The Note: Spending All the Time in the Vanity Factory

— -- WASHINGTON, Oct. 31

The environment for the last week of the midterm season is the bitter, angry Freak Show that now defines the center of American politics.

(Oh, and it is the second consecutive day in a row with no actual news-of-day political lede, beyond looming POTUS words.)

No one is questioning anyone else's patriotism, of course, but when Dick Cheney and Charlie Rangel can't play nice, it is obvious that something has gone off the tracks, and no amount of Gergen-Sheekey-Ornstein kumbayaing (or Note insiderdom. . .) can change the vector direction.

And/but we are all about common ground here. So let's start with things that Howard Dean and Karl Rove both agree with (or, at least, should agree with): 1. It is hard to beat an incumbent. 2. Both turning out the base AND winning the votes of independents matter, with Stu Rothenberg reminding us about independents today. LINK

3. The same people in politics and media overreact in the same way to the sort-of-the-same small-sample public polls that come out within a week of the election every two years.

4. There are no exit polls in House races.

5. In a major change, all of the exit poll results will be available to only a handful of sequestered staffers from the consortium members until 5 pm ET, meaning the data will not be on Drudge until 5:10 ET at the earliest (unless something goes wrong). LINK

6. Every news organization makes mistakes in how they deal with polls and exit polls; not every news organization makes these mistakes based on ideological bias.

7. The conservative base (HEARTS) Sean Hannity.

8. The Republicans would like Charlie Rangel (and Howard Dean) front and center in the last week; the Democrats would like Dick Cheney (and Karl Rove) front and center in the last week.

President Bush was scheduled to meet with the Special Envoy for Sudan at the White House this morning at 9:00 am ET. The White House press pool will be ushered in at the end of the meeting perhaps to capture some presidential comments on reports that North Korea is rejoining six party talks.

Highlighting the GOP's hopes of picking up Democratic seats in Georgia, President Bush campaigns in Georgia for the second day in a row. He holds a 5:00 pm ET rally in Perry, GA. Perry, GA is currently represented by Rep. Mac Collins (R-GA) who is being challenged by Democrat Jim Marshall. Mr. Bush appears in part two of his interview on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes" at 9 pm ET.

First Lady Laura Bush delivers remarks at a North Carolina rally for GOP candidates at the Western North Carolina Agriculture Center, Fletcher, NC at 10:45 am ET. The event is open to the press. Mrs. Bush also delivers remarks at a Tennessee rally at the Meadow View Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport, TN at 12:40 pm ET in another event opened to the press. In her final stop, Mrs. Bush speaks at the Factory in Franklin, TN at 2:25 pm ET.

In addition to the event with Laura Bush, Bob Corker attends a campaign event with the County Officials Associations of Tennessee State Convention at 6:00 pm ET at the Chattanooga Marriott Hotel in Chattanooga, TN and then heads to a 7:00 p.m. ET Get-Out-The-Vote rally for Hamilton county at Chester Frost Park in Chattanooga, TN.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) delivers a major speech to the Council on Foreign Relations regarding Asia and the Middle East in New York, NY at 1:00 pm ET.

One of Sen. Clinton's potential 2008 rivals -- former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) -- will also be in New York City. The former vice presidential nominee discusses the future of U.S.-China relations at the Asia Society.

NRSC Chairwoman Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) campaigns with Sen. George Allen (R-VA) for "On the Record with Susan Allen" in Charlottesville at 10:30 am ET and Richmond at 1:00 pm ET in Virginia.

Former Gov. Mark Warner (D-VA) campaigns with senatorial candidate Jim Webb (D-VA) at 9:00 am ET at the Starlight Café in Lynchburg and at 11:30 am ET at Rania's Italian Restaurant in Martinsville, VA. Webb ends his public events today the Goodyear Boulevard in Danville, VA at 2:30 pm ET.

If you have not yet signed up for ABC News Now -- a 24 hour news providing platform courtesy of ABC News, wherever and whenever you want it -- you should do so now. LINK

You'll be able to catch Charlie Gibson's inaugural "Countdown to Vote 2006" daily webcast today shortly after 12:30 pm ET. Charlie will kick things around with George Stephanopoulos and Mark Halperin.

You can also always check back to the Politics page at abcnews.com later in the day to catch the webcast at anytime. LINK

Be sure to check out the rest of the day's political schedule below.

Signs of the future? Cheney vs. Rangel part III:
"Rep. Charles Rangel yesterday blasted Dick Cheney as a 'son of a bitch' after the vice president said the Harlem lawmaker would raise taxes and destroy the economy if Democrats take control of the House," writes Geoff Earle of the New York Post in one of your must-reads of the day. LINK

"The bitter war of words escalated to the point where the bombastic Rangel even questioned whether the tightly wound Cheney needed professional treatment -- and mocked him for accidentally shooting his hunting buddy earlier this year."

