The Note: One-Issue Politics

— -- WASHINGTON, Feb. 16

What issue is the House voting on today that will be a milestone in the enactment of the political death of the Bush Administration's major policy initiative?

What issue is currently bedeviling the presidential front-runners of both major parties like nothing else, in a way that fundamentally threatens their chances to be nominated?

What issue has already decimated the weekend travel schedules of many presidential candidates -- and threatens to do the same thing all year long, with more key votes coming? LINK

What issue causes many Republicans to say the White House will inevitably be lost to their party in 2008 and many Democratic hopefuls to assume that gaining their own party's nomination is tantamount to winning the presidency?

What issue has made SecDef Gates challenge on Iran that much tougher?

What issue has given Nancy Pelosi a chance to demonstrate that she can put competence in the service of ideology?

What issue has caused the Bush Administration to short-circuit SOP on other foreign policy matters, such as North Korea? LINK

What issue makes the prospect of Bush-Reid-Pelosi deals on immigration, education, health care, entitlements, energy, and/or competitiveness seem as likely as a Giuliani-Bloomberg ticket?

What issue has neutered the White-House-RNC-Republican leadership-Drudge-Fox News-Rush Daddy Party attack machine?

What issue is allowing liberal bloggers to acquire actual influence, currently hovering at around 1/119th the level of their own imagined influence?

What issue is creating the most tension between the Clinton-Obama camps and the Clinton-Edwards camps?

What issue on which Al Gore took an early and forceful position gives him the chance to enter the presidential race late, by surpassing Clinton on experience (simultaneously trumping Obama and Edwards), and surpassing Obama on early opposition (simultaneously trumping Clinton and Edwards)?

What issue gives candidates outside the Big 6 their best hope for getting media attention when they launch an attack from the left against one or more of the Big 3 within their party?

What issue can cause even the mild-mannered and fair-minded (such as Michael Beschloss) to be savaged by blogs and radio hosts if they rhetorically conflate it with the war on terror and the war in Afghanistan?

What issue has turned Martha Raddatz from one of the best and most influential political reporters in America to THE best and most influential political reporter in America -- and has allowed her to intimidate the unintimidatable George W. Bush?

What issue has allowed progressives to become positively Grover Norquistian in their capacity to ram wedge issues through state legislatures in order to pressure Washington? LINK

What issue has allowed Rep. Murtha to go from riches to rags to riches to…?

What issue creates a game of chicken for the Republicans 2008 Big 3, as each eyes the exit to figure out when there will be political advantage in being the first to call for peace with honor?

What issue has allowed Reps. Hoyer and Emanuel to demonstrate they understand the politics of symbolism and centrism?

What issue will allow columnists and historians to say without fear of contradiction (at least in their own minds) that the Bush Administration is an abject failure?

What issue dwarfs all others in inspiring emotion within the Democratic Party? (And remember that inspiring emotion in politics is nearly the whole enchilada.)

What issue keeps all 2008 presidential candidates and congressional do-gooders from getting the press and public to focus on anything else?

The key stories to watch today and tomorrow are the Iraq vote totals in the House and Senate.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's (D-MD) office advises that the Democratic leadership is aiming for a vote "around 4ish this afternoon." The House is voting on a resolution that disapproves of the President's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, while stating support for the troops.

How many Republican defections will there be, and will the broadcast network anchors in the evening describe the vote as a "bipartisan rebuke of the President's policy"? As Gene Randall would say, only time will tell.

On the other side of bicamerality, in a move that has wreaked havoc for '08ers currently serving in the upper chamber, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced Thursday that the Senate will meet Saturday to take up the procedural cloture vote on the House's Iraq anti-surge resolution. (See our "weekend warrior" section for a full rundown on the '08 fallout of the Saturday vote).

As for the rest of Friday's events, President Bush has a 10:00 am ET meeting with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos in the Oval Office, and holds a 1:05 pm ET meeting with the incoming Commander of United States Central Command, Admiral William Fallon.

Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) travels to the Sunshine State where he delivers 7:00 pm ET remarks at the Lake Miona Regional Recreation Center in The Villages, FL.

On Sunday morning, be sure to tune into "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" for an on-the-trail interview with Gov. Romney and his wife, Ann. It will be Romney's first post-announcement Sunday morning interview.

Sen. Obama attends a 4:30 pm ET rally at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia, SC.

Sen. McCain starts Friday in Ohio, then heads to Chicago where he delivers the keynote address to the Union League Club of Chicago's 120th George Washington's Birthday Gala. There will be a press availability beforehand at 6:30 ET.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani attends a fundraiser hosted by former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore at the Omni Hotel in Richmond, VA.

Sen. Dodd attends the 8:00 am ET "Politics and Eggs" breakfast in Bedford, NH, and participates in a 1:30 pm ET roundtable discussion at the public library in Keene, NH.

Sen. Biden holds a 4:30 pm ET town hall discussion on national security at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, IA, and delivers an 8:00 pm ET keynote address at the Story County Democrats Soup Supper at the Collegiate United Methodist Church in Ames, IA.

Fresh from an unquestionably strong appearance on NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Vilsack is in Los Angeles today where he is shaking the money tree and meeting with other people interested in his campaign.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), author of "Positively American," and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), author of "Winning the Future," participate in a 10:00 am ET debate at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Jim Ramstad (R-MN), Mike Ross (D-AR), Ray LaHood (R-IL), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) participate in a 10:00 am ET unveiling of the Healthy Kids Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. They are joined by representatives from Families USA, America's Health Insurance Plans, the American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals, Healthcare Leadership Council, and Johnson & Johnson.

Because we love presidents of all types, the Note will not publish Monday in observance of the national holiday. It will return Tuesday.

Weekend warriors:
Reid's decision to call a Saturday vote "caused untold pain and suffering for his Democratic colleagues," writes the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, "many of whom prefer to spend their weekends running for president." LINK

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Zach Wolf report that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) say they will be present if there is a vote. LINK

McCain, by contrast, is still planning (as of now) to be away from the Senate even if there is a vote. On Saturday, Sen. McCain attends a 10:15 am ET town hall meeting at Hotel Fort in Des Moines, IA. He also attends a 2:15 pm ET town hall meeting at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Even though she has cancelled her town hall discussion in Dover, NH, Sen. Clinton will keep her scheduled 10:00 am ET house party in Portsmouth, NH.

Sen. Obama (for now) keeps his 10:00 am ET town hall meeting at the Jonas T. Kennedy Health and Physical Education Center in Orangeburg, SC, and then attends the Virginia Jefferson-Jackson Dinner at 7:30 pm ET in Richmond, VA where he might pick up the endorsement of Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA).

Sen. Biden, who was supposed to be in Iowa, Sen. Brownback, who was supposed to attend the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Florida, and Sen. Dodd, who was supposed to be in South Carolina, have all scrapped their Saturday campaign activity.

Leader Reid calls a "weekend detention." The New York Times reports that Sens. Boxer and Murray were already on flights to the west coast when the announcement was made, but they plan to fly right back to DC. LINK