The Note: Judged by the Results

— -- WASHINGTON, July 11

The Note's four First Principles:

1. Focus on the future, not the past.

2. Take what we cover seriously; don't take ourselves seriously.

3. Zeleny, Zeleny, Zeleny.

4. Lede with the lede.

Thus: We finally figured out why superscribe Ron Fournier left the Associated Press. We can't say as much as we know, but we can say this: Fournier, who just got done writing a bipartisan book about the importance of community building in the Internet Age, has teamed up with political strategists from both sides of the fence and leaders from the Internet industry to create the next big thing in communications and community. It will all be clear to the world in the next 24 hours. Stay tuned.

After welcoming the President of Peru to the White House, President Bush makes 9:40 am ET remarks on the "Mid-Session Review" and its better-than-expected budget deficit projection at the White House, followed by a photo op with members of the National Council on the Arts in the East Room at 11:35 am ET. He then departs for Wisconsin, stopping at the Allen-Edmunds Shoe Bank in Port Washington, WI at 4:55 pm ET before attending a $1000-a-plate campaign fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green in Madison, WI at 6:50 pm ET. (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Greg Borowski and Steven Walters report on the double-edged sword of President Bush's visit to Wisconsin today.) LINK

Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman does his boasting of the aforementioned "Mid-Session Review" at a "newsmaker" event at the National Press Club at noon ET.

Joel Havemann of the Los Angeles Times has your must-read write-up of the Administration's budgetary sleight-of-hand and the Concord Coalition's Bixby proclaiming it is too soon for the White House to declare victory. LINK

As for the besting-(rigged?) expectations numbers: "When President Bush releases the traditional midsummer update on the budget today, he is expected to announce that federal revenue has soared above predicted levels and that the deficit is headed for a welcome decline from earlier estimates -- as much as 30%, or $125 billion, below the level projected just five months ago," writes Havemann.

The Democratic response comes from Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) at a press conference at 1:45 pm ET.

House Majority Leader John Boehner holds a pen and pad briefing at the Capitol at 11:30 am ET, followed by the weekly pen and pad briefing with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) at 12:30 pm ET.

Senate party policy luncheons take place today at 12:30 pm ET. GOP Sens. McConnell, Gregg, Bennet, and DeMint are expected at the stakeout cameras at about 2:00 pm ET to talk on the budget deficit news and Homeland Security Appropriations bill.

At 2:15 pm ET, Sen. Reid (D-NV) is expected to appear at the stakeout cameras for the Democratic response.

ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf writes on the main Senate attraction today: "This morning we will see the Senate Judiciary Committee start its day exploring the Hamdan case and detainee policy with academics, former Bush administration officials, and two current government officials."

"But the main event on the subject of Guantanamo and detainees may come in the afternoon. That's when we'll see the same committee convene in a different hearing room. It is a confirmation hearing for DOD General Counsel William J. Haynes to sit on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Haynes is thought by many to be an architect of the Administration's detainee policy, which the committee will be spending its morning considering and at which he will not be testifying."

At 2:00 pm ET, a House Government Reform subcommittee chaired by Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) holds a hearing on "Strategy for Victory in Iraq" with the GAO, Admiral James Jeffrey Senior Advisor on Iraq, DOD, ABC News consultant Anthony Cordesman, and others.

Karl Rove continues his western visit while speaking to La Raza, the U.S.' largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, in Los Angeles, CA at 3:30 pm ET. Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) is scheduled to speak at the same event.

Democratic Sens. Clinton, Schumer, and Salazar hold a 10:15 am ET press conference on port and border security in the Mansfield Room.

Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Joe Biden (D-DE) host a press conference to discuss their two-day, multi-stop "fact-finding mission" to Iraq at the Senate Radio and TV Gallery at 11:00 am ET.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist/author Seymour Hersh speaks to 300+ interns at an Alliance for Justice event. His speech, entitled "By Executive Order: An Administration Unconstrained by Constitutional Checks and Balances," is scheduled to begin at 12:00 ET at the National Education Association in Washington, DC.

Today marks day two of campaign stumping for GOP candidates by potential 2008 hopeful and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He is scheduled to campaign for gubernatorial candidates Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) in Little Rock, AR and Judy Baar Topinka (R-IL) in Chicago, IL, before heading back east to campaign for Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) in Pittsburgh, PA. Giuliani wraps up his three-day trip tomorrow after stumping for gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann (R-PA) in Pennsylvania and Gov. Robert Ehrlich in Maryland.

Fellow '08-ers begin similar multi-day trips today, with Gov. Mark Warner beginning a two-day trip to Iowa and Gov. Mike Huckabee attending day one of the Education of the States' three-day conference in Minneapolis, MN.

The politics of North Korea continues with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's closed briefing on "A North Korea Update." National Intelligence Director John Negroponte is scheduled to brief the committee in a closed session at 9:00 am ET at the Capitol.