The Note
W A S H I N G T O N July 24—
, 2003 -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):
—10:45 am: President Bush makes remarks on jobs and growth plan, Philadelphia—12:00 pm: Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas meets with House International Relations Committee—12:15 pm: Vice President Cheney addresses the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC—1:00 pm: California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante's press conference to announce the date of the recall, Sacramento—1:00 pm: Reverend Al Sharpton visits the Liberian Mission to the UN—2:00 pm: Press conference on 9/11 Commission Report—2:00 pm: Senator Joe Lieberman unveils a jobs-and-taxes plan in Stratford, Connecticut—4:15 pm: President Bush makes remarks on the economy, Livonia, Michigan—7:30 pm: Congressman Dick Gephardt attends a meet and greet in Greenville, South Carolina—8:05 pm: President Bush attends Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser, Dearborn, Michigan
NEWS SUMMARY
From Alexandra Pelosi's "Journey's with George," to HBO's upcoming "K Street," to "The Real World Paris," the public seems to have an insatiable desire to see "behind the scenes" of political life.
Or, at least, that is what the producers and editors of political journalism and entertainment believe.
On the surface, The Note has enough to cover that is right out there in the open today — Bush's critical Pennsylvania swing; the Gray "Bengal Tiger" Davis recall; Vice President Cheney's big AEI speech on security*; the 9/11 report; the FCC gurgle; everything Iraq; everything Niger; the child tax credit fight; Thomas' English Muffin; today's mixed lay-offs number.
But, as we have suggested before, we face constant competitive pressure to follow the fads and trends, and so we offer you this matching quiz.
Match each real-life event in Column A with its fictional analogue in Column B:
Anyway:
MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL EVENTS OF THE DAY
1. Vice President Cheney's underpromoted — but key — Washington speech on terrorism.
2. The president's economics trip to Pennsylvania and Michigan.
3. California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante's press conference.
4. The release of the 9/11 report.
5. The monitoring of the growing size of Ed Gillespie's entourage.
MOST IMPORTANT NEWSPAPER STORIES OF THE DAY
1. Dick Stevenson of the New York Times on the political health of the POTUS. LINK
2. The person who will (deservedly) become most famous via the recall, Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times, describes what comes next. LINK
3. The Detroit News on the Wolverine State economy. LINK
4. Dan Balz and Walter Pincus in the Washington Post news analyzing how the president lost the Niger PR war. LINK
5. John Broder and Dean Murphy of the New York Times explore the history and ramifications of governing by voter initiatives. LINK
MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL DYNAMICS TO WATCH
1. Does the Pennsylvania and Michigan press give positive coverage of the president's trip, and how much do they focus on the economy?
2. How quickly do the major recall variables (including date and format) get resolved, and how?
3. Is the Senate Intelligence Niger investigation going to be a bipartisan search-for-the-truth, or something else?
4. How much money will be spent, and by whom, on the recall fight?
5. How big will Howard Dean's Iowa crowds be?
In California recall news today:
-- Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certifies the first recall measure of a statewide elected official in California history.
-- Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante will hold a press conference at 1:00 PM EDT to announce a date for a special election. It could take place on 9/23/03, 9/30/03, or 10/7/03.
-- The question as to whether the replacement candidates would be listed on the same ballot as the recall is still unresolved and being investigated by lawyers on all sides of the recall issue.
Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), and Representatives Porter Goss (R-Fla.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) present findings from the 9/11 Commission report on the Hill this afternoon.
Vice President Cheney speaks to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington this afternoon. (Will this be the big Cheney push-back event?)
President Bush talks about the economy in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Congressman Gephardt campaigns in South Carolina — Greenville today, Charleston tomorrow.
Governor Dean campaigns in Iowa today and tomorrow. He visits a food bank today in Iowa City, talks to undecided caucus goers in Sigourney and Ottumwa, and talks job creation with unemployed Iowans in Oskaloosa. Former Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker, Jr. will endorse him in a conference call today.
Senator Lieberman tours Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in Stratford, Connecticut and unveils a jobs-and-taxes plan.
Reverend Sharpton will talk to reporters outside the Liberian Mission to the UN, where he will talk about his trip to Africa.
Senators Kerry and Edwards have no public events today.
Nor do Congressman Kucinich or Ambassador Braun.
