The Note: You Would Cry Too If It Happened to You

— -- WASHINGTON, April 13

NEWS SUMMARY
Who will the American people be rooting for when Tom DeLay chats up the Capitol Hill press corps today and what is the Elephant/Donkey environment in which the session will take place?

We are too busy pulling old, nasty lint from The Note navel to answer the first question LINK, but as for the second:

Republican problems: the quiet ways in which party sources of standing are "privately" aiding and abetting reporters' desire to frame the DeLay story as drip-drip-drip; Sen./Dr./Leader Frist's inability to control the outcome of the filibuster fight; Tony Blankley's professed desire to protect "the manliness of the Republicans" (LINK); wrong track poll data; and the legislative dances of immigration and Social Security.

Democratic problems: the inability of party elected officials and operatives to stop talking openly about their anti-Republican strategies (down to the meta-nitty-gritty level of tactics!!); being forced to read extraordinarily misguided and wild-eyed advice from even smart columnists about what the party should do (See insane views of David Ignatius in today's Washington Post LINK); and playing weak defense on pretty much everything, with an inability to "win" on even the estate tax repeal.

More Republican problems (or are they?): the untouchable, 800-pound-gorilla status of Sen. John McCain; the White House's latent ability on any given day to pull a Lott on Tom DeLay; and Iraq.

More Democratic problems (or are they?): Bill Clinton's capacity to draw a crowd; Gov./Chair/Dr. Dean's surprisingly low national profile; the confusion between the two Ann(e) Lewises; and the illusions of unity, top-level competence, and an agenda that has come from the Social Security wars.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay holds what we imagine will be a very crowded pen-and-pad-only briefing at 1:55 pm ET, as House allies step up (again and more) efforts to defend him.

How much of the defending will be on the merits -- and how much on talking points and pushback -- remains TBD.

Best development so far this news cycle for DeLay: Cragg Hines suggests he might survive.

Second best development so far this news cycle for DeLay: The liberal, DeLay-hating press didn't run wild with Newt Gingrich's CBS comments. (See: some of you don't even know about said comments . . . )

Worst development so far this news cycle for DeLay: David Rogers is on the case.

Second worst development so far this news cycle for DeLay: The prominence of Sen. Lott as a defender. (Sorry, but we adjudge that to be true, Ron Bonjean.)

President Bush had breakfast with DeLay and congressional leaders this morning. We await a read-out.

At 10:45 am ET, he has an Oval Office photo op with the President's Cup team captains, then hangs with the New England Patriots in the Rose Garden at 3:30 pm ET. Sen. Kerry plans to join in the Pats celebration.

At 10:45 am ET, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will hold a news conference accusing congressional Republicans of abusing their power.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee at 1:30 pm ET.

Former President Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan hold a press conference at the UN Secretariat at 12:30 pm ET to talk about Clinton's work as special envoy on tsunami recovery efforts.

Treasury Secretary John Snow and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson testify before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 am ET.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meets at 9:15 am ET to vote on the nomination of Stephen Johnson to be EPA Administrator.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee meets at 10:00 am ET to vote on the nomination of Lester Crawford to be FDA Commissioner.

Former Sen. John Edwards delivers a speech entitled "Restoring the American Dream" at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at 6:00 pm ET.

Both media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich address the American Society of Newspaper Editors annual convention in Washington, DC -- Murdoch at 12:30 pm ET, Gingrich at 3:30 pm ET.

At 5:00 pm ET, Matt Cooper of Time Magazine, Judith Miller of the New York Times, and others, hold a panel discussion on threats to press freedom in the U.S., sponsored by the Washington College of Law and the Inter-American Press Association.

At 7:00 pm ET, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) delivers the keynote address to the Asia Society dinner in Washington, DC.

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman is in California today and tomorrow for money events.

Mr. Jefferson, happy 262nd birthday.

Leader DeLay:
The Washington Post's Mike Allen reports that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay took his "hunker down and lash out" strategy to his colleagues on the other side of the Capitol, urging Republican Senators to be patient and stick with him while he deals with the accusations levelled against him. Sources told Allen that DeLay also relayed some talking points -- particularly that the questions about his dealings with lobbyists are part of the Democratic agenda. LINK

Brilliant move: DeLay casting Santorum's "This Week" remarks as supportive.

The House ethics committee meets today (in what most believe will be a vain attempt to organize), and Democratic congressional leaders are planning a press conference accusing Republicans of abuse of power.

The Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckman reports that DeLay told Senate Republicans "he was the victim of a Democratic conspiracy, blaming liberal billionaire George Soros and the grass-roots group MoveOn.org," and gets Sens. Chafee and Graham to talk about the meeting and DeLay's comments on the record. LINK

Rick Klein of the Boston Globe writes that Democrats who have been quiet are coming out to comment on DeLay's reputation and credibility -- and walking right into the Republican talking points. LINK

"Senator Trent Lott, said yesterday that the attacks are predictable attempts to bring down a ''conservative Republican and strong leader from the South." The Democrats ''will try to demonize him, but they need to be careful because that is a two-edged sword."

