The Note

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 7—
, 2003 -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

—8:00 am: Senator John Edwards has breakfast with Dover area voters, Dover, N.H.—8:30 am: Governor Howard Dean addresses students at Central High School, Manchester, N.H.—9:00 am: House convenes for legislative business—9:30 am: General Wesley Clark holds a "Conversations with Clark" meeting at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta—9:30 am: Senate convenes for legislative business—10:00 am: Senator John Kerry holds an energy press event, Manchester, N.H.—11:30 am: Senator Kerry meets with Democratic activists, Hudson, N.H.—11:30 am: Senator Edwards holds a town hall meeting, Nashua, N.H.—12:05 pm: President Bush makes remarks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser luncheon, Winston-Salem, N.C.—1:00 pm: General Clark holds a news conference with former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges, Columbia, S.C.-—1:30 pm: Vice President Cheney makes remarks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser luncheon, Austin—1:35 pm: President Bush makes remarks on jobs and the economy at Forsyth Technical Community College, Winston-Salem, N.C.—2:15 pm: Reverend Al Sharpton speaks at Bowie State University, Bowie, Md.—5:00 pm: Reverend Sharpton speaks at Morgan State University, Baltimore—5:00 pm: Senator Kerry visits Martha's Exchange, Nashua, N.H.—6:00 pm: Congressman Dennis Kucinich attends a campaign rally at the University of Washington, Seattle—6:15 pm: Senator Kerry attends a house party, Nashua, N.H.—7:00 pm: Congressman Dennis Kucinich holds a forum at the University of Washington, Seattle—7:30 pm: Vice President Cheney makes remarks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser dinner, Houston

NEWS SUMMARY

We have said for several months the same things over and over in this space about Howard Dean, but we've come to learn that there is a certain type of person who tells us how much they LOVE The Note, how they read it every day, how they can't live without it, but, well, then it turns out that they don't actually read it all that regularly.

(Time out Note to Washington insiders: make sure you read our final section today for a Note bonus exclusive you won't see anywhere else! Now, back to Howard Dean … .)

So, on this Day After the SEIU/AFSCME news, when Dean's frontrunning status has hardened even more, let's review those things that we have suggested are the truths about Howard Dean, the sundae on which the labor cherries are going to be placed next week:

1. Dean will raise more money in the year before the election than anyone else seeking the Democratic nomination, and that historically in the modern era is (with one exception) the iron-clad predictor of who wins in both parties.

2. Beyond money, this year Dean has dominated in message and media, two other fabu things to have.

3. None of the other candidates can overtake Dean in the fourth quarter — they can theoretically do damage to him (although, outside damage with the Chattering Class, we doubt that too), but they can't cripple him. There just aren't enough people paying attention yet.

4. What doesn't kill Howard Dean only makes him stronger.

5. Fair or unfair, the media has not held Dean to the same standards as the other major candidates. Wes Clark's entry into the race sucked up a lot of publicity and took the spotlight off of Dean at the one moment when critical mass was being reached.

6. At the same time, some of Dean's explanations for his alleged inconsistencies and flip flops are actually pretty convincing.

7. Dean's core supporters don't care about Sunday show gaffes and pratfalls, New York Times editorials, or what Terry McAuliffe or the Dingells think.

8. People actually listen to Dean talk at his events.

9. Dean's willingness to cede control to volunteers in the states for planning events and executing political activities is an act of confidence and strength, and has directly resulted in his drawing unprecedentedly large crowds and building genuine grassroots support.

10. Most Washington Democrats who are scared out of their wits about Howard Dean as their nominee have never been to a Dean event and don't have a genuine understanding of WHY he has succeeded this year.

11. Skipping the matching funds is a general election strategy, not a strategy for winning the nomination.

12. Governors do well as presidential candidates, and the members of Congress who are running against Dean still for the most part haven't learned not to talk like they are from Washington ("We CAN get Breaux-Gilchrest out of conference!!!! We can DO it!!!! And then passed by both chambers!!!"). Dean talks like a real person, and voters like that.

13. Dean is no newcomer to national politics; his work on the NGA and DGA (where he recruited ruthlessly) gives him as much applicable experience as almost anyone else running.

14. Howard Dean doesn't have cable TV.

15. Howard Dean has not developed a general-election winning message on the economy — yet.

16. Dean can theoretically win a general election race against President Bush, but not without growing significantly as a candidate and a person, including and especially in his rhetorical and symbolic relationship to faith, family, freedom, and national security.

17. All of the other five major candidates think they can and should be in the end the Dean Alternative, and each has enough hold on key state and national support that they have no incentive or desire to get out of the race and consolidate beyond one of the others. The pro-war candidates in particular are splitting a piece of the pie that is large, but it is still a SPLIT piece.

18. The people who work for DeanforAmerica have FUN, from the interns in Iowa to the senior stuff; the staffs for the other campaigns don't always remember to do that.

