The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 9—<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE AS OF 9:00 am (all times ET):
— 8:30 am: Sen. John Edwards meets with carrier workers at Prater's BBQ, Morrison, Tenn.— 9:00 am: Gen. Wesley Clark meets voters in Union City, Dyersburg and Covington, Tenn. — 10:45 am: Gov. Howard Dean delivers a major speech about the 2004 election at the Concourse Hotel, Madison, Wis. — 11:30 am: Former Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi discusses the Internet and politics at a "Digital Democrary" teach-in, San Diego, Calif. — 12:00 pm: Sen. John Kerry attends a "Rally for America's Future" event at Fire Station One, Roanoke, Va. — 12:00 pm: Rep. Dennis Kucinich conducts a Q&A with NYU students, New York, N.Y. — 1:00 pm: Politics Live on ABC News Live and AOL— 1:00 pm: Gen. Clark greets supporters at the B.B. King's Blues Club, Memphis, Tenn. — 1:25 pm: Pres. Bush participates in a conversation on the economy at SRC Automotive, Springfield, Mo. — 1:30 pm: Sen. Edwards attends a rally at Tidewater Community College, Norfolk, Va. — 1:30 pm: Meetup.com CEO Scott Heiferman discusses how Meetup has changed politics at the "Digital Democracy" teach-in, San Diego, Calif. — 1:45 pm: Gov. Dean attends a town hall at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wis. — 2:00 pm: Mrs. Laura Bush presents one of her red dresses during Fashion Week 2004 in Bryant Park, New York, N.Y. — 2:15 pm: Linux Journal Senior Editor Doc Searls discusses political blogging at the "Digital Democracy" teach-in, San Diego, Calif. — 4:25 pm: President Bush returns to the White House— 5:30 pm: Bush Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman conducts a live Web chat at http://www.GeorgeWBush.com/Chat— 6:30 pm: Sen. Edwards attends a rally at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. — 6:45 pm: Gov. Dean attends a rally at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, Wis. — 6:50 pm: Gen. Clark greets supporters at the Renaissance Center, Dickson, Tenn. — 7:00 pm: Sen. Kerry attends a "Rally for America's Future" event at the Cadre Building, Memphis, Tenn. — 9:00 pm: Gen. Clark greets supporters with country star Jamie O'Neal at the Sheraton, Nashville, Tenn.
NEWS SUMMARY
An early version of today's Note included what was intended as a satirical report of an ABC News/Washington Post poll. No such poll was conducted. The questions and results listed were not from a real poll.
As everyone knows -- and as those Democratic presidential candidates trying to catch to John Kerry are learning all too well -- free media is more important in determining who wins the White House than is just about anything else, and it is more important in presidential races than it is in other, down-ballot contests.
And the broadcast media reaches more voters than anyone else. Which is why we still sometimes get our calls returned.
The zeitgeist embedded in our poll results can be seen in every frame of video and every print word choice that is currently being produced about the presidential race.
Since 98% of the people we surveyed have Blue state mentalities (even if they live in McLean and not Chevy Chase), the President's communications advisers have a choice:
Try to change the poll numbers above, or try to win this election without changing them.
What's it going to be, Ken, Karen, Mary, Terry, Nicole, and Dan?
President Bush is in Missouri to talk about the economy.
Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards are in Virginia and Tennessee today.
Look for Kerry to pick up at least three more endorsements today: Rep. Nita Lowey, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, and the Amalgamated Transit Unions.
Gov. Howard Dean is in Wisconsin.
Gen. Wesley Clark is in Tennessee all day.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich is in Virginia and New York.
First Lady Laura Bush visits Fashion Week in New York -- including a stop with Regis and Kelly.
BC '04 campaign manager Ken Mehlman participates in a live Web chat.
Happy birthday, dear The Macker, happy birthday to you!