More on DeLay's media plan. LINK

The Hill's Jonathan Kaplan and Patrick O'Connor have details about Leader DeLay's new war room: "DeLay Chief of Staff Tim Berry, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Flynn, Communications Director Dan Allen, general counsel Elliot Berkes and policy adviser Brett Shogren -- holds a 7:30 a.m. conference call with aides from the Speaker's office, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) to discuss daily media coverage of DeLay. His aides then hold their own meeting in DeLay's first-floor Capitol office to discuss message strategy for the day." LINK

And House Republicans start rolling out their agenda today to try to change the subject to energy, bankruptcy, and the estate tax today, The Hill's Patrick O'Connor reports. LINK

The Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet writes that the drip, drip, drip could be eroding DeLay's chances of becoming Speaker. LINK

Reps. Joel Hefley (R-PA) and Alan Mollohan (D-WV), the chairman and ranking Democrat, respectively, on the House ethics committee in the 108th Congress, pen a Washington Post op-ed arguing that the new ethics rules prevent a "credible, effective ethics process" and explaining the measure they're co-sponsoring to repeal them. LINK

The Houston Chronicle's Michael Hedges and Bennett Roth dig further into DeLay's relationship with Jack Abramoff. LINK

The Wall Street Journal's David Rogers has an extended take-out of the National Center for Public Policy Research, which paid for two trips taken by Tom DeLay and which is at the center of the case against lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Rogers doesn't break any new ground here, aside from getting the center's press-shy director to talk to him, but does provide a workable overview of the center's activities and its role in this confusing gestalt of a controversy.

Super talent Ben Smith of the New York Observer writes about, natch, the New York angle to DeLay's travels and travails. LINK

Judicial nominations:
The New York Times' Carl Hulse reports that the Senate Majority Leader might resort to the nuclear/constitutional option earlier than next month (Bob Stevenson says it's possible...), Notes the direct criticism Justice Kennedy got yesterday in a House hearing, and concludes with the point that the outside pressure from interest groups on Reid and Frist might make it more difficult to compromise. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Maura Reynolds writes that Democrats are getting close in wooing six Republican senators to side with them against changing the rules to limit filibusters on judicial nominees -- and the pressure's on Sens. Snowe (R-ME), Collins (R-ME), Warner (R-VA), and Hagel (R-NE) -- and others. LINK

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) told The Hill's Alexander Bolton that Democrats' blocking confirmation votes on controversial judges has put him and his fellow centrists in a tough spot -- which is why he's working on the compromise that Sen. Lott said he'd support, but thinks it's unlikely that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid would go along. LINK

"Nelson has suggested to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and his own party's leadership a proposal that would automatically discharge judicial nominees from the Judiciary Committee after a certain amount of time if the panel failed to vote on them. Under Nelson's proposal, after another set period any senator could then call nominees discharged from committee to the floor for a confirmation vote. The proposal would be implemented as a permanent change to Senate rules."

The Los Angeles Times' Henry Weinstein reports that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) is pushing for an investigation of whether William G. Myers III lied to a Senate panel when he said he didn't know the terms of a deal between the Department of the Interior and a Wyoming rancher until months later. LINK

Bush agenda:
The Washington Post's Jim VandeHei wraps President Bush's visit yesterday to Fort Hood, with the speech commemorating the two-year anniversary of Baghdad's liberation also serving as a signal to people in Iran, Lebanon, and other countries in the region to work toward free elections. LINK

"Since the original rationales for the invasion of Iraq have been undermined -- with the president's own commission recently concluding that the intelligence community was misled in believing that Saddam Hussein possessed biological, chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction -- Bush has attempted to portray the war as the front line for the international war against terrorism," writes the Chicago Tribune's Mark Silva. LINK

Sen. Frist (and Sen. Cornyn and Sen. Kyl) favor deferring debate over immigration to its own, comprehensive bill, which is a victory of sorts for President Bush's guest worker program in the Senate but sets up a confrontation with what will probably be a House-passed military supplemental with immigration provisions, says the New York Times. LINK

The New York Times' Greg Winter writes up another evaluative study of No Child Left Behind, which we'll leave to education experts to decipher. LINK

The Washington Post's John Mintz outlines the debate coming this week in both the House and Senate committees devoted to homeland security over how funds for states and cities should be allotted and spent. LINK

In a New York Times op-ed, John Deutch and William Perry blasts proposed cuts in the Pentagon's research budget. LINK

Iraq:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Iraq yesterday urged the government's new leaders not to purge Iraqi security forces of former enemies, lest the new military and police be left too short-handed to deal with the insurgency, reports the Washington Post's Ellen Knickmeyer. LINK

