The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 11—<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE AS OF 9:00 am (all times ET):
—9:30 am: Senate convenes for legislative business—10:00 am: House of Representatives convenes for legislative business—11:00 am: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan delivers the Fed's semiannual report on monetary policy to the House Financial Services Committee—11:45 am: Gov. Howard Dean attends an event at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee, Wis. —12:00 pm: President Bush attends the Republican National Convention luncheon, Washington, D.C. —12:00 pm: Sen. John Edwards meets with voters at Janesville Labor Council, Janesville, Wis. —12:00 pm: Rep. Dennis Kucinich attends a taping from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio—1:00 pm: Politics Live on ABC News Live and AOL—1:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich greets the Latino Caucus Labor Council, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio—2:00 pm: Joint session of the Massachusetts Legislature meets, Boston, Mass. —2:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a town hall meeting with Local 50 Labor Union, Toledo, Ohio—2:30 pm: President Bush delivers remarks on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction at National Defense University, Washington, D.C. —3:00 pm: Gen. Clark announces he will drop out of the race at the Peabody Hotel, Little Rock, Ark. —3:00 pm: Sen. Edwards attends a rally at the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, Wis. —4:30 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a community meeting at the East Toledo Family Center, Toledo, Ohio—5:30 pm: Rep. Kucinich canvasses at the Wyler Homes Projects, Toledo, Ohio—7:15 pm: Sen. Edwards attends a rally at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wis. —8:15 pm: Rep. Kucinich delivers a speech from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio —11:00 pm: RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie appears on PBS' The Charlie Rose Show.
NEWS SUMMARY
President Bush's biggest problem right now is ____________ (noun).
He is still quite popular with the Republican base, but it would be nice of the economy would create, say, ____________ (number) jobs before he faces the voters.
Dan Bartlett's television appearances in the last few days make us think of a ____________ (barnyard or circus animal), but Scott McClellan's ____________ (adjective) daily briefing yesterday gave us ____________ (involuntary, violent action).
"Strong Leadership in Times of Change" is a fantastic campaign slogan because it ______________________________ (long, wonky but clever explanation).
BC04 spokesgal Nicole Devenish's position that the Bush campaign took their ad-like video off of the campaign Web site after NBC complained about the use of "Meet" footage because "it's important to have good relationships with the people who are going to cover us this year" would be best taken to heart by ____________________________ (Kerry staffer who should know better).
Sen. Kerry now has ____________ (big number, size depending on which network you trust) delegates, which is around 1/4 of the total he needs to ____________ (verb) the nomination.
The thing most Democrats say Kerry lacks in order to put himself in a position to beat George Bush is a ____________ (noun), while others think he requires a ____________ (adjectival noun or body part) transplant.
Lucky for him, he will have the ____________ (adjective) David Wade with him on the road to help figure all this out.
Although Dean and Edwards will continue their campaigns until ____________ (cliché), ____________ (number exceedingly close to 500) of the Gang of 500 will now turn their focus to the Bush-Kerry match-up.
But ____________ (member of Gang of 500) thinks that a candidate who chooses to stay in the race "after the lights have gone out" shares the logic of ____________ (favorite children's book character).
Bush-Kerry will make the archive of the Yale Daily News ____________ (adjective), and the Bumiller-Betts relationship ____________ (adjective).
Garry Trudeau, on the other hand, will now become ____________ (mysterious adjective).
General Wesley Clark's campaign can be best summed up as ____________ (song title). Sen. Kerry's campaign can be best summed up as ____________ (movie title).
Maureen Dowd will say that Kerry is a ____________ (brand of car). The discussions within the Kerry campaign about how much access to give MoDo to Sen. Kerry will be ________________________ (adjective) and ___________________ (more intense adjective).
When asked about his military service in the 1970s, President Bush has replied ____________ (adv.) that he was in ____________ (name of desirable place).
Democrats now think that the Administration has ____________ (verb) jobs to ____________ (name of desirable place).
The 1972 Alabama National Guard has moved ____________ (proper noun) to ____________ (violent verb).