Governor Dean addresses students at Central High School in New Hampshire. He campaigns in Vermont and Maine on Saturday. He will announce the results of the campaign's online poll regarding whether to accept federal matching funds on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 pm ET in Burlington, Vermont. He has no public events on Sunday.

On the other side of the aisle, the big news is the economy, and today's employment numbers.

GOP House foot soldiers in their one-minutes on the floor this morning trumpeted the news, although some see the numbers as "treading water."

The Note has the patience to wait until the last quarter of this year and the first of next before reaching any grand political conclusions.

Still, the absence of "bad" makes for "good," and this morning's jobs numbers bring good news for the president, ABC News' Ramona Schindelheim reports.

The employment rate jumped in October, as 126,000 non-farm payroll jobs were added to the economy. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the gains were felt primarily in the service industry, though manufacturing jobs continued to slide and the unemployment rate remained at 6.0%.

Schindelheim Notes that the report shows three consecutive months of job growth. It's heading in the right direction, but it is a long row to hoe. The gain, combined with the 125,000 jobs added in September, does little to alleviate the jobs crises, though all added jobs are positive.

According to economists, job creation of 150,000 to 200,000 a month for several months would be treading water. The economy needs to add 200,000 to 350,000 a month for several months to put a dent in the joblessness. Total employment is down 2,698,000 since the recession began in March 2001.

More Schindelheim: Meanwhile, unemployment claims dropped last week to a 34-month low of 348,000, though October brought a jump of 125% jump in layoff announcements, to 171,874. The layoff number marked the first time in six months that the number topped 100,000.

President Bush heads to Winston-Salem, N.C., today for a fundraiser and a speech about jobs and the economy.

One of the standards that Bill Clinton set that George Bush hasn't met is explaining to the nation his view of the role of the federal government in creating a climate in which good jobs at good wages with good benefits will be created in America, and today the president takes a crack at that.

Bumiller et al. will also be watching to see if he mentions the latest American casualties.

The president will travel to Camp David tonight.

Vice President Cheney attends a pair of Texas fundraisers today.

Senator Kerry campaigns in New Hampshire today and Saturday, and chats online this afternoon. He's in Boston with no public events on Sunday.

Congressman Gephardt has no public events today. He campaigns in St. Louis on Saturday

General Clark campaigns in Georgia and South Carolina today, where he will get the key endorsement of former Governor Hodges. He's in Little Rock with no public events on Saturday. He campaigns in Missouri and Colorado on Sunday.

Senator Edwards campaigns in New Hampshire today and tomorrow, and chats online this morning. He campaigns in North Carolina on Sunday.

Senator Lieberman is in D.C. today with no public events. He heads home to Connecticut tonight and he'll be there Saturday with no public events. He campaigns in New Hampshire on Sunday.

Congressman Kucinich campaigns in Seattle today. He campaigns in California over the weekend.

Reverend Sharpton campaigns in Baltimore today. He's in New York City on Saturday and in Delaware and D.C. on Sunday.

Ambassador Moseley Braun is in Chicago with no public events announced for today or the rest of the weekend.

ABC News Vote 2004: The Invisible Primary: House of LaborSo what is the most press-friendly, equidistant point between 1313 and 1625 L Streets?

(We're not sure, but give us time.)

In any case, this is where we predict folks will be come next Wednesday when SEIU and AFSCME leaders gather to bury the hatchet and back Howard Dean.

It was quite the day Thursday as reporters gathered to hear SEIU endorse Dean instead were handed an Andy Stern statement with AFSCME's Gerry McEntee mentioned.

In any case, don't you worry, we understand just how big this Union really is for Howard Dean. And Dick Gephardt. And John Kerry. And Wesley Clark.

Until recently, as we told our gentle readers yesterday, The General had been the fav for the AFSCME hoo-hah. But no longer. Seems the Power Brokers That Be have decided to Organize. Who better than the service sector labor unions to present a united front?!

As for yesterday's vote, a source inside the SEIU exec board meeting tells ABC News' Gayle Tzemach that the vote was "nearly unanimous." As for whether the board was behind the decision favoring delay of game 'til next week, "we were supportive," said the source, "we want to speak with a bigger voice."

(We are told one Mr. Stern gave the Governor that nice purple jacket with leather sleeves. And we are waiting on our own … six that say "The Note" would be fine … )

As for the flag flap, this source says the issue did indeed come up. "He discussed frankly with us his comments" and made it clear he "knew he could have used better words" and the "real point is how to engage the Southern votes." Said the source, "People are excited, this is a great opportunity."

We are seeing, indeed, the split between the old AFL and the CIO, as the Gephardt/Dean choice now splits the House of Labor.

