The Note

W A S H I N G T O N June 19&#151;<br> -- Today, George W. Bush is talking the economy in a state Karl Rove lost in '00 (but wants to win in '04); John Kerry is in New Hampshire (and dealing with the aftermath having said something maybe iffy-squishy on the war); Joe Lieberman is in Manhattan (raising cash and picking up another endorsement); Governor Dean is in San Francisco (in his element); Scott McClellan's ascension to press secretary is official; (and that's on the record).

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And Mark McKinnon and Carter Eskew plan to sit side-by-side in Silver Spring tonight — and almost all is right with the world.

(We say "almost" because we're going to give you some evidence this morning that Democratic interest groups are actually (amazingly!) cooperating and working together. ABC News has learned that Cecile Richards, who is now deputy chief of staff in Minority Leader Pelosi's office, will leave to become the grassroots coordinator for that coalition of center-left interest groups who will pool resources for the 2004 election.)

Slight cognitive dissonance aside, it's tempting to luxuriate in what is a day of events that is pure comfort to our gentle Note readers. But, forward thinking people we are, let's push you forward to a trio of Invisible Primary cattle calls that start tomorrow.

Call it the Midwest Marathon.

Most of the candidates will appear on Friday before Democratic Party officials; on Saturday with local (and rural) party faithful in Iowa — a key caucus state; and on Sunday before the national political organization synonymous with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is still arguably America's most prominent black leader.

What to expect?

--a lot of lovey-dovey nicey-nice toward each other, maybe, with plenty of venom for the White House (the Columbia Colliding is still viewed by the campaigns as a mistake of intra-party overaggressiveness)

--the potential for last-minute cancellations because of pesky, important, Senate votes

--games of chicken about who might show up and why others won't

We begin in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, a rocket-propelled stone's throw away from where President Bush speaks today.

Tomorrow, the Association of State Democratic Chairs and the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party will host individual candidate forums with six (6) presidentials.

(Howard Dean; 2:15 pm ET-- Senator Joe Lieberman; 3:00 pm ET-- Representative Dennis Kucinich; 3:45 pm ET-- Senator John Kerry; 4:30 pm ET-- Reverend Al Sharpton; 5:15 pm ET-- Representative Dick Gephardt (via videoconference))

On Saturday, 7 presidentials plan to attend the presidential Candidate Forum presented by Jasper County Democrats in Newton, Iowa.

Governor Dean, Senator Edwards, Representative Gephardt, Senator Graham, Senator Kerry, Representative Kucinich, and Reverend Sharpton will be there. Senator Lieberman will not participate because of his religious observance. Ambassador Moseley Braun has not committed to attending, organizers say.

After the group forum, candidates will disperse into "break-out" rooms to speak informally with local Democrats attending the forum. Candidates may also be in the "break-out" rooms before the event starts.

As far as we know, this is also the first forum to feature local, non-media people as panelists. The forum will consist of questions from three people: Jeneane Beck, a KUNI radio news reporter, along with two so-called "local folks, " a former teacher and a veteran who is also a former county attorney.

The candidates won't get a chance to question each other. They get five minutes to speak; they'll each be asked the same three questions; the remaining time will be left to questions from the assembled state chairs.

The biggie, potentially, is on Sunday. It's the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Democratic Presidential Candidate Forum. We told you yesterday that Senator Edwards will miss it because of a scheduling conflict.

The element that distinguishes it is undoubtedly the moderator: Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr.

Yesterday on that new Lou Dobbs show, whatever it's now titled, Jackson appeared to blame the Bush economy for the riots in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Much admired in some quarters, much despised in others, Rev. Jackson remains a path breaker and a kingmaker.

The format here will be a combination of questions from a panel of journalists and a town-hall style segment in which Jackson will move about the audience of 500-600 and allow them to directly ask questions.

It's the first time the candidates will be answering questions together on "minority" issues. We expect close queries about affirmative action.

It's not unreasonable to expect a combination of heart-felt, engaging answers AND full-throated pandering.

The panel of journalists will be made up of NPR's Tavis Smiley, WTTW Chicago PBS's Phil Ponce and a CNN reporter TBD.

C-SPAN is scheduled to carry this event live.

Back to today:

The AP's Jennifer Loven reports, "President Bush chose a state he narrowly lost in 2000 to deliver a third speech this week devoted to the politically crucial issue of what his administration is doing to boost the lagging economy." LINKABC News' Ann Compton points out that Micro Control Inc., where Bush will speak today, will accept Bush's tax cut but won't use it to rehire 50 employees it recently laid off.

"Harold Hamilton expects to buy $80,000 of new equipment for his Micro Control Inc. next year, thanks to the savings the Fridley company will realize under the Bush tax cuts," the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. LINK"What about hiring back some of the workers — about 50 — Micro Control has shed in this soft economy?"

"'I tell you, it really depends on the economy,' said Hamilton, who will be host to President Bush at Micro Control today. 'If we sell more, we'll hire more people.'"

