The Note

ByABC News
November 13, 2003, 10:09 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 12&#151;<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

9:15 am: General Wesley Clark holds a "Conversations with Clark" town hall forum with first responders, Lebanon, N.H.9:30 am: Senate convenes for legislative business9:45 am: Off-camera White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan10:45 am: President Bush has a photo op with EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt, White House10:45 am: General Clark holds a roundtable discussion with residents at a retirement facility, Hanover, N.H.11:50 am: President Bush participates in a medal ceremony for NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, White House12:00 pm: Senator John Kerry goes on a nature hike with environmental leaders, Manchester, N.H.12:30 pm: General Clark holds a "Conversations with Clark" town hall forum at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.1:00 pm: On-camera White House press briefing with Scott McClellan1:00 pm: AFSCME and SEIU hold a joint press conference to announce their endorsement of Governor Howard Dean's presidential campaign, D.C.2:00 pm: House convenes for a pro forma session4:00 pm: Senator Kerry appears on the Dan Pierce radio show, Manchester, N.H.5:00 pm: President and Mrs. Bush participate in the presentation of the National Medal of Arts Awards, White House5:15 pm: Senator Kerry attends a meet-and-greet with supporters, Manchester, N.H.6:00 pm: Senate begins 30 hours of continuous debate on judicial nominees7:30 pm: Vice President Cheney delivers remarks at the 2003 George C. Marshall Foundation Award Dinner honoring Secretary of State Colin Powell, D.C.

NEWS SUMMARY

We sure could make Iraq and national security our lead most every day for the next year.

Today on that, read the props-earning Anne Kornblut in the Boston Globe with her reporting out of last month's Ed Gillespie memo fleshing out the aggressive "pre-emption" politics the White House is expected to practice.

Then read the Philadelphia Inquirer's exclusive report on the CIA's view that change in Iraq policy is needed pronto, or bad(der) things might happen, and try to figure out if it is connected in any way to all those high-energy Bremer meetings and stories about said meetings. LINK

The president plans on doing some Brit interviews today, including with a Mr./Sir David Frost.

On the Democratic side there are three main areas to watch today:

First and foremost is surprise Howard Dean.

Today's we-can't-wait SEIU/AFSCME endorsement gets Big History treatment from Dan Balz, Ron Brownstein, and Steve Greenhouse, with Balz getting off the best of three strong efforts because he gets interviews with both Stern and McEntee, and because he gets the bagels and lox color. LINK and LINK and LINK

But there's more.

As the Wall Street Journal 's John Harwood uses his column to join the "maybe nobody can stop this guy from getting the nomination" chorus, USA Today 's Jill Lawrence (with a must-read) and the Chicago Tribune's Tim Jones both write up Dean's temperament, Jones in an excellent profile. LINK and LINK

Bill Safire fills out the other side of the Dean equation (the notion about which Safire is gleeful and many Democrats fearful that Dean will lose more than 40 states to President Bush), with a classic column looking at how the "Kennedy left" and the "Clinton middle" are "frantic at the prospect of losing control of their party to Howard Dean," thus the alleged "Kennedyization" of Camp Kerry. LINK

Another man making his mark this week is John Edwards, who is (mostly) quietly having the second best week of any of the majors (assuming all goes as planned 1 p.m. ET today in the Mayflower's Chinese room).

The Washington Post 's Ed Walsh reports that Edwards accentuated the positive in his Post ed board meeting (and also said which place he needs to finish in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Can you guess what he said?) LINK

As for the junior Senator from Massachusetts, he gets loving Boston Globe and other treatment today, all about a campaign still finding its legs, shall we say, and about the Senator playing second fiddle to a dog in late night. For more on all that, see our Kerry section below.

We share Senator Kerry's disgust with inside baseball political journalism that is all about process and personality.

None of the press' total obsession with the comings and goings of his staff will feed a single hungry child, provide health care to any family, or develop a cure for cancer.

Still, as long as we have that source at a Capitol Hill Kinko's, we aren't going to ignore major scoops.

So here, for the first time anywhere, is the latest passing-the-baton memo from the Kerry campaign in this case from Robert Gibbs, who quit yesterday as press secretary, to Stephanie Cutter, who was named, titleless, to the communications team.

What is striking about the document (besides the baby food smudges and the Post -midnight time stamp) is its sweeping tone.

But, then, it IS only a draft.

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DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT

TO: SAC

FROM: RG

RE: Big Bad Media

Congratulations you are inheriting a great Iowa press shop, a former New Hampshire governor with a big Granite megaphone, and Bob Shrum's yellow pad.

There ARE, however, some things to watch out for to make sure the machine continues to hum.

1. Okay, you're here, but you're not sure what your title is, what your duties are, who exactly will be left for you to work with and who you really report to. That's normal.

2. You worked for Kennedy. The Globe was your friend. Welcome to a new reality.

3. We used to take so much heat for being such a male-dominated campaign when I worked there (Granted the Budweiser wall calendar didn't help.). With the arrival of the whole Kennedy team of gals, y'all boast more estrogen than a roomful of CNN bookers. You might want to play that up. On the other hand, if you thought the convention staff was white, wait until you see our gang.

4. When Halperin tells you, after a debate, that only one candidate on the stage looked presidential, he doesn't necessarily mean your candidate.