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
Ron Brownstein looks at how President Bush's strength could become his weakness in the election year: "With polls showing Americans uneasy over the economy and the mission in Iraq, Bush faces the risk that his unyielding defense of his decisions will strike many Americans less as determination than rigidity."LINK
The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller Notes that President Bush's goal in "stepping down from his presidential pedestal and into the political hothouse of 'Meet the Press' was to frame the election on his capacity to make the tough, unpopular decisions that he thinks are in the best interests of the national security and economic health of the United States." LINK
The New York Times' Rutenberg Notes that President Bush's aides "acknowledged that he chose to go on 'Meet the Press' in part to demonstrate that he could face tough questions and perhaps even put some behind him." LINK
The Los Angeles Times' investigative ace Richard Serrano has details on the FOIA all the media should have filed by now regarding POTUS records. LINK
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank also deals with the Guard record issue. LINK
USA Today's Tom Squitieri highlights Bush's defense of his record on the National Guard. LINK
More "Meet" redux:
New York Times: LINK
Los Angeles Times: LINK
Walter Shapiro thinks that "the Bush interview provided a preview of the strengths and vulnerabilities that the president brings to his re-election campaign." LINK
The Washington Post's Walter Pincus highlights Bush's suggestion in the interview that U.N. inspections and sanctions were of limited utility in preventing Saddam Hussein from acquiring WMD, contradicting David Kay's testimony. LINK
The Washington Post's Tom Shales gives Tim Russert props for hammering on the intelligence questions. LINK
The New York Times gathers Kerry's and Dean's responses to the "Meet the Press" interview. LINK
The New York Times' editorial board thinks that President Bush's "reflections" were "far from reassuring." LINK
The Nation's David Corn slams Russert for being more "enabler than interrogator" on MTP. "It was as if Russert wouldn't let Russert be Russert. Booking Bush was the big 'get,' but, alas, Russert let this 'get' get away." LINK
Slate.com's Saletan digs into the Philosophy 101 textbooks and writes that President Bush sees the world as Plato did: "Plato believed that what's real isn't the things you can touch and see: your computer, your desk, those empty barrels in Iraq that Bush thought were full of chemical weapons . . . In Bush's Platonic reality, the world is dangerous, threats exist, and the evidence of our senses must be interpreted to fit that larger truth." LINK
The Bush Administration is planning an "ambitious bid" to promote Democracy in the Middle East, The Washington Post's Wright and Kessler report. The plan would "call for Arab and South Asian governments to adopt major political reforms, be held accountable on human rights -- particularly women's empowerment -- and introduce economic reforms." LINK
The Washington Post's Charles Lane analyzes the impact of Vice President Cheney's trip with Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia. LINK
The Wall Street Journal's Calmes reports that "A new level of tension is emerging between President Bush and the congressional Republicans he expects to deliver his election-year agenda."
The director of the EPA defends the President's policies in the USA Today. LINK
ABC 2004: The Democratic nomination fight:
The Wall Street Journal's dashing duo of Harwood and Hitt write of the storylines emerging in the Bush-Kerry general election showdown that politics watchers now deem increasingly likely.
We are sure the White House won't like this graph: "Bush campaign aides had hoped to dominate the early election agenda with his State of the Union address, the budget proposal he unveiled last week and campaign-style appearances in critical states. But they have grown concerned that the president's message isn't breaking through the national focus on the Democratic primaries, not to mention the increasingly critical public assessments of his job performance."
Adam Nagourney reports that "Democrats now seemed poised to nominate a candidate who had escaped damage from internal battling and enjoyed broad support from all factions of the party." Mark Penn uses the "e" word! LINK
The New York Times' David Rosenbaum reports that Gov. Dean "had expected to do well in Maine, banking on his familiarity as a New Englander and the state's history of voting for mavericks." Alas, the "'electable'" thing seems to be working for Kerry here, too. LINK
David Broder and John Harris write that the weekend's "one-sided triumphs" stretched Sen. Kerry's delegate lead and "left rivals Howard Dean, retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) grasping for handholds in the effort to deny Kerry the nomination." LINK
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