NEWS SUMMARY

The political world pauses for a final day to pay its respects to former President Ronald Reagan today. The state funeral, which begins at 11:30 am ET, will be covered live by ABC News, as will the interment ceremony this evening as Reagan is laid to rest in California.

President Bush, former President Bush, former British Prime Minster Thatcher and former Canadian Prime Minster Mulroney eulogize Reagan in the National Funeral Service at the National Cathedral. President Reagan's body this afternoon flies back to Simi Valley, where he will be buried.

Some people involved in 2004 politics have welcomed the week-long respite from attack e-mails, Fox appearances by Terry Holt, and the usual campaign hubbub. We bet at least some voters feel the same way.

But there are clearly some campaign apparatchiks who will welcome the coming end of the para-truce, which they have found frustrating.

We expect a gradual ramp up in business as usual over the weekend -- followed by charges and counter charges of too-rapid escalation appearing before too long.

And, then, a return to full political combat -- amidst some press hand wringing -- by the middle of next week at the latest.

Monday, The Note will re-set the political landscape, with a focus on the status of Bush v. Kerry.

Following his eulogy, President Bush spends the weekend at his Crawford, Texas ranch.

Sen. John Kerry attends the Reagan service and spends the weekend down at the Heinz ranch in Pittsburgh, Pa. He returns to Washington Sunday evening.

Former President Bush celebrates his 80th birthday tomorrow by parachute jumping in College Station, Texas.

This weekend, Bush-Cheney '04 campaign manager Ken Mehlman is at the Iowa and Minnesota Republican party conventions.

Karl Rove attends a Bush-Cheney '04 victory event in Nevada this weekend.

On Monday, Vice President Cheney holds a campaign rally, at which he will discuss the war on terrorism. The Senate returns to session to debate the Defense Authorization Act. And former President Bill Clinton's portrait will be unveiled at the White House.

Finally, The Note bids a happy 50th birthday (today) to Republican uber strategist Alex Castellanos.

President Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004:

The Washington Post's Dan Balz turns in a must-read comparison of Presidents Reagan and (George W.) Bush, looking at the contrasts between them rather than the similarities, which have been highlighted so many times this week. LINK

From the "optimistic" vs. "resolute" world views to the country they inherited, Balz develops a vivid picture of two very different times in the life of America, conservative agendas and tax cuts notwithstanding.

The New York Times has several perspectives on President Reagan's lying in state:

Sheryl Gay Stolberg on the public visitors: LINK
Thom Shanker on Gorbachev: LINK
R.W. Apple on history's judgment: LINK
Paul Krugman on his record: LINK
and John Patrick Diggins on the 40 and 43 comparisons LINK.

USA Today profiles people who show Reagan's relationship with the inner city: LINK
His reaction to AIDS: LINK
Impact on Alzheimer's: LINK
Relationship with the military: LINK
Russian immigrants: LINK
Fighting in Beirut: LINK
Cuban Americans: LINK
The South: LINK
Small business owner: LINK
Education: LINK
And America's youth: LINK

If that's not enough Reagan coverage for you in USA Today, there's even more in the editorial pages.

The Washington Post's Bob Kaiser sat down Thursday night with Mikhail Gorbachev for his personal remembrance of Reagan and his Cold War legacy. LINK

In the Wall Street Journal, Milton Friedman highlights the three ways in which former President Reagan brought the "gallop (of socialism) to a literal standstill."

The Wall Street Journal's ed board Notes "most of the liberal establishment never did understand Mr. Reagan's popularity, much less explain it. As for the Gipper, we suspect he'd be amused and pleased to learn that even in death he is still being underestimated."

Charles Krauthammer sucker punches the "liberal establishment that alternately ridiculed and demonized Ronald Reagan throughout his presidency," but who are finding nice things to say about him this week. LINK

"After the funeral service, the Ronald Reagan Alumni Association will stage 'the last Cabinet meeting' at the Ronald Reagan Building, with an empty, black chair for the leader that ex-aides still affectionately refer to as 'the old man'," reports the Washington Post's Mike Allen. LINK

ABC News Vote 2004: Bush v. Kerry:

The New York Times' Adam Nagourney, in a must-read front pager, examines the business of examining undecided voters, Noting that both the Bush and Kerry campaigns "are struggling to adjust to this endlessly complicated electoral equation." LINK

The Boston Globe's Pat Healy looks at Sen. Kerry's crossover play for '''thoughtful Republicans,' 'independent-minded Republicans,' and 'non-Bush Republicans' -- and more subtly, the Independent voters who like bipartisan, all-together-now politicking" in battleground states. LINK

The New York Daily News' Bill Hutchinson writes about what kind of impact the New Democrats Network's poll says Howard Stern listeners could have on the election. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Michael Finnegan looks at the political-style marketing of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," Noting that the Fabiani-Lehane-led campaign may draw the ire of some FEC purists. LINK

The story is a must-read and not just because it contains the following quote from Mr. Moore: "When you think 'without mercy,' you think Chris Lehane."

