The Note: "I Looked into the Soul of the Boy Sitting Next to Me"

— -- WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 --

NEWS SUMMARY
Dear Mr. President:

We hope you are getting time during your busy day in Europe to read The Note.

Back here at home, we see your 11:30 am ET press conference with President Putin as the political main event of the day.

Our guess is that you will get a question about whether you re-looked into President Putin's soul during your meeting. So be ready for that.

We are also pretty sure that the traveling White House correspondents are feeling all continental and will ask only about Euro matters, but just in case, here's what is going on at home that might come up:

-- There is big play for the heralds of a second-day chorus worrying about international financial collapse, the dollar, and interest rates.

-- More stories about Republican hesitancy/skepticism on Social Security reform and renewed Democratic opposition.

-- Rising health care costs and unhappiness over No Child Left Behind.

-- Those governors you are having dinner with on Sunday are thinking big thoughts (different than yours) about Medicaid.

-- Doug Wead.

-- (Don't think twice about Congressman Maurice Hinchey's "accusations" about Karl Rove; focus on your "bigotry of low expectations" mantra on that one.)

Sincerely,

The Note

After the presidents have their newser, the American traveling entourage returns to the United States, arriving after 9:00 pm ET.

Ralph Nader's latest incarnation can be found at the National Press Club today at noon ET.

Tonight at 6:00 pm ET, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman takes your questions at the Trenton Marriott in New Jersey, appearing with National Black Chamber of Commerce head Harry Alford. His "conversations with the community" continue. And we continue to say: if there one thing Mr,. Mehlman takes seriously, it's his conviction that the GOP needs to -- and can -- get more and more African American and Hispanic votes every election.

At 9:00 pm ET, DNC Chairman Howard Dean addresses a sold-out crowd at Washburn University in Topeka, KS and speak about the future of the Democratic Party.

Social Security:
The interest group infighting has begun on both sides, with the Cato Institute attacking USA Next for "introducing homophobia" into the debate over Social Security and with The Hill reporting yesterday that Democrats are wary of the AARP because wounds have yet to heal from the 2003 Medicare fight.

USA Next's Charles Jarvis acknowledged to us yesterday that USA Next wouldn't coordinate too closely with other pro personal retirement account groups because it didn't want to have to ask permission to be controversial.

He also said the point of the flashy, somewhat startling Web ad that ran for less than an hour on http://www.spectator.org was to see how the AARP and its liberal defenders would react. (Maureen Dowd does a point-by-point rebuttal here: LINK , and we agree with her use of the adjective "lame" at one point.)

Incidentally, while the AARP says it has no position on same-sex marriage, it did oppose the ballot amendment in Ohio because it says it believed a provision to also ban civil union arrangements for all couples was bad policy. But the USA Nexters point to the various other amendments in other non-battleground states that proposed to do the same thing and ask why the AARP didn't get involved in those fights. AARP says individual states make decisions about which battles to fight therein.

The problem for supporters of personal retirement accounts is that Democrats will quickly try to portray USA Next's tactics as emblematic (or symptomatic) of the entire reform movement. It's hard to make a serious argument in favor of reform when the first question you'll be asked is whether you think the AARP is evil. But if USA Next succeeds in softening the AARP's reputation, and if it truly matches them point-by-point on ads in this battle, the reverse might be true, too.

(Jeff Birnbaum assignment desk: what do USA Next's corporate backers think of its anti-same-sex marriage stance?)

Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Richard Stevenson write in today's New York Times that "On Capitol Hill, there are deep splits among supporters of personal accounts over issues like how big the accounts should be, whether to include deep benefit cuts in any overhaul of the retirement system and whether Mr. Bush needs to put forth more details. Now, outside the Capitol, USA Next is exposing fissures in strategy as well as substance." LINK

Also included are details of the Campaign for America's Future campaign against Rep. McCrery.

