The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 5—<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):
—8:00 am: Congressman Dick Gephardt has breakfast with Boone County Democrats, Boone, Iowa—8:15 am: Senator Joe Lieberman holds a town hall forum with workers at BAE Systems, Nashua, N.H.—8:30 am: Senator John Edwards has breakfast with Goffstown voters, Goffstown, N.H.—9:00 am: General Wesley Clark appears on New Hampshire Public Radio's "The Exchange," Concord, N.H.—9:10 am: Off-camera White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan—9:30 am: Senate convenes for legislative business—10:00 am: House convenes for legislative business—10:40 am: President Bush meets with the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, White House—11:00 am: NARAL President Kate Michelman holds a news conference to speak against the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003, D.C.—11:30 am: Senator Edwards delivers a speech at New Hampshire Technical Institute, Concord, N.H.—12:00 pm: Reverend Al Sharpton files to participate in the D.C. Democratic primary, D.C.—12:00 pm: Governor Howard Dean announces his campaign's decision to let supporters decide whether to accept public financing in a speech at Cooper Union, New York City—12:45 pm: On-camera White House press briefing with Scott McClellan—1:00 pm: Senator John McCain speaks to the Council on Foreign Relations about Iraq and Afghanistan, D.C.—1:00 pm: Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun attends a town hall forum at New England College, Henniker, N.H.—1:15 pm: NOW holds a protest against the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003, D.C.—1:40 pm: President Bush makes remarks and signs the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003, D.C.—2:00 pm: General Clark announces his New Hampshire campaign team, Concord, N.H.—3:15 pm: Senator Edwards holds a workplace town hall meeting at Graphic Data Technology, Lebanon, N.H.—5:45 pm: Governor Dean attends a MeetUp.com event at the Merrimack Restaurant, Manchester, N.H.—7:00 pm: Planned Parenthood presidential candidates forum, Manchester, N.H.
NEWS SUMMARY
Political journalism — as Jill Zuckman, Vaughn Ververs, and Matea Gold could all tell you — is basically at its root about making choices.
And the first, most basic choice each news cycle is: what is the lead?
After that, the second choice invariably is: how should we play the lead?
One by one, with the precision of a John Boehner press conference, Googling monkeys marched into our bullpen office this morning, each cluster (or do Googling monkeys come in coveys? … ) making its case for what the political lead of the day is, and how to play it.
Among those offered up:
-- the national implications of Tuesday's election results (As one Twister-playing Googling monkey said, "Red states — red; blue states — blue.")
-- whether Howard Dean's Confederate flag problem will fester, linger, metastasize, or fade (We don't know the answer, by the way … .)
-- whether it is possible to make real viewers/listeners/readers care about Howard Dean's changed position on accepting public financing and the implications for the race if he decides to Busta Caps
-- a superficial, meta-gimmicky "winners and losers and mixed" list from the news cycle just ending that would include:
winners: President Bush's political potency; Haley Barbour; Ernie Fletcher; John Street; Jim McGreevey; John Edwards; and Al Sharpton
losers: Hong Kong Harbor's political potency; Howard Dean; and Mayor Bloomberg
mixed: the Stevens Schriefer Group; the Glover Park Group; and the Lehane family group
-- whether the worse news long-term for Terry McAuliffe is found in Tuesday's election results or the CBS cave on the Reagan movie
-- Medicare
-- what Karl Rove will (justifiably) do with "that" memo from the Democratic staff of the Senate Intelligence (sic) Committee
-- the couture of Wesley Clark and Dennis Kucinich
-- the sheer number of promos CNN ran for Total Anderson Cooper Live, including (we kid you not) at least one that aired AFTER the event!
Our gut tells us that the Dean decision on campaign finance looms largest now and for the next few months.
Despite the bravado that the Kerry and Clark campaigns have shown, despite the disdain they have for Howard Dean, and as much as they hope that the flag flap flags Dean down — we can't imagine anyone else being willing to risk leaving the federal matching funds on the table.
Dean's decision (assuming his supporters support his move) is about Joe Trippi and Howard Dean once again putting their foot on the accelerator and thinking about the general election — while their opponents stop, think, look, consider, meet, call consultants, meet again, defer, delay, and dither.
And Dean's decision is about rolling the dice for a match-up against George Bush — not winning the nomination fight (although it surely has implications for that battle as well).
