The Note

ByABC News
September 23, 2003, 10:21 AM

W A S H I N G T O N September 22&#151;<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

9:00 am: Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun formally announces her presidential candidacy at Howard University, D.C.

9:45 am: Off-camera White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan 11:00 am: Representative Bill Janklow holds a news conference, Sioux Falls, S.D.

11:30 am: Representative Dick Gephardt delivers an agricultural policy speech, Prole, Iowa 12:00 pm: House convenes for a pro forma session

12:15 pm: Vice President Cheney makes remarks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 luncheon fundraiser, Hartford, Conn.

12:25 pm: Senator John Kerry addresses the Detroit Economic Club, Detroit

1:00 pm: Governor Gray Davis holds a joint press conference with Washington Governor Gary Locke and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski (via statement) to announce the formation of a tri-state coordinated strategy to reduce greenhouse emissions and fight global warming, Los Angeles

2:00 pm: Ambassador Moseley Braun formally announces her presidential candidacy at Benedict College, Columbia, S.C.

2:00 pm: President Bush tours the Temporary Virginia Emergency Operations Center and receives a briefing on hurricane damage at the Virginia State Police Academy, Richmond, Va.

2:00 pm: Senate convenes for legislative business

2:15 pm: National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice gives a briefing on the President's Tuesday trip to the United Nations, White House

4:00 pm: Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals holds an en banc hearing regarding the decision to delay the recall, San Francisco4:30 pm: Maria Shriver tours the Bring Me a Book Foundation and addresses the media, Mountainview, Calif. 5:00 pm: Senator Joe Lieberman and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante visit an English as a second language class and hold a media availability, San Francisco

6:00 pm: State Senator Tom McClintock attends an anti-car tax rally, Los Angeles8:00 pm: Representative Dennis Kucinich takes part in a town hall meeting, Annapolis, Md. 8:00 pm: Ambassador Moseley Braun formally announces her presidential candidacy at the University of Illinois, Chicago8:00 pm: FOX airs Brit Hume's interview with President Bush on the eve of his address to the United Nations

8:00 pm: At least 90 California gubernatorial candidates are expected to be studio guests for the taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Burbank

8:30 pm: General Wesley Clark attends a campaign fundraiser, New York City

NEWS SUMMARY

Dear General Clark:

Welcome (back) to New York.

We read a lot about you over the weekend, including that you resisted Gert's entreaty to make list of the pros and cons before you got into the race.

We are big admirers of yours, but we think an assessment along those lines just might make sense about now.

You arrive in Manhattan at a fabulous time for you (what with the Newsweek putting you on the cover, with their poll showing you within the MoE, we must point out first in the Democratic horserace, and the strongest against President Bush) and a decent amount of momentum hanging around from last week's launch.

You've had quite a week of media coverage the whys and hows helpfully explained over the weekend by the Boston Globe 's punchy Mark Jurkowitz which we recommend to you. LINK

Some days over the next few weeks, you are probably going to be glad you get overshadowed: by Carol Mosley Braun's presidential announcement today (just kidding); by the rarish televised federal court of appeals hearing in the California recall today; by the president's United Nations speech tomorrow; by Wednesday's California gubernatorial debate and ABC News' Taste of the Campaign party; by Howard Dean's unbelievable fundraising number released at a place and time of Joe Trippi's choosing; and by every Hillbilly burp and flex.

In fact, we aren't sure how Gert feels about the Clintons, or, really, how you feel about them, but we sense a wee bit o' danger from how the Gang of 500 views you vis-a-vis your fellow Arkansan(s).

Bill Safire's perf on "Meet" yesterday, and his column this morning, probably make you want to punch him in the nose, with its supposition that you are somehow only a creature of the Clintons. LINK

Anyway, it turns out the Clintons live in New York now, and the salons you will enter tonight for your fundraisers after your trip to South Carolina, will be filled with people who love the Clintons, haven't really been turned on by any members of the Gang of 9, and are enjoying the Bush-Cheney-Evans economic uptick enough to write you checks.

