The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 25—
, 2004 -- TODAY SCHEDULE AS OF 9:00 am (all times ET):
— 8:00 am: Rev. Sharpton visits the Rehoboth Baptist Church, Columbia, S.C.— 8:15 am: Gov. Dean attends an AFSCME breakfast at the Nashua Tara Hotel, Nashua, N.H. — 8:15 am: Sen. and Mrs. Lieberman greet local residents at Pappy's Diner, Manchester, N.H. — 9:00 am: Sens. Kerry, Edwards and Lieberman, and Gen. Wesley Clark appear on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" — 9:00 am: Sen. Kerry appears on "Fox News Sunday" — 9:15 am: AFSCME's Gerald McEntee holds a press conference at the Nashua Tara Hotel, Nashua, N.H. — 9:30 am: Gov. and Mrs. Dean attend a "Women for Dean" event at Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, N.H. — 10:00 am: Sen. and Mrs. Lieberman greet canvassers, Nashua, N.H. — 10:30 am: Sen. Kerry appears on CBS's "Face the Nation" — 10:30 am: Gen. Clark appears on NBC's "Meet the Press" — 11:00 am: Gov. George Pataki and Doro Bush Koch attend a Politics and Eggs breakfast on behalf of President Bush, Bedford, N.H. — 11:00 am: Rev. Sharpton preaches at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, Beaufort, S.C. — 11:30 am: Sen. Kerry canvasses with local supporters, Merrimack, N.H. — 11:30 am: Gen. Clark attends a house party at the home of Ambassador George Bruno, Manchester, N.H. — 11:30 am: Gov. Dean's mother Andree has lunch at the Heritage Heights Retirement Community, Concord, N.H. — 11:30 am: Rep. Kucinich has lunch at the Soda Shop, Laconia, N.H. — 11:45 am: Sen. and Mrs. Lieberman attend a town hall meeting at the American Legion Post 63, Salem, N.H. — 12:00 pm: Sen. Edwards holds a town hall meeting at the Fairgrounds Junior High School, Nashua, N.H. — 12:00 pm: Sens. Edwards and Lieberman, Gov. Pataki and RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie and DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe appear on CNN's "Late Edition" — 12:45 pm: Doro Bush Koch attends a Bush-Cheney '04 rally at Piper's Landing, Stratham, N.H. — 1:00 pm: Gen. Clark attends a rally with former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), Gov. Jim Hodges (D-S.C.) and others at Daniel Webster College, Nashua, N.H. — 1:30 pm: Sen. and Mrs. Lieberman canvas their neighborhood at the Princeton Court Apartments, Manchester, N.H. — 1:30 pm: Rep. Kucinich attends a town hall meeting at Littleton Diner, Littleton, N.H. — 2:00 pm: Sen. Kerry attends a "Rally for America's Future" event with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and fmr. Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) at Nashua High School, Nashua, N.H. — 2:00 pm: Gov. Dean's mother Andree attends a performance of "Mail to the Chief" at Plymouth State University, Plymouth, N.H. — 2:00 pm: Rev. Sharpton attends the opening of his Low Country campaign office, Riglon, S.C. — 2:15 pm: Sen. and Mrs. Lieberman visit TGI Friday's, Manchester, N.H. — 3:00 pm: Gov. Pataki attends a Bush-Cheney '04 rally at Nachos Taqueria, Manchester, N.H. — 3:00 pm: Doro Bush Koch attends a Bush-Cheney '04 rally at the Wright Museum, Wolfeboro, N.H. — 3:00 pm: Sen. Edwards visits the Hullabaloo Coffee Shop, Claremont, N.H. — 3:00 pm: Rev. Sharpton attends a town hall meeting at 1st Euhaw Baptist Church, Jasper, S.C. — 4:00 pm: Gov. Dean, Sen. Lieberman and Rep. Kucinich attend the "Every Woman Counts Forum" presented by ABC News and Lifetime Television, Hanover, N.H. — 4:00 pm: Gen. Clark attends a rally with supporters at New England College, Henniker, N.H. — 5:00 pm: Doro Bush Koch attends a Bush-Cheney '04 rally at the State Republican Party Headquarters, Concord, N.H. — 5:15 pm: Gov. Dean's mother Andree attends a bingo game at the Elks Club, Dover, N.H. — 5:30 pm: Sen. Kerry attends a fire hall chili feed, Hampton, N.H. — 6:45 pm: Sen. and Mrs. Lieberman visit the Ground Round restaurant, Manchester, N.H. — 7:00 pm: Sen. and Mrs. Kerry appear on "60 Minutes"— 7:00 pm: Gov. Dean attends a town hall meeting at Plymouth State University, Plymouth, N.H. — 7:00 pm: Rev. Sharpton attends a town hall meeting at St. Steven AME, Hardeeville, S.C. — 7:30 pm: Sen. Edwards holds a town hall meeting at the Rynborn Restaurant and Blues Club, Keene, N.H. — 7:45 pm: Sen. Kerry attends a chili feed at the Martin Flanagan Community Center, Somersworth, N.H. — 8:00 pm: Sen. Lieberman hosts a town hall meeting at the Blackroom Restaurant Puritan, Manchester, N.H. — 9:00 pm: Rep. Kucinich and the Dave Matthews Band's Tim Reynolds attend a "Festival of Peace" concert at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H.