The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman reports that with the President's plan for overhauling Social Security partly via private accounts at the forefront of the debate over the entitlement program, the many alternative proposals are getting a second look in Congress, though some ideas backed by Democrats -- like raising payroll taxes or the ceiling on wages to be taxed -- aren't exactly catching on at this point. LINK

Weisman does an excellent job at laying out the details of the plans to raise payroll taxes, bring more workers currently exempt into the system, and/or cut benefits for more affluent beneficiaries, as well as the plans to go further with private accounts than the President has proposed, and effectively phase out the program.

Briefing reporters before heading to Florida to tout the President's Social Security plan, Treasury Secretary John Snow said it's partly Republicans' fault that people have been slow to accept it, the Washington Post's Chuck Babington reports. And Republican lawmakers out there stumping for it aren't always finding cheering crowds. LINK

Roll Call's Ethan Wallison previews Secretary Snow's trip, which includes Florida today and tomorrow (specifically, chamber of commerce meetings in Tampa and Jacksonville), and Arkansas and Louisiana next week.

The Boston Globe's Peter Canellos visits Springfield with Rep. Richard Neal, who discovered at one town hall meeting the generational differences in how his constituents view the overhaul of Social Security and the program's purpose. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Liane Hart and Richard Simon find more uncertainty in town meetings in West Virginia and Texas. LINK

Roll Call's Mark Preston reports that Senate Democrats are planning their own Social Security road show, starting in New York before heading to Pennsylvania on March 4 and Arizona on March 5, then wrapping up in Nevada. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Democratic Policy Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) will headline, and others will catch up on the road.

And mark March 7 on your calendars: that is the day Glen Johnson returns to both Washington, DC, and the Associated Press, from Boston and the Globe. Mr. Johnson will be on the Hill helping to cover the grand debate on Social Security. The Capital City and the Family Wire will both be delighted to have him back.

Governors' agenda:
The National Governors Association's winter meeting kicks off this weekend, attracting dozens of state governors to Washington, D.C. for policy debates and lobbying sessions (and fundraisers). A dinner and a meeting with President Bush, per usual, is also on the agenda.

The NGA, chaired by Democratic Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, wants to examine ways to raise high school graduation rates this year (see LINK ), although it is overhauling Medicaid that's on the minds of many. The President's FY06 budget proposes to cut tens of billions from Medicaid with the carrot of allowing states to more flexibly put to use the money they get.

The Governors want the White House to give them as much latitude as possible to structure Medicaid in their states, but the budget cracks down on what the Administration (and the Wall Street Journal's Sarah Leuck today) call loopholes: the often ingenious techniques used by state Medicaid administrators to increase the amount of federal matching money that flows to their programs.

The new head of HHS is, of course, former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, whose Medicaid program is seen by many as a model of how a state can legitimately cut costs while still keeping part of the safety net intact for the most vulnerable citizens. Everyone can go to the emergency room for care, provided they pay a nominal fee, but not everyone gets access to expensive procedures. (Leavitt's critics disagree about all this, and you can read more about it in The New York Times today: LINK )

(The Wall Street Journal's editorial board today looks askew at another Medicaid loophole: one that drives up long-term care costs and threatens the program's solvency. And the New York Times' Robert Pear sums up the recent figures on the government's share of health care costs.) LINK

Other NGA highlights include a keynote address by Bill Gates on education on Saturday morning; an address by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on Sunday afternoon; a White House dinner with President Bush Sunday night; a full day of lobbying and another White House visit Monday; and sessions on Medicaid Tuesday morning.

And there are a couple of gubernatorial press conferences at which tires of potential '08 aspirants will be kicked by the assembled national reporters.

The governors will also caucus in their partisan incarnations: the Democratic Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association. Some will attend private fundraisers and we expect some of the 2008 presidential candidate would-bes (Romney, Pawlenty, Sanford, Huckabee, Richardson, Owens, Vilsack, Warner) to use the time to their maximum political advantage.

On education, a bipartisan panel of state legislators found widespread disatisfaction in states with how federal NCLB requirements are messing up states' own attempts to test children, how they conflict with other federal laws, and how they are, at times, too darn intrusive, according to school bureaucrats and administrators. LINK

But the Administration worries about diluting the testing mandates.

