The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, Mar. 4—<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE AS OF 9:00 am (all times ET):
—7:00 am: Bush-Cheney '04 senior advisor Karen Hughes appears on the morning shows—8:30 am: The Labor Department releases the weekly jobless claims report—8:30 am: Rep. Dennis Kucinich has breakfast with volunteers and African-American activists at Viva le Freda Restaurant, Tampa, Fla.—8:30 am: The Library of Congress opens the collection of judicial papers of former Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun to the public and the media—9:00 am: Nonprofit organizations and political advocacy groups speaks to the press about FEC regulations, Washington, D.C.—9:00 am: Reps. Edward Markey and Mike Turner co-sponsor a briefing on the "State of Our Cities," Washington, D.C.—9:30 am: The Senate convenes for legislative business—9:30 am: Sen. Joe Lieberman delivers a speech on Iraq, his first major address from the floor of the Senate since ending his presidential campaign, Washington, D.C.—9:30 am: Gen. John Abizaid and NATO Commander Gen. James Jones testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Washington, D.C.—9:30 am: House Democrats release a report on the FY05 Bush administration budget—10:00 am: The House of Representatives convenes for legislative business—10:00 am: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge testifies before the House Appropriations Committee, Washington, D.C.—10:00 am: Rep. Kucinich attends a Central Labor Council meeting at the Building and Trades Union Hall, Tampa, Fla.—10:45 am: House Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi holds her weekly news conference—11:00 am: Rep. Kucinich attends a press conference at the Building and Trades Union Hall, Tampa, Fla.—11:00 am: House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer joins leaders of the Blue Dog Coalition to denounce deficits at the Capitol, Washington, D.C.—12:00 pm: Sens. Charles Schumer, Jon Corzine and Byron Dorgan announce an online petition drive aimed at protecting Social Security benefits, Washington, D.C.—12:30 pm: Reps. Charles Rangel, Sander Levin, Adam Smith, Jay Inslee, and Tim Holden introduce new legislation for service workers, Washington, D.C.—12:35 pm: President Bush participates in a "Conversation on the Economy" event at Rain for Rent, Bakersfield, Calif.—1:00 pm: Politics Live on ABC New Live and AOL—2:30 pm: Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Lindsey Graham testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Washington, D.C.—2:30 pm: CIA Director George Tenet testifies before the Select Senate Intelligence Committee on pre-war intelligence, Washington, D.C.—3:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich speaks about the Department of Peace at the Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Gainesville, Fla.—3:40 pm: President Bush attends a Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser luncheon at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, Calif. —5:00 pm: Chief Strategist for Bush-Cheney '04 Matthew Dowd hosts an online chat on the campaign's Web site—5:30 pm: Rep. Kucinich serves food to the homeless with HOMEVAN, Gainesville, Fla.—7:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a rally and concert with Tim Reynolds and John McCutcheon at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.—8:05 pm: President Bush arrives at his ranch, Crawford, Texas—10:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich holds a MeetUp at Fuel Coffee Shop, Jacksonville, Fla.
NEWS SUMMARY
Money may not be able to buy you happiness or friends, but it sure can buy you a helluva lot of campaign ads. And unless you've been in a sensory deprivation chamber for the last 24 hours, you've heard all about the Bush-Cheney campaign's (positive) advertising onslaught that hits the airwaves today.
The spots tout the Bush Administration's "steady hand in times of change" — and their images from 9/11 meant to emphasize the president's leadership in times of crisis is sure to occupy the imaginations of those in many a Democratic strategy meeting. Good to see Karen Hughes back on the morning shows.
Meanwhile, in a departure from his usual stump to the faithful, President Bush mentioned Kerry by name twice at a fundraiser last night, offering a peek at the "Washington insider who wants to raise your taxes and hasn't offered strategies to keep you safer" strategy coming down the pike. The gauntlet has been thrown.
The presumptive Democratic nominee, meanwhile, has a lot of fundraisin' to do to try to compete — nudged along last night by an e-mail sent to 2 million people by the Democratic National Committee. We hear it broke all previous DNC online fundraising records. Which for the record, aren't in the same neighborhood as Howard Dean's.
The Los Angeles Times' Getter looks at the work ahead for John Kerry to raise large sums of money quickly. LINK
"They're planning a 50-city fundraising blitz to take place over six or eight weeks. They're adding regional finance chairs to an expanding finance team. And they're setting up a joint account with the Democratic National Committee, so that a donor could write one check for $27,000 — a $2,000 donation for Kerry and $25,000 to the DNC, the maximums now allowed by law."
Several of America's finest observe Kerry's new general election mode:
The New York Times ' Halbfinger reports Kerry began his campaign in Florida yesterday, "flying here to rally voters in the battleground state that is his party's bloody shirt, naming a Democratic financier to oversee his search for a running mate and orchestrating a takeover of the Democratic National Committee." Note the DNC takeover will apparently happen sans Michael Whouley playing a lead role. LINK
John F. Harris and Manuel Roig-Franzia report on the first day of Bush v. Kerry, focusing on the ducks the Kerry camp is putting in a row. Good to hear that the Kerry folks and the DNC are playing nice already. LINK
And feeding Veepstakes Fever, Johanna Neuman of the Los Angeles Times LINK and Pat Healy of the Boston Globe LINK look at the man tasked with finding Kerry a running mate.
As for the Bush-Cheney re-elect front, we implore you not to miss Bob Novak, who smells trouble between the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans, alleging a party leadership vacuum in which the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing — and what's more, isn't supporting it when it finds out. LINK
While the campaign is focused on raking in the bucks and organizing their operations, Novak writes, Republicans on Capitol Hill disagree with the White House on the highway bill, struggle with the budget while the president calls for permanent tax cuts, feel they were left twisting in the wind on the 9/11 commission deadline and haven't gotten their feet under them after the economic report that called the outsourcing of jobs a good thing.
He also throws in this interesting tidbit: "The disaffection is such that over the last two weeks, normally loyal Republicans — actually including more than a few members of Congress — are privately talking about political merits in the election of Senator Kerry. Their reasoning goes like this: There is no way Democrats can win the House or Senate even if Bush loses. If Bush is re-elected, Democrats are likely to win both the House and Senate in a 2006 mid-term rebound. If Kerry wins, Republicans will be able to bounce back with congressional gains in 2006."
Looking for a minute at the delegate tote board …
It seems that The Note now works for a superdelegate! Speaking of delegates (howdya like that transition?), John Kerry breaks the 1,500 mark in our latest delegate estimate, which you can find here: LINK
President Bush is in California to discuss the economy and attend a fundraiser for his campaign. He then heads to Crawford, Texas.
Senator Kerry has no public events today. He is down in Boston.
Rep. Kucinich is in Florida.
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush v. Kerry:The AP's Ron Fournier writes that while Bush and Kerry have only been really going head-to-head with each other for one day, but "partisans from both parties are already fretting over their candidate's chances." Fournier looks at the race battleground state by battleground state. LINK
Bob Kemper and Jeff Zeleny of the Chicago Tribune Note the first day of the campaign for President: Bush calls his rival by name, and accuses him of flip-flopping and not supporting the invasion to remove Saddam Hussein, while Kerry raises money and takes issue with Bush's use of 9/11 images in his advertising Blitzkrieg. LINK
Barabak and La Ganga of the Los Angeles Times wrap up the candidates' sunshiney days. LINK
AP' Lisa Falkenberg reports on Karen Hughes' speech in Dallas yesterday — one in which she said Kerry lacked "message clarity" and that President Bush's directness makes people (mostly Democrats and Europeans) uncomfortable. LINK
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