The Note: Not Proceeding Well Enough

— -- WASHINGTON, Nov. 28

The number of unique page views for Monday's Note reminds us all -- as if any reminder were needed -- how much all of you love quizzes.

Up 2,200% over same-week sales for Notes open at least a year, yesterday's readership levels were sort of staggering, and, thus, we realize, there will be quizzes for the rest of the year, at least (or: until we crush all of the "competition," extant and looming).

So, today's quiz: for each of the swirling developments below, identify the factor or factors causing it to occur:

A. Elections have consequences.
B. The 2008 presidential campaign is well underway.
C. Politically, American involvement in the war in Iraq is over -- it is just that no one has told President Bush yet.
D. No candidate for president of either party will run promising to build on the Bush record.
E. It is almost Christmas.
F. The invention of the Internet.
G. A, B, C, and F
H. B, C, and D
I. All but D.
J. A and F.

Go!!

-- Rice alter ego Philip Zelikow goes Wahoo.

-- One of the Los Angeles Times' best political reporters of the 21st century, Matea Gold, continuing on the TV beat, points out her own paper declared an Iraqi civil war in October. LINK

-- The Boston Globe's Scot Lehigh kvells over the power of the Massy delegation. LINK

-- Jimmy Carter on Charlie Rose says, "I think Al Gore is the best qualified to be president. And I agree with him on the environment and his critique of the Iraqi war. I don't agree with him on everything. He would be my preference, yes. I think he would do well in the South. And I think a lot of Democrats know he was elected in 2000 and should have been president. I wouldn't say it would be a sympathy vote, but his credentials are good."

-- The New York Times takes its money-and-politics reporter (Jeff Zeleny) and one of its seven Hillary Clinton reporters (Anne Kornblut) and puts them on the Hill beat.

-- The Wall Street Journal ed board hopes Republicans in Congress will suddenly be for smaller government.

-- E.J. Dionne luxuriates in Third Way bath beads. LINK

-- Two potential presidents -- Newt Gingrich and John Edwards -- appear simultaneously in Manchester, New Hampshire on a balmy Monday, the former at the Center of Universe, getting a huge ovation for saying an American city could be destroyed in the next ten years and repeatedly using two of his favorite words ("literally" and "insane"); the latter at a Barnes and Noble shortly after telling the AP's Holly Ramer -- on fire about a Union Leader editorial criticizing the Tar Hell -- about the differences between Wal-Mart, Costco, and Barnes and Noble.

-- Ramer and her Iowa colleague Mike Glover file more daily copy as if it were November of 2007.

Overnight and overseas, President Bush, a man who can identify Glover from fifty yards, held several meetings with the President and Prime Minister of Estonia before traveling to Riga, Latvia this morning. At 9:20 am ET, the President delivers a speech at the NATO summit in Riga. The President then participates in a cultural program at the Latvian National Opera at 12:15 pm ET and then a NATO working dinner at 1:15 pm ET.

The Iraq Study Group convenes for the second of its two-day meeting at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, DC. Be sure to check out ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf's reporting on Sens. Kerry and McCain meeting with the group yesterday. LINK

Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) meets with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Francesco Rutelli to congratulate her on the Democrats' midterm victory and her ascent as the first Italian-American Speaker at 11:15 am ET.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) was scheduled to participate in the Politics and Eggs 2006 Issues Forum sponsored by the New Hampshire Political Library at the Bedford Village Inn at 8:00 am ET.

In Barack Obama's backyard, former Senator John Edwards (D-NC) signs copies of his new book, "HOME: The Blueprints of Our Lives" at the Chicago Public Library in Chicago, IL at 12:30 pm ET and then at Anderson's Books in Naperville, IL at 7:00 pm ET. (Edwards, too, can pick Glover out of line-up.)

The US Chamber of Commerce hosts a conference on the Future of American Trade Agenda with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab at 12:00 pm ET.

John Podesta, president and CEO of Center for American Progress, hosts a press breakfast to discuss his suggested agenda for the first 100 days of the 110th Congress at 9:00 am ET in Washington, DC. (Podesta often mixes Glover up with someone else.)

Politics of Iraq:

On the front page of today's Washington Post, Robin Wright and Thomas Ricks report, "The White House again resisted assertions that Iraq is now in a civil war, but that stance is increasingly hard to defend, according to analysts, diplomats and even some officials in private." LINK