The Note

W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 5&#151;<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

—8:15 am: Sen. Joe Lieberman has breakfast at Tilt'n Diner, Tilton, N.H. —8:30 am: Rep. Dick Gephardt attends breakfast with Democrats in McAlester, Okla. —9:00 am: Sen. John Kerry has breakfast with Wapello County activists at Country Kitchen, Ottumwa, Iowa —9:15 am: Rep. Gephardt tours the Pittsburgh County Courthouse in McAlester, Okla. —9:30 am: Gov. Howard Dean has breakfast with Chickasaw County Democrats at Tom's Restaurant, New Hampton, Iowa —9:45 am: Sen. Lieberman discusses health-care costs at Belknap Tire, Laconia, N.H. —10:30 am: Rep. Gephardt attends a health-care roundtable and speaks to the press at Mary Mahoney Memorial Health Clinic, Oklahoma City, Okla.—10:45 am: Sen. Kerry meets with Mahaska County activists at the Oskaloosa Public Library, Oskaloosa, Iowa —10:45 am: Rep. Dennis Kucinich speaks to the press at Griffieon Farm, Ankeny, Iowa —11:00 am: Gen. Wesley Clark delivers a major speech relating to his tax policy, Nashua, N.H. —11:15 am: Gov. Howard Dean holds a "Caucus for Change" event at Floyd County Museum, Charles City, Iowa —11:45 am: Sen. Lieberman participates in a roundtable discussion on health care at Lilac City Pediatrics, Rochester, N.H.—12:00 pm: Sen. John Edwards speaks about changing America, Des Moines, Iowa —12:45 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a rally at Diamond Dave's Restaurant, Newton, Iowa —1:15 pm: Sen. Lieberman and his wife Hadassah host a town hall meeting at Raymond High School, Raymond, N.H. —1:30 pm: Gov. Dean holds a conference call to criticize "No Child Left Behind" —1:30 pm: Sen. Kerry delivers a major speech on the economy, Des Moines, Iowa —2:00 pm: Gen. Clark holds a "Conversation with Clark" at Riverwoods, Exeter, N.H. —2:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a rally at Saints Rest Coffee House, Grinnell, Iowa —2:30 pm: Sen. Edwards meets with Boone County Democrats at the Ericson Public Library, Boone, Iowa —3:00 pm: Rep. Gephardt participates in an economic justice rally, Des Moines, Iowa —3:15 pm: President Bush participates in a conversation on the "No Child Left Behind Act" at Pierre Laclede Elementary School, St. Louis, Mo.—4:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a rally at Gringo's Restaurant, Iowa City, Iowa —4:15 pm: Sen. Edwards meets with Webster County Democrats at the Fort Dodge public library, Iowa —5:30 pm: Sen. Edwards meets Hamilton County Democrats at a senior center, Webster City, Iowa —5:30 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a labor rally at La Mexicana Restaurant, West Liberty, Iowa —5:45 pm: Sen. Lieberman attends a house party in Medford Farms Retirement Community, Goffstown, N.H. —6:00 pm: Rep. Gephardt meets with Des Moines County Democrats, Burlington, Iowa —6:00 pm: Sen. Kerry attends a Truman Fund fundraiser for Senator Jack Hatch at Metro Market, Des Moines, Iowa —6:45 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a reception at Hoover House, West Branch, Iowa —6:50 pm: President Bush speaks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser in St. Louis, Mo. —7:00 pm: Gov. Dean hosts a town hall meeting on education, Fargo, N.D. —7:00 pm: Gen. Clark appears on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" —7:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a rally, Cedar Rapids, Iowa —7:30 pm: Sen. Kerry appears live on Iowa Press with David Yepsen —7:30 pm: Gen. Clark holds a "Conversation with Clark," Dover, N.H. —7:30 pm: Sen. Lieberman attends a house party, Milford, NH —8:00 pm: Sen. Kerry and his wife appear on CNN live —8:00 pm: Sen. Edwards meets with Cerro Gordo Democrats at North Iowa Community College, Mason City, Iowa —9:00 pm: Rep. Gephardt meets with Lee County Democrats at the Ivor Fowler Community Center, Montrose, Iowa —9:00 pm: Sen. Kerry meets with activists, Ankeny, Iowa

NEWS SUMMARY

With a fortnight to go before Iowa Democrats caucus, there are a heck of a lot of things that even those of you/us following all this politics stuff closely don't know.

Such as:

-- How many of those 14 days will feature good news cycles for Howard Dean, and how many bad ones?

(Looks like Tuesday could be a good one, if the Boston Globe 's dominating Glen Johnson is right (and we think he is … ) that Bill Bradley will endorse Howard Dean tomorrow in New Hampshire — where the two politicos can trade Notes on how much they loathe the superficiality of the political press corps.)

-- On how many of those 14 days will coverage of the Democratic nomination fight be blotted out by world events — or by purposeful White House dribbling out of State of the Union run-up details? Or by Britney, fathers who dangle their children in front of wild animals, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, or any manner of other elements of the passing parade?

-- Can a person win a major party nomination if his spouse does not do a single television interview and her/his voice is completely unfamiliar to nearly every American — and, seventeen times more important — to nearly every American political reporter?

-- Will Tom Harkin endorse?

