The Note

ByABC News
November 17, 2003, 9:42 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 14&#151;<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

8:00 am: General Wesley Clark officially files to be a candidate in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, Concord, N.H.10:00 am: President and Mrs. Bush participate in the presentation of the National Humanities Medal Awards, White House10:00 am: Reverend Al Sharpton meets with the Black Psychiatrists of Greater New York and Associates, New York City 10:15 am: Off-camera White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan 10:45 am: Governor Howard Dean attends a campaign rally at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa 11:25 am: President Bush meets with the president of Italy, White House 12:05 pm: Senator Max Baucus holds a news conference to announce his endorsement of General Clark's presidential campaign, Capitol Hill12:10 pm: Congressman Dennis Kucinich visits a senior center, Iowa City, Iowa 12:30 pm: Senator John Edwards holds a town hall meeting at Morris College, Sumter, S.C. 12:30 pm: Vice President Cheney makes remarks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser luncheon, New York City 12:45 pm: Senator John Kerry meets with Democratic activists, Winterset, Iowa 1:00 pm: Governor Dean attends a campaign rally at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 1:30 pm: On-camera White House press briefing with Scott McClellan 2:00 pm: President Bush makes remarks and signs a proclamation in honor of the National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week, White House2:00 pm: California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certifies the results of the October 7 recall election, Sacramento2:00 pm: House convenes for a pro forma session 2:00 pm: Congressman Kucinich attends a forum with students, Coralville, Iowa 3:00 pm: Senator Edwards holds a roundtable with business leaders, Florence, S.C. 6:00 pm: Senator Kerry meets with Democratic activists, Des Moines, Iowa 6:15 pm: Congressman Kucinich attends a campaign rally at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 6:45 pm: Governor Dean attends a campaign rally at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 7:00 pm: Senator Edwards attends a fish-fry with Orangeburg County Democrats, Orangeburg, S.C. 7:30 pm: Congressman Kucinich attends a peace rally, West Branch, Iowa 8:00 pm: Senator Kerry meets with Democratic activists, Des Moines, Iowa 8:45 pm: Governor Dean keynotes a fundraiser for State Senator Herman Quirmbach, Ames, Iowa 9:30 pm: Senator Edwards attends a campaign reception, Orangeburg, S.C.

NEWS SUMMARY

Big political stories right now and through the weekend: Iraqification; the Louisiana governor's race; Senator Clinton and the Six Pack in Iowa; and it'stheeconomystupidchangeversusmoreofthesameanddon'tforgethealthcare.

Big political story for us here:

ABC News and ABC affiliate WMUR (Manchester, NH) are announcing this morning that we will produce a live, 90-minute debate among the Democratic candidates for president in Durham, New Hampshire on Tuesday, December 9, 2003. The debate is facilitated by the Democratic National Committee on behalf of the Democratic candidates.

The debate is scheduled to begin at 7:00pm ET. ABC News Nightline anchor Ted Koppel will moderate the debate and WMUR anchor Scott Spradling will join him in questioning the candidates.

ABC News, WMUR, and the Manchester Union Leader will also host a debate in New Hampshire on Thursday, January 22 just before the January 27th New Hampshire primary.

WMUR-TV (Ch. 9) is an ABC-TV affiliate headquartered in Manchester, N.H., and is owned and managed by Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., one of the nation's largest television station groups. WMUR-TV is New Hampshire's largest commercial TV station, reaching more than a million people. WMUR-TV is considered the broadcast news source of record for New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary election.

Beyond being talented, professional journalists, the people at WMUR are also nice as all get out and we can't wait for ya'all to come on up for the December Debate.

In the style to which Note readers have become accustomed, you can bet you will be reading more about these two debates right here in The Note all winter!!

But with John Kerry's one-day story about firing his campaign manager having become (all together now!) a five-day story (and counting), The Note was awfully tempted to lead with one of the many Kerry campaign memos that we obtained overnight.

There's one from David Wade to David Morehouse; one from Jill Alper to Mrs. Kerry; and one from a certain Time columnist to Senator Kerry.

We'll save those for next week - they all require heavy redaction - but the important thing to remember is that it was just about this time one year ago that John Kerry was getting ready to make a strong push to consolidate his position one winter too early as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

Kerry's late 2002 efforts positioned him well in staff and consultant hiring, fundraising, and the "electability" elixir.

On December 14, 2002, precisely 11 months ago today, Al Gore's remarkable star turn on Saturday Night Live foreshadowed his next-day departure from the presidential race. Kerry brilliantly stepped into and began to fill the vacuum created by Gore's decision.

As winter turned to spring, however, things started to go bad for Kerry in the inside and outside games.

Journalist/wife/mother/genius Susan Feeney has long taught us: if someone can't run a smoothly operating presidential campaign, how can they be expected to run the country?