John Edwards' ____________ (noun) has moved ____________ (plural noun) to ____________ (soothing verb).
President Bush will tell his staff that ____________ (noun or man's name) would have to ____________ (verb) ____________ (adverb/pronoun) before he would agree to let the Commission on Presidential Debates dictate the terms and number of fall debates -- in fact, he will agree to just ____________ (very low prime number).
As for Kerry, to prepare for the debates, he will study tapes of Al Gore debating Bush, and resolve never to ____________ (verb other than "sigh").
The Bush-Kerry battle will also be fought over the airwaves, with both candidates making appearances on unconventional television show, with the President guest-staring on ____________ (WB or UPN program), and Kerry making a cameo on ____________ (second-rate reality show).
The press will begin to speculate about things such as the Kerry summer White House in ____________ (exotic place), and which one of them will somehow get into print the next off-the-record Bill Clinton dinner party talk about Kerry, with an emphasis on Kerry's ____________ (noun).
For Kerry, the campaign will be all about ____________ (noun), ____________ (noun), and Bob Shrum's ____________ (noun).
For Bush, it will be all about ____________ (noun), ____________ (noun), and Maverick Media's ____________ (adjective) ____________ (noun).
Bob Shrum has written ____________ (number) speeches in the last year. His best was delivered by ____________ (name of presidential, gubernatorial, or senatorial candidate).
Shrum, Devine, Donilon, would ____________ (adverb) beat the Glover Park Group at "It's Academic," but the folks at GPG would ____________ (verb) Shrum, Devine, Donilon at __________________ (intense competitive physical activity).
Both Bush and Kerry will trot out cross-party supporters -- besides Zell Miller -- with Kerry bagging ____________ (prominent left-leaning Republican) and the President winning over the support of ____________ (more prominent centrist Democrat).
"90210" is to ____________ (name of current primetime "drama") as 527s are to ____________ (noun).
Rep. Kucinich is so ____________! (name of favorite soap star).
Karl Rove is so ____________! (name of adult cartoon character).
The ____________ (adjective) Republican convention will be held in ____________ (adjective) New York, where the press will focus on _______________ (colorful metaphor). The ____________ (adjective) convention will be held in ____________ (adjective) Boston, where the press will focus on _____________________ (noun).
The Yankees will ____________ (verb) this season's World Series.
Sen. Kerry's eventual running mate will say the Red Sox and the Yankees are ____________ (plural noun /expletive).
On election day voters will base their decisions on ____________ (noun) and discount ____________, ____________ and ____________ (nouns).
Voters will come to see that the trait the two men running for President share above all else is ____________ (shocking noun).
On to the delegate tote board!
John Kerry showed some Southern charm Tuesday as he scooped up a couple more big victories in the race for the Democratic nomination. Kerry won a majority of the 151 delegates at stake, adding to his commanding lead in the ABC News delegate estimate.
Overall, Kerry has now won roughly 24 percent of the 2,161 total delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Kerry, with 512 overall delegates, has nearly three times as many delegates as Howard Dean, who places second in our estimate with 179 delegates. This total includes 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.
Here are the current totals in the ABC News Delegate Estimate.
Sen. Kerry is down today in Washington, D.C.
Gen. Clark is in Little Rock, Ark., to announce that he will drop out of the race.
Sen. Edwards is in Wisconsin today, as is Gov. Dean.
Rep. Kucinich is in Ohio today.
President Bush is in Washington, D.C., and delivers remarks on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction at National Defense University.
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
Washington Post's Allen and Cooperman report that President Bush will endorse a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The amendment would ban gay marriage but would not prevent states from allowing civil unions.
The Post duo Notes the political motivations and implications of the decision:
"Republican officials said Bush's decision to proceed now was driven partly by his desire to start the general election campaign on a fresh issue, at a time when his credibility has been battered by questions about prewar warnings of unconventional weapons in Iraq, as well as doubts raised by Democrats about his National Guard service."LINK
Joe Allbaugh about his friend George Bush on FNC this morning: "He's not in campaign mode."
He called Harold Ford "a good man" and the National Guard matter "a non-issue for every person in America."
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