5. My very best lines and information comes from Gehrke, the finest research director in the entire business. But tap that well of knowledge fast, as he has at least 4 job offers (including 3 presidential campaigns not named "Kerry") from which to choose.

6. It's pronounced "LOO-EES." "LOO-EES."

7. Avoid the words "rats," "ship," "sinking," "leaking," "listing," "falling," "slowing," or "frontrunner."

8. Keep up the fight for full engagement. Jordan wasn't wrong about taking on Dean. The more you throw at him the more something might stick. The research folks camped out in Burlington for weeks, and they have hits that are even better than that NRA questionnaire. Howard Dean has never had an unexpressed thought. This should work against him but it seems to be overshadowed by the fact that our campaign has never had an original thought.

9. For all of those recently arrived and soon-to-come staffers who wonder if our recent changes will lead to more attacks on Dean or the high road, the answer is: "Yes."

10. Getting into Canada requires proper ID. (Actually, that one belongs on a different list ignore it .)

11. Putting Shaheen out in front on the "Vermont Miracle" issue is a good idea NH Democrats do like her but remember that after two terms in office, she could only carry 60% of the vote in the primary.

12. Be sure to get up early to read all of the Dean news clips and web page material. It will give you advance notice of what The Candidate will be talking about all day. It is also a good source of ideas for our own web site.

13. New Hampshire residents hate taxes, Bostonians, gun control and incumbent senators. Find common ground, quick. And don't forget your E-Z Pass.

14. In planning for major speeches in South Carolina, try to limit staff to less than 1/4 the size of the audience.

15. If ever you should go on Fox News, don't compare The Candidate's comments about "being the candidate for white guys in the South with the Confederate flag in their windows" to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. It just makes everyone look foolish.

16. It takes some time to whittle down The Candidate's responses . "Mr. Change Your Opinion For Expediency" is actually much better than his original suggestion of "Mr. Arrogant Jerk who can't stick with a position to save his life but will run our party into the ground and get beaten like a red-headed stepchild by another arrogant jerk already in the White House."

17. Firing Jordan is a one-day story. My resignation is a one-day story. Trailing by double digits is a one-day story. 76 days left until NH filling every day with a different story seems like a daunting task but the senior staff and The Candidate will help as much as possible.

18. If asked what The Candidate was eating when I announced I was leaving just say "crow." This is now a two-day story. And counting.

19. John Kerry doesn't have a plan to win the war, but "The Bunny" has a plan to win the peace. (Note Note: we don't know what that means either.)

20. Even though we won't dip into her personal fortune, TH has a plan to build a new pro football stadium in each battleground state. No really, she does.

21. If asked: Yes, we're still very glad we won the Shrum Primary.

22. The Kerry Girls are off limits wait that probably doesn't apply to you. But same goes for Chris Heinz.

23. Don't bother trying to get The Candidate to stop delivering those prostate cancer jokes.

24. All questions about Morgan Fairchild get forwarded to Chris Black.

25. Trust Benander as Obi-Wan Kenobi because I do.

26. No custard stops. Period. Free vanilla treats will serve to only sour, not sweeten, the waiting press corps. (Note Note: you MUST click this link. LINK

27. Ad images of our candidate in committee hearings may not be screaming "foreign policy experience" as much as we like to Iowans.

28. Never fret about an event that is staffed by David Wade. After all had Wade rather than me been in the 603 area code, John Kerry would not have said "regime change."

29. Key point: try to figure out which consultant is nicknamed "Uday."

30. Warning signs that more senior staff might be fleeing: Morehouse forwards his phone to your cell with no warning.

31. Don't believe the rumors that the campaign is relocating to the Ketchum, Idaho in order to test the loyalty of the consultants.

32. Don't throw away that Amtrak Guest Rewards membership just yet.

33. Before every press avail, have The Candidate repeat after you: "I will not mutter 'Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean' around an open microphone."

34. AP writers are not just there to look at: feed them or they will piss all over your house.

35. A great debate performance will earn you little to no press, but a staff shakeup will get you above-the-fold stories and a regular rotation on Fox. Worth reminding The Candidate when he's complaining about lack of press coverage.

36. The next time The Candidate gets grumpy and masticates on the ineffectiveness of his staff, point to the Clark campaign's decision to attack Edwards over Hugh Shelton on Veterans Day as an example of how bad strategic decisions by staff (Lehane and Kym?) really can be. After that, you won't look that awful.

37. Changing the dynamics of a campaign will have a direct effect on the dynamics of the race, which in turn will dynamically cause some type of kinetic change in our overall dynamics.

38. For a quick, in-house poll you can always multiply the number of conference calls per day times the number of people on them, divide by the number of times Dean's name appears in our latest press release and then subtract the number of public appearances the candidate is scheduled to make. You should end up with the number of points between us and Dean on any given day in New Hampshire.

39. And remember, when Gephardt starts to gain on us in NH, Kerry only voted for the Iraq resolution, Dick sponsored it!

40. There are no Confederate flags on Nantucket.

41. Are you bringing Whouley down from Boston when you get here?

42. Two final words of wisdom, and you may ignore it, you make think this is just lip service, but I firmly believe it: Loyalty matters.

Your task, in the few short weeks you have, is to somehow make The Candidate perform at that his top level each and every day. There's no evidence it can be done, but you gotta try. You and New Hampshire can make The Candidate The Comeback Kid.