The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, March 2—<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE AS OF 9:00 am (all times ET):
—6:00 am: Polls open in New York, Connecticut and Vermont—6:30 am: Rep. Dennis Kucinich votes at Brooklawn Elementary School, Cleveland, Ohio—6:30 am: Polls open in Ohio—7:00 am: Sen. Kerry appears on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox morning shows—7:00 am: Polls open in Massachusetts, Georgia, Maryland and Rhode Island—7:30 am: Sen. John Kerry greets workers at the Roadway Express Freight Distribution Facility, Atlanta, Ga.—7:30 am: Sen. John Edwards visits a polling place at Fulton County QLS Senior Center, Atlanta, Ga.—7:45 am: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist attends a breakfast with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at The Capitol—8:09 am: Sen. Kerry appears on MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning"—9:30 am: The Senate convenes to resume consideration of the gun liability bill—9:40 am: Off-camera briefing by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan—10:00 am: The Supreme Court meets to hand down decisions—10:00 am: Polls open in California—10:00 am: The Federal Communications Commission's Media Security and Reliability Council holds a meeting on Homeland Security —10:00 am: President Bush makes remarks on the One-Year Anniversary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C.—10:00 am: Rep. Kucinich visits a polling place at Parma Senior Center, Parma, Ohio—10:00 am: The Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, Judicial Watch, Common Cause, the Center for Responsive Politics and others speak to the press about current controversies and the House Ethics Committee, Washington, D.C.—11:00 am: Sen. Frist delivers a speech on the Senate's legislative agenda to the National Association of Broadcasters at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Washington, D.C.—11:30 am: RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie gives a news conference outside of RNC headquarters, Washington, D.C.—11:35 am: The Senate begins a series of stacked roll call votes for a number of amendments to the gun liability bill—11:50 am: Ed Gillespie launches the Big Rig Tour—12:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a staff luncheon at Niko's Restaurant, Lakewood, Ohio—12:15 pm: Sen. Frist meets with Commerce Secretary Donald Evans on the FSC/ETI tax bill at The Capitol—12:30 pm: On-camera briefing by Secretary McClellan—12:30 pm: The House of Representatives convenes for morning business—12:30 pm: Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and other members of Congress hold a news conference to discuss the vote on the gun liability bill at The Capitol—12:50 pm: Secretary of State Colin Powell gives the B.C. Lee Lecture at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC—1:00 pm: Politics Live on ABC NEWS Live and AOL—1:30 pm: Global Justice sponsors Haiti protest outside of the White House in Washington, DC —1:30 pm: Bush-Cheney '04 Chairman Marc Racicot announces the campaign's National Farm & Ranch Steering Committee, Las Vegas, Nev.—1:45 pm: Sen. Joseph Lieberman holds a news conference to discuss homeland security—2:00 pm: NASA holds a news briefing to announce significant findings from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity—2:00 pm: The House of Representatives Convenes for legislative business—4:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich visits District 11 polling places, Shaker Heights and Cleveland, Ohio—4:00 pm: Vice President Cheney appears on MSNBC's "Lester Holt Live"—5:00 pm: Vice President Cheney appears on CNN's Wolf Blitzer—6:00 pm: Vice President Cheney appears on Fox News's "Special Report with Brit Hume"—7:00 pm: Sen. Edwards attends an Election Night Party at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Convention Center, Atlanta, Ga.—7:00 pm: Polls close in Georgia and Vermont—7:30 pm: Polls close in Ohio—7:30 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends an Election Night Party at Club Moda, Cleveland, Ohio—7:30 pm: Minnesota caucus registration begins—8:00 pm: Sen. Kerry attends an Election Night Party at the Old Post Office Pavilion, Washington, D.C.—8:00 pm: Polls close in Connecticut and Massachusetts, Maryland—9:00 pm: Minnesota caucuses end—9:00 pm: Rev. Al Sharpton attends an Election Night Party at Jimmy's Uptown, New York, N.Y.—9:00 pm: Polls close in New York and Rhode Island—11:00 pm: Polls close in California—11:00 pm: Sen. Barbara Boxer speaks as part of the California Democratic Party's election night reception at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif.
NEWS SUMMARY
Political dynamics to watch today:
1. Even if John Edwards completely outperforms the expectations of the Group of 19, John Kerry will end today's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Tuesday with a mathematical stranglehold on the Democratic presidential nomination.
So, however John Edwards does, which people will call for him (finally) to get out of the race?
And will they have last names like "Clinton," "Graham," "McAuliffe," "Rendell," "Brazile," "Pelosi," or "Fournier"?
2. What will be the sum total effect of Vice President Cheney's full-(cable)-Ginsburg (William, not David), with his big time series of interviews with a trio of major-league inquisitors?
3. Will John Kerry's victory speech be more like the soaring version in Seattle, or the wounded sparrow version from Wisconsin?