Hillary Clinton's foreign policy speech:
At 1:00 pm ET today at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, the Junior Senator from Chappaqua will deliver her fifth -- and final -- "major policy address" of 2006, this time on the very timely topic of foreign policy. For those not keeping score at home, this address joins her previous speeches on the economy, energy, privacy, and rural issues.

Like all H. Clinton speeches, the details of this one will be fluid right up until the time of delivery, but here is what The Note has learned exclusively:

Clinton will argue that the Bush Administration's foreign policy has undermined America's credibility, and left the country increasingly isolated in the face of the new realities of the time and compromised the nation's ability to meet the challenges it faces around the world in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea; in thwarting nuclear proliferation; and in combating terrorism.

She will argue for a new foreign policy worldview: one based on bipartisan comity and executed with non-partisan competence. She will go on to outline the principles she believes should underlie a new American consensus on national security and form the foundation for meeting the challenges face by the nation.

She will also announce that when the Senate resumes, she will be asking her colleagues who chair the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees to hold joint hearings on the future of our non-proliferation policy with the aim of creating a new blueprint for our shared security. She will also announce that she will be introducing a bill based on ideas advanced by Sam Nunn and Ted Turner through the Nuclear Threat Initiative to safeguard weapons-usable materials to prevent terrorist groups from getting hold of nuclear weapons or materials.

Her bill would create a senior White House advisor for countering nuclear terrorism and require a yearly report that would specify every site with nuclear material or weapons in the world, how vulnerable the material is, how desirable a target it would be and what the United States intends to do about it.

For those in the Gang of 500 who are otherwise deployed to Missouri, Montana, Rhode Island, Connecticut, etc, and can't attend the speech: thanks to web-savvy Lisa Shields and her crack CFR team, you can watch the speech live at 1pm via webcast (www.cfr.org)

Bush Administration agenda/personality:
The Bush/Rove/Mehlman optimism is demystified by TIME Magazine's Mike Allen who takes a look at the five reasons top GOP political operatives do not fret the apocalypse. LINK

Democrats looking to be spooked (or cite history and a record of bravado -- see 2000 New Hampshire snowballs), will like the kicker:

"On the road Monday, Rove playfully answered the receptionist's phone at a hotel where the President was conducting an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity. "Historic Statesboro Inn," he said authoritatively, then went to track down the manager himself, returning several times to update the caller on the progress of his quest. On Air Force One on the way home, he made a rare appearance in the press cabin, handing out chocolate-covered pecans to the reporters. He waved the lid of the tin theatrically and said, "Sweets for my sweets." In less than a week, it will be clear whether he had outsmarted the pundits and Democrats, one last time."

Todd S. Purdum profiles his neighbor, Karl C. Rove, in the upcoming Vanity Fair. LINK

As Kate Purdum would say, "Res ipsa loquitur." Courtesy of his Fox News interview, USA Today includes Vice President Cheney's apparent belief that insurgents may be trying to influence the outcome of the midterms. LINK

"Bush Says 'America Loses' Under Democrats," blares a Washington Post's front page story by Michael Abramowitz. LINK

Abramowitz Notes that the DCCC is now funding ads for John Yarmuth against Rep. Anne Northup (R-KY) in Kentucky's third congressional district, former Reid aide Tessa Hafen against Rep. Jon Porter in Nevada's third congressional district, and (Andrew Sullivan heartthrob) Scott Kleeb against state legislator Adrian Smith in Nebraska's third congressional district. LINK

The New York Daily News' Thomas DeFrank reports that President Bush, in an interview with Fox News, " declared yesterday he doesn't plan to be a lame duck no matter how next week's elections turn out." LINK

Looking closely at President Bush rhetoric yesterday, James Gerstenzang of the Los Angeles Times writes that Bush is touting his party's strength on terrorism and taxes, "serving up red-meat Republican issues to the party faithful to get these core GOP voters to the polls." LINK

"Here in the Houston suburb once represented by Tom DeLay, Mr. Bush was greeted at a campaign rally like a man whose public approval ratings are 73 percent, not 37 percent," writes Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times on President Bush's stumping for Republican candidates and "the image White House strategists are seeking for the president in the waning days of the campaign: that of a confident leader, surrounded by adoring supporters." LINK

Pelosi politics:
USA Today's Kathy Kiely takes a look at one of Vice President Cheney's favorite topics -- what the House would look like under a Speaker Pelosi. LINK