Micro-managing the Way(s) Forward

— -- WASHINGTON, Jan. 8

From the second floor of Lauriol Plaza, to the Waterfront Café in Boston, to the cablers' assignment desks, to the mind of Brit Hume, to even (read: "especially") the palatial, high-tech offices of The Note: everything is in suspended animation until midweek, when President Bush delivers his long-awaited, sort-of-delayed speech on a new plan for Iraq.

Expected Wednesday (or Thursday), the nationally televised talk will determine the future of everything.

We could make informed guesses about what the President will say; about the likelihood that the broadcast networks will give the Democrats live time to respond; about what Democrats not named "Lieberman" will have to say about the plan; about the obvious body language that Republicans who "support" the surge-with-benchmarks will display; about the Old Media's relative interest in Republicans who "support" the President compared to those heretics who do not; and about what the first wave of public opinion polls will say about adding tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of millions of dollars to Iraq.

In fact, almost anyone reading these words could make the same informed guesses -- whether their name is "Dan Bartlett," "Bill Kristol," "Paul Krugman," "Mark Salter," "Don Imus," or "Blogger R."

But why ruin the political week by giving it all away on a Monday?

In yet another sign that their shared relationship with reality is closer than had previously been thought, Democrats who had hoped to focus on their domestic agenda in the opening weeks of Congress have concluded that Iraq will get top billing (to say the least) for awhile, and they plan on aggressively confronting Bush Administration officials this week on Topic A, while still voting (except during big football days) on their non-Iraq agenda.

Read all about the strategizing in this must-read story by the Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman. LINK

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) unveils his plan to end the Iraq war in a 10:00 am ET speech in New York City. When Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) speaks at the National Press Club tomorrow, he's going to call for action on Iraq before the surge can begin. And unlike Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Kennedy believes Congress does have the power to stop any surge.

In advance of the floor debate tomorrow, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 9/11 commissioners Lee Hamilton and Tim Roemer, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) hold a 2:15 pm ET press availability on the implementation of the 9/11 commission recommendations today at 2:15 p.m.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act. President Bush meets with House and Senate leaders from both parties at 1:20 pm ET to discuss his signature education initiative.

Also marking the occasion, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings addresses the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at 10:00 am ET in Washington, DC, while Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) delivers an address on education at the Center for American Progress at 10:00 am ET in Washington, DC.

Prior to his education-related meeting, President Bush meets with the president of the European Commission at 11:10 am ET.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) unveils his health-care plan today at 2:00 pm ET in Sacramento, CA, as USA Today takes a front page look at steps states are taking to expand health-care coverage.LINK

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) was expected to open his daylong national fundraising event dubbed "National Call Day" with short remarks at 8:45 am ET.

On the congressional ethics front, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) appears in the Senate Press Gallery at 12:30 pm ET with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) spoke to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 10th Annual Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Economic Summit this morning at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in New York, NY.

ABC News' Ursula Fahy reports that Sen. Clinton said the now-powerful Democrats "have a lot of work ahead of them and the need for businesses to find ways to create jobs. She talked about universal healthcare, cleaning up the environment, finding partners in the private sector, and micro-lending. She never mentioned the President but said Democrats have been trying to pass minimum wage for years and now they can get to work."

Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and First Lady Christie Vilsack get their official portraits today. The portraits will be unveiled at the State Historical Building at 11:15 am ET in Des Monies, IA.

The Republican Party of Iowa was hosting its Republican Legislative Kick Off Package Plan Breakfast with Iowa Republican leaders at 7:00 am ET.

The Senate reconvenes at 11:30 am ET and begins a period of morning business until noon. The chamber will then proceed to a vote on a resolution honoring former President Gerald Ford.

The Supreme Court meets to release orders and hear arguments at 10:00 am ET.

Politics of Iraq:
Question: is the White House at all in control of any of the leaks that have come out about what might be in the President's plan, or is this all just old-fashioned, pre-43-style leaking?

The New York Times' Gordon and Zeleny on the benchmarks the President is expected to put into place for Iraqis to meet as a part of his "new way forward." LINK

"The new American operational commander in Iraq said Sunday that even with the additional American troops likely to be deployed in Baghdad under President Bush's new war strategy it might take another 'two or three years' for American and Iraqi forces to gain the upper hand in the war," writes the New York Times John Burns in a lede graph that will likely give Democrats an additional talking point this week. LINK

According to Iraqi Health Ministry statistics, more than 17,000 Iraqi civilians and police officers died violently in the latter half of 2006, putting the total number of civilian deaths at 22, 950 for 2006, reports the Washington Post's Sudarsan Raghavan.LINK

Brian Knowlton of the New York Times wraps the Sunday talk show chatter on Iraq leading with Speaker Pelosi's promise to apply "the harshest scrutiny" to additional presidential spending requests for Iraq. LINK

The New York Post writes up Speaker Pelosi's "harshest scrutiny" line under a headline that reads, "Nancy Warbucks." LINK

The Boston Globe's Rick Klein LINK

The Los Angeles Times' on Speaker Pelosi's call for more congressional control over the war.LINK

New York Daily News on same: LINK