The Note: Memories

— -- 15 days to the Inauguration

It took us nearly 45 minutes to read the political stories in the Washington Post today.

(The Googling monkeys remain on holiday and we are churning this baby out by ourselves and without a net.)

And there is a lot going on in our world beyond the newspapers -- the President gins up tort reform in the Land of Lincoln; the DNC chair race is getting more interesting; Karl Rove briefs congressional Republicans on a legislative agenda that includes pulsating Social Security and tax reform wrinklets; and the memorial service for the late Congressman Bob Matsui in Washington will provide some wonderful theater and remarks.

So, park yourself in front of cable TV (May we suggest ABC News Now as your smartest choice for all things political?) and save yourself a little time with those smudgy hard-copy papers and pop-up infested Web pages and just read these:

1. Ron Brownstein in the Los Angeles Times reports that two groups of Democratic centrists, the Democratic Leadership Council and Third Way -- which have both urged Democrats not to knee-jerk oppose Social Security overhaul -- are planning to square off against President Bush's plan to divert part of Social Security payroll tax to private investment accounts. LINK

" . . .Democrats have generally echoed former President Clinton in endorsing add-on investment accounts that would provide workers with government subsidies to invest for retirement, but not divert -- or carve out -- existing payroll tax revenue for that purpose."

"That's the alternative the leadership council and the Third Way group are likely to propose. The idea has almost no support among Republicans, who argue that it does not address Social Security's long-term funding problems and creates an expensive entitlement in the form of subsidized retirement savings."

The White House (almost as much as Hill Republicans) knows this deal has to be bipartisan and this is a blow to that bottom-line goal.

2. The Wall Street Journal's Jackie Calmes has a killer quote on Social Security, as well as some guest daybook work, and some news on tax reform -- all in three tight graphs:

"'Remember, we've been asking that they be more specific, and that they not just lay out principles like the president usually does,' said a senior congressional leadership aide. But, he added, 'the message the White House is trying to get out now is, there is no plan.'"

"Separately, today Republican senators will caucus privately on the year's agenda, led by Social Security along with funding for the Iraq war, at a Library of Congress retreat that will include a briefing from the president's chief adviser, Karl Rove. Tomorrow's White House meeting, meanwhile, will kick off a variety of Republican congressional activities aimed at forging strategy on Social Security, including a Monday briefing of leadership staff by White House officials and Senate Finance Committee briefings on the issue."

"Mr. Bush also is considering naming former Republican Sen. Connie Mack of Florida to head an advisory panel on tax-code overhaul, along with just-retired Democratic Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana, according to people familiar with the deliberations. The panel would report to Treasury, which in turn would make proposals for congressional action next year."

3. The Washington Post's Jeff Birnbaum picks up the tax reform ball and runs with it too (and he also embeds it secretly in a Social Security story -- a follow up from the Post's Tuesday "blockbuster," in which it was revealed to the inattentive that the President will someday support a plan that will reduce the guaranteed minimum benefit for future retirees): LINK

"On the president's second fiscal priority this year -- tax reform -- Bush officials predicted a far bolder approach. Bush is expected soon to appoint a task force that will suggest revisions to the federal income tax. The group will be asked to report by late summer and will be co-chaired by former senators John Breaux (D-La.) and Connie Mack (R-Fla.), both of whom were members of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee."

"Senior administration officials predicted that the task force and the Treasury Department, which will work closely with the group, will choose a radical approach to making the tax code simpler and more pro-investment. Although completely replacing the income tax with a levy on sales is unlikely, the officials said that the proposed new system would move toward a 'consumption income tax.' In its purest form, income that is saved would not be taxed. In addition, investment by corporations could be written off quickly."

"Treasury would put its own stamp on the task force's recommendations, and the president would make the final decision, the officials said. Congressional action could begin late this year but more likely would get underway in 2006."

