28 Days Later
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2004 — -- NOTED NOW
TODAY'S SCHEDULE (all times ET)
The vice presidential debate is today.
28 days until election day
3 days until the second presidential debate
8 days until the third presidential debate
NEWS SUMMARY
For the love of sanity, please stop contributing to the CW debate about whether Cheney v. Edwards will impact the election's outcome.
In the end, it will have dominated nearly 10 percent of the remaining news cycle time between now and election day.
That means the "winner" (if there is one) will buy his side some positive press, leading into Friday's high-stakes "Beat Me in St. Louis" showdown.
There are plenty of table-settin', curtain-raisin' looks at the veep chatfest below — we would just ask, again, that a media elite obsessed with polls, momentum, and style try to at least to pretend to care about substance, ideas, and leadership when filtering the Cleveland doings.
The debate is 90 minutes, with the rules of questions and answers roughly the same as in Coral Gables, except that the three humans (PBS' classy and brilliant Gwen Ifill is the third) will be seated at a table.
As of this writing, Bush and Cheney don't plan any public appearances before either the PeterTomDan network newscasts or the debate itself.
Kerry and Edwards, however, both have dayside events.
If you want other things to ponder during the day while we wait, you can choose from:
1. the Wall Street Journal 's jumping the gun on Friday's jobs numbers
2. both campaigns getting some more (secret) battleground state data
3. the media strategies of Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Bremer
4. the latest ABC News tracking poll
5. the fav/unfav of the House of Saud
6. the President's (Kerry-like) major speech tomorrow that might dominate the day and the rest of the week (or not)
7. Bob Shrum's lucky scarf (Note to Bob: it's colder in Cleveland than Miami … .)
8. A new BC04 ad called "Tort Reform," which is clearly designed to jab John Edwards and relies on somewhat tough to refute (at least thematically) OB-GYN malpractice insurance rates and hospital closures …
Tonight, you can watch and listen to ABC News coverage of the debate beginning at 9:00 pm ET on the ABC television network.
If you're in your car, listen to your favorite ABC News radio station, and if you've got a hankering for cable, check out ABC News Now's wall-to-wall coverage. And stay with Noted Now on ABC News.com for up-to-the-minute updates. LINK
And be sure to watch "Nightline" and "Good Morning America" for a complete wrap-up.
There's a baseball game on Fox tonight, apparently.
Both Cheney and Edwards will hold a post-debate rally; Cheney at 10:55 pm ET at Gray's Armory; Edwards at 11:15 pm ET on the Wade Oval Ellipse at University Circle.
Edwards also has that noon town hall meeting in Parma, OH.
Elsewhere, President Bush is in Washington with no public events.
Kerry has a single event, a 10:00 am ET town hall meeting in Tipton, IA, in which he will criticize the president's policies as having squeezed the middle class and hurt seniors. He will point out that, according to his campaign, "Iowa has the third largest percentage of senior citizens of any state and the lowest Medicare reimbursement rate in the country" and that 76,000 Iowans have lost their health insurance since January 2001.
On the Hill, the Senate holds a cloture vote on the intelligence reform bill. The final vote is expected to come by the end of the week. Yesterday the Senate rebuffed an attempt by the Appropriations Committee to limit the National Intelligence Director's budgetary authority. LINK
Laura Bush stumps in Milwaukee and Reno and Teresa Heinz Kerry is in St. Louis.
Cheney versus Edwards: the campaign previews:
Vice President Cheney arrives in Cleveland today after several down days in Wyoming where he prepared for tonight's debate with senior advisers.
ABC News' Karen Travers reports that top adviser Mary Matalin said the Vice President would "focus on the President's record" and talk about the future. Cheney will lay out the choice between the two tickets and why the President's policies will make Americans safer.
Matalin also claimed out that usually straight-forward, no-nonsense Cheney is a "substance sponge" — "There's no gimmicks; we're not trying to be fancy or funny or gimmicky."
BC04 chief strategist Matt Dowd told reporters yesterday that what the campaign hopes to accomplish tonight is "pretty simple."
"The Vice President has been traveling the country and he's going to do at this debate what he's been doing throughout this election and the campaign, which is explain to the American people why the President's policies are right for this country and the world in fighting the war on terror, in keeping our economy growing and responding to the new challenges in the twenty-first century," Dowd said.
Republicans are not over hyping the stakes in tonight's debate in Cleveland, but campaign officials and party officials are looking for Cheney's substance on the key issues to beat Edwards' style and charm.
ABC News' Beth Loyd reports that senior Kerry adviser Tad "Tad" Devine set a bar for Edwards tonight.
"He's going to have to be the stopper … the relief pitcher," Devine told reporters.
He argued that there is great voter interest in the election, the issues are real, and there is tremendous voter attention in these debates. When asked if Edwards feels more pressure because of Kerry's performance in the last debate, he said, "I don't know how you get more pressure."
When asked if Edwards will go after Cheney on Halliburton, Devine said he doesn't expect Cheney to use the same language he used on the Senate floor to Pat Leahy. He said that Halliburton is a legitimate issue. "It's an issue of accountability."
Devine also said the issue of stem-cell research will likely be addressed.
Devine said that Edwards is prepared to deal with talk of his trial law background, but gave no specifics.
Devine then laid out Edwards' plan to counter the "no foreign policy experience" claim. He said that Cheney was an enormous asset to the ticket four years ago, that he filled in foreign policy void but that Dick Cheney's experience and judgment has not been the best experience for America. In contrast, Edwards' experience in fighting for people, will stand in stark contrast.
We bet that no matter the outcome, we'll hear much the same from both sides in the spin room …
Cheney versus Edwards: the press previews:
Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe delivers a near-must-read preview of what to expect tonight coming out of the debate hall. LINK
"For Cheney, who has been the 'attack dog' of the Bush-Cheney ticket, the debate is an opportunity to portray both John F. Kerry and Edwards as flip-floppers on Iraq. But for Edwards, in what may be the biggest moment of his political career, the opportunity is arguably much greater: He is expected to use the skills he honed in his years as a trial lawyer to try to draw a portrait of Cheney as the ultimate flip-flopper on Iraq and the engineer of what the Democrats say is a failed postwar policy."
The Wall Street Journal 's Shailagh Murray and Greg Hitt have a nice debate preview rife with fabulous descriptions of the two candidates, including that Edwards "looks young enough to be Mr. Cheney's son." The duo also Note that Edwards has never debated one-on-one on TV.
The San Francisco Chronicle's Marc Sandalow takes a look at the "Darth Vader versus Robin" matchup (as one New York columnist has called it). LINK
USA Today 's Bill Nichols writes that this could be the first time the veep debate has ever mattered. LINK
Bob Novak reminisces about the first Mondale-Dole debate of 1976 and asserts that "second-place debates held since then have been largely irrelevant and really not very necessary — and that includes tonight's [debate]." LINK
Nichols and Kasindorf write in USA Today that "advisers underline that Edwards has an advantage Lieberman did not have: Cheney now has a nearly four-year record that he'll have to defend." LINK
The Washington Times ' James Lakely Notes The Note Noting tonight's events have been "dubbed the 'Shrek vs. Breck' debate" and both campaign acknowledge it will have more "importance" than usual. LINK
The way the Washington Times ' Ralph Z. Hallow sees it, John Edwards knows that Dick Cheney is no John Nance Garner, a man who "is said to have denigrated the largely ceremonial office he held as not being worth 'a warm bucket of spit.'"
"Beyond dispute, political observers say, is that Mr. Cheney is the latest in a recent series of vice presidents who, beginning with Walter Mondale in 1977, have an office in the White House West Wing a few steps from the Oval Office and get time with their boss more or less whenever they want it. That gives them at least the potential for power and influence. The rest is up to them." LINK
The Chicago Tribune's Swanson and Zeleny profile Cheney and Edwards, respectively. LINK and LINK
Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer paints a clear picture of the expectations going into tonight's veep debate and how the campaigns expect to exceed them all. LINK
Cheney and Edwards will go to Florida (not together) after their debate. LINK
Knight Ridder's James Kuhnhenn offers preemptive fact checking of both men. LINK
Cheney versus Edwards: Cheney:
The Washington Post 's Glenn Kessler takes a boffo look at why Vice President Cheney is "arguably the most powerful vice president in U.S. history [and] the administration's essential man." LINK
"He roams across the foreign and domestic policy landscape, identifying issues on which he can make a difference. When he chooses to insert himself into the process, he is a powerful force for resolving problems — or an unmovable roadblock that thwarts the agenda of others, especially Powell."
"'He has become the national security adviser,' said David Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who interviewed more than two dozen administration officials for an upcoming history of the National Security Council. 'Time after time, he has co-opted the leadership and policy-shaping role that the national security adviser or secretary of state usually has.'"
"But Rothkopf said assertions by Cheney's detractors that he is a secretive puppetmaster, wreaking havoc on administration policy, are overblown. 'He is not a monster. He is not Darth Vader,' he said. 'He is a very purposeful, thoughtful guy, but highly conservative to the point of being ideological.'"
Alan Murray writes in the Wall Street Journal that "much of the rap against Mr. Cheney is unfounded," and/but hopes that tonight's debate answers the question of why he got the intelligence in the run-up to the war "so wrong."
The Wall Street Journal 's editorial board writes that Halliburton's getting an unfair rap, and Democrats' consistent attacks on the company's good name are evidence that they have "prejudice against large corporations and preference for big government."
The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes looks at the differences between Cheney and Edwards on the Wall Street Journal op-ed page.
Cheney versus Edwards: Edwards:
Peter Canellos' Boston Globe column today explains how tonight is John Edwards' night to not only prove that Sen. Kerry made the right choice in selecting him, but that he can hold his own on national security as well as be more than a pretty picture of optimism. LINK
The Washington Post 's John Wagner looks at why Edwards has been dispatched to destinations like a depressed mill town in central Maine, where he "might very well make the case for Kerry more forcefully in these places than the nominee himself." LINK
"Ever since Edwards won his 1998 Senate race — his first run for political office — he has been bolstered at key moments by a web of connections drawn from his two decades in the courtroom and the drive, discipline and rhetorical skills he honed there."
Cleveland Rocks, dude:
The debate's hometown paper takes a look at where tonight's battle will be joined. LINK and LINK
Maeve Reston of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Notes that Cheney and Edwards will debate tonight "in a city that has just been ranked the poorest in America and a state that is struggling to regain its economic footing." LINK
Every activist and his brother are seeking ways to soak up the international media spotlight in Cleveland. LINK
The State Department's foreign journalist tour gets some ink in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. LINK
The politics of Iraq:
Safe bet that the New York Times ' Edward Wong's story gets brought up some time today or tonight: "Car bombs have become the most lethal weapons employed by insurgents in Iraq. At least 35 exploded in September alone, more than in any other month since the war began. The surge in violence during this campaign has led many experts to voice serious doubts about whether the Bush administration and the Iraqi government can hold legitimate elections across the country in January, as scheduled." LINK
And this one: The New York Times ' Thom Shanker on the Defense Secretary's statement that he has "not seen any strong, hard evidence that links" Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. LINK
And this one: L. Paul Bremmer, the former U.S. administrator in Iraq, said yesterday that "we never had enough troops on the ground" and allowing looting after the invasion ended "established an atmosphere of lawlessness." LINK
And this one: The top American weapons inspector will release his report on Wednesday that will show Iraq did not have WMD but will include new details of Saddam Hussein's plans to undermine U.N. sanctions and produce illicit weapons if sanctions were lifted, the New York Times ' Doug Jehl reports. LINK
The New York Times ' editorial board delivers a damming critique of the president following the Sunday Times' aluminum tubes report, writing today that either Condoleezza Rice "did her job and told Mr. Bush how ludicrous the case was for an Iraqi nuclear program" and the president "terribly misled the public," or she "should have resigned for allowing her boss to start a war on the basis of bad information and an incompetent analysis." LINK
David Brooks looks at how Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, is working with the U.S. military, diplomats, and "Washington honchos" to coordinate actions like the offensive to take back Samarra, and reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told him Iraq has "a crack" at being a success. LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush v. Kerry:
The Wall Street Journal 's Greg Ip reports that the White House expects Friday's jobs report, the last before the election, will include not only good September numbers but a significant upward revision of older payroll numbers, helping "reduce Mr. Bush's first-term jobs deficit and weaken challenger Sen. John Kerry's attacks on his economic policies."
Al Hunt writes that "some top Kerry supporters are worried about the next debate: a town hall format in St. Louis. The Democratic nominee sometimes can be stiff and awkward with average citizens, and the venue may play to the president's more folksy mannerisms. This would be ironic, since the Bush campaign initially insisted the first debate focus on national security and were unenthusiastic about a town-hall format." LINK
"With the nation at war, the electorate divided and the candidates in a bitter fight, voter enthusiasm is boiling over. The result has been both a jolt of grass-roots democracy and a deepening chasm of polarization," writes Faye Fiore of the Los Angeles Times in her look at politics as the new national pastime. LINK
Ed Chen and Matea Gold (who seem to expect Friday's debate to be mainly about domestic topics) of the Los Angeles Times do their tax cut/stem cell research dance and Note this big laugh line of the day: LINK
"At Bush's second appearance Monday, in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, he took a swipe at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who led a failed healthcare reform effort while serving as first lady. In a line that drew laughter, the president denigrated Kerry's plan to expand healthcare as 'a system that's creeping toward Hillary-care.'"
The New York Times ' Dick Stevenson and Janet Elder look at the latest New York Times /CBS News poll, which shows — surprise! — a really close race. A race tied at 47 percent among registered voters, even with Ralph Nader in the mix, as a matter of fact. The survey shows Kerry appeared to reassure people that he's up for the job of president in the first debate last week, and increased his long-suffering favorables. Nonetheless, President Bush continues to win the battle for likeability and leadership, and more respondents said they trust him to handle an international crisis than Kerry (51 percent to 41 percent, respectively), and Kerry continues to strike voters as someone who says what they want to hear. LINK
Elder rounds up the latest polls. LINK
The New York Times ' Paul Krugman thinks homeland security funding damaged the president most during Thursday night's debate, and is rooting tonight for Sen. Edwards "to expose the real Dick Cheney, just as Mr. Kerry exposed the real George Bush." LINK
The New York Times ' Jim Rutenberg reports that the Media Fund has decided to vastly increase its buy for ads tying the White House with the Saudi royal family (from $500k to $6.5 million) and quotes a Saudi official calling the ads "fear mongering and hate mongering." We also wonder how many times we'll hear the phrase "the mainstreaming of Michael Moore" in the next 28 days. LINK
In the weekly Science section, the New York Times ' Benedict Carey turns in a great read, writing that new research suggests that partisan voters are the ones most susceptible to persuasion by fear and anxiety and that undecided voters who are genuinely hearing political white noise "do not feel strongly enough about issues to be swayed by threatening messages." LINK
Democratic pollster Mark Penn thinks that a quarter of the electorate remains in play, shattering some CW in a Washington Post op ed. LINK
The latest Jake Tapper fact check: LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: Kerry-Edwards '04:
The New York Times ' Jodi Wilgoren wraps Kerry's criticism of the President's stem cell research policy Monday, Noting that "After a short speech on the subject here on the tarmac, Mr. Kerry ignored a reporter's question, three times, about his use of the word 'ban,' sending to the microphone a biology professor from the University of Pennsylvania." She also reports that Communications Director Stephanie Cutter timed Kerry's answers yesterday against the two-minute limit he will have to answer during Friday's debate. LINK
What a difference a week — and a good debate performance — makes. The Wall Street Journal 's Al Hunt Notes that Kerry revived his base — but there's room for improvement. LINK
"This is still, however, an uneven candidate. . . . While campaign strategists are pleased both with Mr. Kerry's debate performance and also with his major formal speeches — he has given three over the past few weeks, on Iraq, terrorism and the economy — his standard stump speech still lacks any lift. Some insiders acknowledge he is going to have to get more inspiring for the final stretch."
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Moore and Fitzgerald write up Sen Kerry's apparent courting of the African American vote in West Philadelphia yesterday. "A large turnout of African Americans, statistically the most reliable voting bloc in the party's coalition, is crucial if Kerry is to win the White House." LINK
Teresa Heinz Kerry gets Pittsburgh Post-Gazette coverage of her Lawrenceville, PA, visit yesterday where she stumped on her husband's health care plan — the story begins "It was Teresa Heinz Kerry as Oprah." LINK
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick criticizes Kerry's "mixed signals" on free trade in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
The Boston Globe 's Joe Lauria does some fact-checking on the President's debate assertion that Kerry favors joining the international court for war crimes. LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
The New York Times ' Elisabeth Bumiller wraps the President's Monday and leads with the decision to change his Wednesday event to a "significant speech" on terrorism and the economy. Yesterday, Bush took Kerry on over taxes and Saddam Hussein, saying that Kerry's 1991 vote against the first Gulf war would mean Hussein being not only in power, but in Kuwait today.LINK
Bill Sammon of the Washington Times Notes the "rare, last-minute alteration to the presidential schedule" on Wednesday and reports that BC04ers are "heartened" by polls that showed the president ahead.LINK
The Washington Post 's Jim VandeHei wraps President Bush's day signing the tax cut and criticizing Kerry's tax policies and Notes that we will likely hear the same themes from the president later in the week:
"In a preview of charges Bush plans to level during the final two debates, he accused Kerry of advocating a nationalized health care system and economic isolationism — positions Kerry has never embraced during the campaign." LINK
Joe Curl of the Washington Times includes the "Hillary care" reference at the top of his write up of Bush's day in Iowa.LINK
The Boston Globe duo of Rick Klein and Anne Kornblut Note that in a "multifront attack in an effort to regain momentum in the presidential campaign," President Bush hit Sen. Kerry on taxes, healthy care, and national security yesterday.LINK
"Bush campaign advisers said their intent is to show the president acting strong and presidential — rather than appearing defensive, as he had during and after the debate — and to lay the groundwork for a debate in St. Louis on Friday that is expected to focus largely on domestic issues."
AP's Pete Yost writes that President Bush's remarks that Sen. Kerry's foreign policy positions "are dangerous for world peace," were "some of his harshest criticism of the campaign during a trip to an important battleground state.LINK
The New York Times ' David Kirkpatrick profiles Rev. Walter Humphrey, a black pastor who is volunteering for President Bush, making him "an anomaly" but not alone, and looks at the campaigns' efforts to woo black pastors. LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: casting and counting:
In her fine wrap of the procedures indented to prevent a repeat of Florida, the Wall Street Journal 's scholarly Jackie Calmes outlines the scenario that wakes us up in the night: that Ohio "holds the greatest potential for trouble."
Included: provisional ballots, voter registration and identification, new technology (and Ohio's punch cards!!) … and a quote from Doug Chapin that does not contain the words "fire" or "forest."
"Cuyahoga County election officials said Monday they will give provisional ballots to every voter who asks for one on Election Day, defying a controversial order from Secretary of State Ken Blackwell," reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. We wonder if Judge Carr's decision expected by the end of next week will settle this matter or provide more fuel to it. LINK
AP's Robert Tanner looks at the swarms of people who crowded into state elections offices yesterday to register to vote. LINK
The New York Times ' Joshua Kurlantzik gets an eyeful of the registration efforts at strip clubs and by other adult performers. LINK
Registration nation:
Help us with this one: a half dozen groups say they've registered a million new voters each … but experts think that voters rolls probably have increased by around 4 million.
The Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida registration deadline frenzy leaves that all important question. Will these new registrants actually show up and vote? LINK
"On the last day voters could sign up for the Nov. 2 presidential election, Leon County's elections chief said he received up to 1,500 photocopied registration forms and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to find out what happened to the originals," the Tallahassee Democrat's Bill Cotterell reports. LINK
"'The overwhelming majority of them were for African-Americans, and also the majority of them were Republicans,' Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho said Monday. "That was one of the things that made us want to start contacting the registrants.'"
"Most of the questionable registrations came from Florida A&M University and precincts around FAMU. Sancho said his office is trying to get in touch with all the voters to find out whether they registered on originals and copies were sent in by accident, whether they registered on photocopies — or whether it was fraud."
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Cohan looks at how thousands of new voters have been registered in Pennsylvania this election cycle. LINK
Will college students actually vote this year? LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: the Big Four battlegrounds: Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin:
On this four-year anniversary of Al Gore pulling out of Ohio, Mark Naymik of the Cleveland Plain Dealer looks at what a difference a cycle makes. LINK
"Even before final figures are in, registrations statewide were more than double what they were during the same period in 2000. As of Monday, new voters represented almost 8 percent of the 7.6 million voters registered," reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. LINK
It's tough to be a Kerry-Edwards supporter in Medina County, OH these days. LINK
From one huge battleground to another. Congratulations Mark!!! LINK
The Chicago Sun-Times' Ritter and Sweet report, "Defying the federal government, Illinois and Wisconsin launched a program Monday to help residents buy cheap prescription drugs from Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom." LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: the battlegrounds:
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Michael Wickline reports on the specifics of federal absentee ballots. LINK
The Portland Press Herald is in New Hampshire for their take on Kerry and the former Teen Wolf's stump for stem cells: LINK
Government (nuclear) waste? Steve Tetreault of the Las Vegas Review Journal reports the Department of Energy lost almost half a million dollars pawning off equipment no longer needed at Yucca Mountain. LINK
"[Bernalillo County Clerk] Herrera said she plans to mail out 25,000 absentee ballots- more than twice the usual amount this time of year," reports the Albuquerque Journal on this the first day of absentee voting and the last day to register to vote in New Mexico. LINK
"Even in Michigan, a Democratic-leaning battleground state, undecided voters who've turned away from Bush aren't sold on Kerry," writes the Detroit Free Press' Steve Thomma of the Zogby Detroit area focus group with 10 undecided voters. LINK
Swarms of Coloradoans made a last-minute rush to register yesterday. LINK
Colorado candidates tout deep roots and values on the stump. LINK
Still on high from yesterday's Arizona Daily Star endorsement, KE04 Arizona field staff are doing whatever they can to prove the state is still in play. While no principals have plans to head out there before next week's debate in Tempe, this is their line-up: Gary Hart keynotes the Pima County Democratic dinner tonight, Teresa Heinz Kerry heads to northern Tucson on Thursday, and Dino DeConcini, (brother of Sen. Dennis DeConcini) begins his month of volunteering for the campaign in Window Rock as the centerpiece of a large Democratic push on the Navajo reservation.