And, lucky for you, most of them skip the Saturday tabloids, so they didn't read the hammering you got for your "I was opposed to the war I wouldn't have voted for the war resolution I was against the war" storyline. LINK and LINK

Of course, they also missed Saturday's New York Post editorial trashing you, which would have made them like you more. LINK

Ditto Sunday's Union Leader/New Hampshire Sunday News effort. LINK

However, we ARE dealing with sophisticated readers here, General, and all those mass e-mails going out meant to build crowds of supporters for today's three events might not get quite the reaction they otherwise would have if people read the papers closely ("Please pass this along to ALL your interested friends. We need to raise money NOW. We know this is short notice. Have them cancel their plans. Have them bring their friends. What are they doing on Monday night anyway?").

Because close reading of the papers would have allowed people to notice that, by the sheerest of coincidences, references to the exact same year-old wire story appeared in the later editions of yesterday's New York Times and today's Washington Post , adding another data point (as Dr. Rice would say) to the history of your position on the war.

It turns out that when you were campaigning for Katrina Swett in New Hampshire last October, you were pretty clear (well, clear for you on this stuff!) about your views of how to vote:

"Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Wednesday he supports a congressional resolution that would give President Bush authority to use military force against Iraq, although he has reservations about the country's move toward war."

"Clark, who led the allied NATO forces in the Kosovo conflict, endorsed Democrat Katrina Swett in the 2nd District race."

"He said if she were in Congress this week, he would advise her to vote for the resolution, but only after vigorous debate."

Kym Spell, your press secretary told that woman who is following you around most everywhere, ABC News' Clark reporter Deborah Apton, that she knew about these statements by General Clark and that they reinforce The General's explanation that he gave to reporters like Adam Nagourney on the 90-minute flight last Thursday.

Just a reminder: last Thursday he said he probably would have voted for" the Congressional resolution authorizing Bush to invade Iraq," only to flip flop Friday saying, "I would never have voted for war."

We're confused ourselves here: where do you stand on the resolution, and would a(nother) interview with Mike Glover be helpful?

And paging Dr. Dean and Senator Kerry.

All this has gotten so far is a brief mention in buried in yesterday's New York Times story about your record LINK and in today's Washington Post pol Notes column. LINK

We wonder if other media will pick it up.

The scant attention to all this thrashing around doesn't keep Joe Lieberman from garnering a Des Moines Register column about how "confusing and ambivalent" he finds your views on this to be. LINK

Given that you seem so tied to Clinton no matter what, perhaps you should shift to a version of what then-Governor Clinton classically said with respect to the United States' involvement in the Gulf War: "I guess I would have voted with the majority if it was a close vote. But I agree with the arguments the minority made." LINK

Now, helping you sort all of this out is an increasing cadre of Clintonistas, most of whom will roll their eyes at Time's report that the FPOTUS is trying to get his wife to drive around Upstate with Bruce Lindsey getting people to spontaneously release her from her pledge not to run for President this year. LINK

We should probably call John Podesta and ask him why he has been on the phone encouraging people to help Clark, but we'll get to that later today. Or, maybe, John, you could call/e-mail us.

We asked one long-time Clinton watcher who understands the rhythms of Hillbilly moments to try to explain the Time thing and all the other Clinton buzz out there and here's what we got:

"Well, from what I can tell all of its true and none of its true."

"Which means sure! He thinks Clark would be great! And, sure! Wouldn't it be great if HRC could run this time??"

"But she is not going to because she knows she would get killed. And so does he."

"And I think there's a lot of 'chatter in the system' because there is a big appetite for Clinton chatter and folks who aren't particularly credible are finding themselves sought after."

"Let's just say I think X [name deleted, but savvy readers can guess] has been spending a lot of time on the phone."

Still, Clintonistas continue to come on board, some fully committed (checking real estate prices in Arkansas, and room rates at the Peabody), others simply agreeing to help out with things such as debate prep and aftermath, including, The Note has learned, the Harbour Group's Joel Johnson, who knows a thing or three about presidential politics.