Politics of national security, Niger:
Rather than do investigative, the Washington Post 's Balz and Pincus do a news analysis on why the White House has stayed on the defensive over Niger. LINK
They say the main two reasons are the White House's normal "protect the president at any cost" (major backfire there) and the "accidental" decision to pick a fight with the bureaucratic battlers at the CIA.
They have a lot of chronological stuff, some mea culpaing, and a bit about the pending Senate request for documents and testimony.
And oddly failing to identify Mary Matalin as involved in the current pushback (as reported in their own paper!), they have this:
"Mary Matalin, a former Bush White House adviser, said, 'It's impossible to have a consistent message when the facts keep changing. We forsook consistency for honesty, in an effort to be as forthcoming as possible in putting out new facts as they became available.'"
ABC News' Linda Douglass points out that a hastily called press conference on this matter by Senators Carl Levin and Ted Kennedy got nearly no coverage yesterday, but they did seem to have something.
The pair released a copy of the formal report that President Bush sent to Congress on January 20, 2003, justifying his reasons for going to war. The report was required by Congress as part of the resolution it passed in September authorizing the president to use force in Iraq if he deemed it necessary.
Mr. Bush was legally required to submit the report prior to using force in Iraq.
The president's signed report cites Iraq's "failure to deal with issues which have arisen since 1998, including … .attempts to acquire uranium and the means to enrich it."
The report was sent 8 days before the State of the Union and several weeks after the CIA had warned the White House against making that claim.
Levin and Kennedy sent a letter to Bush last night which said: "We would like to have copies of all memos from the CIA and other intelligence agencies on this matter, as well as a full explanation of how this statement was included in the January 20 report to Congress and the State of the Union address. We look forward to hearing from you about this important matter".
At the press conference, Levin said "Questions keep piling on top of questions."
One possible response from the administration: The 1/20 report cites Iraq's attempts to purchase uranium but does not mention Africa. Were they talking about some other continent from which Iraq was trying to acquire uranium?
And what does Senator Roberts think of all this today?
Columnist Richard Cohen sees a lot of "sword-passing" and calls for Tenet to go. LINK
Politics of national security:
The Washington Post 's Slevin and Priest took Secretary Wolfowitz's news-of-day admissions of mistakes in planning for the aftermath and used them to top an enterprising look at the same topic. LINK
Writing on the op-ed page of the Washington Post , Bill Kristol writes a piece that the White House communications shop will love, about what he sees as the craven and weak and Dean-driven foreign policy attacks of Dick Gephardt and other Democrats running for president. LINK
California recall:
"All of us are very aware that we are making history," said California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley as he certified the first recall measure of a statewide elected official in the Golden State.
Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante is set to have a 1:00 PM EDT press conference in Sacramento to announce the election date.
Potential GOP candidate update:
Arnold is still discussing a possible candidacy with his family, but sources say he may be leaning more towards not running than running at this point. This may cause Richard Riordan to look more seriously at a run, which could be Davis' worst nightmare.
2002 GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon is expected to make an announcement about his intentions on Saturday. And Republican State Senator Tom McClintock created an exploratory committee yesterday.
David Drucker of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports Congressman Dreier's preferences in the upcoming battle to replace Governor Davis.LINK
"'I haven't endorsed any candidate, but Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly is an attractive candidate and has a chance to enjoy wide bipartisan appeal,' Dreier, R-Glendora, said this week."
More Dreier:
"'My preference would be for Darrell Issa to remain in the Congress. I worked hard to get him on the Energy Committee,' Dreier said."
Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times describes what comes next. LINK
"Under the state Constitution, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante must schedule an election to take place 60 to 80 days after Shelley's certification. That means the election will occur on one of three Tuesdays: Sept. 23, Sept. 30 or Oct. 7."
"But what the ballot will look like remains a mystery. The Constitution empowers Bustamante, a Democrat, to call the recall election — as well as an election to choose a successor 'if appropriate.'"
"Republicans have planned for months to run at least one candidate to replace Davis. On Tuesday, however, Bustamante said he might not schedule an election for a Davis successor to be held simultaneously with the recall itself. On Wednesday, Republicans voiced outrage at that idea."
"If the recall prevailed, that scenario could position Bustamante to fill the vacancy left by the Democratic governor, at least temporarily."