4. On tort reform, the Washington Post's VandeHei and Harris get this gem, that the White House sharpies hope/plan to grind down to dust:

"'The dirty little secret in Washington is the trial lawyers have a few Republicans in their pocket,' a Republican close to Bush said." LINK

5. The Washington Post's Weisman and Merle on how pending Pentagon spending cuts are raising questions about force capabilities and Secretary Rumsfeld's aim to remake the DOD's capabilities, or, in the (now) immortal words of Gordon Adams, "Rumsfeld will no longer be able to 'have his budgetary cake and eat it, too.'" LINK

6. The Washington Post's Mark Leibovich -- in a shameless bid to dominate the Politics of Style (or is "the Style of Politics"?) in 2005 every bit as much as he did in 2004 (the "White House Letters" not withstanding . . . ) -- has not one but TWO Style section pieces:

A. A look at the life and mind and memory of White House chief of staff Andy Card, in which Card reveals (implicitly, mind you) that he is such a New Englander that he has to credit his memory trick to Matteo Ricci (a 16th century Italian Jesuit) and not Knick great Jerry Lucas. LINK

B. A perfect pitch look at new Members and brothers Ken and John Salazar and the DC apartment they are sharing. LINK

7. Check the wires for the semi-anti-climactic meeting in the Capitol between Vice President Cheney and Sen. Pat Leahy.

8. ABC News' Marc Ambinder has exclusive details at the end of this Note about efforts by some senior Democrats to get Terry McAuliffe to stay on as party chair.

9. Special Note to Bob Dole and Al Gore -- you won't have Kit Seelye to kick you around any more. The talented New York Times scribe has heard the siren song of Magnolia, Babbo, and Jill Abramson and will shortly join her pal R.L. Berke in New York to cover the magazine and newspaper beat. She is going to be formidable on the job, and, unless we miss our guess, will now appear regularly on Page Six.

President Bush heads to Collinsville, IL, to participate in a meeting on medical liability reform, and delivers remarks at 2:15 pm ET.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), head of the Republican Study Group, the conservative caucus for the House, held a pen-and-pad briefing for members of the National Press Club at 8:00 am ET to talk about top conservative issues in the 109th Congress.

At 9:30 am ET, military veterans' groups and others held a press conference on their reasons for opposing Alberto Gonzales' nomination by President Bush to be U.S. Attorney General at the National Press Club.

At 10:00 am ET, Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, announced the organization's 2005 policy priorities, economic forecast, and legislative outlook.

At 10:30 am ET, Win Without War, MoveOn.org, Amnesty International, True Majority, and FaithfulAmerica.org, will hold a telephone news conference to talk about their campaign to oppose Alberto Gonzales' nomination to be attorney general. MoveOn.org will begin running a 30-second TV spot on CNN in New York and Washington, DC tomorrow portraying Gonzales as the "legal mastermind of torture tactics." The buy reported to be $100,000, coupled with an ad to run in the New York Times tomorrow.

There will be a memorial service for Rep. Robert Matsui at the U.S. Capitol Building, Statuary Hall, at 12:30 pm ET. Scheduled speakers include former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), former President Bill Clinton.

At 3:45 pm ET, the Senate Armed Services Committee receives a closed briefing on tsunami relief, as well as updates on Iraq and Afghanistan.

At 4:00 pm ET, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold its confirmation hearing on the nomination of Carlos Gutierrez to be secretary of commerce.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers his State of the State address in Sacramento at 8:05 pm ET.

Yesterday in our schedule, we mentioned a press conference by a group of House lawmakers to discuss their trip to North Korea, and we inadvertently spelled Rep. Eliot Engel's name incorrectly. That'll teach us to take listings straight from the AP daybook. We regret the error.

Bush Cabinet:
Imagine if Democrats had 55 votes in the Senate -- then today's not-so-oddly-timed stories about Al Gonzales torture memos might actually lead to an interesting confirmation fight.

But with no signs of Republican defections and Gonzales picking off some Democratic support, you must read these stories in a different light. But, still, read them.

"Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, intervened directly with Justice Department lawyers in 2002 to obtain a legal ruling on the extent of the president's authority to permit extreme interrogation practices in the name of national security, current and former administration officials said Tuesday," the New York Times' Johnston and Lewis splash. LINK

"Until now, administration officials have been unwilling to provide details about the role Mr. Gonzales had in the production of the memorandum by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Mr. Gonzales has spoken of the memorandum as a response to questions, without saying that most of the questions were his."

"Current and former officials who talked about the memorandum have been provided with firsthand accounts about how it was prepared. Some discussed it in an effort to clear up what they viewed as a murky record in advance of Mr. Gonzales's confirmation hearings. Others spoke of the matter apparently believing that the Justice Department had unfairly taken the blame for the memorandum."

These two paragraphs are semi-fascinating:

"John Yoo, a senior Justice Department lawyer who wrote much of the memorandum, exchanged draft language with lawyers at the White House, the officials said. Mr. Yoo, now a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said in an article published Sunday in The San Jose Mercury News that Mr. Gonzales did not apply any pressure on him to tailor the memorandum to accommodate the White House. Instead, Mr. Yoo said that Mr. Gonzales was merely seeking to 'understand all available options' in a perilous time, when the United States faced unprecedented threats."

"But a senior administration official disagreed, saying that the memorandum's conclusions appeared to closely align with the prevailing White House view of interrogation practices. The official said the memorandum raised questions about whether the Office of Legal Counsel had maintained its longstanding tradition of dispensing objective legal advice to its clients in executive-branch agencies."

The Washington Post's R. Jeffrey Smith and Dan Eggen turn in a great big story on the tenure of Alberto Gonzales as White House counsel, reporting that while one of the major controversies surrounding Gonzales is the fact that he raised no objections to interrogating terror suspects with techniques like "waterboarding" and gave legal blessing to the CIA for these tactics without consulting military and State Department experts, it might not have been his legal reasoning at all, but rather that of others, "particularly Vice President Cheney's influential legal counsel, David S. Addington." LINK

"On at least two of the most controversial policies endorsed by Gonzales, officials familiar with the events say the impetus for action came from Addington -- another reflection of Cheney's outsize influence with the president and the rest of the government. Addington, universally described as outspokenly conservative, interviewed candidates for appointment as Gonzales's deputy, spoke at Gonzales's morning meetings and, in at least one instance, drafted an early version of a legal memorandum circulated to other departments in Gonzales's name, several sources said."

"Conceding that such ghostwriting might seem irregular, even though Gonzales was aware of it, one former White House official said it was simply 'evidence of the closeness of the relationship' between the two men. But another official familiar with the administration's legal policymaking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because such deliberations are supposed to be confidential, said that Gonzales often acquiesced in policymaking by others."

"This might not be the best quality for an official nominated to be attorney general, the nation's top law enforcement job, the administration official said. He added that he thinks Gonzales learned from mistakes during Bush's first term."

Thomas Frank and Toni Locy of USA Today offer up a good compact account of the questions Gonzales will face, and his Hill and interest group opponents. LINK

The Wall Street Journal publishes two favorable opinion pieces about Gonzales, one of them from Henry Cisneros, who says Gonzales was the only Republican he'd ever voted for and urging his confirmation. The other is by Douglas Kmiec and contains some of the oddest sentences we have ever read.

Bush agenda:
AP explains why Collinsville, and Madison County, IL. LINK

Jim Muir of the Southern Illinoisan adds more detail about Madison County, described by the American Tort Reform Association as the top "judicial hellhole" in the country, and offers up a glimpse of the liability reform debate in Illinois. LINK

William Lamb of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers up an excellent outline of the groups vying for President Bush's ear while he's in Illinois today. LINK

Ann Knef of the Madison County Record looks at the tort reform groups -- both pro and anti -- that have been out and about anticipating the President's stop. An anti-tort reform group, the Center for Justice and Democracy, which counts filmmaker Michael Moore as an advisor, kept the paper from its news conference. LINK

Social Security:
Two opinion pieces in the New York Times on Social Security, from Gene Sperling and Barry Schwartz. LINK and LINK.

