The Note: Keep You Safer

— -- WASHINGTON, Oct. 11

Today's must-follow storylines, while we wait for the 11 am ET POTUS presser:

1. Republican push-back on national security.

2. Everything on the McCain-Clinton dust-up.

3. Jeff Trandahl Jeff Trandahl Jeff Trandahl.

4. John Broder's New York Times story on 527 spending.

More on all this below.

Today's main political event will be that Bush press conference, at which he is sure to be the Deficit-Reducer-in-Chief-and-the-Protector-in-Chief-and-the-Decider.

Then, the President delivers a 2:10 pm ET speech on the budget and the economy at the Eisenhower Executive Building in Washington, DC.

President Bush also meets with the commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at 2:50 pm ET.

Just one day after he fired the opening shot of the potential 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) headlines a fundraiser for Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA) in Rancho Mirage, CA at 7:30 pm ET.

Former President Bill Clinton joins Pennsylvania Democratic House candidate Patrick Murphy for an 11:45 am ET rally in Bristol, PA. Murphy is in a competitive race against Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

First Lady Laura Bush delivers remarks at a fundraiser for Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) at 12:30 pm ET. Rep. Chabot is in a competitive race with Democrat John Cranley in Ohio's 1st congressional district. Mrs. Bush later participates in a "Helping America's Youth" event at 4:50 pm ET in Knoxville, TN, before her 6:00 pm ET speech at a fundraiser for former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, who is running against Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN) for the seat being vacated by Dr./Leader/Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), and the Tennessee Republican Party in Knoxville, TN.

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman joins Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), who is in a tough race for re-election against Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), for a 2:00 pm ET tour of the Senator's campaign headquarters in Columbus, OH.

Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) and Democratic state Auditor Claire McCaskill participate in their fourth debate at 8:00 pm ET in St. Louis, MO. The National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund launched two radio ads, "Trick or Treat" and "No, More Twang," against McCaskill last week. Listen here: LINK

Democrat Ned Lamont delivers a major speech on his "Plan for Change" at 12:30 pm ET in New Haven, CT.

Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) speaks to students at the University of Chicago's graduate school of business at 1:45 pm ET. Earlier today, Gov. Romney was scheduled to attend a reception for Illinois state treasurer and GOP gubernatorial nominee Judy Barr Topinka at 8:45 am ET in Chicago, IL.

Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) was scheduled to begin his two-day tour of Oklahoma with an 8:00 am ET five-kilometer run in Tulsa, OK. Later today, Gov. Huckabee hosts a press availability at 11:15 am ET at the Doubletree-Warren Place Hotel in Tulsa, OK, before he attends two afternoon receptions in Sapula and Bartlesville, OK.

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) joins Democratic Senate candidate Jim Pederson for a 12:45 pm ET media availability in Tempe, AZ to discuss implementation of the 9/11 Commission recommendations and other national security matters.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) highlights a liberal briefing called "October Surprise: Is the Administration Ramping Up for a War Against Iran? Is Iran a Threat?" at 10:00 am ET at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.

League of Conservation Voters (LCV) have an 11:00 am ET scheduled press luncheon to release their 2006 National Environmental Scorecard at the LCV Office in Washington, DC.

McCain-Clinton and the opening shot of potential 2008 campaign:
After looking at the coverage of yesterday's dust-up between the two major party 2008 frontrunners, John Weaver, McCain's political adviser, tells The Note this morning:

"Hillary Clinton can attack the president at a critical time when he (the president) is trying to rally the Security Council, world opinion and the American people to have a clear, robust response to this North Korean dictator and that not be political. But John McCain responding to her, pointing out the facts of her husband's failed policies on the same subject and not allowing her to paint a revisionist picture of said policy is somehow political. I don't think so. And we will continue to point out the facts to the American people. Even if that interrupts a certain New York Senator's free ride. "

More Weaver to The Note: "In addition, a simple Lexis/Nexis search from 93 through 94 would produce dozens of McCain floor statements, speeches and op-eds saying the same thing he said today. John has standing on this issue and he will continue to speak out."

"The blame game erupts -- John McCain takes aim at the Clintons," said ABC News' Robin Roberts in the headlines on "Good Morning America."