4. How will Kerry and Edwards' Senate colleagues treat them during their novel and unexpected return to their day jobs?
5. Finally: how out of sorts is John Edwards?
The Washington Post reports that he was "too tired" for his daily run on Monday. (Next thing you know, you'll turn down a Diet Coke … .)
And, according to an eye-witness account of this morning's "event" in suburban Atlanta, Edwards arrived at a polling place where he shook hands for two minutes and virtually RAN back to his motorcade. No questions. No talking to voters. No nothing.
The TOTAL tape that was shot by the network pool camera ran a limp 3:43 — and that includes pad.
The scrum of reporters, local and national, looked forlorn. And one correspondent said aloud: "The fat lady is now singing."
We'll see.
As for the Super voting states: has anyone else (besides those stateline.org folks and their patron, David Broder, and our Taylor Peck) noticed that all of the states voting today — making up about 33% of the U.S. population — have Republican governors?
New York Democratic primary:Polls close: 9:00 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 236Closed primary — open to Democratic voters only.
Connecticut Democratic primary:Polls close: 8:00 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 49Closed primary — open to Democratic voters only.
Massachusetts Democratic primary:Polls close: 8:00 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 93Open primary — open to registered voters.
Maryland Democratic primary:Polls close: 8:00 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 69Closed primary — open to Democratic voters only.
Georgia Democratic primary:Polls close: 7:00 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 86Open primary — open to registered voters.
Vermont Democratic primary:Polls close: 7:00 pm ETDelegates to be allocated: 15Open primary — open to registered voters.
Rhode Island Democratic primary:Polls close: 9:00 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 21It's open to independents or "unaffiliateds."
Ohio Democratic primary:Polls close: 7:30 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 140The caucuses are open to registered voters.
Minnesota Democratic caucuses:Caucus registration begins: 7:30 pm ETPresidential preference balloting begins: 8:00 pm ETDelegates to be allocated: 72Party caucuses open to Republicans or independents as long as they sign a pledge of commitment to vote for the Democratic nominee in November
California Democratic primary:Polls close: 11:00 pm ET.Delegates to be allocated: 370The Democratic primary is open to independents.
Also on the ballot today:
Californians will vote on Proposition 57, a $15 billion bond, and Proposition 58, which would require a balanced budget.
Republicans in California will decide who will be nominated to face Senator Barbara Boxer in the fall.
Former Secretary of State Bill Jones, former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Martin and former State Rep. Howard Kaloogian are expected to finish in the top three.
Georgians will get the chance to vote on what their state flag should look like.
Senator Kerry is in Georgia and Washington, D.C.
Senator Edwards is in Georgia and Washington, D.C.
Rep. Kucinich is in Ohio.
Rev. Sharpton is in New York.
ABC News Vote 2004: The delegate estimate:
Heading into Super Tuesday, John Kerry has a nearly insurmountable lead in the delegate race. The Massachusetts Senator has collected 705 delegates to date which is about one-third of the delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Nomination contests occur in ten states with 1,151 delegates up for grabs, representing one-third of the pledged delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention and 53 percent of the total delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Delegates so far (pledged delegates and superdelegates combined)*:
Kerry: 705 (roughly 33% of the total delegates needed to secure the nomination)
Edwards: 201
Sharpton: 15
Kucinich: 10
Delegates needed to win the nomination: 2,162
Delegates at stake: (Mar. 2): 1,151
These totals include both pledged delegates who are allocated according to their home state's primary and caucus results as well as "unpledged" delegates, known as "superdelegates," made up of state party leaders and activists, Democratic governors, members of congress, former presidents, vice-presidents, and national party chairmen.
The GOP delegate estimate:
President Bush has collected roughly 325 delegates in Republican nomination contests thus far. There are 587 Republican delegates at stake today. Due to the Republican winner-take-all system in most states (including the nine primary states in play), it is likely that President Bush will win all of the delegates up for grabs putting his total over 900 and well within striking distance of securing the Republican nomination. 1,255 delegates are needed to secure the Republican nomination.
Bush 325 (roughly 26% of the delegates needed to secure the nomination)
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
The long-awaited Bush-Cheney '04 ad campaign begins on Thursday and the place to be tomorrow morning will be the Courthouse Metro stop. The campaign will rollout the spots in a media preview at the BC04 headquarters and will make the ads available sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Set your TiVo!
Vice President Cheney is sitting down for rare interviews with all three cable networks today. Cheney will be on Lester Holt Live on MSNBC at 4pm, Wolf Blitzer Reports at 5pm, and Special Report with Brit Hume at 6pm. The interviews will be taped and highlights of all three will be airing throughout the day.
AP's Lindlaw looks at the lines of communication between the White House and the Bush-Cheney '04 office and Notes that ground zero is Karl Rove's second-floor office in the West Wing.