Nader-Camejo:
Today Ralph Nader continues a five-day tour of the East Coast. LINK
The Nader campaign filed suit against Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell Monday, to force Blackwell to order county boards to update their voter registration records, then re-review the petitions submitted by Nader, reports the AP's Andrew Welch-Huggins. LINK
Sunny Josh Gerstein ponders, what if Libertarian Michael Badnarik is the real spoiler? LINK
Copley News looks at the battleground Nader factor. LINK
Four so-called third-party vice presidential candidates will debate tonight in Cleveland. LINK
From the outside:
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth acquired a couple millionaire donors to help fund their latest ads and the direct mail campaign targeting 1.2 million voters. LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Nick Anderson looks at the National Rifle Association's latest ads and efforts to defeat John Kerry. LINK
Politics:
Linda Greenhouse writes that the Court is bound to change the federal sentencing guidelines but by how much is still an open question. LINK
We also wonder if this'll come up tonight or Friday. The New York Times ' Edmund Andrews reports congressional Republicans are trying to dilute provisions "in a new corporate tax bill aimed at cracking down on illegal shelters" "despite widespread agreement that abusive tax shelters are costing the federal government billions of dollars a year." LINK
The Washington Post 's Hanna Rosin profiles tonight's debut episode of "Tanner on Tanner" and says it's driven more by nostalgia than by an "urgency to be relevant." LINK
The economy:
USA Today 's Dennis Cauchon and John Waggoner write, "Americans may soon have to start thinking the unthinkable to solve the severe financial problems that the retirement of baby boomers will bring the Social Security and Medicare systems. These two beloved programs are on a collision course with financial reality that threatens the nation's prosperity and the well-being of the next generation of elderly." LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: the Senate:
Our favorite newspaper correction of the day: LINK
TODAY'S SCHEDULE (all times ET):
—9:00 am: Rep. Louise Slaughter and the Center for Reproductive Rights hold a news conference at the Capitol to release a report titled "What If Roe Fell?" Washington, DC
—9:00 am: Dittus Communications and CNBC host a breakfast panel discussion titled "What's at Stake for Technology and Telecommunications in the 2004 Election?"
—9:30 am: The Senate Rules and Administration Committee holds a hearing on the 9/11 Commission recommendations at the Capitol, Washington, DC
—9:45 am: Off-camera press gaggle by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan
—9:45 am: The Senate holds a cloture vote on the intelligence reform bill
—10:00 am: Sen. John Kerry holds a town hall meeting at Tipton Middle School, Tipton, IA
—10:00 am: The DNC and the Kerry-Edwards campaign hold a press conference to announce its 2004 Election Protection Advisory Board with Donna Brazile and others, Washington, DC
—10:00 am: The House convenes for legislative business
—10:30 am: The New Democrat Network holds a news conference to announce a multi-million dollar TV and Internet campaign titled "Restore the Promise of America," Washington, DC
—11:00 am: The Brookings Institution's Thomas Mann holds a briefing titled "The 2004 Congressional Elections: Likely Outcome, Consequences for Governing" at the National Press Building, Washington, DC
—12:00 pm: Sen. John Edwards holds a town hall meeting at the Schaaf Community Center Theatre, Parma, OH
—12:00 pm: Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charles Grassley and Kit Bond hold a news conference at the Capitol with the Alzheimer's Association to urge passage of the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act, Washington, DC
—12:30 pm: The Republican and Democratic policy committees hold their weekly closed hearings at the Capitol, Washington, DC
—12:30 pm: House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer holds a pen and pad only briefing at the Capitol, Washington, DC
—1:00 pm: Rep. Edward Markey and others hold a news conference at the Capitol on detainees and torture, Washington, DC
—1:20 pm: Laura Bush speaks about healthcare at the Midwest Airlines Center, Milwaukee, WI
—2:00 pm: Teresa Heinz Kerry holds a conversation on health care at the North Central Community Health Center, St. Louis, MO
—3:00 pm: Reps. Christopher Shays and Carolyn Maloney hold a news conference at the Capitol with families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, Washington, DC
—5:30 pm: Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara participates in a discussion following a screening of the documentary "The Fog of War," at the Capitol, Washington, DC
—7:05 pm: Laura Bush speaks at a Victory '04 Rally at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno, NV
—9:00 pm: Vice President Cheney participates in the Vice Presidential Debate at Case Western University, Cleveland, OH
—9:00 pm: Sen. Edwards participates in the Vice Presidential Debate at Case Western University, Cleveland, OH
—10:55 pm: Vice President Cheney and Lynne Cheney speak at a post-debate rally at Gray's Armory, Cleveland, OH
—11:15 pm: Sen. Edwards attends a rally for a stronger America at the Wade Oval Ellipse at University Circle, Cleveland, OH
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