The Los Angeles Times poll:

In our write-up of the Los Angeles Times poll yesterday (LINK), we included some comments from Bush-Cheney '04 campaign strategist Matthew Dowd, who took issue with the party breakdown of the polling sample.

The survey showed a national two-way head-to-head matchup between Sen. Kerry and President Bush at 51 percent to 44 percent, respectively. With Ralph Nader in the mix, the numbers broke down thusly: 48 percent for Sen. Kerry, 42 percent for President Bush, and 4 percent for Nader. In addition, nearly three-fifths said they think the country is on the wrong track. LINK

Late yesterday, Los Angeles Times polling director Susan Pinkus sent us this response to Mr. Dowd:

"After reading Matthew Dowd's assessment of the Los Angeles Times Poll in ABC News' The Note, I feel that I have to respond to his assertion that the poll is a 'mess.' His negative spin of this poll is, quite truthfully, not unexpected. The Times makes every effort to use sound methodological techniques that are used by most reputable research and polling organizations. The questionnaire and methodology is available for anyone to see and conforms to the guidelines set forth by the National Council on Public Polls and the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Although Dowd does not like the results of the Times poll, I stand behind the poll's results and the sound statistical methods used.

"If Dowd doesn't like the Times results, did he have a problem with the latest Gallup and CBS/New York Times polls? The horserace numbers are similar to the results of these two latest polls. Gallup had Kerry ahead by 5 points in the two-way race and CBS had Kerry up by 8 points.

"The Times does RDD (random digit dialing) sampling which reaches households with listed and unlisted telephone numbers. The poll weights slightly (for minor corrections) based on census data for sex, race, age and education and does not weight for party ID. Party ID is a moving variable that changes from one election to another, and weighting by party registration makes no sense nationally because many states don't have their voters register by party and some states don't have voters register to vote until the day of the election.

"Here is the breakdown of party affiliation in Times polls going back to September 2001:

DATE	N/WAY	DEM	IND	REP	S/ELSE	D/KNOW        
06/04	4	38	24	25 	7	2       
03/04	4	33	26	25	10	2       
11/03	5	31	25	26	12	3       
04/03	3	38	19	26	10	4       
02/03	4	28	30	26	10	4       
12/02	4	33	28	27	9	2       
08/02	3	35	26	28	8	3       
02/02	6	31	26	27	11	2       
11/01	5	34	28	25	10	4       
09/01	5	38	20	26	8	3   

Susan Pinkus
Director, Los Angeles Times Poll Back to you, Mr. Dowd.

The G-8 summit:

In the end, the resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council wasn't enough leverage for President Bush to get more NATO involvement, foreign troops and debt relief at the G-8 summit, reports the Washington Post's Dana Milbank. LINK

Even so, forgiving the pun, a sea change was evident among those who attended. In his analysis of the meeting, the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler observes that after taking hits internationally for its go-it-alone attitude, President Bush this week demonstrated that his "Administration has finally discovered diplomacy." Suddenly, officials told Kessler, "the Americans were more willing to listen, more eager to resolve differences and more interested in finding a pragmatic solution." LINK

"Bush administration officials privately concede that their diplomatic skills at times have been lacking, especially in the period before and after the Iraq war. Now, after a year of grim news in Iraq, the administration is scrambling to build international support for the nascent Iraqi government, which requires that U.S. officials listen to the concerns of other nations."

The politics of Iraq:

The Los Angeles Times' Ron Brownstein reports, "Most U.S. voters now say it was not worth going to war in Iraq, but an overwhelming majority reject the idea of setting a deadline to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country, according to a Times poll." LINK

Brownstein Notes, "In a sign that Kerry's position is murky to many voters, the poll found 15% said he had offered a clear plan on how to handle the situation, while 34% said he had not, and the rest did not know."