In his interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, Sen. McCain said, "I was responding to attacks on President Bush's policy made by Mrs. Clinton, Sen. Kerry, Sen. Reid, and many others. I'd be glad to have a time out here -- I'd be eager to, at least during this very difficult period while we try to marshal the world to take meaningful actions to rein in the North Korean's nuclear ambitions. But having said that, during the Clinton Administration years we concluded an unenforceable, untransparent agreement which allowed them to keep plutonium rods in a reactor which they could -- at any time that they chose to -- start conversion in order to make nuclear material."

When asked on CBS's "Early Show" to respond to Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) remarks that he was politicizing the issue, Sen. McCain shot back saying, "I don't think I need any lessons from my friend John Kerry on politicizing an issue."

When asked on "Today" whether the US should have one-on-one negotiations with North Korea as Jimmy Carter has advocated, McCain avoided a direct answer, saying, "it's not a matter of who talks to who, we'd be glad to talk to anybody under any circumstances - obviously the Chinese, the South Koreans, the Japanese should be part of it, there is a great deal of risk here. This business of their not talking, we have plenty of ways of communicating with the North Koreans, plenty of ways. The fact is that they don't like what we say and we certainly don't like what they do when they continue to violate all international treaties and pose a threat to stability in the far east and in the world. This is serious stuff."

The New York Post carries the Associated Press story which includes this graph: "The William J. Clinton Foundation, in a statement, said it was 'unfortunate that anyone would attempt to rewrite history to score political points at a time when we need to address this serious threat.'" LINK

"It is the second time in recent weeks that Republicans have blamed an embarrassing international development on former President Clinton. The GOP enraged him recently by suggesting he booted the chance to kill or capture terror czar Osama Bin Laden, who is still at large," writes the New York Daily News' Lucadamo. LINK

"Sens. McCain and Clinton, possible presidential opponents in 2008, have avoided attacking each other directly -- until now."

Politics of North Korea:
"At first blush, a nuclear test by North Korea is just the kind of development that would ordinarily work well for Republicans late in a campaign: a potential national security threat that highlights the dangers facing the United States and spotlights the president's role as commander in chief. But with polls showing deep dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, candidates and strategists in both parties said the news from North Korea could cut both ways," writes Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times in her look at the political fallout from the North Korea incident, including reaction from Senate candidates Claire McCaskill and Mike McGavick and 2008 presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary McCain. LINK

More Stolberg: "Republicans say that any time national security is front and center, it is good news for them. They are hoping the test will push the Mark Foley sex scandal off the front pages and the cable news programs, although Mr. Foley's case was all over television again on Tuesday."

Former President Jimmy Carter takes to the New York Times op-ed page and writes it may be time to send in James Baker for some secret direct talks with the North Koreans. LINK

The Way to Win:
Mark Halperin and John F. Harris will be at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC tonight at 7 pm ET signing copies of The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. LINK

If you can't make it there, you can buy your own copy here. LINK

And if you missed the authors on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning, you can watch the replay here by midday. LINK

The Samuel Johnson Society of Vermont, which occasionally digresses from the literature and politics of the 18th century to take up current topics, met in Montpelier on Tuesday night to discuss the first chapter of The Way To Win. Though there was considerable expression of distress about the effects of the new media, or "The Freak Show" as Halperin and Harris dub them, there was also general agreement that future presidential candidates must not only understand the new conditions but be able to turn them to advantage. Quite a bit of skepticism emerged about the book's contention that the Freak Show is the enemy of ideas but that ideas are the enemy of the Freak Show. The latter half of the assertion was allowed to be true only if the word "idea" is expanded to include cloudy abstractions which may imply something very different from what a candidate is actually pursuing. The claim, for example, to be a champion of freedom and democracy, often turns into a kind of freak show of its own. After more than an hour of pessimistic conversation about the prospects for democracy in America, the hopeful thought came forward that if candidates can discover ways to turn the Freak Show back on itself such confrontations might end up being an educational tool for the public. If that should happen, analyses like The Way To Win will have been an essential element of political reform and the kind of intellectual development Dr. Johnson would very much have approved.

527 spending:
"Americans for Honesty on Issues" is a new 527 headed up by DeLay ally Sue Walden, reports John Broder of the New York Times. Broder writes that the group plans to go up with $1 million in negative television ads against nine Democratic House candidates across the country. And don't miss Broder's adding up the total dollar amount expected this season. LINK

Foley: Jeff Trandahl, the former House Clerk:
David Rogers of the Wall Street Journal makes it clear again: Jeff Trandahl, the former House Clerk, is the Third (or so) Man in this drama.