The Note
W A S H I N G T O N June 3— -- How can you make the political world seem quiet?
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NEWS SUMMARY
* Send the president overseas.
* Take a quiet moment for Lisa Kimmel Fisher, then prepare to shimmy with Sarah Jessica's quartet posse.
* Lapse into the 30-day window until the end of the 2nd quarter of presidential campaign fundraising, sending a lot of activity underground (or, at least, into fancy apartments).
* Come down from Matrix Mania with a Nemo Wave before pouncing on those Potter Pages.
* Have major legislative agenda items (taxes and health care) build to a slow boil.
* Have expectations build — inexorably and powerful — for Barbara Walters' major interview with Senator Clinton.
* Put some of America's leading political reporters on moving vans, the British Isles, baby duty, golf courses, the G-8, and the Tonys.
* Keep the Fleischer Window open in all job categories — but make it clear it could close at any time.
* Overtime after overtime in the NHL finals on ABC!!! (The Note LOVES overtime!!!)
* Gasp for oxygen through the camera-happy clouds of hot air and genuine ire expelled (no, not by Democratic candidates, but) by Franken and O'Reilly
While the president continues to make history overseas, today, Senator Edwards, Ambassador Moseley Braun, Congressmen Kucinich, and Gephardt are in DC.
Kucinich speaks at a TIKKUN awards banquet tonight.
Senator Graham has fundraising events in San Francisco, California.
Reverend Sharpton is in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Senator Kerry is raising money in New York City, as is Governor Dean.
Senator Lieberman has fundraisers in South Florida.
Two run-off elections today.
In Denver, it's city auditor Don Mares and restaurant owner John Hickenlooper who are facing off for mayor. LINK
In Texas's 19th congressional district, which expands through Lubbock and Midland, Republicans Mike Conaway and Randy Neugebauer are on the ballot. LINK
Big Casino budget politics, child tax credit:
Some members of both parties want to solve the substantive and political problem of some lower-income parents being left out of the child tax credit law signed by the president.
But how that passionate Washington desire will play out is still anyone's guess.
Lookit the key piece of data (encased in 15 simple words) the Washington Post 's Weisman has: "A White House official signaled yesterday that President Bush wants to 'get this thing done.'" LINKWith the administration on board, it should just be a matter of time, no?
Well, just you wait until Gigot and Co. read that Post quote, because the Wall Street Journal ed board is so exorcised by this gambit to help these potentially "Even Luckier Duckies" that it has reserved some tentative criticism for Republicans poised to "cave" on the child tax credit extension, after smashing the Democrats for most of their lead piece:
"Republicans who just voted for the tax cut could be less defensive and try to explain all of this. But instead too many of them are heading for the tall grass, with Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley already promising to cave as early as this week on the child tax credit. This is the kind of political box Republicans walk into when they endorse tax credits that favor one group over another. Democrats are better at playing favorites."
"We raised some hackles last year when we noted [sic] this growing trend that more and more Americans paid little or no tax. 'Lucky duckies,' we called this non-taxpaying class at the time. Notwithstanding liberal spinners, after this tax bill they're even luckier."
Now, maybe when the wise gals and guys at the Journal figure out the Grassley Trojan Horse strategy, they won't mind "refunding" a bit to the poor if it means starting the project of the making some of the just signed-into-law cuts permanent.
Continuing with Mr. Weisman's first draft of history:
"Democrats — and some Republicans — said yesterday that Grassley was using a token amount of aid to the poor to justify another large tax cut. The $3.5 billion cost of the child credit expansion in Grassley's legislation would be dwarfed by the provision to make the entire child credit permanent, a provision that alone would likely exceed $80 billion."
"Grassley did not deny the charge. 'Maybe I'm trying to take advantage of a political uproar to get as much permanence as I can and be as expansive as I can,' he said in an interview."
The New York Times ' Firestone plays up the smaller Lincoln-led measure, and makes no mention of the administration. LINKGood topic, wethinks, for a Middle East gaggle.
Congressman Rangel's letter to the New York Times suggests that Paul Krugman isn't strongly enough against the Bush Administration. LINKAnticipating the charge, Krugman writes across the page one of his most anti-Bush columns ever (and we recognize the near impossibility of that … .).
LINKSeveral of the major newspaper accounts today make it clear that liberal interest groups have been flagging and flogging on the tax credit matter, as if that changes the facts.
Big Casino budget politics, health care:
The AP's David Espo yields two articles about the hopes of President Bush and Congress "to enact legislation this year that would give all seniors access to prescription drug coverage for the first time under Medicare. At the same time, the president is proposing creation of a managed care option, PPOs, for the 38-year-old government program. Beneficiaries could see any physician for their care, but would pay higher costs — sometimes far higher — if the doctor were outside the PPO network." LINK and LINKMark your calendars: "The Senate Finance Committee is expected to consider Medicare legislation next week, and Majority Leader Bill Frist … .has set aside the second half of June for floor debate."
And there still seems to be some fundamental differences (as we say in committee … .) over how to proceed:
As recorded by Robert Pear of the New York Times , here's what the president's brainy point person on health care said yesterday about a disparate prescription drug benefit:
"Mr. Scully said the administration still believed that Medicare should provide less extensive drug coverage to people in the fee-for-service program than to those in private health plans." LINK"If the drug benefits are equal, he said, 31 percent of Medicare beneficiaries will join private plans, and the remainder will stay in the traditional Medicare program. But if the private plans offer superior drug benefits, as Mr. Bush proposed, 51 percent of Medicare patients will join such plans, Mr. Scully said."
The Washington Post 's Amy Goldstein updates the latest on the Medicaid plan of the Bush-Vilsack gubernatorial task force — still shaping up as a potential grand bargain in the Big Casino. LINK
ABC 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
The New York Times 's Frank Clines got a good Austin meal or two in heading down for the dateline to write about the status of education, charter schools, and Leave No Child Behind in Texas. LINKAnd it got us to wondering:
1. Will the president spend election night next year in Austin?
2. Will the Democratic nominee spend a lot of 2004 time in Texas, showing the effects of the president's policies on his home state? (And if the nominee is John Kerry, will Lehane be able to deal with the repeated, overwhelming sense of déjà vu?)
The New York Sun's Ben Smith reports President Bush's June New York fundraiser may take in contributions from traditionally Democratic Jewish donors. LINK
PoliticsNH.com's James Pindell reports on Lynne Cheney's visit to New Hampshire, and he Notes that while Mrs. Cheney is the latest "high profile Republican" to visit the Granite State, joining the likes of Secretary Paige, Senator Hagel, and Adviser Rove, President Bush himself hasn't been to New Hampshire since before last fall's elections. LINKPindell also Notes: "During his trip here last month, Rove said he didn't expect the president to campaign much in New Hampshire since there seems to be no challenge in the Republican primary, though, he said, the president would campaign enough to 'respect the process.'"
Mrs. Cheney was on Today today to talk books, and Lester Holt decided to end the interview with two political questions.
First, does she look forward to the 2004 campaign?
The polished answer: "I kind of look forward to it, Lester. … You get to meet people outside the Beltway. It's an uplifting experience … .."
And does her husband, she was asked, have post-2004 presidential ambitions of his own?
"Nope. He says not … ,." was the reply.
ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary:
We would love to have dinner with John Kerry and Howard Dean to discuss the last paragraph of E.J. Dionne's unoriginal-but-one-can't-say-it-enough column:
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