The Note: Twin Children of Different Mothers

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2004 — -- 49 Days Until Inauguration Day

It's all about the pairs, the duos, and the tandems today.

Start with the Dynamic Two of the Wall Street Journal — the steely gals Shailagh Murray and Jackie Calmes — who write about the Hill Duo that will make or break the Bush agenda.

Sen. Grassley and Rep. Thomas have very specific ideas laid out in this mustest of must reads about how the president should go about getting tax reform and Social Security reform (the dominant Twin Issues of our shared futures) done.

You wouldn't compare either of those members to, say, Rob Portman in terms of how they work hand-in-glove with the White House (or not), but it's nice to know what they expect. And for these two guys, what they "expect" is often/usually what they demand.

(The Wall Street Journal also Notes that the White House will host an economic conference on December 15 and 16 with the president's "advisers and a few hundred business leaders.")

Then turn to another duo — Tom Friedman of the New York Times and Rick Klein of the Boston Globe — for their Concordian hard-line views on the Twin-eyed Monster-- the deficit. Both men explore the macro and multiple implications of the current deficit levels. LINK and LINK

In Northeast Corridor news, Jon Corzine enters the race for Garden State governor today and his Port Authority Pal, Eliot Spitzer, might be fixin' to make an announcement of his own.

And finally, our Final Pair — for those of you hopelessly out of the know — is Mike Allen and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post .

Before too long, both men will leave the White House beat with less fanfare than, say, Tom Brokaw left the anchor chair, but the implications for the lives of Note readers are probably more grave.

Details to come, but Milbank will begin to columnize and Allen is said by sources familiar with the situation to be headed to the Hill from a 30,000 foot perspective.

So a big salute to the two departing scribes; a welcome to their hard charging replacements; a watch this space for more changes on the Casa Blanca beat to come.

President Bush is in Washington today. He'll meet with the president of Nigeria and announce his new agriculture secretary in the morning, and he will light the National Christmas tree in the early evening.

The Democratic Governors Association meets in Washington today at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. They will hold a 3:15 pm ET presser lead by incoming Chairman Bill Richardson and outgoing chairman Tom Vilsack.

The Los Angeles Times' Peter Nicholas seems to drops this solid bombshell: "Arnold Schwarzenegger and his top advisers, meeting privately to plan an agenda for his second year in office, may call a special election that could upend the state's political order, redrawing legislative and congressional district boundaries, curbing spending and revamping the bureaucracy." LINK

"As Schwarzenegger's aides and his outside political team weigh strategy, various interest groups are preparing initiatives that could wind up as key parts of the governor's agenda. Ted Costa, a Sacramento anti-tax activist who drew up the original petition to recall Gov. Gray Davis, has been cleared to gather signatures for a measure that would profoundly alter the way California elects its congressional and legislative delegations."

If he's confirmed as A.G., Alberto Gonzales will remove himself from overseeing the Plame investigation, he says. LINK

The New York Times ' Robin Toner on the stronger anti-abortion tone of the new Senate, replete with Douglas Johnson's cautious optimism, Gloria Feldt's doomsying, a Nancy Keenan determined to fight, and more. LINK

Boeing. Tankers. Costs. Air Force. We're sure somebody in Sen. McCain's office will have this article by R. Jeffrey Smith in the Washington Post blown up to poster size before 11:00 am. LINK

The Washington Post 's Thomas Ricks reports, "The Pentagon said yesterday that it will boost the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to about 150,000, the highest level since the U.S. occupation began 19 months ago." LINK

The New York Times on the force enhancements in Iraq: LINK

We can't help but quiver at a New York Times byline with Sanger, Sciolino and Broad in it, especially one that reveals new information about Iran's nuclear program. LINK

James Baker opines on Middle East peace in the New York Times . LINK

Citizen George Tenet sounds off on the intel bill. LINK

The Washington Post 's Milbank analyzes the president's foreign policy speech on foreign soil. LINK

So we ask of those around the president: Was joking about mad cow really a way to endear himself to Canadians? LINK

(Actually, it went over well, just like the beef. Mmmm).

The Washington Post 's Carol Leonning reports that a "federal judge yesterday questioned the Bush administration's broad definition of its powers" to hold detainees at Gitmo. LINK

Just how many Democrats want to join the talented duo of Jim Manley and Phil Singer at the Democratic Congressional rapid response war room that kicks off on January 4? A top aide to Minority Leader Reid has received more than 200 resumes for the open positions, which include researchers and support staff.

You would do yourself well to read the New Republic's Peter Beinart's exegesis on what American liberalism ought to stand for. He argues that the Democratic Party needs to jettison that part of its base that is dovish and "Wallacite" and embrace fully a muscular foreign policy (akin to the anti-communism of liberals of yore) that opposes Islamic fascism and spreads American ideals as its core principles. As you might imagine, Beinart doesn't have nice things to say about MoveOn. Check the website this weekend for a link.

In Ohio news, after preliminary certification and all the provisionals having been counted (77 percent of them were accurate, natch BC04!) … President Bush retains a margin of victory in Ohio of a bit more than 136,000 votes. LINK

Secretary of State Blackwell will certify the results once again on Monday, and then the recount will proceed … unless it gets tangled up in the courts.

The Columbus Dispatch's Niquette and Vitale write, "Kerry isn't trying to overturn the Ohio outcome and hasn't found evidence proving fraud, but his campaign wants a recount in all counties to ensure that all votes were counted, said Daniel J. Hoffheimer, state counsel for the Kerry-Edwards campaign." LINK

ABC's Karen Travers highlights two items from Vice President Cheney's remarks at two congressional rallies in Louisiana yesterday — for Billy Tauzin III and Charles Boustany. He delivered the same remarks at both events, just switching "Charles" for "Billy" at the afternoon event for Boustany. Cheney opened his remarks by saying, "I haven't had this much fun since we beat John Kerry." (surely delivered with a grin on his face … )

USA Today 's Jim Drinkard has beautiful bullet points of the election leftovers from around the country. LINK

The Manchester Union Leader reports on the indictment of the former New England chairman for the Bush campaign. LINK

"A campaign fund controlled by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has lost almost $460,000 in stock market investments since 2000 and now does not have enough to cover a sizable bank loan, according to federal election records and the manager of the Frist account," report the Washington Post 's Faler and Morgan. LINK

Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) holds a newser in Newark today to declare you-know-what and the Asbury Park Press' James Prado marks the occasion by looking at his political activity and donations in the Garden State. LINK

Democratic presidential hopefuls should read David Yepsen's analysis of 2006 gubernatorial possibilities in Iowa. LINK

Brian Lamb's Booknotes on C-SPAN is coming to an end, but, fear not, he will have a new show soon called Q&A. LINK