The Note: Out Like A Lamb?

— -- WASHINGTON, Mar. 20

Most Washington eyes will continue to be trained on the thread by which Alberto Gonzales is hanging. White House counsel Fred Fielding plans to meet with the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees at 2:00 pm ET (with requisite stake out) to try to hash out a compromise over how Karl Rove and other White House advisers (current and former) can provide information about White House involvement in the controversial firing of the eight US Attorneys.

We wonder whether or not Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff will be asked to comment on the AG speculation when he delivers 12:15 pm ET remarks to the American Association of Port Authorities at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.

The subset of the Gang of 500 not solely focused on Gonzales/Fielding/Leahy/Rove/McNulty/Chertoff/Olson will continue to wonder whether or not the Pen(n) is mightier than the Ax(e). Was Clinton pollster Mark Penn freelancing or executing a planned rollout of the Clinton campaign's spring offensive against Sen. Obama's well-documented 2002 opposition to the Iraq war? The Boston Globe's front page look at Sen. Obama's "caution, nuance" on Iraq may help answer that question. LINK

And ask yourselves this question: Between the Obama and Clinton campaigns, which campaign appears more calm and confident with their candidate's Iraq positioning? And why?

One day before Al Gore's high profile testimony on Capitol Hill, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) continues his putting policy and Iowa first approach when he participates in a 1:15 pm ET tour of BECON plant of the Iowa Energy Center Biomass Energy Facility in Nevada, Iowa. Following the tour, Edwards delivers a 1:30 pm ET speech on his plan to reverse global warming. Edwards will then be in Indianola, Iowa for a 7:00 pm ET house party.

The Edwards plan "calls for a halt to global warming by capping and reducing greenhouse gas pollution, creates a new energy economy and 1 million new jobs by leading the world in renewable energy technology, energy efficiency, and the cars of the future, and freezes America's growing demand for electricity by asking American families to be patriotic about something other than war and use energy more efficiently."

President Bush also talks energy today. He takes a 1:10 pm ET tour of the General Motors assembly plant in Fairfax, KS, and a 2:05 pm ET tour of the Ford Motor Company's Kansas City plant in Claycomo, MO, followed by a 2:30 pm ET address on energy initiatives.