"But another question pointed to the opening for Kerry created by doubts about Bush's direction. Voters split almost in half when asked if they accepted Kerry's contention that Bush had lost so much credibility around the world that only a new president could 'rally the support of U.S. allies to help stabilize Iraq.'"

The New York Times' Richard Stevenson and David Sanger Note "President Bush continued to press for a more limited NATO role in training Iraqis to take on the burden of security in their own country, if the new Iraqi government requested the help." LINK

Prison abuse scandal:

The Washington Post's Josh White and Scott Higham report that the highest-ranking military intelligence officer at the Abu Ghraib prison signed off on a plan to scare and intimidate prisoners with unmuzzled dogs. Facts that appear damning keep on coming out -- and going higher. LINK

"According to one military intelligence memo obtained by The Post, the officer in charge of the military intelligence-run interrogation center at the prison had to approve the use of dogs in interrogations. There is no explanation in the memo of what parameters would have to be in place -- for example, whether the dogs would be muzzled or unmuzzled -- or what the dogs would be allowed to do. The Army previously has said that the commanding general of U.S. troops in Iraq -- Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez -- would have had to approve the use of dogs."

"President Bush said Thursday that he expects U.S. authorities to follow the law when interrogating prisoners abroad, but he declined to say whether he believes torture is permitted under the law," report the Washington Post's Dana Milbank and Dana Priest. LINK

The Washington Post's Alan Cooperman writes about FaithfulAmerica.org, the religious advocacy group that has purchased ads expressing regret over the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, to begin airing June 15 on al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya. LINK

With regard to the prison abuse memos, the Wall Street Journal's ed board writes "it sure would be helpful if someone in the Administration would take the initiative to challenge this latest Beltway uproar. At the very least, officials might muster some outrage over Democratic and media implications that U.S. officials have been in the business of justifying the use of torture."

USA Today's Toni Locy writes that "Military and civilian employees at the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were warned recently not to talk with attorneys who represent detainees held there, according to a document prepared by the legal office of the Army-led task force that runs the facility." LINK

See this weekend's New York Times Magazine for a look at the cases from the defense lawyers' point of view.

The economy:

Attention Lou Dobbs! The New York Times' Eduardo Porter reports that the fear of off-shoring "may be overblown," according to a new government report. LINK

The Washington Post's Paul Blustein reports that the off-shoring of jobs accounts for only a small fraction of U.S. lay-offs, according to the government survey released Thursday. "The finding provides ammunition to economists who contend that the "offshoring" of American jobs poses less of an economic threat than is popularly believed." LINK

Veepstakes:

Ever vigilant on his McCain watch, the Washington Post's David Ignatius says he is certain the Arizona Senator has thought carefully about being Sen. Kerry's running mate, and lays out his reasoning on why McCain should do it. LINK

"Despite McCain's public demurrals, he has been privately deliberating how things might work if he ever did agree to run as Kerry's vice presidential candidate. The bitter political divide in America worries McCain, especially when the nation is at war. He knows that for many Americans, he has become a symbol of a bipartisanship that could overcome these divisions -- and bring Red and Blue America closer together. That call to duty is powerful for McCain. He'll be 68 later this summer, and he knows that his time to shape American public life is now."

This is an important data point in the vital history of the "will Kerry pick McCain?" saga.

Nader:

Democrats in Arizona promise to put Independent candidate Ralph Nader's ballot signatures "under a microscope." The process of reviewing each of the 21,185 signatures submitted by the Nader campaign has already begun. The party reports a plan to put dozens of volunteers to work scrutinizing the petitions for discrepancies that would render them invalid. LINK

But Arizona Naderites tell the Arizona Tribune that's no worry, they've already carefully checked those petitions line by line. LINK

Adding another wild card to the mix, the Grand Canyon State will have a full slate of candidates for the U.S. Senate seat and the eight congressional districts up for election on the ballot this year.

AP does the math to conclude an independent -- comme Nader -- "needs about 700-thousand signatures to get on the ballot in all 50 states." LINK

As we reported last night on Noted Now, leadership from the National Progress Fund's NaderFactor.com met with Ralph Nader and his press secretary yesterday afternoon in Washington. While NaderFactor works to minimize Nader's damage to Kerry at the polls, they are ironically, in some ways an olive branch-like conduit between Nader and the Democratic establishment.
Tomorrow in Chicago, Nader takes a page from the candidate's handbook by visiting a city school where students have organized for improvements through Project Citizen.

Morning show wrap:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/Morning_Show_Wrap.html

ABC News Vote 2004: this week's ad traffic summary: