The Note

W A S H I N G T O N, June 2, 2004&#151;<br> -- NOTED NOW

TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)

FUTURES CALENDAR

NEWS SUMMARY

As The Note goes to the printing press each day, a series of conference calls and morning staff meetings at the White House, the campaigns, the party committees, congressional offices, and those shadowy 527s (NFTSOTTC . . . ) are just ending.

Each side emerges from those sessions with certain cards they plan to play throughout the day to reach the voters through the national and state media.

What the Rs and Ds are holding today:

ELEPHANTS:

POTUS Air Force Academy speech -- CiC in a friendly crowd, playing to his strength.

Show Me State Senators Bond and Talent bracketing Kerry in, well, the Show Me State.

Continued barely-contained-glee over the apparent progress with the Iraqi government and at the United Nations.

Patriot Act and Kerry (cont.).

Friday's job figures (in their back pocket).

DONKEYS:

Kerry hits two battleground states in a day -- playing offense on homeland security.

The Herseth win in South Dakota's special House election.

The Halliburton-Cheney push.

The Accenture contract.

The seemingly successful to-date national security tour.

The new Kerry TV ad's little girls, who are every bit as cute and adorable as the little girls in the Bush spots.

It's an exciting Wednesday, because, based on those lists, we don't know who is gonna win the news cycle!!!

President Bush gives his second major speech leading up to transition of power in Iraq at the United States Air Force Academy commencement in Colorado Springs.

Sen. Kerry holds a conversation with first responders and public health officials at the University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla. and meets with local supporters at the Kansas City airport.

Teresa Heinz Kerry meets with military families at the Humphreys Pine Room, Charleston, W.Va.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice heads to the Hill today to brief Congressional leadership on the new Iraqi government.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flies to Singapore today.

The Senate resumes debate on the defense budget today after Majority Leader Bill Frist tabled discussing a bill that would place limits on class-action lawsuits yesterday.

ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:

More than 1,600 religious leaders and social workers from across the country met Tuesday at the White House National Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to support President Bush, reports Mike Allen of the Washington Post. LINK

"The plan is a crucial part of Bush's reelection strategy, because aides believe it will encourage evangelical Christians to mobilize to keep him in office and could give the ticket inroads in African American communities."

Elisabeth Bumiller writes up the "pep talk" the President gave to the religious groups, Noting that parts of the speech "sounded like a revival meeting." LINK

"I will tell you, the cornerstone of any good recovery program is the understanding there is a higher being," Mr. Bush said.

"Yeah, yeah," audience members responded.

"To whom you can turn your life and therefore save your life," Mr. Bush continued.

"That's right," an audience member said, while the rest of the crowd applauded.

"'It's true that much attention is being placed on the war in Iraq, but there's also another war that's going on,' said Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, during a conference promoting the funding of religious groups engaged in social service activities. 'It's a culture war that really gets to the heart of the questions about what is the role of faith in the public square.' LINK

"Towey, who has worked for Democrats and Republicans and was a lawyer for Mother Teresa of Calcutta, warned that when faith was driven out of that public square, 'you almost wind up creating a godless orthodoxy,'" reports an astute-eared Peter Wallsten.

President Bush headlined a Victory 2004 fundraiser in Denver last night and told the crowd that "party fund-raising events help ensure there's 'water in the bucket to water our grass roots -- turn out the vote,'" reports AP's Reichmann. LINK

Reichmann Notes that in addition to delivering commencement remarks to the Air Force Academy today, the President will meet with Focus on the Family's James Dobson, "a leading supporter of a proposed constitutional amendment that would bar legal recognition of same-sex marriages."

The President raised $2.2 million for the Republican party at the 200-person event. LINK

President Bush said at the fundraiser the U.S. could face worse attacks than Sept. 11 if he is not re-elected, reports the Rocky Mountain News. LINK

"'It's a choice between an America that leads the world through strength and confidence and an America that is uncertain in the face of danger,' he said. ' know exactly what we need to do to win the war on terror and to bring freedom and peace to the world.'"

Karen Crummy of the Denver Post distilled Bush's remarks to his theme of strong, confident, and steady leadership. LINK

The Washington Post's Robert O'Harrow looks at the e-mail that links Cheney's office and Halliburton and Notes the efforts on the part of the Kerry camp, Rep. Henry Waxman, and other Democrats on the Hill to make an issue out of the connection. LINK

The AP wraps up the Vice President's speech on the Patriot Act yesterday. LINK

Joseph Curl of the Washington Times looks at the BC04 strategy to pick up a greater percentage of Jewish voters in November. LINK

"The Bush-Cheney campaign, according to one Jewish official who works closely with the White House, is looking to pick up about a third of the Jewish vote this year, similar to the support former Republican President Ronald Reagan, a strong advocate of Israel, received in his two successful campaigns."

To avoid the mistakes of presidential campaigns past, the BC04 team sent chief strategist Matt Dowd to dig through the papers at the presidential libraries of Ford, Reagan and Bush 41, Bill Adair of the St. Petersburg Times reports in an interesting look at how far back the campaign began to prepare for the election year and what the top strategists were looking for. LINK

"The hundreds of old papers revealed the problems of unclear leadership (Bush 1992), the danger of failing to respond to voters' concerns (Ford 1976) and the risk of starting late (Bush 1992). Those lessons have been incorporated into the Bush-Cheney campaign and can be seen in its early, aggressive start."

"Said Dowd, 'The way to make as few mistakes as possible is to learn from the mistakes others have made.'"

Note Note: who knew that Dowd was a condiments stain expert???!!!

The Washington Post's Mike Allen points out the alleged pitfalls of President Bush's big picture management style, in which he proudly focuses on larger goals and delegates, delegates, delegates the details to his aides. LINK

"Outsiders, including some Republicans who speak forlornly about the debacle, said the Abu Ghraib scandal is the price Bush is paying for lacking curiosity and showing unwillingness to delve into potential roadblocks to his larger mission."

While you gotta love any analysis piece that works in a quote about hubris about any politician, we've seen this story before: Jackie Calmes, Wall Street Journal, May 19.

Harold Meyerson writes in a Washington Post op-ed that President Bush has indeed changed the tone in Washington -- among Democrats. LINK

The Washington Times' James Lakely aggregates the blizzard of criticism by President Bush's opponents, and suggests Democrats are crossing the war-time line. LINK

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank previews President Bush's trip to Italy and France to commemorate World War II and to seek support for the situation in Iraq. LINK

The Boston Globe's Gareth Cook reports, "A majority of the US Senate has signed a letter asking President Bush to lift the government's funding restrictions on embryonic stem cells, increasing the pressure to change a policy critics say is holding back potentially lifesaving medical research." LINK

ABC News Vote 2004: Bush v. Kerry:

Gerald F. Seib writes in the Wall Street Journal that because the Midwest's prime battlegrounds will likely decide the election, the economy, not Iraq, will dominate the landscape in the final months. LINK