Rumsfeld is in Afghanistan today. LINK

Bolton:
The Washington Post's Dafna Linzer and Chuck Babington look at the tough talk brought to the table yesterday by the State Department's former head of intelligence during the confirmation hearing of John Bolton to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Carl W. Ford Jr. called Bolton a "bully" who intimidated analysts and hurt the agency's credibility, opening up the door for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to talk further about Bolton's temperament. LINK

The New York Times' Steven Weisman writes of Ford's testimony, " [It] offered an extraordinary public glimpse into the long-running and raw intelligence wars in the Bush administration, pitting hawks like Mr. Bolton, a protégé of Vice President Dick Cheney, against more circumspect intelligence operatives at the State Department who, among other differences, cast doubt on some prewar claims about Iraq." LINK

He adds: "Mr. Ford's gruff, direct and sometimes off-color manner took some senators aback, as when he described Mr. Bolton's dressing-down of Mr. Westermann by saying that 'he reamed him a new one.'"

The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg on how Sens. Kerry and Lugar allegedly were less than totally careful when discussing a CIA agent's identity. LINK

But a Google search (try it yourself!) of the agent's name should put to rest the allegations that they revealed something that wasn't in the public domain.

The Los Angeles Times' Sonni Efron Notes, however, that Ford's testimony doesn't seem to have moved votes against Bolton. LINK

Reports ABC News' Linda Douglass: "Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is 'still where he was' in considering the nomination of U.N. Ambassador nominee John Bolton, says Chafee's spokesman."

". . . The spokesman said Chafee's mind was not changed by Tuesday's testimony from former State Dept Intelligence Chief Card Ford, who called Bolton a 'screamer' who was 'a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy' who abused subordinates. But Chafee is now reviewing transcripts of interviews with two other former Bolton colleagues."

"The spokesman emphasized that Chafee has 'not made a commitment either way' on how he is going to vote."

"If Chafee votes against Bolton in the Foreign Relations Committee, that will produce a 9-9 tie, which would make it procedurally difficult to bring Bolton's nomination to the Senate floor."

" Kerry has e-mailed Rhode Islanders, urging them to call Chafee and tell him to vote no. The vote is SUPPOSED to be held Thursday but could be delayed."

Correction: Yesterday we unfortunately got our Weismans mixed up -- the author of the New York Times stories on the Bolton hearings is Steven R. Weisman. We regret the error.

Social Security:
Reports Jane Norman in the Des Moines Register: "Automated calls have been coming into elderly Iowans' homes, apparently instructing them to press a couple of buttons on their phone to get connected to Republican Sen. Charles Grassley and protest the addition of personal accounts to Social Security." LINK

"But when the confused Iowans wind up speaking with Grassley's office in Washington, they're often angry and feel harassed because they think the senator is the one who has called them, Grassley's aides say."

From a memo released today by Steve Moore and Larry Hunter of the Free Enterprise Fund:

"President Bush has scored a few impressive legislative victories so far this year -- most notably the class action lawsuit reform and the revision in the bankruptcy laws to protect creditors. But on the two major domestic policy issues, tax cuts and Social Security reform, the GOP finds itself in the midst of a Spring (sic) batting slump."

"We believe that the Republicans will be jolted out of their slump only if conservatives in the House assert control over the economic agenda in a more aggressive fashion. For example, on Social Security, House Republicans must take tax hikes off the table by announcing that no bill with higher payroll taxes on the middle class will be reported out of conference. Higher taxes are a deal breaker on Social Security. Period."

"Next, Republicans in the House must rescue the Social Security debate from the clutches of the bean counters who have bewitched the administration and most moderate Senate Republicans into obsessing over solvency. The conservatives, led by emerging stars like Mike Pence of Indiana and Jeff Flake of Arizona should do this by embracing the Ryan/Sununu bill as THE Republican plan."

Congress:
Gas prices and energy alternatives are high on Congress' list of priorities, writes the Washington Post's Justin Blum, who runs through the details of the energy measures being considered in both the House and the Senate. LINK

Republicans have handed Democrats a golden opportunity to re-gain their street cred, writes the Washington Post's David Ignatius (although the "Fantasyland" dateline is missing for some reason) -- now they just need to take that opportunity by seriously addressing the U.S. economy and learning not to engage in the "self-righteous scolding" that both sides tend toward when in the majority. Ignatius writes that his "imaginary Democrats" would come up with a plan to deal with the trade and budget deficits and focus on increasing the supply and lowering the demand for energy, not to mention offer plans to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent for the long haul. LINK

Sen. Evan Bayh threatened to block the confirmation of Rep. Rob Portman (R-OH) for U.S. trade representative unless the Senate considers his bill to make it easier for U.S. firms to pursue trade complaints against China, the Los Angeles Times' Evelyn Iritani reports.LINK