Chairman Dean, the Democrats, and liberals:
The Kansas City Star's Steve Kraske and David Goldstein curtain-raise Gov. Dean's two-day trip to Kansas to talk about grassroots activism, and in an interview he stressed to them his focus on a 50-state strategy that leaves no Red state behind. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will not appear with Dean, the duo Note. Dean heads to Mississippi on Tuesday. LINK

The Cornell Daily Sun offers a very good wrap of the Govenor's speech, where he talked about Social Security, budgets and defense, and, in an interview with the paper, focused on promoting the image of fiscal responsibility among Democrats. LINK

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Dean made a good impression. LINK

More from the Ithaca Journal. LINK

Sen. Reid told reporters in his home state that Sen. Kerry failed to reach out to rural America, and while Dean wasn't his first choice to lead the party, so far he's doing well. LINK

Writes Rep. Tom Reynolds, the chair of the NRCC, to supporters in a fundraising pitch: "Well, here's what I think. The leadership of the other party are no longer Democrats. They are 'Deanocrats'. And that's what I'm going to start calling them. And you should too. All of them. Right down to the elected office-holders in your city or town."

"Make them say they don't agree with the policies Howard Dean called for during his run for the Presidency. Make them say they don't believe America is the way Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and Barbara Streisand try to make you think it is. Better yet, make them say publicly that they are not 'Deanocrats' If they won't, then you know where they stand, and that they don't deserve to be in office."

This is what many Democrats were a'feared of. But it might not work, as even some top Republicans acknowledge.

A rebuttal, of sorts, from Matt Bai's great (optimistic) piece on Howard Dean in Sunday's New York Times Magazine:

"Dean perfectly embodies the modern Democratic Party, whose ideology feels so muddled and incohesive that labels of 'left' and 'center,' at least in terms of governing philosophy, are almost irrelevant. So-called centrists, with precious few exceptions, have lined up with their party's base against the idea of partly privatizing Social Security, even though those same Democrats used to argue that the program was gravely ill; so-called leftists, meanwhile, have embraced the gospel of budget restraint. The only real arguments among Democrats now are entirely tactical in nature. Should Democrats make an impassioned, populist argument against Bush's war and his tax cuts? Or should they try to sound more reasoned and Clintonian, arguing that some wars are good (but not this one) and that some tax cuts are fine (but not these)? Should they talk more about God, or increase their turnout among black voters? What was once the purview of pollsters and admen has become the central dialogue of the Democratic Party itself."

"Democrats mistake this vacuum of substantive conflict for a kind of hard-won unity on the issues. But intellectual obliqueness and facility are cheap fabrics from which to stitch together unity, and they unravel too easily. Real debates between competing visions of the future -- debates of the kind that pitted Hubert Humphrey against Strom Thurmond on civil rights, or Robert Kennedy against Lyndon Johnson on Vietnam -- are what sharpen arguments and energize parties, even when they lead to defeat."

And Dean, says Bai, can be the catalyst.

The Washington Post's Mark Leibovich profiles Democratic superstar Sen. Barack Obama as he eases his way into life in the Senate and threads the needle of being both a political celebrity and low-key. We particularly enjoyed the advice from Howard Wolfson and the suggestion that he ask for extra credit assignments from former Minority Leader Tom Daschle. LINK

Republicans and conservatives:
The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus writes up what sounds like a fascinating visit from the Senator from Pennsylvania who she says was "Specter Unbound" as he talked about what he thinks the President should be doing in terms of seeking advice and consent on judicial nominees (it would be wise), and on the nuclear option (as yet noncommittal, but seems uncomfortable with it). LINK

The Washington Times, yet again, reminds us why immigration will be important test for 2008 presidential hopefuls. LINK

Gannett says of the new PAC run by superstar Sen. John Thune, "One incumbent senator Thune singled out is Jim Talent of Missouri, up for re-election in 2006." LINK

In his post-mortem, David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times writes that Doug Wead played a telephone conversation he had with Karl Rove to him. LINK

And James Dobson is not happy. Although he, and several other religious leaders, apparently got heads-up calls from the White House before the original story ran.

