The Note

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 11&#151;<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

—10:00 am: Governor Howard Dean delivers a foreign policy address at the Iowa Memorial Union, Iowa City, Iowa—10:10 am: President Bush signs the Military Family Tax Relief Act, White House—10:45 am: Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaks to students at Valley High School, West Des Moines, Iowa—10:45 am: Senate convenes for legislative business—10:55 am: President and Mrs. Bush participate in a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.—11:10 am: President Bush makes remarks on Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.—11:15 am: Senator John Kerry attends a Veterans Day breakfast, Phoenix—11:30 am: General Wesley Clark visits a veterans hospital, Manchester, N.H.—12:00 pm: Congressman Kucinich speaks to employees at Principal Companies, Des Moines, Iowa—12:00 pm: Senator Joe Lieberman keynotes the Comanche County Veterans Council Veterans Day Ceremony, Elgin, Okla.—12:00 pm: Senator Kerry attends a Meetup.com event with veterans, Phoenix—12:00 pm: Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun visits a veterans hospital, Chicago—12:45 pm: Governor Dean meets with VFW members, Ottumwa, Iowa—1:00 pm: Senator Kerry marches in a Veterans Day parade, Phoenix—1:00 pm: General Clark holds a "Conversations with Clark" town hall forum, Manchester, N.H.—1:15 pm: President Bush makes remarks at the Heritage Foundation's President's Club Luncheon, D.C.—1:15 pm: Governor Dean meets with Wapello County Democrats, Ottumwa, Iowa—1:30 pm: Senator Lieberman attends a private campaign fundraiser, Lawton, Okla.—2:00 pm: Congressman Kucinich visits a veterans hospital, Des Moines, Iowa—2:10 pm: President Bush signs the Cemetery Expansion Act, White House—3:30 pm: Governor Dean meets with Des Moines County Democrats, Burlington, Iowa—4:00 pm: Senator Lieberman holds a roundtable discussion with veterans, Oklahoma City, Okla.—4:00 pm: Congressman Kucinich speaks at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa—5:00 pm: Congressman Kucinich speaks Grandview College, Des Moines, Iowa—6:00 pm: General Clark meets with VFW members, Franklin, N.H.—6:15 pm: Senator Lieberman meets with supporters, Norman, Okla.—7:30 pm: Senator Kerry tapes an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Burbank, Calif.—10:30 pm: Governor Dean attends a rally and grassroots fundraiser, Portland, Ore.—11:35 pm: Senator Kerry appears on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno

NEWS SUMMARY

There is nothing nice in this news cycle's stories about John Kerry's decision to fire Jim Jordan.

There is nothing nice in Mike Glover's revealing that Senator Kerry was heard mispronouncing the name "Gibbs"* and eating his dinner during the conference call telling the staff about firing Jordan (although it was nice of Glover to provide the Gang of 500 with some of the best details of the whole campaign!).

There is nothing nice about the Washington Post 's blind quote claiming that Karl Rove has flipped on steel.

There is nothing nice about the Democratic Party's efforts to neutralize the national security issue on this Veterans' Day. (Those efforts are more steely than nice, although the boys at the RNC get QUITE a chuckle out of them — and, yes, we do mean "boys.")

And there is nothing nice about Mayor Menino and Senator Kennedy having to dial for dollars to try to raise the money for the Boston convention (and nothing nice about the sense of Los Angeles-style déjà vu this must be giving Terry McAuliffe … )

For all of those readers who wondered if yesterday's ostensible Jim Jordan memo was made up or the real deal, the answer is: "Yes."

President Bush is in D.C. today. He will sign the Military Family Tax Relief Act this morning before going to Arlington National Cemetery to participate in a wreath laying ceremony and make remarks on Veterans Day. He will later make remarks at a lunch with the Heritage Foundation. This afternoon, he will sign the Cemetery Expansion Act.

Governor Dean campaigns in Iowa and Oregon today.

Senator Kerry campaigns in Phoenix today before heading to Los Angeles for an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Congressman Gephardt has no public events today.

General Clark campaigns in New Hampshire today.

Senator Lieberman campaigns in Oklahoma.

Senator Edwards is in D.C. with no public events.

Reverend Sharpton is in New York City with no public events.

Congressman Kucinich campaigns in Iowa today.

Ambassador Moseley Braun visits a veterans hospital in Chicago today.

The politics of steel:

The Wall Street Journal 's Neil King, Scott Miller and Carlos Tejada set the scene by looking at the grip-like vise the Bush Administration faces on steel tariffs following the World Trade Organization's ruling that they're illegal.

The conundrum: either face retaliatory tariffs on American goods by supporting steel prices only marginally above the tariff level, or face alienating steel manufacturers and workers in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia going into an election year.

"Changes in the domestic steel industry will give the administration cover if it chooses to drop the tariffs. Many of the weaker domestic steel producers have merged with bigger companies or closed their doors. Unions have proved willing to negotiate labor contracts that gave the companies opportunities to enact work-force reductions and work-rule flexibility. U.S. steel-product demand, while flat, is expected to rise next year as the nation shakes off its economic malaise."

Lobbying continues in Washington to keep the tariffs, in the face of a threat by the EU to impose tariffs between 8% and 30% on American exports estimated to be worth as much as $2.2 billion a year, the trio Notes.