Dean:AP's Ron Fournier writes up the SEIU/AFSCME decision and must-reads his way through Dean's current week and grown strength. LINK

So do the Chicago Tribune's Tackett and Zeleny. LINK

And the Des Moines Register 's Jane Norman. LINK

And USA Today 's Jill Lawrence. LINK

The New York Times ' Jodi Wilgoren depicts the strange SEIU press conference yesterday. LINK

"But the deal made for an awkward nonannouncement announcement Thursday afternoon, as Mr. Stern and two dozen S.E.I.U. leaders swathed Dr. Dean in a purple-and-black S.E.I.U. jacket embroidered with his name and sang his praise, but erupted in giggles rather than be direct about what they had done."

Ms. Wilgoren also has candidate Kerry trying a new and more aggressive strategy as well as a "disappointed" Steve Murphy.

Gerstenzang and Barabak of the Los Angeles Times get the so far uncommitted Eric Hauser to succinctly put the SEIU and AFSCME endorsements in their proper context. LINK

"' … the institutional players in the Democratic Party think he can win, or they wouldn't have done this. Secondly, it's like a breath of fresh air for him after the Confederate flag [controversy]. He must feel like a new man.'"

"Hauser added that in a Democratic race with nine candidates, 'if you can turn out an extra 10%, that can be a huge difference.'"

The Wall Street Journal 's Jake Schlesinger adds his take to the spate of Dean-SEIU stories, and throws in a look at service unions and Dick Gephardt:

"The leading service unions, however, have been cool to Mr. Gephardt, skeptical of his ability to defeat President Bush. And for them, trade is less a priority than expanding access to health care. Mr. Dean — who practiced medicine before entering politics — made universal health care the initial focus of his campaign, long before his opposition to the Iraq war converted him from dark horse to front-runner."

The Washington Post 's Dan Balz and Ed Walsh report, "The prospect that Dean will win both endorsements came on a day when one of his leading rivals, [Kerry], sharply criticized the former governor, questioning his convictions and saying Dean is "a political personality and belief system still in the making." LINK

The Boston Globe 's Mary Leonard and Kevin Galvin call the endorsement "a campaign coup for Dean, who once was considered a longshot in the race." LINK

From ABC News' Dean campaign reporter Marc Ambinder:

Leave it to Howard Dean to beat expectations by NOT getting an official endorsement.

The unnervingly unusual series of events — morning show hits to talk about, mostly, the Confederate flag, with a joyous (and unwitting) celebration in Burlington, Vermont at 2:00 p.m. ET ("We got it, it being something they would soon learn was sweeter than cherry pie"), a purple-jacketed Dean at a press conference with Andrew Stern, a giggling and winking affair on stage, a paper statement announcing a delay, the first wave of confused television reports, the settling reality that Dean had helped to align SEIU and AFSCME in the same corner — well, now you know why Joe Trippi needs all that caffeine.

The secret was closely held. High-ranking Dean aides did not find out until literally moments before Stern announced it to the world, and there were top SEIU officials who were informed only within the past 24 hours.

It was not a done deal until early this week. Dean met Monday, according to people familiar with the matter, with members of Iowa's AFSCME chapter, and his appearance essentially sealed the deal with members of that union. It was around then that people close to AFSCME's president, Gerry McEntee, began to sense that Dean had turned the final corner, destined to be the favorite.

Sources said McEntee and Stern spoke many times over the past few weeks, their relationship growing warmer with each conversation. They agreed to work through many of their differences, though the plan to try and do a joint endorsement wasn't hatched until recently.

It's not totally official: AFSCME's board hasn't voted yet and Dean was coy last night: "Obviously, we hope we get their endorsement," he said as his mouth crept into a smile. "We hope. On Wednesday, we'll found out."

Read more from the trail with Dean on abcnews.com: LINK

And while he's on a roll … ..

The New York Times editorial board writes it is "sadly understandable" that Howard Dean would consider bowing out of the campaign finance system due to the president's huge fundraising advantage. However, the Times asks Dr. Dean to commit to not spending more than $45 million in the primary battle saving all his other funds to go after President Bush should he emerge the nominee. LINK

Back to the flag-waving …

USA Today 's William Welch heads into the South (to Virginia) to hear what people think about Dean's flag remark. LINK

The Washington Post 's Manuel Roig-Franzia goes even farther South (to South Carolina) to do the same. LINK

And the Boston Globe 's Geoffrey Cantrell splits the difference (in North Carolina) to report that Confederate flag sales are up. LINK

The Washington Post 's ed board thinks that Dean "did a good job of self-diagnosis the other day in the aftermath of the flare-up over his remarks on the Confederate flag." LINK

The Boston Globe 's Derrick Z. Jackson gives his take on the flag story, writing, "The Democrats should stop trying to mop the floor with Dean's Confederate flag and grab their opportunity before it is lost." LINK

Charles Krauthammer writes, "Howard Dean wants the white trash vote." LINK

Paul Krugman writes Howard Dean was making the right point about Southern white voters and chastises Dean's opponents for demagoguery. LINK

Dean's remarks on the Confederate flag aren't Democrats' problem, the Wall Street Journal 's editorial board writes. Their problem is that they haven't figured out what they're doing with the South.