While the New York Times helpfully creates momentum for you with your New York would-be donors today with a story suggesting you raised $750,000 in a few days LINK, and Jon Alter disparages the money primary (for some reason choosing to forget/ignore that it has determined the nominee of both major parties every year but one in the modern era), we still think you are going to have to figure out how to raise a lot in a hurry. LINK

Whatever you raise NOT on the Web is going to come from people who Jordan, Elmendorf, etc., would dearly loved to have had.

People are just going to keep picking over your military career, with the Los Angeles Times twins of Richter and Brownstein finding you to be a military man with a past.

But elections, as Bill Clinton will tell you, are about the future, and we are still waiting to hear what you have to say about that.

For your sake, we hope you don't just end up playing the role for Howard Dean that Newt Gingrich played for Bob Dole in 1996 freezing the field through your run and keeping anyone else from locking up new donors or growing in other political ways.

And, did we mention the Clintons and the shadow they are casting over you?

Senator Clinton's decision to take those "you go, girl!" e-mails encouraging her to run for president SOON off of her Web site was a nice accommodation to sanity.LINK

But going to speak in South Carolina on October 6 not so much.LINK

So, as we said: General Clark is scheduled to campaign in South Carolina today. He will travel to New York City on Monday to be on the Charlie Rose show and attend a fundraiser at the home of Gail Furman (and maybe some more).

He is planning to meet with Pakistani President Musharraf in New York City on Tuesday before flying to Indiana to campaign there. He will be Chicago on Wednesday and then travel back to New York City on Thursday for the debate.

Elsewhere today and the week ahead:

The second Democratic National Committee-sanctioned presidential debate takes place this Thursday at 4:00 pm ET at the New York City campus of Pace University.

All 10 Democratic candidates are scheduled to attend this debate, which will focus on the economy. The event is sponsored by CNBC and the Wall Street Journal , and NBC's Brian Williams will moderate. CNBC's Ron Insana and Gloria Borger and the Journal's Gerald Seib will ask questions.

The president will travel to Richmond, Virginia, today to tour the Temporary Virginia Emergency Operations Center and to receive a briefing on hurricane damage at the Virginia State Police Academy. He will appear in an exclusive interview with Fox News' Brit Hume tonight at 8:00 pm ET on your local Fox station (not on FNC).

He addresses the United Nations in New York City on Tuesday morning. He meets with the president of Paraguay on Friday and spends the weekend with the Putins at Camp David.

Vice President Cheney makes remarks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 luncheon fundraiser in Hartford, Connecticut, today.

The heads of two of Washington's powerhouse lobbying outfits the American Association of Health Plans and the Health Insurance Association of America plan a 1 pm ET press conference call today, and could it be that a long-simmering merger with huge implications for how Washington will work is about to be consummated?

Ambassador Moseley Braun formally announces her presidential candidacy today in D.C., South Carolina, and Chicago. She is scheduled to be in New York City for the debate on Thursday, and is also scheduled to attend the Congressional Black Caucus' legislative conference in D.C. this week.

Senator Kerry addresses the Detroit Economic Club today. He's in New York City on Thursday for the debate. He's scheduled to campaign in Iowa over the weekend with Senator Kennedy.

Senator Lieberman is in California today, where he will visit an English as a Second Language class facility in San Francisco with Lieutenant Governor Bustamante. He campaigns in southern California tomorrow including a scheduled event with Governor Davis. He's in D.C. on Wednesday for a reception at Mark Penn's house and in New York City on Thursday for the debate.

Congressman Gephardt is in Iowa today and tomorrow. He'll make an agricultural policy speech this morning at Clara Bell's farm in Prole. Tomorrow, he will go to a reception in Davenport and the National Agricultural Summit in Cedar Rapids.

Congressman Kucinich will be the keynote speaker at a town hall meeting tonight in Annapolis, Maryland. He participates in a town hall meeting at the Tibet House in New York City on Tuesday. He campaigns in New Hampshire on Wednesday. He's in New York City for the debate on Thursday.