"The tariffs also aroused heavy opposition among a large swath of U.S. companies that use steel to make everything from auto parts to tin cans and washing machines. In numerous lobbying trips to Washington, chief executives of these companies have argued that the tariffs have driven up their costs and imperiled more jobs across the manufacturing belt than they have saved in the steel industry."

Blustein and Weisman of the Washington Post do the best job getting a sense of where the White House stands on this from a policy and political standpoint. LINK

" … sources close to the White House say the administration's economic team has united in imploring Bush to scrap the tariffs rather than let them stay in effect until their scheduled expiration in March 2005. Perhaps more important, one source said, Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, now believes the tariffs have cost Bush more political support among steel-using industries and conservative free-trade advocates than the political goodwill he gained from their imposition."

"'Rove has agreed they should come down,' said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

The Wall Street Journal editorial board urges the president to take the WTO ruling and run, using it as an opening to extricate the U.S. from tariffs that don't have a political purpose for an Administration that has "abandoned its free trade principles."

"Meanwhile, the strategy of using the tariffs to score political points has backfired. The tariffs have done nothing to win over protectionists, as evidenced by the growing number of blue-collar union endorsements of Democrat Presidential contender (and anti-free-trader) Dick Gephardt. Karl Rove might also note that a disproportionate number of the steel-consuming jobs that have been lost are in key battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania, which Mr. Bush needs if he is to win re-election."

"If the tariffs don't go, all this will only get worse."

USA Today 's James Cox reports, "The world's trade court Monday dealt a blow to President Bush's efforts to help ailing steelmakers, forcing him to choose between them and other sensitive industries, including food and textiles." LINK

The Los Angeles Times leads the paper with the decision, stating the steel tariffs imposed by President Bush last year violate international trading rules and the European Union's readiness to play tough. LINK

The New York Times examines President Bush's options: LINK

While the paper's ed board urges the Bush Administration to go ahead and lift those tariffs, already. LINK

And, as always, The Note is disappointed because these stories have nary a mention of legacy costs.

House of Labor:

Wednesday marks the official kick-off of the House of Labor's Civil War reenactment as the two biggie up-and-comers in the movement, AFSCME and SEIU, join together to lend their bona fides to the insurgent Dean campaign, while the "Alliance for Economic Justice," a coalition of 18 unions supporting Congressman Gephardt, is prepping to go up with an ad in Iowa on the issue of trade and lobbying UAW locals to get behind the Missouri Congressman.

(Attention Ken Burns!)

Yes, ladies and gentleman, the split is real and deep.

Starting with the Dean endorsement, ABC News has confirmed the Chinese Room at the Mayflower Hotel has been rented for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET McEntee-Stern duet. LINK (Note that is the only Mayflower ballroom named in honor of a country!)

Expect to see the Painters Union folks there, and expect to see the marquee labor names add momentum and energy to the pro-Dean union ranks.

Also Wednesday, ABC News' Gayle Tzemach reports the Alliance for Economic Justice will launch a 30-second TV ad in Iowa's major markets on the importance of the trade issue. The spot will run for one week and we are told the buy is in the "several hundred thousand dollar" range.

Here's a look at the script:

"Ron" "American workers can compete against anyone, anywhere. But thanks to NAFTA, the rules of the game are no longer fair.Our jobs are going to Mexico, to workers we were forced to train. And they're making a fraction of the money we made to support our families. NAFTA — it may be good for Big Business. But for thousands of Iowa workers, it's cost us our jobs and hurt our communities. The next time someone asks for your vote, ask them where they stood during the fight against NAFTA."

Teamster Government Affairs Director Mike Mathis says the ad "represents working families who have lost their jobs in Iowa because of bad trade deals" and says there will be more spots to come. On the question of whether the SEIU-AFSCME alliance hurts their guy considerably, Mathis says, "They were never in our equation. We represent over 50,000 members in Iowa, which is more than SEIU-AFSCME combined, and we are going to gain more."

As for whether the ad is aimed squarely at the Vermont Governor, a source close to the Alliance says, "He is the guy to beat, and he is the guy that's horrible on trade."

So you do the math!

All this news comes as the AFL-CIO's John Sweeney tells the AP's Leigh Strope that Gephardt is "tough enough to really continue to fight as hard as he can for the nomination," despite the SEIU-AFSCME Dean embrace. LINK

(We are sure these are very soothing words to Erik Smith's ears … )

ABC News Vote 2004: The Invisible Primary:

Steve Murphy owns a better razor than Chris Lehane — so learned viewers of Fox News Channel this morning at 9:40 am.

Rebecca Lieberman has a smile as big as all outdoors — so learned viewers of MSNBC this morning at 9:45 am.

The Washington Post 's Laura Blumenfeld profiles both George Soros and his money, Noting that "Soros's contributions are filling a gap in Democratic Party finances that opened after the restrictions in the 2002 McCain-Feingold law took effect." LINK

The Wall Street Journal 's David Bank looks at the $5 million pledge by Soros and Peter Lewis to team up with MoveOn.org's "voter fund," which is paying for ads criticizing President Bush on the war in Iraq, the economy and education. Banks reports that the first spot is running in West Virginia, to be followed by four others that have been produced.