The Note: No Hurry for That Final Disappointment

— -- WASHINGTON, Mar. 12

Who can better answer these questions right now, Karl Rove or Bill Clinton?

1. Will it be easier for a Republican or for a Democrat who is not one of his party's Big 3 to break into the top tier and win the nomination?

2. Who helped Matt Drudge post this on drudgereport.com (Guiliani: "There must be public funding for abortion.")? LINK

2b. When is the next Drudge posting on Giuliani's past (with Mario Cuomo? with Bill Clinton?) going to be posted?

3. Whose fire-in-the-belly quotient would propel them out on the road more days a week as a presidential candidate, Chuck Hagel or Fred Thompson?

4. Who is endorsing Rudy Giuliani today?

5. What is the White House plan for dealing with LibbyUSAttorneysHalliburtonGonzales?

6. Why is Mitt Romney already buying pricey Boston TV time?

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) holds an 11:00 am ET news conference regarding his future plans at University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Rudy Giuliani holds a 9:30 am ET press conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, where he is expected to receive an endorsement.

(Kudos to Hagel and the Giuliani campaign for keeping their twin secrets.)

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attends an 11:00 am ET breakfast fundraiser in Fresno, CA. McCain will then attend a 3:00 pm ET fundraiser in San Diego, CA. His last event for the day will be a 9:00 pm ET fundraiser in Orange County, CA.

Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), who turns 60 today, holds a fundraiser at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. He recently taped an interview with Fox's Sean Hannity which is expected to air tonight on FNC during the 9:00 pm ET hour.

President and Mrs. Bush visit Guatemala to meet with President Oscar Berger. They will begin their morning with a visit to a medical readiness and training exercise site, followed by a visit to the Santa Cruz Balanya town square. The President and Mrs. Bush will then visit Labradores Mayas Packing Station, followed by a visit to an Iximché Site. In the afternoon, President and Mrs. Bush will participate in an arrival ceremony at the National Palace in Guatemala City. The President will then participate in a meeting with Guatemalan President Berger, followed by a joint press availability with the two leaders. In the evening, President and Mrs. Bush will participate in a social dinner with President and Mrs. Berger at the National Palace.

Tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson," an exclusive and hilarious look inside the legendary "Animal House" quarters of four of the most powerful men in Congress.

It's the stuff of legend -- Capitol Hill roommates Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, DSCC chair Chuck Schumer, D-NY, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and the "pledge" of the frat house, Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass. Tonight they give ABC's Jake Tapper unprecedented TV access to the dingy, dilapidated, Democratic dump -- complete with a peek into the fridge (and some legendary, decade-old venison), rat traps, and Sen. Schumer's closet.

The fellas argue about grocery receipts, landlord George Miller's rent, and which roommate they want to impose a dress code upon....What clothes of former roommate Rep. Marty Russo, D-Illinois, defeated 14 years ago, leave in the living room? Who killed the rat with a golf club? Whose underwear is that on a living room shelf? You won't want to miss it. LINK

Morning show politics:
Appearing on "Good Morning America," ABC News' Claire Shipman said of Sen. Hagel: "Most expect he'll join the race." Shipman's piece took a look at the Hagel, Gingrich, and Fred Thompson potential entrances into a GOP field.

Appearing on NBC's "Today," Andrea Mitchell reported on the buzz around the potential candidacies of Thompson and Hagel, saying that "McCain's campaign has stalled," and that these two men see an opening because, simply, "the front runner is Rudy Giuliani."

On "Today", Joe Scarborough said Sen. Thompson "better get out fast and he better raise a lot of money," and Noted that of the GOP hopefuls, "two of the top three have enough wives between them to start a basketball team."

Appearing on CBS' "Early Show," Amy Walterf of the Cook Political Report said Sen. Hagel's potential entry into the race will "add some very interesting dynamics because he is the only Republican candidate coming out aggressively against the war." Also, the Thompson announcement "exposes some real problems because it shows Republicans are not happy with their crop of candidates."

