The Note

ByABC News
March 17, 2004, 10:50 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, March 17&#151;<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)

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NEWS SUMMARY

When Bush vs. Kerry is fought out on national security terrain (as it was yesterday and as it will be today), four things seem to happen:

1. The election is framed as "steady" vs. "risky change" and we know who wins that, at least for now.

2. Kerry strains, with the BC04RNC boot on his neck and the conservative echo chamber swarming like wasps all over his face, to clear the national security bar (essential if he is to have a chance to win).

3. In straining to clear the national security bar, Kerry tends to say things that sound like a sort of combination of the worst tendencies of Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Howard Dean.

Yesterday's (latest) example, in responding to the Bush ad on the $87 billion supplemental appropriation ("I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.") is sure to be exploited in this news cycle by the Bush campaign.

Besides turning off the press corps and the rest of the Gang of 500, these types of statements keep Kerry from clearing another bar he must clear to win: the Do-Americans-Want-This-Guy-In-Their-Living-Rooms-For-Four-Years? bar.

Bill Clinton WAS, on one level, justified in pointing out that the word "is" has several particular meanings; Al Gore DID sort of take the initiative to create the Internet; international war criminals ARE entitled to a presumption of innocence, as Howard Dean said.

And John Kerry's meandering, on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand-on-the-other-other-hand justifications often do have some intellectual and policy justifications but even some of Mr. Kerry's own advisers recognize that they sure as heck don't win the rat-tat-tat sound bite wars of a presidential campaign.

4. When we're all talking national security, we're not talking jobs, the economy and health care, and, as both campaigns are learning, the best offense is often to stress Defense as in the Rumsfeld kind.

And by exploding new campaign ads in the local and national news cycle as Kerry travels, BC04 is sure to get deep into framing the news debate on the day of release.

And, ABC News has observed and learned, the secondary explosions might be cleverly designed to go well BEYOND the day of release.

Various Senate officials tell ABC News that the use of footage from the Senate floor in yesterday's new ad is an apparent violation of the chamber's rules. More on that below.

A Bush adviser concedes that courting controversy by including edgy images (the 9/11 stuff, the French Job, and, now, the Senate floor material) is a great way to ensure days and days of free media coverage to amplify the campaign's message and fight things out on their terms.

The President's admakers didn't sit around for months, spending millions of dollars before a single ad aired, twiddling their collective thumbs. And they don't casually choose the images they use or fail to consult lawyers and communications experts about them.

Today's two-ring circus takes us from Sen. Kerry at noon on the Right coast to Vice President Dick Cheney on the Left coast at 1:30 pm.

Here are the details:

Sen. John Kerry Speaks On National SecurityThe George Washington University Washington, D.C.

Kerry's speech today may first be noticed for the accoutrements. Democrats are starting to put some of their heavy national security artillery pieces on the deck behind Kerry to buttress them. Former Defense Secretary William Perry, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and others (including some billed as "special guests") will join Sen. Kerry on stage today.

Key excerpts:

"We are still bogged down in Iraq and the administration stubbornly holds to failed policies that drive potential allies away. What we have seen is a steady loss of lives and mounting costs in dollars, with no end in sight. The lesson here is fundamental: At times, conflict comes, and the decision must be made. For a President, the decision may be lonely, but that does not mean that America should go it alone."

"If I am President, as part of a Military Families Bill of Rights, we will fully fund veterans health and veterans benefits and our veterans will no longer be the neglected soldiers of America. America entered into a covenant with those it drafted and those who enlisted, but the truth is that, with every story of a veteran who goes without adequate health care every day, that covenant is broken. There are countless veterans who fought our wars who are now fighting year after year for the benefits they earned. Last year they had to defeat a Bush Administration proposal to increase fees and co-payments, which was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt drive an additional one million veterans from the VA health care system. The president then came back with a plan to drive 500,000 from the system by 2005. And then he submitted a similar proposal this year."

