The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, March 22—<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)
FUTURES CALENDAR
What TV reporters like least of all: pitching a story twice and having it rejected — and then having the same show to which the story was pitched demand it be crashed in a day, after the New York Times puts it on the front page.
What Dan Bartlett likes least of all: having to spend his weekend breaking the White House's "we don't do book reviews" rule.
What George Bush likes least of all: late people.
What Note readers like least of all: The Note being late (or on vacation).
What John Kerry likes least of all: people who run into him on the trail.
What Lisa Myers likes least of all: when the Los Angeles Times beats her to a story.
What Steve Rosenthal likes least of all: palm pilot malfunctions in the field.
What Rob Portman likes least of all: the question "Are you related to Natalie?"
What newspapers reporters like least of all: headline writers who top their stories with headlines that cause sources to complain.
As a matter of fact, a belated congratulations to the headline writers at the Los Angeles Times, who, per a recent Los Angeles Times story, won the nation's most prestigious headline award (headline: "National Headline Contest Gives Top Prize to Times Copy Editors"). LINK
Anyway, our point is, there are a lot of newspaper stories out there from today and the weekend that have headlines pregnant with meaning for the nation's leading presidential candidates, and here they are:
Headlines that seem good for President Bush and bad for John Kerry:
Bush Camp to Spotlight Kerry's Fiscal Policy
Bush Aide Sees $1 Trillion Gap in Kerry's Plans
GOP Sees Pattern of Fabrication by Kerry
Despite the Sluggish Economy, Welfare Rolls Actually Shrank
Headlines that seem good for John Kerry and bad for President Bush:
As Jobs Go Overseas, a City Struggles to Reinvent Itself
FBI Budget Squeezed After 9/11
Government Accounts of 9/11 Reveal Gaps, Inconsistencies Questions Arise About Who Put Nation on High Alert;
A Threat to Air Force One? Panel Assembles Timeline
Delivery Delays Hurt U.S. Effort to Equip Iraqis
Soaring Global Demand for Oil Strains Production Capacity
OPEC Hits Limit for Crude Used in U.S. Gasoline;
Price Volatility May Rise Soros Presses Anti-Bush Effort
Headlines whose true November, 2004 political meaning cannot yet be divined:
Former Terrorism Official Criticizes White House on 9/11
Rove, Small Circle Lead Bush Campaign (that one is listed here as a joke, Karl!!)
In Election Year, Fed Keeps Eye on Rates
Despite Political Crossfire, Records Show Policy Issues Tend to Prevail Over Politics
The Kerry campaign will unveil what communications director Stephanie Cutter calls a "major" new ad at noon today. Heavy hitters — campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill and senior advisers Jim Margolis and Michael Donilon will host the call.
The RNC plans a morning conference call with Ed Gillespie and a news conference at 4 p.m. ET, both on the Party's conception of Kerry's spending proposals.
Sen. Kerry remains on vacation in Idaho until Wednesday evening. On Thursday night he attends the Democratic Unity Dinner with former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and on Friday he campaigns in Michigan. See Ed O'Keefe's campaign report for more.
President Bush meets with the recipients of the Public Safety Officer Medals of Valor at the White House today. Tomorrow he meets with his Cabinet and the president of Columbia. On Wednesday he gives out a Congressional Gold Medal, speaks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and attends the Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner. On Thursday and Friday he travels to battleground states New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Arizona to speak about home ownership.
Vice President Cheney speaks at a Lakewood, N.J. fundraiser this evening and attends a fundraiser luncheon in Dayton, Ohio on Friday.
First Lady Laura Bush hosts a symposium at the White House this morning. Tomorrow she travels to Chicago to speak about American Heart Month. On Wednesday she speaks at a luncheon on behalf of Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and at the Alzheimer's Association Gala in Washington.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court hears arguments in what is roundly referred to as "the Pledge" case. LINK
Also Wednesday, President Bush sneaks up to Boston for a BC04 fundraiser. And AFSCME holds an executive board meeting.
Wednesday and Thursday, The 9/11 Commission hears from Secretary of State Powell, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Richard Clarke, Madeleine Albright and others.
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect: After focusing on Kerry's record on national security issues recently, the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign will shift its attention to a different policy issue and will "spend this week aggressively seeking to define Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, as economically irresponsible," reports Richard Stevenson of the New York Times.
Bush campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, "released an analysis that he said showed a $1 trillion gap over the next decade between spending increases Mr. Kerry has called for during the campaign and the tax increases he has already supported." LINK
With "events throughout the country," the Bush campaign today will focus on Kerry's national security record in an "effort to portray the presumptive Democratic nominee as a reckless spender whose promises would far exceed his capacity to pay for them," report Mike Allen and Dan Balz of the Washington Post . LINK
The Washington Times' Sammon writes on the BC04 new line of attack and Notes "the new offensive is aimed at defining the Democratic nominee while he continues a skiing vacation in Idaho."
"'You will see us discussing that aggressively this week as the Congress votes on budgets,' says Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman. 'We'll have surrogates out during the week, and you'll see this conversation joined on numerous different fronts.'" LINK
And Mehlman hinted to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Malone that a new round of ads may come next. "'Stay tuned,' he said."LINK
Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times compares and contrasts how President Bush used to live on the campaign trail to how he does now as CinC/Potus.
"He feels cooped up at the White House, and running for president as president is a lot better than running as challenger," writes Bumiller. LINK
Also Note the Bush/remote control/Ozzy Osbourne-esque moment that Rep. Peter King relayed from his travels on Air Force One:
"Once on board, though, Mr. Bush had a little trouble with the controls. 'He gets the remote and nothing's happening,' Mr. King recounted. 'He calls the steward and says, 'What's wrong with my television?' The look on his face was, 'I'm the most powerful guy in the world and I can't get my television to work.'"
Have a question for the BC04 campaign? Need to get someone on the phone? Refer to the handy guide provided by AP's Tom Raum on who does what in the campaign and who makes up the exclusive group of advisers that are guiding the re-election effort from Courthouse and the White House. LINK
Raum looks at the inner circle which includes Karl Rove, Marc Racicot, Ken Mehlman, Vice President Cheney, brother Jeb, Karen Hughes, Ohio Rep. Rob Portman and BC04 finance director Mercer Reynolds.
Quick: which five human beings have their noses most out of joint because they are NOT listed???
"Laura Bush is becoming increasingly visible," writes Bob Kemper of the Chicago Tribune, "And she's talking about a personal agenda that has grown more sophisticated than many would have expected from her early days in the White House." LINK
Kemper sat down with the First Lady in her East Wing office last week and discussed her role in the campaign, and she dismissed recent media reports that had her and her mother-in-law upset at the direction of the re-election campaign.
"'I think the campaign is going great,' she said. 'What Barbara Bush and I do commiserate about sometimes is the press coverage of the campaigns, of all those campaigns that we've been involved in over all these years.'
'We just don't like to read mean things about our husbands.'"
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