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.'" LINK
With 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. LINK
Good 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. LINK
Anticipating the charge, Krugman writes across the page one of his most anti-Bush columns ever (and we recognize the near impossibility of that … .).
LINK
Several 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 LINK
Mark 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. LINK
And 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. LINK
Pindell 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:
"The contest for the 2004 Democratic nomination cannot be understood apart from two factors. One is the intense opposition to Bush at the Democratic grass roots. The other is the widely held sense that the party's older strategies and internal arguments are inadequate to its current problems. Candidates can't win if they address only one of these concerns. But addressing both at the same time will require a political magic that Democrats haven't seen yet." LINK
If those of you in New York tonight are too busy raising money for dinner, how about talking it out over a late-night pizza?
The AP has a must-read ethanol subsidy round-up. Pending Senate energy legislation includes a provision to boost ethanol production and use. LINK
Senators Lieberman, Edwards, Kerry, and Graham support it.
Beth Fouhy and Marc Humbert have the round-up duties today.
Their bits include Senator Lieberman saying he's not too Republican, Senator Edwards (briefly) saying nice things about Presidents Reagan and Bush II, and Henry Cisneros endorsing Senator Kerry. LINK
The Boston Globe 's Glen Johnson covers the truly Noteworthy ramifications of the FCC decision: the reactions of the Democratic candidates. LINK
And will any of the candidates talk about this ripped-from-the-headlines Wall Street Journal A4 story today?
"Alarmed by jobs flowing overseas where skilled workers are cheaper, state lawmakers and labor unions are fighting back."
"Legislation aimed at keeping jobs in the U.S. is pending in at least five states New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri and Washington. The bills employ a variety of methods, including blocking companies from using foreign workers on state contracts and requiring foreign-call center employees to identify where they are located. On Capitol Hill, the AFL-CIO and one of its members, the Communications Workers of America, are urging members of Congress to direct the General Accounting Office to study the trend's U.S. economic impact."
EDWARDS
It's not clear what story the New York Times ' Rich Oppel set out to write by spending a lot of time looking at John Edwards' trial-lawyer fundraising machine, led by Texas superlawyer Fred Baron. LINK
The only thing that appears to be new news in it is this: "Justice Department officials have been in contact with the Edwards campaign, but Mr. Edwards declined to disclose what information had been sought."
Otherwise, it's a typical Times implicit denunciation of hard money fundraising, with murky suggestions that bundling and the new $2,000 limit are somehow evil and corrupting on their face.
There's a "Dick" Scruggs cameo, and Senator Edwards made a Lamar-Alexander-like deal with the 43rd Street Devil, trading access to show the super-aggressive nature of his fundraising operation in return for getting his picture in the New York Times , but, otherwise, we don't quite get the point, at least for Note readers.
The Raleigh News & Observer's John Wagner reports Senator Edwards will take some time away from his birthday fundraising back home this weekend to spend some quality time with his constituents. LINK
"In an apparent bid to bolster his standing back home, U.S. Senator John Edwards has scheduled a town-hall meeting Saturday with North Carolina constituents to discuss his presidential run. The meeting in Raleigh is part of a series of weekend events, which will also include a pair of in-state fund-raisers in advance of the Democrat's 50th birthday."
"'He'll talk about why he's running for president and what as president he would do to improve the economy, in particular,' Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said."
"Five months into Edwards' presidential race, 51 percent of North Carolinians disapprove of his White House bid, according to a poll conducted last month for The News & Observer. Edwards would lose his home state to Bush by 18 percentage points if the general election were held today, the poll found."
Mr. Wagner got a peek at the guest list for tonight's Edwards campaign Alabama fundraiser. LINK
"U.S. Senator John Edwards will have a heavyweight in his corner tonight: Boxer Evander Holyfield is among the co-hosts of a fundraiser scheduled in Birmingham, Ala., aides to the presidential candidate said."