Robert Salladay reports in the San Francisco Chronicle that October 7th is the most likely date for the recall election. LINK
Democratic sources tell The Note that the party believes this recall effort can be defeated if Democrats come home and rally around the governor. However, Governor Davis shouldn't expect much direct fundraising help from the national party because the anti-recall effort is set up as a 527.
Still, from Terry McAuliffe on down, there are plenty of strategy meetings going on, and attempts to keep the party coalition together behind Davis.
George Skelton's column in the Los Angeles Times is a breath of fresh Tahoe air. Mr. Skelton takes a step back from the circus surrounding the recall and successfully provides some perspective on the madness. Mr. Skelton brings his readers a tale of two Californians. Scott, a Tahoe bartender, and Sally, a former flight attendant from Sacramento. LINK
First Scott:
"He hadn't heard one patron talk about the dump-Davis effort all summer. 'Doesn't seem to be much interest here.'"
"Not that Scott wasn't up to speed on California's governor. He thought Gray Davis looked weak during the energy crisis of 2000-01, but, come on, voters reelected him the next year. Just last November, he noted. The budget mess isn't all his fault."
"Recalling the governor, Scott asserted, 'is nuts.'"
Sally:
"Then I returned to the Central Valley, an uncomfortable 100-degree oven where 66% of voters think California is "seriously off on the wrong track," according to a recent Times poll. (Actually, that's about average negativism for the state.)"
"I ran into Sally, a onetime airline stewardess during the prop era who's now a starter at a golf course. 'The recall? You bet I signed it,' she proclaimed. 'I don't know whether it was the right thing, but it sure sends a message.'"
"The message? 'Get that guy out of there! And recall them all. Those legislators aren't any better.'"
"Sally's representative, and Scott's perceptive."
Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle walks his readers through Governor Davis' run of the mill day as the recall was certified.LINK
"On the surface, one of the darkest days of Gov. Gray Davis' political life appeared much like any other one."
"It began with his daily tofu shake with fresh berries for breakfast, and a little treadmill work and weight training to get the blood flowing. There was his usual turkey sandwich — no cheese — and steamed broccoli for lunch. In between, he worked the phones with legislative leaders in Sacramento to try to end the budget stalemate."
More:
"And then Davis took off his gloves, doing what his political operatives have done for months: Rip the Republican congressman funding his recall effort, as he promised to fight 'like a Bengal tiger' for his job."
It's been a crazy week in Sacto. Here's Jenifer Warren's "Statehouse Journal." LINK
Allison Hoffman of the Los Angeles Times spent some time with Los Angeles County elections officials on Wednesday as they submitted their signature totals to the Secretary of State. LINK
"It all boiled down to a simple, two-page fax Wednesday afternoon. That was the result of weeks spent painstakingly reviewing hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles area petitions to recall Gov. Gray Davis."
"At 1:15 p.m., Conny McCormack, the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder, sent the short affidavit to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's office in Sacramento. In it, McCormack confirmed that 275,544 of the 331,513 petition signatures received by the county had been deemed valid. The Los Angeles total was more than a quarter of the 986,858 needed statewide to qualify the recall for the ballot."
How did it get this far? The Los Angeles Times provides a chronology of key dates leading up to Kevin Shelley's certification of the recall. LINK
John Broder and Dean Murphy explore the history and ramifications of governing by voter initiatives. LINK
Mr. Broder also sums up the pending questions about whether or not replacement candidates will appear on a recall ballot. LINK
The San Jose Mercury News' Corcoran and Garcia look at Ward Connerly's Racial Privacy Intitiative, which will appear on the same ballot with the recall election. LINK
ABC 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
When the Bush motorcade rolls into Livonia and Detroit this afternoon, the Detroit News headline may smack his political advisers in the face: "STUMBLING ECONOMY TOPS MICHIGAN WORRIES."
The rub-the-sore-spot-in-your-neck lede: "President Bush will tell a group of Livonia aerospace and defense workers today that his tax cuts already are helping turn the economy around. Michigan begs to disagree." LINK
More: "Michigan's unemployment rate hit a 10-year high of 7.2% in June and more than 300,000 workers were without jobs."