NEWS SUMMARY
If you foresaw that the challenge to become the Kerry Alternative would be tougher than the challenge to become the Dean Alternative, you are more psychic than Dionne Warwick.
When Dean was riding high, all the other major campaigns could credibly walk the Gang of 500 through a two-step tango about how they could become the nominee.
First, win/place/show in a series of early contests that eliminated all but one of them and Dr. Dean; and, second, having gotten the Birkenstock-wearer in a one-on-one grapple, beat him through the consolidating of the anti-Dean wing of the party and the painting of him as too weak and angry to beat President Bush.
Fearful that Dean would win Iowa and New Hampshire and run the table -- and that they would never get to Steps 1 or 2 -- everyone attacked TFVG.
Now they find themselves trying desperately to figure out how to get into the finals with a man whose late 2003 campaign highlights involved dripping custard and the mispronunciation of the name "Luis" while eating dinner on a conference call.
It would be foolhardy to pre-judge Tuesday's results, but ask a senior Dean, Edwards, Clark, or Lieberman strategist the scenario under which they move on from New Hampshire in a strong position, and the explanation is no more convincing right now than the roadmap David Swanson lays out to get Dennis Kucinich to Boston (and Ralph Nader the Treasury Secretary's job).
Is John Kerry the most popular member of the Democratic caucus? Perhaps not. But consolidating (or even finding) the anti-Kerry wing of the party is tough -- maybe even impossible.
Kerry's greatest strength during the nomination fight has always been the breadth of is support from all the party constituencies -- African Americans, gays, enviros, Hispanics, women, etc. He's got issue positions and a voting record that make him broadly acceptable to Dems as well.
And in what has become the cycle of "It's the electability, stupid," (We know we aren't the very first ones to have written that…..), Kerry has become perceived by the large number of remarkably sophisticated voters as Mr. Electability.
Will Kerry finally have a bad news day today?
He gets nicked in a Cassandra-style Todd Purdum story in the New York Times about his voting record LINK, but he is still in tracking-poll-driven free media heaven; he had a wicked awesome hockey event yesterday; Team Morehouse continues to assemble a Superfriends ensemble of skilled C-G event stagers to keep things humming; and there is some boffo stuff coming today.
"Massachusetts" might mean "Land of Many Kennedys," but "Kerry for President" is starting to mean "Campaign of Many Kennedys." The Note has learned that the son will join the father's side in Nashua today as Congressman Patrick Kennedy takes off his Gephardt togs and signs up in Kerry's army.
And Kerry is doing more than bringing families together -- two friends of Kerry Iowa spokesgal Laura Capps (herself re-deployed to Arizona) have made the dated-Gephardt-now-dating-Kerry switch. You'll find Bill Burton adorably next store to Capps in New Mexico and Kim Molstre in Missouri.
And less inside than all this -- we suspect that the Kerry-Heinz turn on "60 Minutes" tonight will add some extra vigor to the Kerry drive and some money to his fundraising kitty.
But 3 days is apparently an eternity in politics, so: cherchez les femmes voters, cherchez le Boston Globe clip file; cherchez les robo calls; and cherchez la direct mail.
Tired of just one or two presidential contenders in your Sunday show diet? Well get a load of this: today on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, George welcomes John Kerry, John Edwards, Wes Clark, and Joe Lieberman. That's right, all four of them! Find out what they're thinking as they roll into the final two days before the First in the Nation primary.
And while George and the candidates will be nice and toasty on the ABC News' campaign buses, The Note suspects that things will be downright chilly outside.
We are neither meteorologists nor experts on human behavior, but given that the weather forecast for Tuesday currently calls for a 60 percent chance of snow in Manchester and a high of 19 degrees, we expect endless discussion in the next 48 hours of who is helped by this and who is hurt by it.