"Holyfield, a former world heavyweight champion, reportedly has a big fight on his hands himself. He is scheduled to take on World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. in October. Holyfield is the boxer who lost part of his ear in the famous 1997 biting incident during a bout with Mike Tyson."
Senator Edwards' 50th birthday tips off more hoopla than Midnight Madness this weekend in the Research Triangle and beyond.
The Senator's campaign Web site has a user-friendly, and, perhaps more importantly, FEC-friendly sign-up sheet for friends (and hosts … and sponsors … and guests … and patrons) who want to join in on the birthday fun. LINK
It even has a (razor-backed) check-box that reads: "This contribution is made from my personal funds and not those of another, and I have not been reimbursed for this contribution by another."
On Friday, there's a shin-dig at The Flying Saucer at 9605 Tryon Street in Charlotte. Here are a few patron reviews of the joint: " … If you're hungry, go for the chicken sandwich; otherwise, grab a bite at one of the restaurants next door." LINK
Huh. Another said : "The food is not what you go here for."
Got it. And one more: "This place started out as a really cool place to hang out with friends and get some beers, but the place has become overun with yuppies. I'm not one to generalize, but it's the truth. It's hard to 'chill out' with button up shirts and khakis at the bar. But I still love it and go anyways … "
Bad food and yuppies. The Note can't decide which is worse. (Note to Senator Edwards: don't wear khakis to this event.)
So if Edwards' supporters don't go for the food, then they can at least go for the music, which on Friday will be provided by The Fantasy Band, who have "a groove that's all their own," according to the band's profile on one Web site (which also has a song list with some of The Note's favorites). LINK
On Saturday, there's another birthday cash bash. This time, it's a noon-time barbecue at the Edwards campaign headquarters at 2300 Rexwoods Drive in Raleigh.
Liquid Pleasure, the self-described "premiere show and dance band" in the area, will provide the musical entertainment here, and former University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith will also make a "special guest appearance."
The Note is confused as to whether that just means Coach Smith will be at the event or if he will be performing with Liquid Pleasure. Meet Liquid Pleasure here (minus potential back-up vocalist Smith): LINK
[The Note has a suggestion for the Edwards campaign for the future: Book both Liquid Pleasure and The Fantasy Band for the same event to set up a "Temptations v. Four Tops" inspired battle for soul supremacy.]
And on Sunday, Senator Edwards will spend the last weekend day of his first fifty years back in the town where he was born, Seneca, South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Edwards has authored an email encouraging friends to "[send] your birthday greetings to John." The good tidings (and the checks) will be given to him on June 10-- and some will even be posted on the campaign Web site.
On his actual birthday, the Senator will party back in the District at Cities in Adams Morgan, which according to a 1999 review by the Georgetown Hoya, is "arguably the most exclusive nightspot in the area." LINK
"Hosts" who raise at least $500 can have their picture taken with the birthday boy before the Cities party, and afterwards folks who either donated or raised $1000 are invited back to the Edwards' home for a reception.
Yesterday, back in New Hampshire, Senator Edwards touted his plan to help public-service oriented students pay for college tuition. Check out the sixth graph. LINK
DEAN
Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi sent an e-mail to supporters in the wee hours of Tuesday morning encouraging them to "join thousands of Americans as they gather across the country at 7 pm to work together to help Howard Dean in his campaign to take our country back."
Trippi also Notes: "The next 28 days are a critical period in this campaign. June 30th is the deadline for filing second quarter fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission. We must demonstrate that the grassroots support for Howard Dean's campaign is capable of creating financial support strong enough to win the Democratic nomination and the White House."
"In March, contributions from thousands of people like you helped Howard Dean exceed fundraising expectations. That success is what helped make Howard Dean one of the top three Democratic candidates today. We can solidify that position and move forward if we are able to exceed expectations again. Please, contribute to the Dean for America campaign today."