Note that the News devotes a tiny brief to "President To Promote Tax Cuts." LINK
Beaver Aerospace's brass is on message. LINK
The Freep says the visit "underscores" Michigan's electoral importance. LINK
It IS a critical day for the folks who want to re-elect the president and the folks who want to beat him. President Bush tests his message not only in Michigan but in Pennsylvania — the two keyest Gore 2000 states.
Close watchers might be able to tease out:
(a) Whether the Saddam Sons victory smoothes over lingering concern about Iraq (How will the local newspapers and TV stations juxtapose this morning's deaths of American soldiers with Bush's visit?).
(b) How Bush's economic optimism reflects the reality on the ground - or departs from it - and whether that'll be a problem for the White House in the future.
(c) The mood of the national political press corps - have we, as they say, moved on beyond Iraq/Niger/job loss?
So far as we can tell, the Philadelphia Inquier doesn't put a Bush article on page one … LINK
Useful, random local TV links:
LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK
The New York Times ' Dick Stevenson has a smart look at how recent events - the good and the bad - may refresh the political climate.
"[A]dvisers to the White House said the development marked an important turn of fortune that will help Mr. Bush frame the political debate for the rest of the summer and into the fall on terms more favorable to him." LINK
"Democrats said Mr. Bush would not easily wipe away the questions about his credibility or escape doubts among some voters about whether his economic and foreign policy is succeeding. And there is lingering concern within the president's party. Only a few days ago, Republican strategists, including some with close ties to the administration, were acknowledging that Mr. Bush was having his worst stretch in political terms since early in his presidency."
"Republicans said they would be happy to debate Democrats on the handling of Iraq and the war on terrorism and readied a push to claim credit for what they expect to be a gradual economic improvement."
Bill Clinton's defense of Bush (of which Ann Coulter.. (!) endorsed on Hardball last night) is mentioned as an intra-party warning to Democrats that they'd better not get stuck on the issue.
And Stevenson adds a Bruce Reed soundbite for good measure:
"'The political threat to the White House has never been that Bush would be impeached or humiliated over 16 words about Iraq,' said Bruce Reed, president of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group. 'It's that if the president fumbles away his national security trump card, he has a very weak hand.'"
In their latest memo, the Democratic trio of Stan Greenberg, Bob Shrum and James Carville argue that the pillars of Bush's support-trust and foreign affairs-have been "shaken" and his "disapproval number is now at its highest since he became president."
"Forty-seven percent do not believe what the president says about WMD and 52 percent do not think he has a plan to win the peace and bring home American troops. And on the number one issue concerning Americans — the economy — 57 percent want to significantly change Bush's direction."
We await the GOP analysis of their work … .
George Will points out all the unconservative things in the Bush-Cheney record and is all gloomy and doomy. LINK
ABC 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect, RNC:
Two developments from yesterday's RNC summer meeting kickoff: Republicans claim to have nearly met their fundraising goal for next year's convention and Governor Pataki is apparently superstitious. LINK
Rudy Giuliani urged his fellow Republicans to make a play for New York State in the 2004 election. With the tri-state area media market, the former mayor suggested New Jersey and Connecticut could prove to be bonus prizes for the president. LINK
"The former mayor also brushed off Democratic charges that Bush is trying to politicize Sept. 11 by holding the GOP convention here, just miles from Ground Zero, saying both sides will debate Bush's role in fighting terror."
"'I think there's no escaping the fact that Sept. 11 is going to be analyzed from a political point of view … '"
President Bush landing on an aircraft carrier to declare an end to combat operations in Iraq wasn't political, the White House said. But a independent conservative group looking to raise funds thinks it should be, the Boston Globe 's Glen Johnson reports. LINK
Citizens United for the Bush Agenda has hit up the 30,000 people who were sent a photo of the event for $1,000, and for an extra $43 (Bush 43 and all), they get "an official baseball cap bearing the name and image of the carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln." A check for $75 nets two caps.
'''He is clearly a commander-in-chief who is proud to be in the company of his troops — a striking contrast to former president Bill Clinton, who openly 'loathed' the military,' the group's president, David N. Bossie, wrote in a letter accompanying the photograph."
The Democratic presidential candidates, of course, jumped all over it.