"Hamilton has been singled out for presidential attention, but he speaks for many CEOs in both welcoming the Bush-initiated tax cuts and taking something of a 'no, you first' attitude when it comes to the hiring trend that economists agree has to take place for the recovery to gain traction."

Back east, Senator Kerry laid down a marker of sorts when he promised to "get to the bottom" of why the administration might have "misled" America on the war.

The AP's Fournier reports that Kerry said Bush "waged a war based on questionable intelligence." LINK"'He misled every one of us,' Kerry said. 'That's one reason why I'm running to be president of the United States.'"

"Kerry said Bush made his case for war based on at least two pieces of U.S. intelligence that now appear to be wrong — that Iraq sought nuclear material from Africa and that Saddam's regime had aerial weapons capable of attacking the United States with biological material."

"Still, Kerry said it is too early to conclude whether or not war with Iraq was justified. There needs to be a congressional investigation into U.S. intelligence on Iraq, he said."

"'I will not let him off the hook throughout this campaign with respect to America's credibility and credibility to me because if he lied he lied to me personally,' he said."

"Addressing senior citizens in Hanover later in the evening, Kerry said he supported a congressional investigation because it was not clear whether Bush acted on poor, distorted or politicized intelligence."

"I don't have the answer," he said. "I want the answer and the American people deserve the answer. I will get to the bottom of this."

Mickey Kaus (www.kausfiles.com) calls the comments Romneyesque:

(From the Salt Lake Tribune 3/31/02 LINK ) "George Romney, popular governor of Michigan, was a leading contender for the Republican nomination in the presidential sweepstakes more than three decades ago. On Sept. 4, 1967, he told a Detroit television reporter that he had been 'brainwashed' by U.S. generals supporting the war in Vietnam. The comment and the ensuing media feeding frenzy destroyed his campaign, clearing the way for Richard Nixon to win the GOP nomination and the White House. "

Look for Republicans in New Hampshire and Washington to go on the offensive in this, with reference to Kerry's previous regime change remark.

The good news for Kerry, however, remains the Boston Globe series, with Part V running today. The positive effects are at least two-fold.

First, Kerry's bigger-than-life life story is being seen all over (southern) New Hampshire, and we bet some local pols whose endorsements have been long sought will come over the fence after reading this stuff.

Second, the Globe is putting out all these stories now, so months from now, when the country is paying attention (or, at least, early-state voters are), the Jordan-Lehane-Gibbs-Wade-Benander phalanx can say "old story, old story, old story," and that is often the best defense.

Reporter: "Did John Kerry do such and such?"

Jordan: "Do you mean to tell me that you are chasing a story that appeared SIX MONTHS AGO in The Boston Globe ?

"

If the Kerry campaign didn't steer the Globe to a lot of this stuff (even the negative stuff), they should have.

Bloomberg News reports that "2 administration officials" said Scott McClellan has officially been tapped to succeed Ari Fleischer. LINK

"McClellan has stood in for Fleischer at crucial times during Bush's first three years in office — most recently when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas on Feb. 1. Fleischer, who makes a practice of declining comment on administration personnel matters, said when asked who would succeed him that McClellan would have to be on anyone's guess list."

Bush-Cheney re-elect, the money:

Speaker Hastert is not just third in line for succession, he's also on his way to becoming a Ranger according to Roll Call 's Ethan Wallison and Paul Kane.

"Calling for a gesture of solidarity with the White House at the onset of the 2004 campaign, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) on Wednesday cut a $1,000 check to President Bush's re-election campaign and urged all House Republicans to follow suit."

"'We want to show it's a two-way street,' Hastert spokesman John Feehery said after the meeting. 'The president did a lot for us in the last election, and [the pitch to Members] shows what kind of team we are.'"

"Even some close Bush allies were bewildered by Hastert's plea."

"Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), a Bush confidant, said he doesn't plan to contribute to Bush's campaign, preferring to direct his gifts to needy GOP Senate candidates and the National Republican Senatorial Committee."

"'The president's a pretty good fundraiser on his own,' Gregg said wryly."

"In fact, no similar pitch has been made to GOP Senators by their leadership. But Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) indicated Wednesday that he liked the idea and might ask his colleagues to make donations to the president."

Bush-Cheney re-elect:

The New York Times ' FOIA-wielding Randal C. Archibold reports that, thanks to New York City "millionaires and billionaires" (and Michael Bloomberg himself) the RNC already has raised $60 million. LINKArchibold mentions your David Rockefeller, your Jonathan Tisch , your Sanford Weill, along with Henry Paulson of Goldman Sachs and real estate magnate William Rudin, as among those who've tossed in millions from personal or company coffers.

According to host committee co-chair Lewis M. Eisenberg, the "financial commitments reflected both civic pride and deep support for the first-ever Republican convention in New York, where President Bush and Vice President Cheney will begin their drive to Election Day."