The Note

ByABC News
October 3, 2003, 9:27 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 2 &#151;<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

9:00 am: Off-camera White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan9:00 am: House Intelligence Committee hears testimony from former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay, Capitol Hill9:30 am: Senate convenes for legislative business9:30 am: Senate Judiciary Committee meets to consider pending business including the nomination of Judge Charles Pickering, Capitol Hill10:00 am: House convenes for morning business10:30 am: Senators Frist, Santorum, Hutchison, and Allen hold a press conference on the Republican economic agenda, Capitol Hill12:30 pm: Arnold Schwarzenegger attends a campaign kick-off event, San Diego12:30 pm: On-camera White House press briefing with Scott McClellan2:00 pm: Governor Gray Davis signs a package of environmental bills at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, Santa Monica, Calif.2:30 pm: Senate Intelligence Committee hears testimony from former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay, Capitol Hill3:00 pm: President Bush makes remarks in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, White House3:30 pm: Arnold Schwarzenegger attends a campaign event at the Orange County Fair Grounds, Costa Mesa, Calif. 5:30 pm: Senator Bob Graham attends a private campaign fundraiser, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.6:30 pm: Arnold Schwarzenegger visits Riley Elementary School, San Bernadino, Calif.7:00 pm: Senator Joe Lieberman attends a private campaign fundraiser, Gwynedd Valley, Pa.8:00 pm: Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, State Senator Tom McClintock and Peter Camejo participate in the first part of a debate sponsored by KNBC and the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles9:00 pm: Congressman Darrell Issa and California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres discuss the recall in the second part of a debate sponsored by KNBC and the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles

NEWS SUMMARY

Simple day:

Read the Los Angeles Times' Schwarzenegger story on alleged groping, and play Bernie Kalb and decide what you think the journalistic ethics are of dropping investigative bombshells within hailing distance of election day (See "Packwood, Bob" and "Bush, George W., 2000"). LINK

Read what Jim VandeHei, Jeb Bush, and the Boston Globe think about Howard Dean, and ask yourself if they are causing him any problems that a huge cash advantage can't solve. LINK and LINK and LINK

Read about General Clark's shifting stories and recent past, and decide for yourself if you think a(n) (former?) independent lobbyist for defense contractors can become the Democratic nominee for president. LINK and LINK and LINK

Read our Wilson section below, including the Washington Post 's return to their fabled language about alleged White House actions, and decide if you think this story is going anywhere. LINK

And remember: almost all FBI investigations are slow, disorganized, and derivative of what's in the newspapers. It's just that the national media doesn't normally try to cover them with minute-by-minute play-by-play attention.

President Bush will make remarks in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House today.

Senator Kerry has cancelled his plans to campaign in Iowa today in order to be in the Senate where he hopes to debate the Biden-Kerry amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq.

General Clark has no public events today as he travels from Los Angeles to D.C.

Governor Dean has no public events today. He is in Burlington gearing up for his four-day, eight-city "Generation Dean" tour.

Congressman Gephardt is fundraising today in Beaumont and Dallas, Texas.

Senator Edwards has no public events scheduled for today.

Senator Lieberman is in D.C. and Philadelphia today with no public events scheduled. He will attend a private campaign fundraiser tonight in Gwynedd Valley, Pa.

Senator Graham will go to a private campaign fundraiser tonight in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Ambassador Moseley Braun has no public events announced for today.

Congressman Kucinich has no public events scheduled for today.

Before Rush Limbaugh announced he his resignation from ESPN, Reverend Sharpton was scheduled to hold a press conference in New York City today to call for his immediate termination.

In the recall:

Everyone waits to see what fall-out, if any, there is from the Los Angeles Times story, braces for another public poll, and tries to divine the Davis end-game strategy.

There's another debate tonight. Lieutenant Governor Bustamante, State Senator McClintock, and Peter Camejo will take part. After they debate, Darrell Issa and Art Torres will debate the recall.

Governor Davis sings a package of environmental bills today at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

Arnold Schwarzenegger begins his bus tour around the state with events in San Diego, Costa Mesa, and San Bernadino today.

Maria Shriver has no public events announced for today.

Wilson, newsy daily stories:

The Washington Post 's Milbank and Allen feature the Washington Post /ABC poll showing eye-poppingly negative opinions (as far as the White House is concerned) about the leak investigation. LINK

And the paper purposefully returns to its critical "two top White House officials called at least six journalists and disclosed the identity of Wilson's wife" language, as well as reprising the immortal "a senior administration official said the leak was 'meant purely and simply for revenge.'"

Richard Schmitt and Ed Chen of the Los Angeles Times say the FBI's investigation which could take months. LINK

And they have this paragraph that will make those on the Grassy Knoll nuts:

"(I)n addition to Ashcroft, among the political appointees who may help decide the fate of the case is the department's new second-in-command, acting deputy Robert McCallum. He is an old friend and Yale classmate of the president's; both were members of the secret Skull & Bones Society at Yale."

And this:

"Politics aside, the task facing investigators is deceptively complex. Obtaining phone records of administration officials, for instance, is often the stuff of a delicate political negotiation between prosecutors and White House lawyers, who are likely to argue that some sensitive materials are irrelevant to the case and should be kept under wraps. "

"'It is going to take them several weeks just to get the relevant records from the CIA and the White House,' a former Justice Department criminal division official said, requesting anonymity. ' The White House is not going to turn over all of [chief political adviser] Karl Rove's phone logs. There is going to be a negotiation over it. You have to negotiate the terms and conditions. It is going to take some time.'"