'''This is the most grotesque, twisted thing I've ever seen in politics, war profiteering taken to a new tasteless low,' campaign manager Jim Jordan said yesterday. ''And I suspect that the families of the brave soldiers who have died in Iraq, 87 since Bush's phony aircraft carrier stunt, would agree.'''
Highlight of the RNC meeting so far: when Sunny Mindel called Deborah Orin a "brat" and Gabe Pressman "the spokesman for the brat" when they inquired as to whether Mayor Giuliani would answer questions after his remarks to RNC members.
Ms. Mindel's first response to the request: "Why?"
ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary:
A new Quinnipiac poll gives Lieberman the national lead, followed by Gephardt, Kerry and Dean. LINK
The New York Post 's Deborah Orin opines about Democrats (of the presidential candidate variety) being totally underwhelmed by the killing of Uday and Qusay. LINK
"In other words, the Dems are putting themselves into the awful box where it's good for them politically if U.S. troops get ambushed. Their strategy roots for bad news."
"In a country that's essentially optimistic, that's a pretty dangerous place to be … "
Inviting the wrath of interest groups a second time? The Washington Times ' Steve Miller reports that Senators Bob Graham, John Kerry and Joe Lieberman have not committed to speaking at the National Urban League's annual convention in Pittsburgh next week. LNK
President Bush and six others in the Democratic field have agreed to speak, Miller reports.
Dean:
The "focused, savvy, and more often than not, moderate" Howard Dean "youth machine" gets the Mother Jones treatment. LINK
But a consultant to a rival Democrat isn't buying it. "'Maybe they need to run a guy so that people remember what it's like to really lose,' he says. 'To really lose bad.'"
Josh Kurtz of Roll Call rehashes the "revolution" signaled by Howard Dean's online fundraising success. The Note is unsure whether late is, indeed, better than never in this case.
Dean told Iowa reporters he thought he could win the caucuses, according to the Des Moines Register 's Beaumont. LINK
The Associated Press focused a bit on Governor Dean and trade, as he spoke before 250 at Hackleboro Farms in Canterbury, Vermont.
"Dean defended the North American Free Trade Agreement, but said such agreements should be re-negotiated to include environmental, health and safety standards as well as protections for unionizing workers." LINK
"Better jobs would mean a larger middle-class for other countries, he said, which eventually would give rise to strong democracies. The United States would benefit because potential illegal immigrants would have less reason to leave their countries, he said."
"But Dean voiced strong support for legal immigration later in responding to a retired teacher who complained about sex education and school violence and asked how Dean would handle the Chinese 'who have taken over California.'"
"Liberal Republican Lowell Weicker Jr., who lost a close Senate race to Joe Lieberman in 1988, plans to endorse one of Lieberman's rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination — Howard Dean," the AP's Malia Rulon reports. LINK
Edwards:
John Wagner of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that "John Edwards plans to offer his plan for improving the nation's health-care system on Monday during a campaign swing through New Hampshire, aides said." LINK
He also picked up an endorsement from Maryland Congressman Albert Wynn, according to Wagner's coverage of Edwards.
And according the Hippest Chick in Raleigh (at least: "the Hippest Chick in Raleigh Who Has The Note's E-Mail Address"), Sam Myers, Junior, won the Raleigh karaoke contest last night in walk!!
Per our source: "This time, it was the Black Crowes' 'Hard to Handle' that got the audience revved up and the judges proclaiming Junior the undisputed karaoke champion of the greater Raleigh metropolitan area."
For now.
According the Kathleen "Kaki" Connery (who is NOT our original source): "The contestants and audience treated this competition with the determination and gravity normally reserved for Southern beauty pageants."
"One trick this otherwise pageant-savvy group didn't know about was the fine art of crowd-building. The joint was PACKED and the deft Myers dispersed his supporters throughout the crowd, so when he got up … the room was overwhelmed by Myers' cheers from all corners. Not that it wouldn't have been anyway."
Gephardt:
Congressman Chris Cox, chairman of both the House Policy Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, scolded Congressman Gephardt's recent foreign policy speech, saying Gephardt needed to "get his facts straight" after criticizing the administration's Iraq war policy, reports CNSNews.com. LINK
"'America did not go it alone,' said Cox. 'The only people suggesting that, having removed Saddam, we quit and 'hoist a few cold ones,' are the isolationist Democrats to whom Rep. Gephardt was apparently directing his San Francisco remarks.'"