KERRY
New Hampshire state GOP spokeswoman Julie Teer labeled Senator Kerry's proposal for a payroll tax holiday a raid on Social Security coffers. LINK , even though the bookish Ms. Teer knows full well that general revenue funds can be diverted to make up for any Social Security shortfall in such a scheme ("scheme," per usual Note use, in the British sense).
Mr. Kerry was in New Hampshire yesterday.
LIEBERMAN
Senator Lieberman's colorful quote makes it into Janet Hook's story on the child tax credit. "'This is 'Alice in Wonderland' economics,' Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said Monday as he visited Albany, N.Y., seeking support for his presidential candidacy. 'Those who need the most get the least. Those who need the least get the most.'" LINK
The Hartford Courant's Caucus column plays up the perceived Dean/Kerry tension at this past weekend's Democratic Rural Conference.
And the Kerry campaign goes on the record that the line about not needing a "second Republican party" is in no way a critique of Senator Lieberman. LINK
David Lightman of the Courant explains how being a United States Senator can come in handy when running for president. LINK
"On Wednesday, the Connecticut Democrat spoke in San Diego about how foreign governments have hurt the U. S. semiconductor industry, and he quoted a Pentagon advisery committee as saying the trend hurts the United States."
"He then accepted endorsements from leading high-tech officials and went to the home of one for a fund-raiser. Another official will hold a fund-raiser later this month."
"On Monday, Lieberman's Senate office issued a 'white paper' that asks the Pentagon to give him a 'report and a plan of action to respond to this pending national security threat' — meaning the overseas movement of the semiconductor industry.'"
"Dan Gerstein, Lieberman's Senate spokesman, insisted that the timing of Lieberman's white paper was coincidental."
Mike Glover looks at whether Senator Lieberman is smart to relegate memories of 2000 to the final line of his stump speech … "'cause Al Gore and I … already did." LINK
The New York Post 's Fredric U. Dicker quotes Senator Lieberman contending he is "'the only Democrat' who can defeat President Bush next year because of his strong support for national defense" ("'The American people are not going to elect a candidate for president in 2004 who doesn't have a proven record in supporting a strong defense and in knowing how to keep America secure at home.'") LINK
Lieberman, who also "described himself as a 'center-out Democrat in the tradition of Bill Clinton,'" made his remarks on Albany radio station WROW, then attended a $1000-a-ticket fundraiser hosted by Sheldon Silver.
GEPHARDT
Interest group politics par excellence, courtesy of the Quad City, Iowa Times:
"A plan to overhaul the U.S. Department of Defense's civilian personnel system is 'devastating' the morale of people who are working to ensure national security, Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt said Monday.' LINK
"In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Gephardt, a congressman from Missouri, called for the plan to be scrapped."
GRAHAM
Salon's Jake Tapper advances Senator Graham's diary story in two ways. First, he catches Mr. Graham in a squidge of a misspeak.
"Asked on April 27 by ABC's George Stephanopoulos if he would release the diaries, Graham said he had 'placed all of my notebooks from the first 12 years in the University of Florida Library of Florida History. I intend to do so with the balance of my notebooks at an appropriate time.' But, according to Jim Cusick, curator of Florida history at the George A. Smathers Library at the University of Florida, that isn't true. The library collection doesn't have any of the pocket notebooks Graham started keeping when he first ran for governor in 1977." LINK
"Graham's Senate spokesman, Paul Anderson, concedes that his boss misspoke. 'There's some confusion over that,' Anderson says. The University of Florida has 'papers from his years at law school," which include "more traditional notebooks, not the ones he is now famous for.' Those are in storage in Tallahassee."
And the al fresco Tapper convinces an aide to one of Graham's opponents to hazard a guess that the diaries will soon become fair play.