-- Will any of the five leading candidates to be the Dean Alternative succeed in finishing the "get hot at the end" part of "organize, organize, organize, and get hot at the end"? (We don't want to end up on the Edwards campaign blog or in a fundraising email, but a certain Southern Senator's in-the-zone debate appearance yesterday got us to thinking … .)

-- Will the frustration boiling over from those five campaigns with the press corps' year-long insufficiently rigorous and timely scrutiny of Dr. Dean help their chosen candidates get elected president?

-- Will tonight's Kerry-Heinz (or is it "Heinz-Kerry"?) CNN joint appearance be boffo?

-- Will the he's-a-national-security-pipsqueak-and-hot-head-who-Karl-Rove-will-open-up-like-a-boiled-peanut mantra start to hurt Howard Dean with voters enough to deny him the nomination?

(Focus on that last one the most, because it is the whole ballgame.)

In other Party of The Macker news, ABC News has learned that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle plan to join together to deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union address on January 20.

The two Democratic leaders will also team up to preview their speech at the National Press Club on Friday, January 16.

Formats remain TBD, our sources say.

The Boston Globe 's Glen Johnson batters into the news cycle his exclusive. "Howard Dean, whose presidential campaign has already won the backing of former vice president Al Gore, is planning a surprise visit to New Hampshire Tuesday in expectation of receiving the endorsement of the other leading Democratic contender from the 2000 race, former US senator Bill Bradley." LINK

Is there such a thing as too much icing on the cake? Will everyone crowd around Gina this morning to get a tick-tock?

"A senior aide traveling early this morning with Dean in northern Iowa authenticated the invitation but refused to say that Bradley was planning to endorse Dean, explaining, 'Nothing is confirmed at this point.' The aide acknowledged that scrapping the early-morning event in Iowa, whose kickoff caucuses are two weeks from tonight, Monday would be unusual, particularly on the day of a debate, but the aide explained, 'It wouldn't be the only wacky thing we've done in this campaign.' Dean is expected to fly back to Des Moines to participate in the candidate forum."

Check out what Glen found on the web — a gruesome Bradley-on-Kerry quote.

An aide to Dean confirms to ABC News that the former New Jersey Senator is "expected to be there" with Dean on Tuesday but would not confirm the endorsement. Look for the big whatever-it-is tomorrow morning, at the executive court banquet facilities at 7:45 am ET.

Meanwhile, the man who is banking on a breeze out of New Hampshire, Ret. Gen. Wes Clark, will roll out his "Families First Tax Reform" plan this morning,

ABC News' Deborah Apton reports that under Clark's tax reform, a family of four making up to $50,000 would pay no federal income taxes, and all taxpaying families making up to $100,000 would get a tax cut.

According to Notes put out by the Clark campaign Sunday evening, General Clark's plan would cut taxes for 31 million working families, while shifting more of the tax burden to the top 0.1 percent of Americans-those making over $1 million.

The campaign characterizes the plan as fair, progressive, simple, and responsible. They also point out the differences between Clark's proposal and the Bush Administration's current tax plan saying, "Under President Bush, typical families have seen their incomes fall by nearly $1,500, while President Bush provided an average tax cut of $128,000 to taxpayers making over $1 million."

In all, Clark's plan hopes to provide poverty-reducing relief and a middle-class tax burden reduction of about $30 billion annually by tacking on a five percent point surcharge only on income over $1 million per year. The surcharge would not apply to the first $1 million of income or to any capital gains-so, the campaign says, it will not affect 99.9% of taxpayers. Clark also hopes to close corporate loopholes.

The Clark campaign told ABC News that General Clark will spend every day this week talking about a different aspect of this tax plan. On Tuesday, he will roll out numbers specific to New Hampshire — the number of families affected and the tax cut for the "typical family."

Today, President Bush talks about the "No Child Left Behind Act" and attends a campaign fundraiser in St. Louis today. On Thursday he repeats that schedule in Knoxville, Tenn., before attending a Florida fundraiser.

Gov. Dean campaigns in Iowa and holds a conference call criticizing the "No Child Left Behind" bill today. On Tuesday afternoon he participates in NPR's radio-only forum, which will feature all candidates except for Gen. Clark and, possibly, Senator Edwards.

We still think he might trade his day off in Vermont on Wednesday for a trip to Iowa to be endorsed by Tom Harkin, but that is based largely on the Ouija board we set up in the lobby of the Hotel Fort Des Moines.

Senator John Kerry campaigns and delivers a major speech about the economy today in Iowa. He is in Iowa tomorrow.

Rep. Dick Gephardt campaigns in Oklahoma and Iowa today. He campaigns in Iowa for much of the rest of the week except for Wednesday, when he will campaign in South Carolina.

Gen. Wesley Clark unveils that tax reform proposal today in New Hampshire, where he will campaign every day this week.

Senator Joe Lieberman campaigns in New Hampshire today and every day this week, but will participate in tomorrow's NPR debate.

Senator John Edwards delivers a speech in Iowa today outlining his plan to change the country. He campaigns in Iowa tomorrow and Wednesday morning, South Carolina on Wednesday afternoon, and New Hampshire the rest of the week.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich campaigns in Iowa today and tomorrow and New Hampshire on Wednesday and Thursday.