The Note

ByABC News
June 3, 2003, 10:00 AM

W A S H I N G T O N June 2— -- What to look for this week:

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NEWS SUMMARY

How much traction do efforts to expand the child tax credit get?

Can Democrats actually take political advantage of the situation?

Will Republicans punt, stall, or engage in some other tactic easily described via sports metaphor?

Does the John Kerry and Howard Dean feuding continue or peter out?

Does the Chuck Grassley and Bill Thomas feuding continue or peter out?

Do Elisabeth Bumiller and David Sanger come home from Europe, or just stay there?

Do any SCOTUS decisions with major political implications get handed down?

How much do the Democratic presidential candidates step up their talk of nowhere-to-be-found weapons of mass destruction?

Do loyal Note readers get to hear our Webby Award five-word acceptance speech?

With the president still globe-trotting (with political implications still too geo for our pea brains), there is a lot of domestic political travel going on, and Congress is itching to legislate.

Senator Kerry is in New Hampshire today so is Senator Edwards!. Kerry disappears Tuesday and pops up in New York City for a women's luncheon at the Yale Club.

Lynne Cheney is in New Hampshire today, too, speaking at the Federation Women's Lilac Luncheon in Manchester.

Senator Graham has a closed-press fundraiser in Pacific Palisades, California. Tuesday, he has two fundraising luncheons in Long Beach and San Francisco. He'll spend a full day in San Francisco on Wednesday and does a Sillicon Valley tour on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Reverend Al Sharpton's "Convoy Against Racism" stops in Shreveport, Louisiana. Howard Dean attends a "Downtown Dean Series" event in New York City.

Wednesday brings the start of the three-day Campaign For America's Future conference at the Omni Shoreham. Seven presidentials are scheduled to address the legions of grass-top liberal activists on Thursday and Friday, joint-yet-separate-appearance style.

Wednesday is also the National Dean in 2004 Meetup Day. Dean plans to deliver the graduation address at the Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York.

Thursday, Dean has a National Press Club health care event. That night, New York Gov. George Pataki helps the New Jersey GOP get more money.

The big economic number out this week is the unemployment figure for May. That'll be released Thursday morning. ABCNEWS' Schindelheim says that economists expect to see that the economy lost another 48,000 jobs last month.

Friday, the American Federation of Teachers opens a big convention in Washington and Congressman Jim Clyburn hosts a conference on historically black colleges and universities in South Carolina.

On Saturday, Kerry address the Massachusetts State Convention in Lowell, Massachusetts. And it's Senator Graham's turn to Hear It From the Heartland with Senator Tom Harkin in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Don't tell anyone, but there's a big fundraiser Saturday night at Senator Edwards' campaign headquarters in Raleigh.

On Sunday, June 8, Iowa Governor Tom "Two Tier" Vilsack and Lt. Governor Sally Pederson will picnic at the Old Thresher's Grounds in Mt. Pleasant. On hand are expected to be Governor Dean, Senator Graham, Senator Lieberman, and Reverend Sharpton.

Our favorite line of the press release: "An annual event since 2000 "

And on Sunday, Hillary Clinton kicks off the promotion of her new book with a turn on ABC News with Barbara Walters.

Big Casino budget politics:

David Firestone of the New York Times goes back to the "the Bush tax cut is more regressive than even Paul Krugman thought at one time" well, looking at some "newly discovered" citizens who won't benefit at all or very much, and the Republicans in the administration and on the Hill continue to use every rhetorical trick they can think of to avoid confronting the chart showing the tax cut distribution by income groups as a matter of absolute dollars (as opposed to a percentage of cut). LINK

J. Weisman in Saturday's Washington Post had defeaning Democrats deficit denounciations. LINK

Over the weekend, the Des Moines Register said that Senator Grassley plans to push for more tax cuts to make sure no taxpayer is left behind. LINK

The Wall Street Journal picks up the same story today, and makes it clear that Democrats and some Republicans are looking to have some votes that the White House might find less than totally comfortable.