Incidentally, ABC's Kate Snow has been given the following information about the mystery guest: He or she "1. is someone my mom would know 2. is bigger than a breadbox 3. 'looks cute in a uniform' 4. 'stepping into politics for the first time.'"

The Note guessed: Jessica Lynch?

But we actually think it's former Joint Chiefs Chairman John Malchase David Shalikashvili.

In an story discussing the Bush ad's impediment on Kerry's West Virginia visit yesterday, USA Today's Jill Lawrence subtly let's the cat out of the bag on the super secret guest appearing with Kerry today: Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has never been involved in politics. LINK

And then the Republican response

Vice President Cheney Speaks On National SecurityRonald Reagan Presidential Library and MuseumSimi Walley, California

Key excerpts obtained by ABC's Kate Snow:

"We must support those around the world who are taking risks to advance freedom, justice, and democracy just as President Reagan did. American policy must be clear and consistent in its purposes. And American leaders above all the commander in chief must be confident in our nation's cause, and unwavering until the danger to our people is fully and finally removed."

"The American people will have a clear choice in the election of 2004 at least as clear as any since the election of 1984."

While the excerpts do not specifically mention Kerry by name, a source familiar with the speech tells ABC News that "a significant portion of the speech will be more direct and specific."

An aide tells ABC's Snow that Cheney "will talk about 'the clear choice that Americans face in the year ahead between the president's strong leadership in the war on terrorism and contrast that with views and track record of Kerry.' In explaining 'the choice', Cheney will be specific and will talk about Kerry by name quite a bit. It will be more explicitly anti-Kerry than Cheney has been to date. But, the aide quickly assured me, this is 'not an attack speech' and not a campaign stump speech, but a foreign policy speech (that just happens to be riddled with political criticism)."

Elsewhere today, President Bush participates in St. Patrick's Day festivities in Washington, D.C.

Rev. Sharpton is in New York.

Rep. Kucinich's schedule is TBD.

Ralph Nader is in Washington, D.C.

And someone somewhere is bound to put out a release urging senators to grill Justices Kennedy and Thomas on some topic unrelated to their testimony today.

ABC News Vote 2004: the new ad and the politics of national security:

Welcome to Bizarro Kerry world!

Bush-Cheney '04 campaign manager Ken Mehlman yesterday described a "parallel universe" where Sen. Kerry says one thing but his actions say another and to allow a glimpse into this universe, the campaign introduced a new ad in West Virginia, hitting the airwaves just in time for Kerry to arrive in Charleston.

The new ad, titled "Troops," questions Kerry's commitment to military funding and brings up the familiar chorus that Kerry is a flip-flopper.

Howard Kurtz describes the new ad: "'The ad features pictures of soldiers who are either actors or appear in stock footage while a narrator says that Kerry voted in October 2002 for military action in Iraq but "later voted against funding for soldiers.' Over the sound of a Senate clerk calling 'Mr. Kerry,' the ad says: 'No body armor for troops in combat. No higher combat pay. No to better health care for reservists and their families. No wrong on defense.'" LINK

In 1986, the Senate drafted regulations for televising floor proceedings and passed a resolution sponsored by Sen. Byrd.

Under the rules, the Senate "prohibits the use of tape duplications of radio coverage for political purposes. Prohibits the use of tape duplications of television coverage for any purpose outside the Senate unless the Senate provides otherwise."

Does the use of the Senate floor footage for political purposes by a presidential re-election campaign count under this legislation?

ABC News' Tom Shine reports that the Senate Rules Committee chief legal counsel and staff director were told yesterday about the improper usage of the Senate floor video and this morning Sen. Byrd's office confirmed that the use of the video is against the rules as it interprets them.

Shine Notes that there are no fines or penalties for violation this resolution.

Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said that all the video used in the ad was either stock footage, SAG actor or in the public domain. "We believe that the ads appropriately examine Senator Kerry's vote against body armor, higher combat pay and better health care for reservists. The images and materials we use in ads is carefully examined and used appropriately." And the voice of the Senate clerk in the ad is the actual Senate clerk, according to a senior Bush adviser.