2008: Republicans: Hagel:
"Early on, though, Hagel's biggest challenge lies in convincing the party's pro-Bush activists to support him," writes Jonathan Martin in Politico in a story that is required reading for anyone covering the Hagel announcement today. LINK

"'I don't know what constituency he'd be looking for,' said Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Iowa Republican Party. 'To be the anti-war Republican? Good luck to you, sir.'"

The Roger Stone cameo: priceless.

Jake Thompson and Robyn Tysver of the Omaha World-Herald report on the "mixed signals" from Sen. Hagel about his political plans which could range from "running for president to getting out of politics entirely." LINK

Firefighter preview:
The cattle-call season enters a new phase this week when thousands of firefighters from every congressional district in the country hear from a bipartisan group of presidential candidates at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, reports ABC News' Teddy Davis. LINK

Harold Schaitberger, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, spoke with ABC News about the four Republicans and six Democrats who are coming to the forum. He also dished on one candidate -- Rudy Giuliani -- who will not be in attendance.

"'There are those candidates that were invited that are not necessarily up and down on our issues,'" Schaitberger told ABC News. "'But we want to make available to them the platform and an opportunity to make their case with our leadership and our members.'"

To help you make your mid-week plans, here is Wednesday's line-up:

9 a.m.: Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) speaks.
9:30 a.m.: Former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R-Va.) speaks.
10 a.m.: Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) speaks.
10:30 a.m.: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) speaks.
11 a.m.: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) speaks.
1 p.m.: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) speaks.
1:30 p.m.: Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) speaks.
2 p.m.: Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) speaks.
2:30 p.m.: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaks.
3 p.m.: Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) speaks.

Nevada Democrats drop Fox:
After coming under intense pressure from MoveOn.org, the Nevada Democratic Party announced late Friday that it was dropping Fox News as the sponsor of its August debate.

The Las Vegas Review Journal finds little sense in the cancellation, blaming the influence of the "socialist" wing of the party, writing, "You'd think the deal called for having Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter mock the candidates between comments."LINK

The New York Times' Noam Cohen weighs the pros and cons for Fox News as a partisan political target. LINK

In response to Nevada Democrats saying that they were motivated to drop Fox because of Roger Ailes making a joke about Sen. Obama and Osama Bin Laden, the AP has Obama saying he's "been called worse." LINK

"So one thing this battle wasn't about was Roger Ailes' Thursday night joke," begins Ben Smith reporting on the decision to nix the Democratic debate on Fox News. "The joke was the face-saving pretext that the Nevada party and Harry Reid needed to concede defeat" to the liberal netroots who are "very, very good at intramural battling."LINK

2008:
In Sunday's Washington Post, U.C. San Diego's Samuel Popkin and the University of Arizona's Henry Kim cautioned Democrats that the last time either party captured the White House two years after wresting control of both House and Senate in midterm elections was in 1920. LINK

Calvin Woodward of the AP writes this morning that all of the 2008 presidential candidates are spending more time talking about Iraq then domestic issues. Some candidates are trying to break away, but the discussion will eventually find its way back to Iraq.LINK

ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin takes a look at the "closet cleaning" now required of presidential aspirants who want to get ahead of those "at the bottom of the media food chain." LINK

Ron Eachus offers a look at what he calls "royal family fatigue" which is what could happen to voters with the Bushes and Clintons. If Clinton did win the presidency in 2008 and again in 2012, that would make 28 years of either a Bush or Clinton at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.LINK

Chuck Raasch finds an openly flawed field on both sides of the aisle in 2008. USA Today has the op-ed. LINK

2008: nomination calendar:
The potential for twenty-three states holding nomination contests on February 5, 2008 has set some presidential campaign strategy on its ear. The New York Times' Adam Nagourney takes a closer look. LINK