"'They're going to prove to be problematic for him,' says a top adviser to one of Graham's Democratic primary rivals. This isn't necessarily because the contents of the notebooks will reveal any 'huge revelations.' Rather, the adviser says, 'most voters will find them strange and sort of bewildering. They're a weird quirk.' Were Graham to emerge as a top-tier contender in the field of nine, 'I imagine those notebooks will become part of the debate.'"
MOSELEY BRAUN
Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun sat down with Bob Cusack of The Hill to discuss her not quite yet formed health care policy. LINK
"Moseley Braun said she wants to "decouple" the relationship between health insurance and employment. The nation's employer-based system is 'not suited for our time,' she said."
"Because many workers are self-employed or work for small businesses, a lot of people have no health insurance. They live with the threat of financial crisis because of rising healthcare costs, she said."
"Moseley Braun said her plan would offer universal, comprehensive healthcare coverage. Different payment systems like Medicare and Medicaid would be combined, saving on bureaucracy, she said."
"Healthcare would be first delivered, and then paid for, by a program similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, Moseley Braun added. 'Insurance companies should only be [payers] and should not be in healthcare policymaking,' she said."
Asked about a possible spot on the ticket in the number two slot, Ms. Moseley Braun refused to take the bait.
"Moseley Braun knows she is a long shot to be the Democratic nominee in 2004. But she says her 'message of rebuilding America is getting through,' adding that recent poll data is very encouraging. She declined to speculate on her chances of being the vice presidential candidate in 2004, claiming a close adviser told her not to let "vice president" cross her lips."
SHARPTON
The New York Daily News' Rush and Molloy report that Barbra Streisand gave out six $1000 donations (with handwritten Notes, but no endorsements) to Democratic candidates, unnamed save for the Reverend Al Sharpton, whose "rep" responded most graciously: "'I think it's significant,' a rep for the rev told us yesterday. 'Everyone always says the Jews hate him.'" LINK
R and M offer Sharpton's "more tactful" comment, as he stated the singer "'feels we need to defeat Bush, and I agree with her … The only way we're going to do that is to expand the Democrats' base of support, and make it a coalition.'"
Politics:
We had two thoughts when reading USA Today 's front pager on Hillary Clinton's new book.
Our first thought was: covering Living History's release and reception will be a nice break from the rough and tumble badinage of the '04 presidential race. (Though we'd bet Barbara Walters' questions to Senator Clinton (Sunday on ABC) will be plenty probing.).
Our second thought was: who's the brilliant publicist who appears to have nudged this story onto the front page of the Nation's Newspaper?
"Political and industry insiders say the book is surprisingly revealing. Clinton tackles tough topics like her failed health proposal, the independent counsels who investigated her and her husband for six years, and yes, White House intern Monica Lewinsky." LINK
"That would give the public a rare glimpse into the carefully guarded feelings of one of the most powerful women in American politics — and one of the most polarizing. Clinton was the first working mom to live in the White House and the first presidential spouse ever to win elective office. She was also the first to be called before a grand jury and the first to have her marital difficulties aired in Congress … ."
"Republicans are convinced that Clinton's book will provide fresh fodder for the conservative talk-show circuit and energize Republican fundraising. Senator George Allen of Virginia, who heads the Republican Senate campaign committee, has plans to make Living History a money-maker for GOP candidates as well as for Clinton. He already has a 'Stop Hillary' fundraising campaign under way and plans to ratchet it up during the book tour. "
"Prospective readers say they'll be looking for:"
"oA presidential platform: Clinton's fans are hoping that the book will be, at least in part, a blueprint for a national campaign. 'It should lay out her platform, her values,' [Donna] Brazile says. Clinton opponents will be combing the book for ammunition to use against her. 'It just seems very clear that she's laying the ground for a presidential campaign,' says Sandy Rios, president of the conservative Concerned Women For America. "
"oMea culpas: Clinton's major foray into policy-making as first lady, her national health care plan, turned into a political disaster that contributed to the Democrats' loss of their majority in Congress in 1994. Her attack on her husband's accusers as members of a 'vast right-wing conspiracy' was substantially undercut when the former president had to admit that charges of an intimate relationship with Lewinsky were true. Clinton 'will hurt her credibility' if she doesn't admit some of her mistakes, says Republican strategist Bill Dal Col.'"
