of the Berger incident and President Bush's comments that he'd have "moved heaven and earth to protect America" if he'd had any inkling that attacks on the U.S. were imminent. LINK

The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank writes up the passenger manifest released Wednesday showing that 13 relatives of Osama bin Laden left the U.S. on a chartered flight eight days after Sept. 11. The New York Post 's Vince Morris reports Senator Frist is a bit more eager to get to work on some of the suggested reforms than are his House colleagues. LINK

USA Today 's Mimi Hall and Andrea Stone report, "President Bush defended his war on terrorism Wednesday as an independent commission that conducted the most comprehensive review yet of the Sept. 11 attacks prepared to call for sweeping changes in the nation's intelligence-gathering system." LINK

You can pick up the report at your local bookstore on this, the very same day it is released. LINK

It costs $10 and was number 42 on Amazon.com yesterday, Notes the Washington Post 's Linton Weeks.LINK

ABC News Vote 2004: Kerry-Edwards '04:

The AP's Nedra Pickler previews Senator John Kerry's speech on gang violence at the Urban League in Detroit. "John Kerry says as president he would direct a zero-tolerance policy against gang violence and spend more on programs aimed at steering urban youth away from crime." LINK

Deborah Orin wonders if it isn't time for another Kerry adviser to step down in addition to Sandy Berger. In her New York Post column, Orin looks at recent findings at odds with Ambassador Joe Wilson's assertions, and she reports he is still currently advising the Kerry campaign. LINK

The Chicago Tribune's Stephen Hedges takes a look at Senator Kerry's foreign policy team. LINK

Ad executives looked at four separate campaign advertisements and voted on which one they thought was most effective. "Three Minutes," the first John Kerry ad featuring his new running mate John Edwards won by a landslide reports Wendy Pollack of the Wall Street Journal .

Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times reviews and fact checks John Kerry's latest ad targeting Hispanic voters, "Faith." LINK