Noam Scheiber profiles Joe Trippi in the New Republic, Noting that "Trippi is first and foremost an organizer — a man who has spent much of his career making sure the right number of bodies turn up on Election Day." LINK

The Dean campaign announced in a press release Thursday that "Dr. Sheila McGuire Riggs has endorsed his campaign for President. Dr. Riggs, a native of Holstein Iowa, is the former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party and the former Iowa chair of Senator Bob Graham's presidential campaign."

And on the staffing front …

Senator Kennedy's crack press shop is losing another star foot soldier.

The effervescent Mike Spahn is picking up stakes and moving to the Badger State to direct communications for The Doctor.

Expectations are high, of course, because, as Joe Trippi will tell you, Wisconsin is a "perfect" Dean state.

Nonetheless, to whom much is given, much is expected, and Spahn should be up to it.

Spahn, a University of Michigan alum who also wrote for and edited the Michigan Daily (following Daily alumni such luminaries as Rick Berke, Dan Okrent, and Tom Hayden) has been a Kennedy spokesperson since 2002.

Kerry: The Boston Globe 's Glen Johnson writes, "With Howard Dean off balance after the Confederate flag flap, Senator John F. Kerry launched a broad attack yesterday on the New Hampshire front-runner, accusing him of shifting views on gun control, Social Security, and Medicare policy, as well as campaign finance reform." LINK

Johnson suggests that Governor Shaheen is going to go into Steve Merrill attack dog mode against Dean's record, and that we might be seeing some new (negative?) JFK ads on WMUR soon.

Trailing Dean by 14 points in New Hampshire, Kerry is stepping up his attacks, reports the Union Leader's John DiStaso. LINK

From ABC News' Kerry campaign reporter Ed O'Keefe:

For the second day in a row, Senator Kerry found himself in front of a New Hampshire symbol of justice talking guns and bashing nomination rival Howard Dean.

Speaking outside the Merrimack County Courthouse in Concord, Kerry went on a Jeff Foxworthy-esque riff, seeming to say you might be Governor Dean if …

" … you've changed your position on Social Security and you go on Tim Russert and you say you're not in favor, never were in favor of a 70 year age for retirement and then a week later you have to retract … "

" … you say you never supported cutting Medicare but then it's clear you did support Newt Gingrich's position … "

" … you go to the NAFTA signing, you thought it was that important to be there, that you wanted to be there to support NAFTA, and now you say NAFTA's wrong, etc … "

" … you say only three months ago that you think the Confederate flag is a states' rights issue, won't take a position on where it ought to fly, and then three months later you embrace it and now you say you're against it."

To all of these charges, the Senator offered a new to the Kerry camp but familiar to New Hampshire mantra: "That's not straight talk."

Kerry elaborated, "I think Americans deserve straight talk, I think they ought to know who Howard Dean is. And I think my record against his, I'm prepared to have it judged any day. I think the voters need to know, however, (Dean's candidacy) is a candidacy still in the making. This is a political personality and a belief system still in the making. What do you believe? What do you believe in life? Your political positions say something about what you believe."

And of the Confederate flag quote heard 'round the political world, Kerry did not appear as ready as fellow Senator John Edwards to forgive and forget. In prepared remarks, Kerry said, "It was not an effort to reach out, to have a dialogue about race, that brought this about … it was his effort to justify his appeal to the NRA for support. It was his effort to talk about why he thinks we need to reach out to people with guns. This is not straight talk when you stand up and try to translate your appeal to the NRA into some glorious effort to have a discussion of race relations in America."

Read more from the trail with Kerry on abcnews.com: LINK

The New York Daily News' Helen Kennedy declares, "things look grim for John Kerry these days." LINK

"Once the Democratic Party's solid front-runner to take on President Bush next year, the Massachusetts senator's campaign has taken a dive."

Page Six reports Senator Kerry was "deeply moved" at a screening of a documentary about his boat crew on the Mekong Delta. LINK

Senator Kerry does a live discussion on washingtonpost.com today at 2:00 pm ET. LINK

Gephardt:Congressman Gephardt's name doesn't show up in the major headlines today, but scroll down to the fifth or sixth paragraph of almost any Dean article on the SEIU endorsement and you'll find the part where reporters assess how bad this news is for Gephardt's campaign. Here's a sampler reported by a team of Knight Ridder and AP reporters.

Fifth paragraph: "Gephardt may be hurt even more than Dean is helped by the 1-2 union punch. The veteran congressman has built his career and his presidential campaign on a foundation of loyalty to labor. 'This doesn't necessarily secure the nomination for Dean, but it shoots an arrow into a vital organ of the Gephardt campaign,' said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Iowa." LINK

From ABC News' Gephardt campaign reporter Sally Hawkins:

With news of Dean's SEIU endorsement and the possible collaboration between the SEIU and fellow labor giant AFSCME to back Dean, phones were ringing off the hook at the Gephardt campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C., with reporters looking for statements and digging to gauge just how major a blow this is for Gephardt. The campaign had been enjoying a recent boost in positive media attention but with the SEIU news that all came to a screeching halt.

