The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, March 29—<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)
FUTURES CALENDAR
NEWS SUMMARY
Dynamics to watch:
1. How does today's round of the Bush campaign's campaign to "define John Kerry" go? The major prongs: Vice President Cheney's tour de force speech on taxes and the economy and a new radio ad with a Massy cop. And will there be (yes) a new Bush television spot tomorrow?
2. Does the focus on Dr. Rice ("Will she or won't she?") obscure the bigger 9/11 commission issues? (The POTUS and VPOTUS "visits" with the commission; the shape and tone of the final report; Ron Brownstein's pro-Dick Clarke boosterism.)
3. Will there be a deal to secure a Rice appearance before the commission?
4. What led to yesterday's Republican rush to decry Rice's refusal to testify, and is it a sign of things to come?
5. With Democrats from outside the campaign still keeping the jury out on the competence of the Cahill Crew (Is it more Estrich or Carville?), how does Team Kerry handle the semiotics of their candidate's surgery this week?
6. With the Massachusetts legislature trying once more on same-sex marriage today, will the president ever talk about the issue again?; what will the GOP platform say about it?; will either or both chambers of Congress vote on it?; and, if so, how will those votes come out?
7. How tight is the connection between gas prices and the "wrong track" number?
8. Will the question posed a while back in a full-page ad from Southwestern University in Texas Monthly ("What's important to Karen Hughes?") be answered in the next month, what with her book tour and all?
9. Will the Wall Street Journal 's David Rogers ever learn that nuance in the '00s is hazardous?
10. Will Time's Joe Klein ever learn that Ron Suskind (and not Paul O'Neill) wrote that book?
11. Which USA Today headline does Trent Duffy like more — A1's "Iraq Economy Shakes Off the Shackles of Saddam" or B1's "Economists See 'Booming Economy'" in America?
12. Which of The Note's readers will be smart enough to double back and read the must-reads from the weekend, sprinkled throughout below?
13. What is up with Ralph Nader?
President Bush meets with the prime ministers of new NATO nations at the White House today. He speaks about the economy in Wisconsin tomorrow; meets with members of the Baseball Hall of Fame at the White House and attends a Washington fundraiser on Wednesday; celebrates Greek Independence Day at the White House and attends an NRCC dinner on Thursday; and speaks about job training in West Virginia and attends fundraisers in Georgia on Friday.
Vice President Cheney speaks about Sen. Kerry's tax policy at the Chamber of Commerce today.
Sen. Kerry campaigns in Sacramento this afternoon before holding two fundraisers, one in Sacramento and one in San Francisco. He repeats his schedule tomorrow, speaking in San Diego before attending fundraisers in San Diego and Beverly Hills. He flies back to Boston early Wednesday morning to undergo outpatient, one-hour surgery on a torn tendon in his right shoulder.
First Lady Laura Bush is in Florida today and in Washington the rest of the week until Friday, when she travels to Texas.
The Senate debates the welfare reform reauthorization bill today.
Trials challenging the Partial-Birth Abortion Act begin in New York, California and Nebraska today.
The Massachusetts state legislature debates a proposed amendment to the state constitution to ban same sex marriage today, tomorrow and Wednesday.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich campaigns in Oregon today.
Ralph Nader has no public events today.
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
The Bush-Cheney '04 campaign will launch its second radio ad today, a 60-second national radio spot that features a Boston law enforcement officer discussing Senator Kerry's record on taxes.
The ad will run in the 18 states that are currently seeing BC04 television spots, on a variety of radio stations.
"The radio ad highlights Senator Kerry's consistent support for higher taxes that would derail the economic recovery," BC04 press secretary Scott Stanzel says. "It's important to seek out the opportunities we have available to communicate President Bush's message."
Script:
Jay Moccia:
"My name is Jay Moccia. I'm a law enforcement officer in the greater Boston area.
And for the record, I think you guys have a funny accent, too.
John Kerry has been my Senator for 20 years.
Now he's running for President. You might want to know him the way some of us in Massachusetts do.
Take his record on taxes.
John Kerry likes to raise taxes. So much so he's voted for higher taxes 350 times …
I'm a working guy with six kids. The last thing I need is another Kerry tax increase. Senator Kerry also voted to increase taxes on seniors' Social Security benefits.
No it's not fair at all … these people have worked their whole lives and to put a tax on them is just wrong.
And sad to say, John Kerry even voted against giving small businesses tax breaks so they could provide health care for their employees.
It looks like Kerry's gonna raise taxes about 900 billion dollars within his first hundred days in office.
I'd say look it, trust me, John Kerry likes to raise taxes. It's what he's done before and you know he'll do it again.
That's just … just wrong."
Mr. Moccia — let's get ready to rumble (with the Kerry campaign)!!!
And hats off to A. Kornblut for breaking this story cleanly in Sunday's Boston Globe .