Mssrs. Stevenson and Lichtblau in the New York Times detail with precision the "two-track political strategy" the White House prosecuted Wednesday: LINK

"The White House encouraged Republicans to portray Wilson, as a partisan Democrat with an agenda and the Democratic Party as scandalmongering. At the same time, the administration and the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill worked to ensure that no Republicans in Congress break ranks and call for an independent inquiry outside the direct control of the Justice Department."

"'It's slime and defend,' said one Republican aide on Capitol Hill, describing the White House's effort to raise questions about Mr. Wilson's motivations and its simultaneous effort to shore up support in the Republican ranks."

This is a must-read for those of you wanting to know how the West Wing is preparing to greet the arrival of its DOJ guests. And we want to know how many of you already have the offices of the five GOP Members-who-might-waver listed in the last graph programmed into your speed dial?

The Wall Street Journal 's Gary Fields and Tom Hamburger nicely lay out the McClellan briefing Rove dance from yesterday, and report this:

"Justice Department officials plan to notify employees of the Defense and State departments to preserve any documents relating to the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson "

Wilson, somewhat newsy daily stories:

She surfaces! Perhaps the Ghost of 43rd Street charmed her out of hiding? We shall credit the intrepid Lone Star press corps.

The Houston Chronicle 's Robison reports "Karen Hughes, one of President Bush's longest-serving and closest advisers, said Wednesday that the public disclosure of a CIA operative's name was a disservice to the president and 'very disruptive to democracy.'" LINK

Said Hughes, "President Bush has said and I agree there are too many leaks in Washington We didn't experience that kind of situation when we were here in Texas."

Hughes "said she was confident that her fellow Texan and sometime rival, Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, didn't leak the name to a syndicated columnist because 'Karl has said that he was not involved.'"

The New York Times ' Rove-ing reporters Bumiller and Lichtblau finds Democrats asking whether the ties that bind among the Attorney General and his former staffers present a conflict of interest in the Wilson case. LINK

James Risen of the New York Times sees the Wilson episode as the watercooler around which all the critics who say the administration relied upon Artificial Intelligence on Iraq now gather. LINK

"The White House yesterday hinted it would allow lie-detector tests for President Bush's staff in the investigation into the CIA leak," The New York Post 's Deborah Orin reports. LINK

Although at the gaggle this morning, the White House press secretary seemed to be trying to get out of the hypothetical business which is to say, the business of answering hypothetical questions.

USA Today 's Keen and Locy report on the likely "next step" of requesting records from the president's advisers. LINK

The Washington Times ' Rowan Scarborough writes on Wilson's Democratic ties.LINK

The New York Daily News has this blind quote:

"'Somebody will have to go before it's over,' an official said." LINK

"'The only question is whether it's a low-level person following orders or somebody higher up.'"

USA Today also has bullet points of a "who's who" of recent White House controversies.LINK

Wilson, today's 42 missive:

The Note hears quite a bit these days from Americans who used to work in the White House for the last Arkansan to run for president with Bruce Lindsey's help.

Every day (except on days we don't) we will print the best e-mail we get in this category.

Today, a Clinton White House veteran of the scandal wars raises all of these insidery questions (assuming in some cases "facts" not necessarily in evidence) to The Note some fun, some important, and some both:

"If 'Post' 2X6 is true, how could 6 reporters fail to see the significance of the White House 'outing'? Even a casual Langley observer understands that's not SOP."

"Again, if 2X6 is true, don't the leakers see the handwriting on the wall and out themselves? With Novak, Newsday and Andrea in the know, this is no Woodsteinian tight circle."

"Did Dana interview Mike for the passage in Tuesday's 'Post' or was it a non-'Postie'?"

"Finally, and most importantly, how did the White House 'learn' that she was a covert operative? In 5+ years at 1600, I never once heard/learned/read/happened upon the name of an 'operative'? Names are redacted in the PDB and referenced only as 'humint'; Agency reports are redacted for names, and even the briefers who show up every day presumably disguise their identities; you don't take them to lunch at Breadline. So, if you don't stumble upon this factoid, you were looking for it. If so, why?"

"How long before this appears on 'West Wing' or 'K Street'?"

Wilson, the Prince of Darkness:

USA Today 's Jim Drinkard writes about Bob Novak, and confirms that even though Novak won't do an interview right now, you have a good chance of seeing him on CNN (Cable Novak Network). LINK

And in the red corner, Salon takes on one half of "Evans and Novak" thusly: LINK

"Rather than sit back and watch the fireworks he helped set off, Novak, busy spinning on behalf of the White House and in classic damage control mode, is raising more questions than he's answering, and having a hard time keeping his stories straight."

"At least three key points of Novak's argument have all proven faulty: that the CIA officer in question is simply an analyst, not an undercover operative, so no harm came from making her identity known; that it was her idea to get her husband involved in investigation claims about Saddam Hussein; and that the unfolding leak investigation is 'routine.'"

Wilson, Wilson profiled:

The Los Angeles Times ' Paul Richter does half profile, half "GOP challenges Wilson." LINK