Schwartz's piece is pretty muscular, which is not to say that Sperling's is flabby.

The Wall Street Journal's main editorial takes on the AARP for their Social Security stance.

Congress:
The Washington Post's Dan Morgan wraps the interviews of Reps. Ralph Regula (OH), Jerry Lewis (CA), and Harold Rogers (KY) in the House GOP's search for an appropriations chairman. LINK

The Wall Street Journal's Gerry Seib looks forward to intraparty debates about immigration and abortion. LINK

The Boston Globe's Glen Johnson looks at "the dearth of Massachusetts clout" in the 109th Congress. LINK

While the Chicago Tribune's Rudolph Bush and David Mendell look at the unaccustomed clout of the Illinois delegation. LINK

As does the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet. LINK

The Washington Post's Chuck Babington profiles the Senate's Freshman Seven. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Faye Fiore spent a little time hanging with Sen. Barack Obama on his first day. LINK

House ethics:
First day; new rule: deadlock on ethics panel = case dismissed. And bye-bye soon to Joel Hefley? LINK

Hefley tells the Boston Globe's Rick Klein and Susan Milligan, "'I expect to be booted.'" LINK

Mike Allen of the Washington Post wraps the new ethics rules adopted by House Republicans yesterday. LINK

USA Today's Jim Drinkard also explains them. LINK

Iraq:
Despite continued violence that ended with the assassination of Baghdad's governor, a bomb that killed 10 people and five U.S. troops, the Iraqi elections are on track for Jan. 30, according to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. LINK; LINK

The Boston Globe's Bryan Bender reports that a study by the Defense Science Board, a senior advisory group to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, recommends a much larger role for the State Department in nation-building activities, and recommends a "stabilization force" in Iraq numbering a whopping 500,000 to get the job done. LINK

Syria may soon be hit with U.S. sanctions. LINK

Dems regroup:
Jump down to the bottom of The Note for our latest reporting on the state of the DNC chair race, and the move by some senior Democrats to get Terry McAuliffe to extend his tour of duty. The efforts are more intense and broader than has previously been reported.

The Washington Post's Dan Balz neatly lays out the state of play for the chairmanship, Noting that the field of hopefuls narrowed by two yesterday, with Harold Ickes and Ron Kirk opting out. Kirk has endorsed the candidacy, described as "extremely aggressive" yesterday by Roll Call's Chris Cillizza of former Rep. Martin Frost. LINK

Washington governor's race:
Keith Ervin of the Seattle Times reports that an unknown number of provisional voters improperly put their ballots into vote-counting machines at King County polling places, which made it impossible to separate them from regular ballots -- lending further ammunition to the state Republican Party as it researches a legal challenge to the results of the gubernatorial election. LINK

"Miscast provisional votes could be one reason the number of ballots counted in King County outnumbered the list of voters who voted by 3,539," Ervin reports. State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance will talk about the finding at his news conference today.

Chris McGann of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Republicans in the state legislature plan to object to the ratification of the election results next week unless remaining questions are answered. LINK

Yesterday, the Washington State Republican Party started a heavy statewide radio buy to run through this week, urging Washington citizens to support a re-vote. It features the story of Tyler Farmer, a Marine wounded in Fallujah, who did not get to vote, and prompted an angry response from Oria Berndt, former Chairman of the Veterans Advisory Council to the governor, who accused Republicans of using servicemen and women as political pawns.

The economy:
Primo Wall Street Journal Fed minute watcher Greg Ip concludes that the FOMC is likely to raise interest rates a bit more, owing to inflation fears.