Check here for all the latest weather news for the state: LINK
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New York Gov. Pataki and Doro Bush Koch are in New Hampshire today campaigning on behalf of President Bush.
Sens. Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman and his wife, Gov. Dean and his wife and mother, Gen. Clark, and Rep. Kucinich are all in New Hampshire today.
Gov. Dean, Sen. Lieberman, and Rep. Kucinich attend ABC News and Lifetime Television's "Every Woman Counts Forum" today at 4:00 pm.
Here's a helpful handy-dandy list of times the Sunday shows are on in Manchester for those of you who might find yourselves there this morning for one reason or another:
10:00 am Fox News Sunday on WFXT channel 1310:00 am CNN's Inside Politics Sunday10:30 am ABC's This Week on WMUR channel 12 10:30 am ABC's This Week on WCVB channel 510:30 am NBC's Meet the Press on WHDH channel 710:30 am CBS's Face the Nation on WBZ channel 412:00 pm CNN's Late Edition
The papers:
The Washington Post's Dan Balz and David Broder write a must-read, saying that the New Hampshire landscape has "shifted quickly and dramatically." LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Ron Brownstein reports that Clark, Edwards and Lieberman "have found that differences they had established against Dean have become irrelevant against Kerry - leaving them scrambling to find ways to stand out on this new political terrain." LINK
The New York Times' Todd Purdum Notes that Kerry's record may be his own worst enemy. LINK
The Union Leader writes up Dean's decision to go after Kerry for both supporting the Iraq war and for opposing the Gulf War. LINK
And their colleague Glen Johnson couples how Dean took shots at both of them. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/25/dean_takes_shot_at_kerry_and_rival_responds/">LINK
And, not to be outdone, the Globe's Pat Healy reports on how Kerry shot back. LINK
The New York Times' Adam Nagourney reports on the campaigns' focus on New Hampshire's independent voters. LINK
The New York Times' Pam Belluck reports that New Hampshire is a state of many characteristics and is always difficult to typecast. LINK
The Boston Globe's Anne Kornblut reports that the focus is shifting in New Hampshire. LINK
The Boston Globe's James Vaznis writes about those fickle Granite State voters. LINK
The Union Leader looks at the display of emotion on the campaign trail. LINK
PoliticsNH.com's James Pindell reports that none of the candidates who addressed last night's "Club 100" Dinner "diverted much from their standard stump speeches." LINK
The Washington Post's Hanna Rosin profiles Pindell! LINK
The Daily Show is flexing some muscle in the New Hampshire primary. LINK
The Keene Sentinel's Steve Sherman writes very insightfully about his town in the Boston Globe. LINK
Newsweek's Howard Fineman writes about how Kerry got to the front of the pack. LINK
Time's Joe Klein writes about why he thinks Kerry is the best candidate on paper. LINK
Newsweek's Thomas looks at how Kerry won the Imus primary and shares his story with the voters. LINK
Newsweek's Michelle Myers writes about why Kerry's message may not be resonating with college kids. LINK
In the latest edition of The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes that "one big reason" for Kerry's surge has been "his ability to convince voters that he's the Democrat with the best record on fighting special interests."
The Boston Globe's Glen Johnson looks at how Kerry is connecting with people. LINK
The New York Times' David Rosenbaum reports on Elmo's move to the front-running campaign. LINK
The New York Times' Rick Lyman profiles the Kerry campaign's favorite Granite Stater: Jeanne Shaheen. LINK
The Los Angeles Times writes up Kerry's hockey performance under the header: "For candidate Kerry, the puck stops in Manchester, NH." LINK
The New York Times' David Halbfinger and Ed Wyatt write up the sniping between Kerry and Clark over being good soldiers. LINK
The Los Angeles Times La Ganga and Slater write up the Kerry-Clark showdown over the veteran vote in New Hampshire. LINK
Wyatt also writes about all the work Clark has put into introducing himself to voters and explaining to them where he's been. LINK
The Boston Globe's Joanna Weiss reports on Clark's dealing with order on the campaign trail. LINK
Newsweek's Evan Thomas and T. Trent Gegax look at the military murmurs about Gen. Clark's character. LINK
The Boston Globe's Raja Mishra looks at Edwards' Southern charm in the North. LINK
From ABC News' Edwards campaign reporter Gloria Riviera:
At Rochester Middle School in eastern New Hampshire, Edwards' overflow room alone held close to 200 hundred people. Edwards first addressed the 300-plus crowd in one room while Elizabeth spoke to the overflow audience on topics like international diplomacy and North Korea. When the senator finished he stepped in after Elizabeth and spoke for 20 minutes more. While his rivals may be used to such sizes in New Hampshire, Edwards' campaign is not. In fact, the first event of the day in Gorham was a vindication of sorts; in early August he attracted just 15 people to a town hall. This January, the number was well over 150.