Graham:
Senator Graham was all over the morning shows with Senator Shelby talking about possible links between high-level Saudis and the hijackers.
When asked by ABC's Good Morning America: "Are we protecting the Saudis?", Graham responded: "I think we're protecting a foreign government. Senator Shelby and I cannot mention the specific government or governments included because that's all classified. But, it certainly is protecting agencies within the United States, agencies which committed failures to communicate … and therefore, made a contribution to the September 11 tragedy."
Graham also once again called on President Bush to remove CIA Director George Tenet.
The Tallahassee Democrat's Mike Pope writes that newly released portions of the 9/11 report today could help bring a much needed boost to the Graham campaign LINK
Kucinich:
Ed Henry's Heard on the Hill column in Roll Call reports that Dennis Kucinich is "denying speculation that his cell phone currently rings to the tune of 'Hail to the Chief.'"
"Kucinich spokesman Doug Gordon said the phone actually spits out the ' Washington Post March,' the 19th century tune written by John Philip Sousa."
"In order to meet that goal, Kucinich is now rolling out a "Seabiscuit" campaign to win the White House as the movie opens in theaters across the country. The Congressman and his allies will be distributing leaflets saying "Seabiscuit Proves Long Shots Win!" as moviegoers exit theaters."
Kucinich is jazzing up his personal image by changing his hairstyle and abandoning "his trademark white shirts for snappier blue ones," the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. LINK
Lieberman:
Mike Sunnucks of The Business Journal reports on Lieberman's meeting with Latino leaders yesterday to show his opposition to the anti-immigration "Protect Arizona Now" ballot initiative. LINK
"Joe Lieberman today will detail his ambitious jobs and tax package when he visits Sikorsky Aircraft workers in Stratford — a package that likely would cost the already-strapped federal government an extra tens of billions of dollars," the Courant's David Lightman reports.
"Lieberman, like many of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, is caught in a familiar election quagmire. He wants to promise lots of economic relief — and knows voters will be looking to him for just that — but at the same time has to be careful he does not look fiscally irresponsible by adding to the deficit." LINK
"A plan to revive manufacturing, the subject of a Lieberman address in New Hampshire last week and the centerpiece of this week's cross-country jobs tour, including Sikorsky today."
"His staff estimates the jobs plan would cost a net $5 to $10 billion over the next 10 years."
"It has 17 components for reversing the decline in American manufacturing. Some involve taxes, such as creating an American Manufacturing Tax Credit that the senator says would reward companies for the percentage of manufacturing production they keep in the United States."
"He would also eliminate the capital gains tax for multiyear investments in small and mid size manufacturing companies and give a credit for new purchases of information technology."
Moseley Braun:
All press is good press. LINK
Sharpton:
The Rev. Al Sharpton will be in South Carolina tomorrow. He will speak at 7 p.m. at a banquet of the Lower Richland branch of the NAACP. LINK
Sharpton gets a mention in a Forward article about demands by New York elected officials for a second investigation into the four-year-old police slaying of a hammer-wielding Orthodox man in Brooklyn. LINK
Iowa:
Let's face it: we all have the same problem — when, oh, when should we go to the Iowa State Fair this year?
Seems like right around August 14 would be a good time, what with Governor Vilsack's heath care conference that day, planned for the afternoon, with remarks by the Governor, and serial presentations and Q&As from Kerry, Gephardt, Dean, Edwards, Kucinich, Graham, and maybe others TBD.
The candidate will have about 25 minutes to talk and answer.
And you thought The Note views Iowa only through a political lens … .
In these dog days of summer, few articles are as tempting — and potentially hazardous to one's health — as Craig Wilson's USA Today article on Le Mars, Iowa's ice cream prowess. LINK
"Designated the 'Ice Cream Capital of the World' in 1994 by the Iowa General Assembly, Le Mars boasts an ice cream museum, an almost 10-foot-tall ice cream sundae statue, a replica of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and dozens of street banners bearing ice cream cones, just a few reminders for tourists who might have missed the fact that they have entered the land of butter pecan and mint chocolate chip."
The Note was saddened to learn that nobody has ordered the Sock Hop a la Mode — for $2,500, "You and 25 of your friends can rock around the clock at a sock hop at the ice cream parlor, complete with '50s music, decorations and all the ice cream sodas and treats you can eat."