The Schwarzenegger era:
The Los Angeles Times' Mark Z. Barabak previews the Governator's State of the State address, in which "Schwarzenegger is expected to call for a special legislative session, starting immediately, to consider a state spending cap and alter the way California's legislative and congressional districts are drawn." And it's the congressional district debate, not the prospect of being called some derivative movie pejorative, that's likely to get legislators up in arms this time. Schwarzenegger, who's enjoyed bipartisan support and astonishingly high approval ratings, faces a tightrope walk whose best bet could be to fly in the face of both parties and go directly to the electorate. LINK

2005:
Reports the New York Daily News: "Mayor Bloomberg cut a hefty $250,000 check to the controversial Independence Party -- money that's being used to round up campaign workers for the mayor, the Daily News has learned. The Lenora Fulani-backed group is spending the mayor's dough on an elaborate phone bank -- set up across the street from City Hall -- to target some 800,000 city voters not registered with any political party, officials said." LINK

2008:
The New York Times' Michael Cooper writes of 10 years of Patakidom in New York State. His conclusion is somewhat judicious:

"In many ways, Mr. Pataki has remained committed to the goals he promoted 10 years ago, not only in calling for a new death penalty bill but repeatedly vowing not to raise taxes and pledging to keep state spending in check. Still, when he tries to cut spending, he often finds himself blocked by both houses of the Legislature, since lawmakers want to prove that they can deliver the goods to their districts." LINK

"Like many of his predecessors, Mr. Pataki has seen many of his initiatives thwarted by the combination of partisan and institutional divisions that define Albany."

Pataki's State of the State is at midday today.

Politics:
AP's Alan Fram reports that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has been among a few House Democrats seeking support for their plan to object to Congress counting Ohio's 20 electoral votes. LINK

It's not what you say, but how you frame it, a UC professor tells Democrats. LINK

Media:
Who doesn't love Ben Smith's tribute to Fred Dicker -- the "fourth man in the room" in the New York Observer? LINK

"…Mr. Dicker isn't just a skilled muckraker: He's a political institution in his own right, a one-person media empire whose reach includes his column, a television gig with Albany's CBS affiliate and an hour-long daily radio show with a small, influential audience. His column routinely generates a follow-up from the Associated Press Albany bureau and regularly drives news coverage. And his likes and dislikes can help make or break careers."

Names in the piece: Zenia Mucha, William Powers, Norman Adler, Josef Goebbels, Max Weber, Sandy Frucher.

A Note bonus: the race to head the DNC:

Another Term For McAuliffe
Democrats Urge DNC Chair To Stay On

By Marc Ambinder

Top Democrats, including New York Sen. Charles Schumer, are working to convince current Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe to stay at his post for at least another twelve months as the party prepares for the 2006 midterm elections.

McAuliffe is due to give up the post in five weeks when his four-year term ends at the DNC's winter meeting in Washington, DC.

The Democrats trying to get him to extend his tour of duty fear that the large current crop of candidates for chair has not sufficiently inspired the 440-odd voting members of the national committee, and that a chair without a solid mandate would destabilize the party at the very moment when it most needs a steady hand. McAuliffe, they say, could build on his successes and incorporate many of the ideas being proposed by those who want to replace him.

Others worry that no current aspirant for the job has galvanized enough support to prevent former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean from being voted into the chairman's spot at the party meeting, a scenario that some in the party who find the former presidential candidate too polarizing. Dean gained a boost this week as Rep. John Murtha, a conservative House Democrat who supported the Iraq war resolution, wrote to Pennsylvania delegates urging that they select Dean for chair.

A Democrat who has discussed the term extension option with McAuliffe said "He's thinking about it, but I see no indication that anyone has moved him."

This Democrat and others said they would not speak on the record because the overtures to McAuliffe were made in confidence and they did not want to offend the candidates seeking to replace him.

Schumer, the new head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has been among the most vocal of those urging McAuliffe to stay, Democrats said.

"There are many good candidates for DNC Chair," Schumer told ABC News. "Terry McAuliffe has been a great chair and could continue to be one."