However, Gephardt campaign manager Steve Murphy spun it for the positive. "This is a bigger blow to Wes Clark than it is for Dick Gephardt," Murphy said. Clark has hoped for an SEIU endorsement since he announced his candidacy, he said, and Kerry, who was reported to be the AFSCME favorite early on in the race, also hoped for their backing. Gephardt wasn't expecting either endorsement, according to Murphy, and they knew nothing of the unions working together on a joint announcement. He said they've long known that the SEIU was courting Dean and "AFSCME endorsed Dukakis in 1988, not Gephardt, and Gerald McEntee has been sending signals all year that he's not going with Dick Gephardt."

The campaign did have some good news Thursday, as Gephardt picked up an endorsement from the 32,000-member Missouri National Education Association.

Read more from the trail with Gephardt on abcnews.com: LINK

Clark:The major papers break-down Clark's Iraq policy speech:

The Washington Post 's Jim VandeHei: LINK

The New York Times ' Ed Wyatt: LINK

The Boston Globe s' Joanna Weiss: LINK

AP'S Nedra Pickler: LINK

During a swing through South Carolina, Clark blasted Bush for asking for a "blank check" for Iraq. LINK

Lee Hendren of The Times and Democrat reports that Clark visited with Harriet Johnson — the mother of one of the 15 American soldiers killed in the helicopter crash over the weekend — before his speech. LINK

Former South Carolina governor Jim Hodges will endorse Clark today, giving him a boost in that state's primary, according to The State's Lee Bandy. LINK

Read more from the trail with Clark on abcnews.com: LINK

Edwards:After attacking Dean for racial insensitivity, Edwards may have found himself living in a glass house, according to some. LINK

The Boston Herald's David Guarino reports that Edwards "scolded rivals running lackluster Iowa and New Hampshire campaigns, vowing not to rely only on key primaries in his native South to make him a contender." LINK

Falling well behind Dean and Kerry in polls, Edwards is in a pitched battle for third place in New Hampshire, writes the Charlotte Observer.LINK

Addressing students in New Hampshire, Edwards lauded smaller schools and closer student-to-teacher ratios. LINK

Senator Edwards does a live discussion on washingtonpost.com today at 10:30 am ET. LINK

Yesterday, Edwards became the second major presidential candidate to file for the New Hampshire primary, according to the News and Observer.LINK

From ABC News' Edwards campaign reporter Gloria Riviera:

"My handwriting is so bad," Senator Edwards said as he signed himself into history, officially filing for the New Hampshire primary Thursday afternoon at the State Capital in Concord. "I agree," his wife, Elizabeth, chimed in. And so it was scrawled into the record books with the personal message, "America works best when it works for all of us — thanks to New Hampshire, John Edwards."

Afterwards the press asked what was working best for him in New Hampshire. Should he be doing better at this point in the campaign? "It takes a long, sustained effort to make this happen," said Edwards in his typical this-comes-as-no-surprise style followed by how pleased he is with the latest polls and endorsements. "My job is to have my message and my candidacy penetrate in these early primary states and that is exactly what is happening."

Read more from the trail with Edwards on abcnews.com: LINK

Lieberman:AP's Ken Thomas reports on Lieberman's Lauderhill visit and his proposal to eliminate Medicare's asset test. LINK

Miami Herald 's Alice McNeal says Lieberman "got a generally warm reception" from the seniors in Lauderhill. LINK

David Lightman of the Hartford Courant has this graph in an article about the Dean union endorsements: "Lieberman has alienated himself from unions because of his avid support of free trade as well as the Iraq war, which is unpopular with many of the rank and file. He also lacks something Dean has: The aura of being a winner." LINK

From ABC News' Lieberman campaign reporter Talesha Reynolds:

First, a bit of reaction from the Lieberman camp on the SEIU endorsement. Lieberman spokesman Jano Cabrera says there is wide support for labor among the field of Democratic candidates, but "they had to make a choice" and they chose Dean. Cabrera acknowledges that union support is a boon but says, "A lot of things help a candidate and one of them is viability." In the end, Cabrera says, Democrats will choose "a Clinton-Gore moderate who puts new ideas on the table." So, "we look forward to their support in the general."

Then we go to the trail.

From the reggae and R&B music poring out of the Sadkin Community Center in Lauderhill Florida, one would have thought a high school dance was taking place. But the room actually held a group of senior citizens — mostly Caribbean and African-American — who were just as concerned about the war in Iraq as obtaining affordable prescription drugs.