News from the campaign today includes the announcement that Edwards will spend money and dispatch troops in Missouri. Two top Gephardt staffers on Missouri have been hired (Mike Healy and Julie Gibson) and the candidate will develop a travel and ad strategy for the state. Also, there's a new face on the trail. Actress Glenn Close has endorsed the senator and offered her support out on the trail. Close said she met the Edwards over a year ago and soon after wrote Elizabeth a letter expressing her willingness to do what she could for the campaign. She will spend more time on the trail; today she spent most of her time campaigning with Elizabeth.
The Los Angeles Times' Scott Martelle writes up Edwards' forays into South Carolina. LINK
Speaking of the Palmetto State, Newsweek's Richard Wolffe profiles Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) -- both the man and the political force who's up for grabs now. LINK
Newsweek's Melinda Henneberger writes about the secret to Edwards' success. LINK
The New York Times' Jodi Wilgoren reports that Dean said Iowa "should regulate discussion inside caucus rooms or lose its premier status in the presidential nomination process." LINK
The Boston Globe's Sarah Schweitzer and Brian Mooney examine Dean's Iowa experience and approach to Kerry, respectively. LINK and LINK
The New York Times' Jennifer 8. Lee reports on how the now infamous "Dean Speech" has taken a life of its own on the Internet. LINK
The Boston Globe's Peter Canellos sees no favorable weather for Dean this Tuesday, literally or figuratively. LINK
The Washington Post's Sunday Politics ponders Dean's recent slew of press releases on the Chinese New Year (which just happens to be the Year of the Monkey!!!). LINK
The New York Times' Kat Seelye reports that "a more conciliatory" Gov. Dean has been preserved on 300 hours of videotape taken by a Vermont regional government-access cable channel. LINK
Newsweek's Jonathan Alter extrapolates "The Scream." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4052228/
MoDo thinks the "declawed, de-clenched, de-Deaned Dean" is like the "Oreo cookie without the filling, not sure how to proceed in a race where suddenly everyone was acting so nice, so measured, so blah." LINK
The Washington Post and the New York Times spotlight two new Lieberman ads. LINK and LINK
The Washington Post's Hanna Rosin writes about Lieberman's daily "Cup of Joe" stops. LINK
The Washington Post's Evelyn Nieves reports from the ground in pre-primary Arizona. LINK
The New York Times' Michael Slackman reports that famed "Republican-libertarian" political consultant Roger Stone has been advising Sharpton. LINK
George Will sees a message from the San Francisco mayor's race resonating through the Iowa caucuses and into the Democratic nomination contest. LINK
David Broder discusses contemplates the construction of the Democratic approach to deconstruct the President. LINK
William Safire takes on the origins of Dean's oft-repeated phrase "guns, God, and gays." LINK
The New York Times' Elizabeth Bumiller writes, "Whatever the terminology, Mr. Bush has never before so bluntly told voters that the choice was between him and 'the dangerous illusion' (read Democrats) that the threat had passed." LINK
The Washington Post and the New York Times report on Vice President Cheney's Saturday speech to the World Economic Forum where he called for an international effort to prevent the development of new terrorists. LINK and LINK
Robert Pear reports that President Bush's Health Coverage Tax Credit Program has "gotten off to a slow, sputtering start." LINK
David Kirpatrick of the New York Times reports that some folks at the Conservative Political Action Conference are doubting whether President Bush is conservative enough. LINK
The Los Angeles Times writes up Dennis Kucinich's bus known as the "Democreation Project." LINK
Terry McAuliffe talks primary politics with the New York Times' Matt Bai. LINK
Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times looks at political slips -- past and present. LINK
The New York Times' Amy Harmon looks at whether the web helps or hurts political participation. LINK
The New York Times' John Tierney bemoans his own downplaying last week the "most accurate poll in Iowa." LINK
Glen Justice of the New York Times reports that Amazon.com is making donating to campaigns (except Bush's, which declined to participate) as easy as buying the latest (or all 5!) Harry Potter books. LINK
The Boston Globe's Benjamin Gedan reports on the lingering money issues for Boston's Democratic National convention. LINK