The Note: Best in Note

— -- WASHINGTON, Nov. 29

NEWS SUMMARY
As long-time readers know, the last Tuesday of every month is reserved for The Note's "Best of . . ." feature.

So, without further ado, your November 29, 2005 "Best of The Note" Awards (c).

Best Story Teeing up Wednesday's Para-Mega Bush Speech on Iraq: The Wall Street Journal's Dreazen, Jaffe, and McKinnon, whose must-read story also prominently raises the Notion of civil war in Iraq as potentially foreshadowed by sectarian militias.

Best Reasons to Read America's Finest Op-ed Page: The Wall Street Journal's editorial on Duke Cunningham; Joe Lieberman's Nicolle-Wallace-couldn't-write-it-better-herself op-ed on staying the course in Iraq; and Dick Armey's op-ed trashing the Republican Congress, complete with an anonymous swipe at Tom DeLay.

Best Story on what Patrick Fitzgerald Is Doing: Diamond Jim VandeHei in the Washington Post, suggesting that Viveca Novak is a witness for the defense. LINK

Best Daily Story on what Rep. Duke Cunningham Did: Babcock and Weisman in the Washington Post. LINK

Best News Analysis on What the Cunningham Situation Means: Jeff Birnbaum in the Washington Post, in full Gucci Gulch mode. LINK

Best National Daily Story on President Bush's Immigration Pitch (tie): Dick Stevenson in the New York Times LINK and Warren Vieth and Nicole Gaouette in the Los Angeles Times LINK

Best Regional Daily Story on President Bush's Immigration Pitch: Michael Riley and Anne Mulkern of the Denver Post LINK

Best Way to Tee Up Today's Invitation-only New School Forum on the 2005 New York City Mayoral Race with Impeccable Timing: Dynamic duo Pat Healy and Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times on Fernando Ferrer and Roberto Ramirez doing some serious blame placing, finger pointing, and pre-framing. LINK

Best Indication (as if any were needed) That the Media (HEARTS) John McCain for the Republican Nomination in 2008: Peter Canellos's column in the Boston Globe, which makes Tucker Carlson look restrained. LINK

Best Indication (as if any were needed) That the Boston Globe Will Cover the Dickens out of Every Presidential Step Mitt Romney Takes: Scot Lehigh's column in the Boston Globe, which makes Frank Phillips look restrained. LINK

Best Reason Republicans Who Hate No Child Left Behind Have to Hate It More: The New York Times ed board defense of it. LINK

Best Reason to Read All the Alito Stories: They all have different takes: LINKLINKLINK andLINK

Best Reason to Forget Ron Fournier: The AP's Liz Sidoti's venture into the President and 2006 politics. LINK

Best Curtain Raiser on the Political Portion of the President's Trip to Maryland: Julie Hirschfeld Davis in the Baltimore Sun LINK

Best new reporting on the Abramoff case: Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News. LINK

Best Story for Junkies: The AP's curtain raising of the New Hampshire plan to save first-in-the-nation status for the Granite State. LINK

President Bush visits US Borer Patrol Headquarters in El Paso, TX at 11:00 am ET before heading to Denver, CO to help raise some money for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's (R-CO) re-election effort. The President will deliver remarks at 3:00 pm ET.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hold a Pentagon briefing at 1:15 pm ET.

Three months after Hurricane Katrina, Walter Isaacson, the vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, delivers 12:45 pm ET remarks to the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and the National Institute on Media and the Family release the 10th annual "Video and Computer Game Report Card" at 12:00 pm ET in Dirksen 3432. The report concludes that the ratings system is "beyond repair" and calls for a national summit to come up with a better, more accurate system.

Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy and the Center for New York City Affairs and its Dean Fred Hochberg play hosts to an INVITATION ONLY star-studded post-election roundtable exploring the 2005 New York City mayoral election with that perfect 20/20 hindsight. ABC's Mark Halperin moderates the discussion which will occur in two pieces -- the primary and the general -- and include campaign operatives and strategists from each of the campaigns as well as members from the New York City political press corps who covered the race.

For all you well-heeled Note readers, with regular tables at The Palm, the name Walter Ganzi, Jr. is not an unfamiliar one. In addition to being the CEO and co-owner The Palm Restaurants and Palm Management Corporation and the former national finance co-chairman for the 1988 George H.W. Bush for President campaign, Mr. Ganzi is now adding a new title to his resume.

Later today, Gov. George Pataki's (R-NY) 21st Century Freedom PAC will announce that Ganzi has taken over as its national finance chairman.

"With the addition of Wally to our team, we gain leadership and vision to help accelerate our message of uniting America, supporting candidates who share our message of less government, lower taxes and a safe and secure United States," Pataki will say in a press release.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee holds an "Open Forum on Decency" at 9:30 am ET in Dirksen G-50. Witnesses include FCC Chair Kevin Martin. Per the Wall Street Journal's Schatz and Flint, federal regulators are on the verge of suggesting that cable companies could best serve consumers by letting them subscribe to individual channels instead of offering only prepackaged bundles.

The Supreme Court meets for one to four decisions and arguments in Illinois Tool Works v. Independent Ink and Buckeye Check Cashing v. Cardegna. In advance of tomorrow's oral argument in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan holds an 11:00 am ET conference call with reporters.

Former President Bill Clinton, in his capacity as UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, travels to Sri Lanka and Indonesia and then reports back to the European Commission in Belgium.

In a fundraising email set to go out to supporters today, DNC Executive Director Tom McMahon Notes the response received by the party following Rep. Schmidt's since-withdrawn comments to Rep. Murtha on the House floor the week before last.

McMahon writes, "From this day forward, the Democratic Party will commit to putting up a 'Shame on You' billboard in the home district of any Republican who attacks a veteran's service in order to score political points."

"The first billboard will go up near Jean Schmidt's district office in Portsmouth, Ohio. The message: 'Shame on You, Jean Schmidt: Stop Attacking Veterans. Keep Your Eye on the Ball -- We Need a Real Plan for Iraq.'"

Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) will headline a Democratic congressional fund-raiser in Boston on Friday, party officials said yesterday.LINK

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) holds an 11:30 am ET news conference in Rayburn 2237 following a meeting with Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne on the status of the C-17 cargo plane.