Also today, the BC04 campaign will fan out across the country in a series of press conferences that will highlight the campaign's message that Sen. Kerry has at times supported higher gas taxes.
Throughout the nation, members of Congress, state officials and small business owners will hold press events to pitch the campaign's message that Sen. Kerry has supported higher gas taxes at least 11 times and his one-time rhetorical support for raising the gas tax 50 cents.
Press conferences will be held by Rep. Mark Green of Wisconsin, Rep. Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania and Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota.
Newsweek reports on its new poll, showing the approval rating for Bush's handling of terrorism and homeland security has slid to 57 percent from 70 percent two months ago. Bush's overall approval remains unchanged at 49 percent. LINK
The Boston Globe's Anne Kornblut turned in a must-read Sunday, looking at the way the Bush campaign is trying to get in Kerry's face, previewing the 60-second radio ad featuring a Boston police officer criticizing Kerry's stance on taxes that's set to be released today. LINK
"For the most part, such endeavors are designed to accomplish traditional political goals — in this case, convince voters that Kerry can be undermined where he is strongest, counter his proposal to cut corporate taxes, and give the Bush team an opportunity to repeat criticisms of his record and his past. Kerry steadfastly denies he would raise taxes on those making less than $200,000 a year."
Read all the way to the end for the last word on knock-you-off-your-balance strategy from none other than Mike Feldman.
The Associated Press' Scott Lindlaw previews Vice President Cheney's speech today, in which he "will assert Monday that Democrat John Kerry would sweep away an array of tax cuts President Bush has enacted." LINK
The speech is billed as a campaign speech. BC04 press secretary Scott Stanzel: "The Vice President gave a speech at the Reagan Library on the clear differences between President Bush and Senator Kerry on foreign policy and in this speech he will highlight the clear choice on how we keep the economy and keep jobs moving. The Vice President obviously is one who has a wealth of experience and is able, in a very articulate manner, to discuss the differences, that Kerry's policies would derail the economic recovery and kill jobs."
According to excerpts given to the AP, Cheney will focus on Sen. Kerry's record on tax cuts and will say that "all those 'no votes now form the basis of Sen. Kerry's economic plan."
More excerpts:
"He says that he will keep some of those tax cuts, never mind that he opposed each one of them at the time," Cheney says. "He has given the usual assurances that in those first 100 days he's planning, only the wealthiest Americans can expect higher taxes. But voters are entitled to measure that campaign promise against Senator Kerry's long record in support of higher taxes for every income group."
"Cheney was to offer an upbeat assessment of the economy, saying that manufacturing and homeownership are up, inflation and interest rates down. The vice president gives tax cuts enacted by Bush in 2001 and 2003 credit."
The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller compares the vacation spots of President Bush, Crawford, Texas, and John Kerry, Ketchum, Idaho. LINK
If you want the nuts and bolts version of the Ketchum v. Crawford debate, refer to Kerry campaign reporter Ed O'Keefe's handy guide from his time in Idaho: LINK
"Several hundred people stormed the small yard" of Karl Rove, yesterday afternoon, "pounding on his windows, shoving signs at others and challenging Rove to talk to them about a bill that deals with educational opportunities for immigrants," writes the Washington Post's Steven Ginsburg. Karl's first response to the crowds, "Get off my property." Rove later relented and spoke to a few of the protesters. LINK
This is an unfortunate story and development.
"A mixture of gossip, family doings and truncated contemporary history, "The Bushes" does not reveal any lasting clues about this unusual group of people who have done so much to shape modern American politics," writes the Washington Post's Lewis Gould in his review of Peter and Rochelle Schweizer's book on the Bush family. LINK
US News and World Report's Matthew Benjamin looks at the economy of Central Pennsylvania and what it means for the BC04 re-election campaign. Despite an economy holding up well, "the president may be vulnerable here as elsewhere across the nation's manufacturing belt."
"If ever a state was aptly named for an election, it's this one," says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Pennsylvania is the key, arguably more so than Ohio or Florida, to this election." LINK
Karen Hughes' "Ten Minutes to Normal":
Tonight at 10:00 pm ET, tune into ABC to catch Barbara Walters' highly anticipated interview with Bush adviser Karen Hughes. Some highlights of the interview, as well as thoughts from Walters, who spoke with The Note about the book, "Ten Minutes from Normal," and Hughes' decision to leave the White House in 2002, and her potential return to the campaign trail this summer:
Hughes and Walters talk about her continuing influence in the White House and on the president, to whom she speaks regularly. She is getting more involved in the re-election campaign — the day that the campaign's first ads hit the airwaves, it was Hughes who did the morning show circuit to defend the use of 9/11 images.
"The president likes her and she is very good on air — she is strong but charming," Walters said.
Hughes tells Walters that "the president's been saying he wants to see me on television a little more." Laughing, she said Bush thinks she's "a good political needler."
Walters and Hughes also discuss life beyond politics, and Hughes describes her decision to pack up and move back to Texas in the summer of 2002.