So Rep. Mike Pence has a blog, and we'd love to see posts about top-secret RSC meetings!!! LINK

Bush in Europe:
The Washington Post's Peter Baker and Walter Pincus detail the measures Presidents Bush and Putin plan to back to combat nuclear terrorism, a counterpoint to the tension between the two over Putin's suppression of dissent and Bush's emphasis on the spread and support of democracy. LINK

The Post's Michael Fletcher has more on the tightrope Bush is walking between seeking cooperation and confronting Putin. LINK

The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler looks at the shift in European attitudes toward Bush over the past two years to an "a la carte partnership." LINK

2006:
In re: our votevilsack scooplet yesterday, Matt Paul, Gov. Vilsack's kindly spokesman, told us loudly: "As I have said before, he will not seek a(nother) term . . . He is not seeking a third term and will not tolerate any distractions from his legislative agenda."

The Des Moines Register's Tom Beaumont reports that RNC chairman Ken Mehlman was rallying the troops to take back the Iowa governorship in Des Moines on Wednesday before heading out to Council Bluffs. LINK

2008:

From Kellyanne Conway's the polling company: "Amid speculation about a possible '08 White House run, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) garners ballot-box support among nearly one-half (49%) of American women, according to a new nationwide poll of 800 women conducted by the polling company™, inc/WomanTrend."

("One-quarter (25%) of these adult women are Hillary loyalists, indicating that they would 'definitely' vote for her regardless of other candidates vying for the top spot. Still, nearly 3-in-10 American women are dead set against her, saying they would oppose a President Hillary no matter what. Only 7% remained undecided.'')

Would that every potential '08 hopeful would be as open about it as Sen. Joe Biden, who talked to the San Francisco Chronicle about Sen. Clinton's frontrunner status; steroids; Jeff Gannon; and his own personal outspokenness. And Biden says that in the current field, he is the fresh face LINK

The Boston Globe's Raphael Lewis looks at Gov. Mitt Romney's upcoming (barnstorming?) schedule, which features appearances in Utah, Michigan and South Carolina again -- trips Romney is casting as efforts to support his party. LINK

The Boston Globe's Robert Gavin looks at the $600 million plan Romney has proposed to add at least 20,000 jobs to Massachusetts over five years, and looking for ways to make the Bay State more attractive to businesses and shore up his own record on employment. LINK

John DiStaso of the Manchester Union Leader reports that not only will Senate Majority Leader Frist hit the Granite State next week for events on March 4 and 5, but he'll be back on March 18 for the Merrimack County Lincoln Day Dinner. DiStaso also has Newt Gingrich hawking his book and raising money for the state party on April 18. Last bonus: Karen Hicks working with the Labor Party in the UK. LINK

Frist's hometown paper looks at his upcoming travel, too. LINK

Govs. Vilsack and Huckabee: running buddies. LINK

Lloyd Grove is, well, awesome. He gets David Wade, Norm Kurz, Stephanie Cutter, and Philippe Reines all on the record in one item!!! LINK

Politics:
Last night's launch for Generation Engage at the Kennedy Center boasted an impressive turnout, from former Sen. John Edwards to the loads of bold-faced names you saw in yesterday's Reliable Source column ( LINK ), and inspiring speeches from Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) ("It is OK to be conservative. It is OK to be liberal. It is not OK to be indifferent.") and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, who talked at length about the need for civic engagement and a lifelong commitment to voting and democracy, as well as an organization to promote it. It also included something we'd never seen before at a party for a political group: the mission statement projected onto the walls on each end of the room. A nifty idea, but very odd to see "501(c)3" in lights.

Only in Washington, kiddies, only in Washington.

(Note to Cindy: sue us of you dare!!!)

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the state's law banning same-sex marriage for out-of-state couples. Arguments are scheduled for September. LINK

"The military has spent more than $200 million to recruit and train personnel to replace troops discharged in the last decade for being openly gay, a new Congressional study has found," the New York Times reports. LINK

The Seattle Times' David Postman and Jonathan Martin report that despite the claims of Dino Rossi and Washington state Republicans that they went through a rigorous process to identify more than 1,000 felons they say voted in November, they're not giving up the names. LINK