Perhaps some lucky Iowa winner will tap this offering.
Big Casino budget politics:David Firestone writes in the New York Times that "frustrated" Democrats "repeatedly forced the House to stop debate and vote on procedural motions they knew would not pass, like immediate adjournment. House Democrats said they also planned to force a vote every half hour on Thursday to make the same point." LINK
Janet Hook of the Los Angeles Times doesn't see any child tax credit compromise on the horizon. LINK
"Some Republicans worry that the dispute could cloud the sunny message Bush wants to send about the prospects for economic improvement. But a push this week by Senate Republicans to resolve the issue was thwarted by GOP leaders in the House. As a result, Congress is heading into its summer recess without any sign that the deadlock will be resolved soon."
RNC researchers and Brent Bozell: read the last graph of that Hook piece.
Tom Daschle was hot and heavy on the Senate floor this morning on this matter.
Vicki "Medicare" Kemper writes up Chairman Thomas' assertion that bipartisanship is practiced "just in front of the cameras." LINK
The Washington Post ed board must read David Firestone's work, as they beat on the child tax credit. LINK
The New York Times editorial page lays down its uniquely influential liberal marker: how the GOP deals with the "slight to the neediest" will be a "prime litmus test" to whether it's faithful to compassionate conservatism. LINK
Writing under an "Albert R. Hunt" pseudonym, the New York Times ' Paul Krugman has a Wall Street Journal op-ed on the alleged lack of credibility the president has on deficit matters. "Hunt" eschews supply side theory and even mentions the trifecta — giving debunking credit to the New Republic and Tim Russert.
The Bill Thomas apology tour (however brief) shocks every former staffer who has ever worked for him. LINK and LINK and LINK
The economy:
If The Note knew what Stephen Friedman looked like, we might try to stake him out on 17th Street and ask him about this Wall Street Journal lead story lead:
"Just as the economy shows signs of reviving, it faces a new cloud: a sudden rise in long-term interest rates — driven in part by those same hopeful signs."
The paper saves the politics nut graph for the final one of the jump:
"This poses risks to the Bush administration. It had turned aside accusations that the large deficits would hobble growth by pointing out they hadn't yet affected bond yields. That will be harder to argue if yields continue to move up. Treasury Secretary John Snow played down the threat. 'I think higher rates go hand in hand with a stronger economy and the growth in capital spending in the private sector,' Mr. Snow said on CNBC this week. 'I am not particularly surprised as the economy gets stronger, to see some modest pressure on interest rates.'"
With their boss headed to Michigan, Friedman and Now would likely direct us to this A2 lead, anyway: "The car business is sending some signals consistent with the rebounding U.S. economy."
Politics:Diebold is a blue chip voting software company responsible for programming about 33,000 ballot casting machines across this land of ours. In the first large test of its software "by recognized computer security experts," reports the New York Times , "serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots without being detected" were discovered. LINK
"'We found some stunning, stunning flaws,' said Aviel D. Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led a team that examined the software from Diebold Election Systems, which has about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States."
"The systems, in which voters are given computer-chip-bearing smart cards to operate the machines, could be tricked by anyone with $100 worth of computer equipment, said Adam Stubblefield, a co-author of the paper."
"A spokesman for Diebold, Joe Richardson, said the company could not comment in detail until it had seen the full report. He said that the software on the site was 'about a year old' and that 'if there were problems with it, the code could have been rectified or changed' since then. The company, he said, puts its software through rigorous testing.
You will hear much more about this story in the weeks and months to come.
In the center of partisan activity, Orin gets Rudy Giuliani to endorse Mike Bloomberg's plan for non-partisan elections in New York City. LINK
The Detroit News offers a story on the GOP's efforts to woo Arab American voters in Dearborn. LINK
Bill Safire once again calls "media gigantism" a sleeper political issue. LINK
Legislative agenda:
The Washington Post 's Juliet Eilperin shows her reporting chops with a lovely piece on how Representative Emerson is getting her promised vote on drug importation … . LINK
… while the paper's ed board subtly sides with Tom DeLay against the measure. LINK
* We predict a big Lynne Cheney/AEI joke at the top of the speech.