Saturday night's Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson dinner is arguably a wonderful opportunity for Kerry to prove he is ready to stay and fight for his party and its nomination.

Framing the true audience for the dinner, the Des Moines Register 's latest poll shows "the economy trumps Iraq and health care as the most important issue among likely Iowa Democratic caucus participants," who also "lean toward government adoption of a national health insurance system and partial repeal of tax cuts." LINK

And framing the political media's conception of Kerry this weekend as he makes a play for hearts and minds are yesterday's developments in the Jordan Crossing.

Most of the papers ignore the amazing work done by the AP's Ramer and Fournier yesterday on this inside-inside baseball story, but if you subscribe to the Family Wire and the Wall Street Journal , you got to read about this sequence:

All in one day, Kerry trashed the three departed aides as, basically disloyal and useless; an anonymous Kerry adviser said that Jordan's sacking was in fact in the works weeks ago, at the very time The Candidate was denying it; Kerry made a heart-felt phone call to the three former aides to apologize; and the Wall Street Journal capped it off this morning with this incredible Washington Wire item:

"The camp of ousted Kerry manager Jim Jordan fingers Time columnist Joe Klein as advising the beleaguered candidate to dump him. Klein says he holds Jordan in 'minimum high regard,' but 'when I have arguments with candidates, they're about issues.'"

(Bad precedents to set, Joe: now all political journalists are going to be expected to (a) tell other journalists on the record which political operatives we hold in "minimum high regard"; and (b) have arguments with the candidates we cover.)

With a focus on KerryWorld, Ron Fournier observes that 2004 has marked an increase in attention paid to the political consultants behind the candidates. LINK

One close observer with direct knowledge of the Kerry campaign surveyed the carnage and told The Note this:

"Kerry's comments yesterday were a disaster like pouring gasoline on a slow-burning fire. Add to that the 'anonymous' quotes from a 'senior adviser' hitting Jordan and the staff is in an uproar again. This thing is like Yugoslavia after the Cold War. The one force that held it all together is gone. Now months of tension, bruised ego and hurt feelings are coming out and it's ugly."

With all signs indicating that Senator Clinton will do whatever it takes to keep the mad presidential speculation in check tomorrow night, even as she (inevitably) makes a big Hawkeye splash, the real story in Democratic presidential politics this weekend is, can anyone use the dinner to take Howard Dean down a notch?

Howard Dean was so obscure one year ago at this same dinner that Iowa Senator Tom Harkin twice referred to the governor of Vermont as "John Dean," prompting the Baltimore Sun's Paul West to write that Dean "still has a long way to go."

It's worth noting that although an ailing Harkin did not remember his name, Dean was, according to West, "the only one of the '04's who "brought the Democrats to their feet in mid-speech. His protectionist language on trade drew cheers from a crowd that included many representatives of organized labor."

However, and finally, the real question is, will John Edwards'speech focus primarily or exclusively on Jennifer Palmieri's birthday?

Six of the nine Democratic presidential candidates (Dean, Gephardt, Kerry, Edwards, Kucinich and Moseley Braun) will attend the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson dinner Saturday night, with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton serving as the emcee. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin will introduce Clinton, who will in turn introduce each of the attending candidates, who each get roughly seven minutes to speak. Here's their batting order: Gephardt, Kucinich, Edwards, Kerry, Dean, Moseley Braun. Following the dinner, Clinton and the candidates are scheduled to work a rope line together.

President Bush is in D.C. today. He heads to Camp David tonight.

Vice President Cheney attends a Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser in New York City today.

Governor Dean, Senator Kerry, and Congressman Kucinich all campaign in Iowa today and through this weekend.

General Clark campaigns in New Hampshire today. He's in D.C. this weekend with no public campaign events.

Congressman Gephardt has no public events today. He's in Iowa this weekend.

Senator Edwards campaigns in South Carolina today. He's in Iowa tomorrow and Sunday.

Senator Lieberman is in D.C. today and tomorrow with no public events. He campaigns in New Hampshire on Sunday.

Reverend Sharpton campaigns in New York City today. He's in South Carolina this weekend.

Ambassador Moseley Braun is in Chicago today and Iowa on Saturday.

Polls in Louisiana open Saturday at 7:00 am ET and close at 9:00 pm ET. Stay tuned to the AP for returns.

ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:

President Bush made his 17th trip to Florida yesterday for a pair of fundraisers that brought in more than $2.5 million for his re-election campaign.

The AP reports: "The two fund-raisers increased the president's 2004 cash collection to at least $102.9 million and with fund raising through the mail and over the Internet factored in, the campaign is probably at or over the record $106 million Bush raised for the primaries in 2000."LINK