Death and taxes:
The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman examines the success of the foes of estate taxes, who are will claim victory again today if the vote by the House repeals them as expected -- and the politicking of principle over economics that got them there. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Janet Hook paints an uncertain picture of whether or not Republicans and Democrats can compromise to allow the estate tax to remain on only very large estates and get it through the Senate. LINK

AP's Will Lester writes that according to the new AP-Ipsos poll, most Americans think the tax system is too complicated anyway. LINK

Negroponte:
The Washington Post's Dana Priest and Walter Pincus report that DNI nominee John Negroponte promised yesterday to challenge political leaders "who mischaracterized intelligence in public statements" and to implement some changes, including "formalized devil's advocacy to avoid groupthink" and assuring more cooperation among intelligence agencies. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Greg Miller writes that it's all over but the votin' on Negroponte's confirmation. LINK

Economy:
The Washington Post's Paul Blustein looks at the all-time high U.S. trade deficit of $61 billion reported by the Commerce Department yesterday, and the ongoing concerns that American exports aren't flowing as well as expected after the decline of the dollar. LINK

The politics of same-sex marriage:
Yvonne Abraham and Janette Neuwahl of The Boston Globe write about a twist in the Massachusetts same-sex marriage legislation process. This week two prison inmates asked to be married. The prison said "no" and Governor Mitt Romney agreed. Some pro marriage activists are skeptical of the timing of the news: LINK

''It seems likely that supporters of Governor Romney are trying to diminish the validity of our relationships by connecting us to sexual predators... ''They are trying to change the image of the gay couples who have married or plan to, from the very traditional and conservative people they are, to the image of sexual predators. It's clever, very clever. It's an old trick that used to be used against the gay community all the time."

Wal-Mart:
Wal-Mart's Acres for America campaign gets a favorable write-up in the New York Times, and at least one Maine conservationist cited is positively ecstatic. LINK

The United Food and Commercial Workers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board late Tuesday alleging that Wal-Mart engaged in unfair labor practices, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The city of Nashua will give Wal-Mart another chance to make its case for a superstore in their fair city. If only for the sake of an interesting presidential primary issue, let's hope this plays out for a while! LINK

2008: Republicans:
Gov. Romney has a new radio campaign that is part of what seem see as a new "make nice to Democrats" push, which has the speculators speculating again. LINK

New Yorkers seem to want Rudy Giuliani to run for president more than they want him to run against Sen. Clinton in 2006, according to a Marist poll. LINK

2008: Democrats:
This Thursday, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner will participate in a conference on health at the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington. Jackie Judd, a Kaiser vice president who once upon a time was an award-winning ABC News correspondent, will interview Warner for thirty minutes followed by another half hour of questions.

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) will speak at the Radio and Television News Directors Association's convention in Las Vegas April 20.

2006:
Another 11th-hour budget compromise in Albany, with legislators hazy on the details of what they'll be voting on and key parts of what had been presented to the public changed in a closed door meeting. LINK

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board takes Eliot Spitzer to task for calling Hank Greenberg's actions "fraud" but failing to indict him.

2005:
The Los Angeles Times' Michael Finnegan writes up his paper's latest poll, which shows Antonio Villaraigosa with a whopping 18-point lead over incumbent mayor James Hahn, and Hahn as yet unsuccessful in rebuilding the alliance of whites in the San Fernando Valley and blacks in South Los Angeles that elected him in 2001. If the election were held today, Villaraigosa would beat Hahn, 53 percent to 35 percent, with 12 percent undecided, Finnegan reports. LINK

Writes Miriam Jordan in the Wall Street Journal: "The black-Latino coalition is emerging after decades of tension and mistrust between the two communities. It reflects both disappointment with Mr. Hahn among African-Americans, as well as a recognition on both sides of the long-term logic of a rapprochement."

The New York Times' Michael Slackman writes on how the worst gaffe in the world is the one that confirms what voters fear about a candidate the most -- in Freddy Ferrer's world, it's that he changes his tune to fit his audience. LINK

And/but H. Carl McCall is expected to endorse Freddy today, per the Times. LINK

Politics:
The New York Times' Randall Archibold has the best summary of Rev. Al Sharpton's extensive response to the Philly News article on an apparent FBI investigation into his campaign finance practices. LINK

"'My treasurer filed every check,' he said, going on to play down but not rule out the possibility that some donations could have been logged in error. 'If we didn't file a check it was because we didn't have the background" required, like the occupation and address of the donor.'"

AP picks up Rev. Sharpton's press conference yesterday. LINK

The Post's write-up Notes that the Post "stands by its story." LINK

Roll Call's Chris Cillizza writes that MoveOn isn't the little maverick-organization-that-could anymore, but has grown into a group with 3 million members courted by Democrats.

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