Wearing his trademark National Journal-green budget hawk hat, Ron Brownstein deals with allegations that Bush deliberately wants to run up the deficit to stymie spending by Democrats in the future. (A strategist close to the White House says "naw.") LINK

Well, then: what the heck is Bush trying to do?

Read Ron to find out, but here's a hint: "[W]hether deliberately or not, Bush is setting in motion forces that could produce a fiscal meltdown in the years ahead "

Saturday, the Des Moines Register ed board expressed unhappiness with the Bush tax cut. LINK

Joe Klein in Time seems morally outraged (as Mr. Klein can get ) about the child tax credit situation. LINK

And the Washington Post ed board keeps up its own moral outrage over the same issue today. LINK

As does Bob Herbert. LINK

As does Tom Oliphant. LINK

In Sunday's Washington Post Outlook section, Anna Bernasek of Fortune magazine did a pretty convincing Krugman imitation in writing about the Bush tax cuts. LINK

There was also an excellent clip 'n' save on "sunsets and pumpkins." LINK

Robin Toner goes (again) to Iowa; Senator Grassley (again) trashes the White House on Medicare and Bill Thomas on most everything; Robin Toner and Senator Grassley (again) agree that Medicare reform is going to have to take rural interests into account. LINK

Bob Novak makes a sly Karl Malone reference in writing up his new favorite theme (trotted out on CNN last week) the White House is not fully in love with Bill Thomas. LINK

Novak (like Toner) suggests that Grassley-Thomas tension might make Medicare reform tougher than it otherwise would be (which is tough to begin with).

The AP's David Espo reports, "President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress launch an intensive drive this week to enact Medicare prescription drug legislation, hoping that a GOP government can end years of partisan gridlock." LINK

"On the eve of a debate likely to resonate in the 2004 elections, administration officials and lawmakers agree a formidable array of obstacles must be cleared before legislation can reach Bush's desk."

"They involve policy whether to offer all Medicare beneficiaries the same drug benefit, for example. They also include ideology how large a role the government should play and political considerations how aggressively to seek Democratic support, particularly in the Senate."

"But by their own words, Bush and GOP leaders put the issue high on the legislative agenda, and the president is expected to actively press for the measure when he returns from a European trip."

Sunday's Washington Post had an outstanding page-one Dale Russakoff look at how the states are using budget gimmicks galore to paper over their shortfalls. LINK

Sheffield, Iowa's Dick Heimer slaps David Yepsen. LINK

ABC 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:

Marshalltown native Terry Nelson got some huzzahs in Sunday's Des Moines Register . LINK

The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank had a PolNotes column on Sunday about how (brace yourself) Karl Rove has ties to some of the people working on the president's re-election effort. LINK

And Milbank closes with this: "But Rove, traveling with Bush in Poland on Friday, said he had no longstanding ties to Nelson, Devenish or Josefiak."

Seems to us that THAT'S the REAL story .

ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary:

The New York rural cattle call ended up with a Sharpton no-show, and/but the biggest news seems to have been Governor Dean accusing Senator Kerry of stealing some of his lines.

After Kerry had left town, Dean sort of ripped into him for plagiarism, both with the press and in his speech.

The Kerry camp seemed bewildered, but all that spokesguy Robert Gibbs would say is "We are simply not going to play politics at that small a level."

Now, to be fair to Senator Kerry, Saturday wasn't the first time he gave a speech that had the ring of Howard Dean to it. We've heard him deliver his line about not needing a second Republican Party several times before, including at an EMILY's List gathering in late May.

And does Dean somehow claim sole ownership of the "Let's Be Democrats" theme?

The AP's Humbert faithfully Notes Dean's rip: "I heard he did a great job giving my speech." LINK

The Albany Times-Union Notes the "growing" rivalry but also Notes that "Both men received standing ovations .," although the Humbert applause meter went higher for Dean. LINK