The first three questions at yesterday's town hall meeting with Senator Lieberman were about the reconstruction effort.

One woman told Lieberman, "We should never have gone in there. And we should come on out of it. Stop taking Americans money and spending it over there. We need the money over here at home."

Lieberman maintained his position that the U.S. has to finish the job in Iraq. He told the group, "We can do the things we need to do at home and there if we need to by taking back those Bush tax cuts."

Read more from the trail with Lieberman on abcnews.com: LINK

Kucinich:PoliticsNH.com announces today a contest "to find the perfect match for Dennis Kucinich." There's already one entry. LINK

Peter Beinart presents Kucinich as perhaps the only candidate following his own logic when it comes to Iraq: "Opposing Bush's reconstruction plan, and lacking a realistic one of their own, the Democratic candidates are vulnerable to Kucinich's logic. After all, if you don't have a strategy for winning the peace in Iraq, why stay?" LINK

Author Normal Solomon praises Kucinich for keeping the anti-war voice in the race even if people don't think he can win. LINK

The Chicago Tribune's Mark Caro trails Dennis Kucinich from Cleveland to Beverly Hills and back. What does he find? The combative mystic. Idealistic and outraged, Dennis Kucinich deals in dreams and absolutes, not in the pragmatic compromises that might actually get somebody elected president.LINK

From ABC News' Kucinich campaign reporter Melinda Arons:

Kucinich is spinning Dean's flirtation with opting out as proof that under the sheep's clothing of a radical reformer, people will see a wolf just as susceptible to corporate interests as Bush and the other Democratic candidates, with Kucinich left standing as the only true progressive untainted by corporate donations.

In a statement Kucinich said, "Howard Dean has called for the people to take back America. His attempt to kill public financing will take back America — for the corporations … By ending his commitment to public financing, Dean unwittingly supports the worst fears of the American people that there's really no difference between Democrats and Republicans on the most critical issues affecting the very nature of our democracy. We all know that the current campaign finance system is not perfect. But the answer is not to roll back three decades of progress and return to pre-Watergate standards."

The campaign has even put a mock-up of Dean's posters on its homepage saying "Welcome Former Dean Supporters" with the altered tag line of "The Doctor is Out" at the top. (LINK).

Read more from the trail with Kucinich on abcnews.com: LINK

Sharpton:The Sioux City Journal Notes Sharpton's complete absence from Iowa. LINK

From ABC News' Sharpton campaign reporter Beth Loyd:

Yesterday, the Washington Times ran a piece on Sharpton's opposition to the filibuster of President Bush's nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. LINK

Shortly thereafter, Sharpton took some serious heat from various party leaders. Apparently, he didn't really mean what he said. Sharpton's campaign manager, Charles Halloran, explained that the Reverend used the word "filibuster" as a "term of art" rather than Senate procedure vocabulary.

On Wednesday, Sharpton compared the filibuster to a pocket veto and said:

"We've got to stop this monolith in black America because it impedes the freedom of expression for all of us … I don't think she should be opposed because she doesn't come from some assumed club."

Read more from the trail with Sharpton on abcnews.com: LINK

Moseley Braun:From ABC News' Moseley Braun campaign reporter Monica Ackerman:

"Which endorsement is that?" Michael Fitzgerald replied when asked for his opinion on Howard Dean's SEIU endorsement. Talk about raining on Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun's parade. Moseley Braun stood in a small Chicago conference room yesterday while Michael Fitzgerald read his personal endorsement statement in front of four journalists and four of Moseley Braun's campaign staff. Mr. Fitzgerald is the Business Manager of IBEW's local 134.

"Word spreads quickly," Moseley Braun's consultant, Kevin Lampe said in hopes that others will follow Fitzgerald's lead. Fitzgerald is going to head up the "Fitzgerald's for Moseley Braun committee." Ironically the ambassador was beat by a Fitzgerald (not related) when she ran for re-election as Senator in 1998.

Read more from the trail with Moseley Braun on abcnews.com: LINK

Nader:Micah Sifry writes in the Nation that Ralph Nader may soon announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee for 2004. But it seems the thought of another Nader candidacy makes some Greens red in the face. While some favor a Nader run, one prominent Green calls a 2004

Nader run "an ego-centered exercise in futility." LINK

Sifry declares himself a fan of Ralph, but cautions that "another Nader run as a Green or independent without an explicit and binding agreement to concentrate on safe states would be a terrible mistake."

New Hampshire:Write a caption for the Gephardt photo please. LINK

PoliticsNH.com debuts their latest column: Rich Sigel writes about the New Hampshire presidential spending cap. LINK

Manchester dubbed their new Double-A baseball team the New Hampshire Primaries.LINK

Rath: invite us to a game.