"He's flattered, but his only response for now consists of two words: Dorothy McAuliffe," said Jano Cabrera, the Democratic spokesman, referring to McAuliffe's wife and his family.

Under some scenarios, McAuliffe would stay in the post for another year, to prepare for the 2005 and 2006 elections and allow a stronger candidate to emerge.

"It would be great for the party, but I'm not sure it would be great for McAuliffe," said a party consultant who works closely with him. "He has the opportunity now to exit as probably the most popular and highly regarded chair in modern history. If he says, he would end having to own governor's races and the midterm, which might be circumstances beyond his control."

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the minority leader, is aware of the efforts to convince McAuliffe to stay, Democrats said, and has not put the kibosh on the idea. Some Democrats say Reid has tacitly encouraged the scenario were a frontrunner not to soon emerge.

Others who several Democratic sources said had asked McAuliffe to stay include former Nebraska Sen., Bob Kerrey, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the current minority leader. A spokesperson for Pelosi said the minority leader had not endorsed anyone, though she has spoken favorably about one candidate, former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer.

When Democratic Senators meet Wednesday at their party's policy luncheon, the subject of the chair's race and the potential for a contingency plan to retain McAuliffe is likely to be a topic of discussion. McAuliffe friend New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, is the featured speaker.

The two met over breakfast in Washington late last year to discuss the future of the party.

McAuliffe, a master fundraiser who began to rebuild the party's dilapidated technological infrastructure, had said he would not run for another two to four year term. For four years, he used his political savvy and personal charm to snuff out many of the party's intramural flashpoints and is well-liked. As chair, he directly appoints 75 members to at-large positions on the committee, ensuring him a loyal voting cadre.

But while almost every candidate to replace him has paid tribute to McAuliffe's legacy, many have said they want to reform the party around the strengths of a new leader, one who could build the party's get-out-the-vote capacity and to rebuild tattered state parties in places like Florida and Ohio. And critics note that McAuliffe ultimately did not lead Democrats to success in competitive elections, the bottom line measure for any successful chair.

Activists Democrats on the web, calling themselves the party's netroots, are the least kindly disposed to McAuliffe, blaming his tenure for the tilting the party's ideological heart away from its core and too close to its high-money donors. Many of these activists were original supporters of Dean's anti-war populism and believe that Dean possessed what McAuliffe could never buy, even with his fundraising prowess: a clear message that appealed to activists.

They blame McAuliffe, who pushed for a compressed nomination calendar, for creating the conditions that led to Dean's loss and the nomination of Sen. John Kerry, a man many of these activists believed was too close to the Washington establishment to reform it.

Bloggers like the Daily Kos have made ridding the party of McAuliffe a central political crusade.

Though Dean has been critical of the party in the past, his relationship with McAuliffe is not personally sour. "Governor Dean has said that Terry McAuliffe has left this party in great financial shape," said Laura Gross, Dean's spokeswoman." For once after the election, the party is not in debt.

Still, in the absence of a clear frontrunner, McAuliffe's name comes up in often wistful discussions of the party's future. The large crop of candidates includes , be it Dean, Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, organizer Donnie Fowler and New Democrat Network president Simon Rosenberg.

"It's very wide open among the existing contenders," said Harold Ickes, who had been considered a favorite for the post but who decided Monday not to seek the bid.

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk told ABC News late Tuesday that he too would not run.

Other top Democrats, including allies of McAuliffe's, say they believe that a consensus candidate will emerge in the next forty days.

"It's time for the party to move forward with someone else," said Donna Brazile, a top operative and organizer. "Terry has made his mark and he'll be honored."

Many party leaders -- including former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Clinton, Sen. Kerry, and former Vice President Al Gore -- have watched the race from afar, but are not known to have settled on a favored candidate.

More active have been congressional leaders Reid and Pelosi, who remain officially neutral but have publicly urged Roemer to make the race.

The first of four regional candidate forums takes place in Atlanta on Saturday.

ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin contributed to this report.