Dean makes his announcement in Gotham City just after noon today, and the election of his supporters runs through the weekend. Not since Bill Clinton drove around Arkansas with Wes Clark wingman Bruce Lindsey has a politician so synthetically turned to the public to validate a decision already made.
President Bush meets with the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and signs the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003 in D.C. today. He will sign the Iraq Supplemental tomorrow afternoon.
Governor Dean, General Clark, Senator Kerry, Senator Lieberman, Senator Edwards, and Ambassador Moseley Braun all campaign today in New Hampshire. All of them except Lieberman are scheduled to take part in a Planned Parenthood-sponsored candidate forum in Manchester tonight.
All of the candidates were invited to participate in this forum that aims to focus on women's issues. New Hampshire Public Radio's Laura Knoy will moderate, and she will be joined by syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman and NPR's Robin Young. The New Hampshire Women's Lobby, YWCA, New Hampshire Business and Professional Women Organization, and the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence are also co-hosts of the event.
Congressman Gephardt campaigns in Iowa.
Congressman Kucinich has no public events announced for today. He might go to the Planned Parenthood forum in Manchester tonight, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Reverend Sharpton campaigns in D.C. and New York City today.
The Reagan movie:
CBS folds under pressure from conservatives, sells their Reagan movie to sister network Showtime, reports the Chicago Tribune.LINK
The questions about the Reagan miniseries aren't over, however.
We've learned the Republican National Committee's Ed Gillespie has sent a letter to Showtime saying "the only proper thing to do is to correct the imbalance and have the program reviewed for historical accuracy or inform viewers that it is a fictionalized portrayal and not intended to be historically accurate."
"I respectfully request that Showtime allow a panel of historians and people who know the Reagans to review the program for accuracy before it airs," Gillespie writes.
Stay tuned, folks …
If the "The Reagans" weren't filled with damn lies, CBS wouldn't have pulled it, the Wall Street Journal editorial board asserts.
ABC News Vote 2003: Kentucky, Mississippi, and Philadelphia, and more:
Get out the broom! "Sweep" (or some variation thereof) may be the most used word of the day, but the results were mixed enough for joint bragging rights, but, we'll say again, if the president's party had lost, all heck would have broken loose in the Establishment media — even Carl Cameron would have Noted it.
Mark Z. Barabak of the Los Angeles Times cautions about drawing too many conclusions from Tuesday's gubernatorial contests in Kentucky and Mississippi. LINK
"For all the interest in possible national trends, Tuesday's results were expected to have little practical effect on the presidential contests in either Kentucky or Mississippi."
The Wall Street Journal 's Jake Schlesinger looks at last night's election results and Notes that if the South will rise again for Democrats, it probably won't be this cycle.
The New York Times ' Janofsky, writing on the GOP Southern state gubernatorial wins, reminds us that Haley Barbour "will be just the second Republican governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction." LINK
Barbour emerged victorious from a campaign marked by both record spending and record turnout, the AP reports.LINK
The Washington Post 's Edward Walsh recaps the winners and losers of the day. LINK
USA Today 's Jim Drinkard Notes, "Control of the governorships is important for next year's presidential and congressional elections. Governors can help organize their party's grass-roots efforts and raise money. GOP governors were essential to Bush's success in 2000." LINK
For the first time in 32 years, a Republican will be governor of Kentucky after Ernie Fletcher's victory last night.LINK
The New York Times ' Clemetson Notes Philadelphia's Mayor Street deftly turned his FBI investigation to his advantage "by suggesting that the investigation was engineered by the Republican Party in an effort to discredit a black Democrat." LINK
The New York Post 's David Seifman kicks off his 2005 mayoral race coverage with Mayor Bloomberg's "resounding defeat" in his effort to abolish party primaries in New York City. LINK
San Franciscans will head back to the polls on December 9 to choose between two 30-somethings. Democrat Gavin Newsom and Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez will face each other in next month's runoff. LINK
The Boston Globe 's Brian MacQuarrie reports that the prospects for Maine Vegas were shot down in a "lopsided defeat last night." LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: Democratic debate: Rockin' the house:
In a rollicking, free form debate in Boston tonight, there were plenty of fun/funny moments and one 9-minute stretch that comprised one of Howard Dean's worst moments of the campaign.
Whether it has an effect on his candidacy remains to be seen.
For 10 minutes, the topic, generated by an audience question, was Dean's recent high-profile repetition of his oft-repeated stump notion that he wants to appeal to Southerners with Confederate flags on the pickups.