Iowa:The Des Moines Register 's Tom Beaumont explains to Iowans the importance of Iowa's caucuses for Democratic candidates, the Iowa Democratic Party, the media, the nation, democracy, history, and, of course, Iowa. LINK

Attention Democratic campaign schedulers: Boone, Iowa is only about 18 miles west of Ames. LINK

ABC News Vote 2004: The Invisible Primary:The Manchester Union-Leader suggests that NPR should use its latest endowment to replace federal funding. LINK

The Wall Street Journal 's Jackie Calmes has all kinds of interesting stuff in today's Washington Wire, including the Democratic on the Homeland Security report, a blind quote on Senator Kerry's "real progress this week," and dimming prospects for Lieberman and Gephardt in … New Hampshire. Don't miss it.

A Zogby poll released yesterday shows Dean at 15% nationally followed by Clark at 10% among likely primary voters. LINK

The politics of national security:The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank and Mike Allen write, "President Bush said yesterday that the United States must commit itself to a decades-long transformation of the Middle East and termed the U.S. occupation of Iraq a turning point in the future of worldwide democracy." LINK

The Washington Post 's Robin Wright (that's right … the WASHINGTON POST 'S ROBIN WRIGHT) writes, "In a speech that redefined the U.S. agenda in the Middle East, President Bush waxed eloquent yesterday about his dream of democracy coexisting with Islam and transforming an important geostrategic region that has defiantly held out against the global tide of political change." LINK

Walter Shapiro thinks that "the most telling clash of strategies Thursday was in the tenor of Bush's own rhetoric throughout the day." LINK

The Washington Post 's David von Drehle writes, "The name is Bush, but the philosophy was pure Reagan." LINK

Von Drehle talks about the speech online today at noon ET. LINK

USA Today 's Judy Keen reports, "Bush shifted the emphasis [Thursday] of his rationale for war with Iraq from the threat of lethal weapons to transforming the Middle East." LINK

The Boston Globe 's Wayne Washington writes, "The president's comments on the Middle East were particularly striking, given the violence in the region and the complex relationships Washington has had with several governments. His harshest criticism was aimed at Syria and Iran." LINK

Knight Ridder's Ron Hutcheson writes, "President Bush withheld comment Monday for the second day on the downing of a U.S. helicopter in Iraq, continuing a White House pattern of ignoring or putting the best face on bad news." LINK

Knight Ridder's Steven Thomma writes that "the Democrats are in a box, eager to rip Bush for sending troops to Iraq without the support of many allies, but unwilling to advocate a withdrawal that they think would leave Iraq in turmoil, U.S. standing damaged abroad and their own political fortunes shaky if they were cast as weak." LINK

Demonstrating he has been out of the Senate for some time now, Bob Kerrey writes in a New York Post op-ed that he is discouraged by the injection of partisan politics into national security matters. LINK

The New York Times reports the White House was feeling the heat of possible subpoenas and offered a compromise to the commission investigating intelligence failures surrounding the September 11 terrorist attacks. LINK

ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:President Bush is not America's biggest fan of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and that is all The Note has to say on that matter today.

USA Today 's Susan Page looks at the options and challenges for the Bush Administration in Iraq, as a new USA Today /CNN/Gallup Poll released yesterday finds that that for the first time, more most Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq. Just 45 percent of those polled said they approved, while 55 percent disapproved and more than six in 10 surveyed said that things have been going badly for the U.S. in Iraq since major fighting ended in the spring.

Good news for the campaign, however — the president's approval numbers held steady at 54%, right where it has been for the last few weeks. LINK

Lynne Cheney attended a BC04 fundraiser in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania where she echoed language her husband has used on the war in Iraq: "The war we are fighting now is not like the Cold War where we could deter and detain," she said. "We are in a war where we must seek out and destroy the enemy."

The luncheon raised about $80,000 for the campaign. LINK

President Bush visits North Carolina today for a fundraiser as his support in the region dwindles among job losses in the manufacturing industry. LINK

The economy:The Wall Street Journal reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan, while giving props to the accelerating economy, indicated that the Fed is unlikely to raise interest rates any time soon. European central banks, however, may be likely to raise their rates in reaction to a rosier global economic picture.

Alan Greenspan doesn't expect to see "rock-bottom" interest rates for very long, reports the New York Times . LINK

"Acknowledging for the first time that the economy has grown at a blistering pace in recent months, Mr. Greenspan gave an optimistic assessment of the prospects for strong growth and a gradual reduction in unemployment."

USA Today 's Sue Kirchhoff reports that Chairman Greenspan "said Thursday that businesses finally appear ready to create much-needed jobs, calling the short-term economic outlook 'relatively optimistic.'" LINK

The Wall Street Journal 's Jon Hilsenrath takes an excellent look at what yesterday's report of productivity gains (8.1% gain in the third quarter) say about economic recovery. Hilsenrath employs (get it?) a variety of adjectives to describe the upturn, including "explosive," "breathtaking," and "astonishing," then lays out the reasons for caution.