""oMonica: 'Is she going to do the National Enquirer stuff? I doubt it,' says Pat Schroeder, a former Colorado congresswoman who now heads the Association of American Publishers. Clinton managed to deflect questions about her marriage during her Senate campaign on the grounds that it was a private matter. Those who know her suspect that Clinton will only go so far in satisfying readers' curiosity. 'She's going to have to dish just enough to satisfy people," says Mike McCurry, press secretary in the Clinton White House. 'But a little will go a long way.'"
Did we mention … ABCNEWS' Barbara Walters has spent a while talking with Senator Clinton about the book. You can see her exclusive interview this Sunday on ABC.
Charlie Cook extols an important new analysis of the 2002 elections by political scientist Gary Jacobson.
"Both parties will find something encouraging in Jacobson's article, though Republicans will clearly find more to cheer about. While Democrats might take heart with Jacobson's thesis that the election was little more than a reaffirmation of the evenly divided nation we discovered in the wake of the 2000 election, he also argues persuasively that from a structural point of view, Democrats will have a very difficult time capturing control of the House or Senate in the absence of a very powerful wave at their backs."
Thank goodness the entire article is free: LINK
Yet again, the Washington Times breaks important news about the Democratic Party:
"The chairman of the Hispanic caucus of the Democratic National Committee said yesterday that there is a 'disconnect' in the party regarding the minority vote and accused it of scrapping a $1.5 million plan to attract Hispanics." LINK
"Alvaro Cifuentes, who also chastised the DNC leadership for failure to hire Hispanics, announced a three-day summit for party Hispanics in September that will be 'completely funded on our own, separate from the DNC.'"
"'There is obviously a problem in the party with Hispanic and Latino issues,' Mr. Cifuentes said. 'We've been trying for the past two years to address them.'"
"The DNC did not return calls for comment."
Three conservative Christian groups have "teamed up" to launch a massive voter registration and mobilization drive for the 2004 elections, the AP reports. LINK
The chair of the Florida GOP will attend a Broward County Log Cabin Republican dinner. LINK
The San Francisco Chronicle's Matier and Ross write, "From anthrax-quarantined votes to ballot-box tops floating in the bay — - San Francisco can't ever seem to hold an election without stepping in its own mess." LINK
"And it looks like more of the same is around the corner in the November mayoral election, thanks to the slippery slope of problems being brought on by the voter-imposed 'instant runoff' system."
"That's the take of the city's elections chief, John Arntz, who has been grappling with a Catch-22 situation that has him wondering what kind of election — if any — he'll be able to pull together."
"The catch: The new instant runoff system isn't ready to go."
The Manchester Union Leader's Cousineau reports former Senator Bob Smith is returning to his real estate roots. He'll be selling "million dollar" homes in Florida for Coldwell Banker. LINK
"Smith will be selling existing homes that can top $15 million. They range in square feet from 2,200 to 15,000, with some right on the Gulf of Mexico coast, southwest of St. Petersburg and west of Bradenton."
The New York Times ' Al Baker and Thomas J. Lueck report that Governor Pataki took a meeting with someone REALLY influential: Russell Simmons (the issue was revising penalties for drug crimes). LINK
The Washington Post 's Lloyd Grove blames Tom Daschle's loss of the majority leader title for the loss of his Daily Grill lunchtime reservation, but Notes that the Senator waited patiently for a table (until the bartender alerted the management and he was seated), dined pleasantly with daughter Lindsay Daschle, and left a big tip. LINK
Lloyd also writes that Bill Bennett officiated at the wedding of an Empower America director, with Jack Kemp spouting Yiddish.
