The Note

ByABC News
June 18, 2004, 11:37 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, June 18, 2004&#151;<br> -- NOTED NOW

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NEWS SUMMARY

Meet "overshadow," one of the political media's favorite words.

Along with "apparent," "privately," and "controversy," the press just can't get enough of the word "overshadow," and situations in which a source reflects apparent controversy by privately confiding that there is concern in his party that A might overshadow B.

Will John McCain overshadow George Bush?

Will Dick Gephardt overshadow John Edwards?

Will bad news from Iraq overshadow positive economic news?

Will Michael Moore overshadow Bill Clinton?

Will Time overshadow 60 Minutes?

Will Jamie Rubin overshadow Joe Biden?

Will the angry complaints of rich people on Nantucket overshadow Father's Day?

Will Bill Clinton's book tour overshadow President Bush's key Cincinnati speech on marriage on Monday?

What evil lurks in the hearts of the New York Times ?

The Shadow knows.

President Bush spends the day at Ft. Lewis, Wash. speaking to military personnel and meeting with injured soldiers and families of slain soldiers. His speech is at 11:00 am ET.

This afternoon, Bush flies to Camp David and spends the weekend there. Senator Kerry meanwhile is continuing his focus on the economy, speaking about the minimum wage at 10:35 am ET.

Before jetting off to Nantucket for the weekend, Kerry holds a couple of fundraisers in the Washington area.

Vice President Cheney will take up the economy today in a 4:10 p.m. ET speech in Colorado that follows a morning fundraiser for Jeff Fortenbery in Nebraska.

Today at 10:30, Sens. Sessions, Allard, Brownback, and Cornyn endorse Allard's version of a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage.

And First Lady Laura Bush concludes her first multi-state campaign tour with 9:00 am and 1:00 p.m. rallies in Ohio and Minnesota.

Over the weekend, former President Bill Clinton celebrates Father's Day night by appearing, for the entire hour, on "60 Minutes."

Monday, Senator Kerry will be in the Denver area and finish up the day in New Mexico and Vice President Cheney will be in Springfield, Mo.

Today the Senate debates the defense budget bill and the House debates the homeland security bill.

On Sunday, be sure to watch This Week with George Stephanopoulos. He's in Ohio today, taping a focus group with persuadable voters.

ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:Keying off of the rehashed actions of the Vice President on September 11, the New York Times ' Adam Nagourney and Richard Stevenson take a look at the perceptions of Dick Cheney by friend and foe alike and deconstruct a bit the Bush/Cheney relationship. LINK

"In some ways, the two are an odd couple, Mr. Bush a backslapper with a perpetually sunny outlook and Mr. Cheney dour, worried and withdrawn to all but his closest friends and associates. But they appear united, colleagues said, in their determination to take on what they consider wrong-headed liberal values in both domestic and foreign policy."

Be sure to Note Newt Gingrich's use of Reagan and Mary Matalin's hilarious quote about "no separate Cheney P.R. machine."

David Sanger and Robin Toner of the New York Times look at President Bush and Vice President Cheney's persistence in highlighting a connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq. The Vice President's CNBC appearance seems to have put the Gray Lady a bit on the defensive. LINK

Cheney told CNBC's Gloria Borger that "the notion that there is no relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida just simply is not true."

More Cheney: "I disagree with the way their findings have been portrayed. This has been enormous confusion over the Iraq-al-Qaida connection, Gloria. First of all, on the question of whether or not there was any kind of a relationship, there clearly was a relationship. It's been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming."

Asked about his public image, Cheney said that he is there to serve the president and he doesn't worry about how he is perceived: "My job is to offer advice, which I do, to take on assignments which he gives me, which I do, but I say I'm there specifically to serve him any way I can and not worry a lot about what my public image might be. Am I warm and fuzzy or am I perceived as a tough guy? I really don't worry about that."

Laura Bush headed to battleground Pennsylvania yesterday for a BC04 rally and schmoozed the audience as if she were hosting a giant coffee klatch, urging them to call all their friends and get them to the polls in November," write Amy Worden and Carrie Budoff of the Philadelphia Inquirer.LINK

Worden and Budoff lead their article with the question that seems to come up frequently for Mrs. Bush whether she is a "traditional" First Lady.

The Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, having recently run into some controversy over an email to churches in Pennsylvania, is working to turn out conservative voters and is courting Southern Baptists, "urging pastors to do everything short of risking their churches' tax-exempt status to support the president's re-election," the New York Times Kirkpatrick reports.LINK

Elisabeth Bumiller wraps the president's jam-packed Thursday Noting that the schedule "showed how much effort the White House is devoting to his re-election campaign in the middle of the persistent debate about national security."LINK

The latest poll from the Pew Research Center found a boost for President Bush from the funeral of President Reagan and the situation in Iraq, as the deadline for the transfer of power gets closer. LINK

"Bush had a slight lead over Kerry in a three-way matchup; the president was at 46 percent, Kerry at 42 percent, and independent Ralph Nader at 6 percent. Bush and Kerry were tied in a two-way race."

In addition to keynoting a fundraiser designed to raise $2 million for the RNC, the president will have a "conversation on strengthening America's families" to discuss healthy marriages during next week's stop in Cincinnati. LINK

CNN White House correspondent John King defended the president yesterday, telling a Boston crowd that Bush is 'much more engaged . . . than most people think." LINK

ABC News Vote 2004: Senator John Kerry:Campaign sources say that Senator Kerry may return to the Buckeye State next week to visit Canton, reports the Columbus Dispatch. It would be Kerry's second trip to the state in as many weeks.

An article in the Washington Times suggests that outside advisers to Senator Kerry want him to "shut up" about religion. If that language sounds like it's coming from Bob Drinan, well . read the article. LINK

Also intriguing, if true: "'the Kerry campaign also has sidelined its new religion adviser, closing journalists' access to Mara Vanderslice and ignoring her advice on how to appeal effectively to religious voters.' 'Every time something with religious language got sent up the flagpole, it got sent back down, stripped of religious language, a Kerry campaign source said of Miss Vanderslice's ideas on overcoming Mr. Kerry's secular image."