Big Casino budget politics:Robert Pear reports Speaker Hastert's stepped up involvement in trying to get a Medicare prescription drug benefit bill out of conference before Congress adjourns later this month. LINK

"In 2004, an election year, the issue will be exploited by ambitious Democratic senators, 'the prancing ponies of politics on the other side of the rotunda that want to be president,' Mr. Hastert said."

The Los Angeles Times' Vicki Kemper looks beyond prescription drugs at what else may be included in a Medicare reform package. LINK

Twenty-three House Republicans are balking at GOP backed business tax cuts, saying they'll reward companies for moving production overseas.LINK

Partial Birth Abortion Act:Following yesterday's decision in Nebraska, a federal judge in New York issued a temporary restraining order blocking the new law from taking effect.LINK

"The decision follows a similar ruling from a federal district judge in Lincoln, Neb., that was the first to bar the law from taking effect. But that order was limited, applying only to the four doctors who brought the lawsuit."

"In contrast, the temporary restraining order signed yesterday may have a sweeping effect because though it, too, applies only to the people who brought the suit, the network has 350 clinics in 47 states. The group says it treats about 700,000 women a year."

The AP reports Bush has pledged to defend the new abortion law against judicial attacks.LINK

Bush Administration strategy/personality:

The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank reports, "The Bush White House, irritated by pesky questions from congressional Democrats about how the administration is using taxpayer money, has developed an efficient solution: It will not entertain any more questions from opposition lawmakers." LINK

California's new governor:"Old news" no more. As he told Tom Brokaw he would, Arnold Schwarzenegger is in the process of hiring an investigative firm to look into the charges of his alleged misconduct with women which emerged just before the October 7 recall election. LINK

The Los Angeles Times, which seems to have some sort of relationship with some of these women, includes some reaction from a couple of them. And make sure you read all the way down to the bottom … you don't want to miss Richie Ross' kicker quote.

Lynda Gledhill of the San Francisco Chronicle explores the Lockyer/Schwarzenegger relationship and can't seem to find a legal expert who thinks the Governor-elect has much of a leg to stand on when claiming his conversations with the Attorney General were covered by privilege. LINK

Playing judicial politics:Janice Rogers Brown clears the Judiciary Committee hurdle and goes on to face a likely filibuster as her nomination moves to the full Senate. LINK

The New York Times has the Janice Rogers Brown vote too and adds the Republican failure to break the Democratic filibuster over appeals court nominee William Pryor, Jr. LINK

"Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked Alabama Attorney General William Pryor from a U.S. Appeals Court seat," writes the AP. They are likely to do the same with Brown.LINK

Politics:In the wake of another Election Day, the Des Moines Register 's ed board wants to see more voting improvements nationwide. LINK

New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer is changing his focus from Wall Street to the EPA. LINK

Congresswoman Katherine Harris discusses the possibility of making a bid for retiring Senator Bob Graham's seat. LINK

Media:There's a new book hitting shelves all over, only to get snapped up by political junkies, which is causing quite a buzz.

Walter Shapiro's "One-Car Caravan" is a veritable who's who of politicos on and around the fringes of current Democratic presidential campaigns and serving as a backdrop to his own stories about time on the trail. While the buzz is strong enough to drive our Googling monkeys to the brink of insanity, it would be stronger if Shapiro had included an index.

Why would Shapiro nix the index in a book choc-a-block full of name dropping? Straight from the introduction, Walter tells all:

"I must explain why, following the model of "What it Takes," I am presenting this book without an index. All of us on the fringes of the political game have stood in book stores riffling through the alphabetized final pages of a new book to see if we are mentioned. This egoistic ritual inspires either the transient joys of relevance or the lasting agonies of rejection. To spare everyone further emotional turmoil, I have dispensed with the editorial feature that has caused more heartbreak than the senior prom."

Shapiro's concern for the index-related anguish of his colleagues is touching, and harkens back to simpler times — like 1989 — when a little book called "The Andy Warhol Diaries" hit the shelves minus an index.

The "Diaries" were 800 pages of New York socialite name-dropping and story telling straight from Warhol. But the release of the book merely led to a crisis in New York high society, whose members had no index they could use for some good natured status boosting. Enter Spy Magazine, which published in that same year a 16-page, intensely laborious insert containing each and every famous, infamous, and unknown mentioned in the mammoth manual — all in a pagination-friendly manner.

We at The Note are siding with Spy Magazine on this one and went ahead and compiled a slightly less laborious work of love (Shapiro's work clocks in at a comparatively slim 215 pages). So now for the first time, ABC's Blake Rasmussen gives you a highly stylized and deeply affected look at who's who in Walter Shapiro's world of politics.

Click below to see if you, your friends, your organization, or your loved ones made the cut.LINK

And more Shapiro: Walter is the featured guest this week on "Here's the Point with Mark Halperin." Think about your favorite Holiday Inn campaign story and tune in.

The show airs this weekend on an ABC News radio station near you. Check local listings.