Bush Administration strategy/personality:
Though not exactly Ron Suskind on Paul O'Neill (though that IS apparently in the works), USA Today 's Dave Moniz managed to persuade ex Army Secretary Thomas White to complain about American troop commitments in Iraq. LINK
The Boston Globe 's Names column Notes Karl Rove's admiration of the Theodore Roosevelt biography by Kathleen Dalton, which Rove passed on to the president. LINK
Jenna Bush at NYU LINK
The New York Post 's Stefan C. Friedman writes that, at the New York 41st annual state Conservative Party dinner, Governor Pataki had praise for the president and irritation with Senators Schumer and Clinton ("'President Bush, a Republican House and a Republican Senate voted to give money back to the people and the states — a bill that [Democrats Clinton and Schumer] voted against — and they're trying to tell us what to do with it now that we have the money?'") LINK
Media:
Way back when, before there was a Note or even a Bush administration (41 or 43), there was the famed 1986 job switch of Don Regan and James Baker.
The White House Chief of Staff and Treasury Secretary hatched a deal in secret to change jobs, presented it to the Gipper and shocked the world.
A new job shuffle at AOL-Time-Warner's flagship magazine is, for the Gang of 500, at least as important. And it is on the cutting edge of the major media's attempts to hit the "Fleischer Window" in its own way.
Later this month, sources say, Time's Jay Carney, half of the renowned Carney/Dickerson team that's covered the White House so well, will switch jobs with Matthew Cooper, the Deputy Washington Bureau Chief.
Carney had a fine run, co-writing smart pieces about Rove and Cheney and 43. And Carney will have a special place in the Note Hall of Fame for unearthing one of the best all-time Bush nicknames, the one 43 gave to the president of the Russian Federation — "Pootie Poot." (The president's nickname for The Note — we get asked ALL the time — is something we can't reveal, although we can say that the first few words are "that little piece of … .")
Still, all things must pass, as a certain Beatle said. Carney moves to management sans regrets, telling (fellow) insiders, "I won't miss the joys of pool duty."
As for Cooper? Sources familiar with Cooper's thinking tell The Note that he was happy to trade management for the glories of witnessing history or, at least, begging for an anecdote on a Friday night.
He's no new kid on the block. He had two huge runs at White House coverage, chronicling the Clinton election and the chaotic first two years for U.S. News with awesome fly-on-the-wall reportage.
Then he got to polish his policy smarts and literary flair at The New Republic, where his White House Watch column was a weekly must read.
Plus, when he's not at his day job, he's a stand up comic. So watch out Ari, Dan, Karl. Before long, he may be imitating you for a two-drink-minimum crowd.
You will Note the extraordinary restraint we have exhibited in not piling on the New York Times in the last month.
But we can't resist these two corrections, what with their both being arguably related to our daily work, and the second being practically the punch line of one of our favorite childhood jokes: LINK
"An article on Sunday about gay Republicans in politics misidentified the ambassador to Romania appointed by President Bush. He is Michael Guest. (James C. Hormel, also gay, is a former ambassador to Luxembourg, appointed by President Clinton.)"
"A map on Sunday with an article about the changing West 200 years after Lewis and Clark carried an erroneous label in some copies for a state bordering Missouri on the north. It is Iowa, not Ohio." LINK
Hot off the presses and big news, and illustrating our motto ("Why re-write the press release when the press release is so well written."):
"News Talk 630 WMAL today announced the appointment of Ed Henry to the position of Chief Political Analyst. Mr. Henry, best known as the Senior Editor with Roll Call newspaper and the writer behind the paper's extremely popular Heard on The Hill column, will provide political analysis and news for The WMAL Morning News and The Chris Core Show in addition to continuing his twice daily Roll Call Report on WMAL … ."
And, who knew? "In 1998, Mr. Henry secured the only newspaper interview with then-President Clinton on the day that the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke."
To paraphrase Sinatra: they can't take that away from … .Ed.
