The Note
WASHINGTON, — -- 72 Days Until Inauguration Day
President Bush dropped by the 7:30 AM senior staff meeting yesterday to thank his team and let them know Andy Card would be staying on as Chief of Staff as the president embarks upon his second term, reports Richard Stevenson of the New York Times . (Note Note: If you are one of the people who have received a "feeler" from the administration about a Cabinet position, we'd love to hear from you.) LINK
The Washington Post 's Mike Allen's weekend of rest and relaxation at home apparently gave him enough energy to bang out two stories for today. The first one addresses Card's job stability and the possible shuffling of the Cabinet. LINK
Besides the consuming insurgents in Fallujah and the potential Supreme Court nomination, President Bush has some serious obstacles to overcome to pass his second term agenda, writes the Wall Street Journal 's Alan Murray. Note in particularly what Murray says about paying for Social Security reform. LINK
In the Financial Times, Colin Powell says the president plans a boldly aggressive 2nd term foreign policy agenda:
"The president is not going to trim his sails or pull back."
He also sees opportunity with the coming change in Palestinian leadership, telling the FT, "We are ready to seize this opportunity aggressively."
The New York Times heard Powell (en route to Mexico City) say "the president intends to engage Congress" on his immigration reform plans now that the campaign is behind him. LINK
Mike Allen of the Washington Post , in his second piece, writes of a "fired up" Senator John Kerry, who's on his way back to the Senate for the first time in basically two years. Allen finds hints of a 2008 bid in Kerry's comments at a staffer party in Washington this past weekend and in Bob Shrum's comments at the Sperling yesterday. Read through for some good that-is-SO-not-going-to-happen blind quotes from two Democratic operatives. LINK
Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times also dissects Kerry's comments to the Saturday staff party and Notes that some of his top fundraisers intend on remaining loyal until he decides how he wants to proceed with his political future. Wallsten's lead expresses Kerry's desire to set up an organization for "a voice in national politics and position him for another White House run." LINK
In an interview with Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe , Cameron Kerry calls another presidential bid for his brother "conceivable." LINK
"In a glum post-mortem to the presidential campaign, senior advisers to Senator John Kerry said Monday that Mr. Kerry lost because he had failed to turn the election into a referendum on the economy, a problem they attributed to a barrage of foreign policy news and the success of the White House in wielding cultural issues," leads Adam Nagourney of the New York Times as he goes on to capture a dejected (though not in denial) sounding James Carville, a Bob Shrum who is far more interested in electoral votes this time around than he is in popular votes, and a Stan Greenberg who said the erosion of support Noticed by the campaign among white rural voters 10 days out began "cascading from group to group." LINK
Howard Dean is mulling a bid for the DNC chairmanship with a little urging from former DNC Chair Steve Grossman, reports the Associated Press. LINK
If you missed New York 1 last night, you missed some pretty intriguing John Edwards '08 comments … .
George F. Will suggests that this year showed once again that Democrats have no idea how to appeal to the right. LINK
And David Brooks urges Democrats to journey into the exurbs. LINK
The Specter spectacle continues…
Aides to a couple of Republican senators tell ABC News' Linda Douglass that the calls from conservatives who do not want Senator Arlen Specter to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee are coming in at a rate of 2 to 3 a minute.
Douglass reports that the protest calls appear to be aimed primarily at leadership offices and members of the Judiciary Committee.
An aide to Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) says the calls are as intense as the anti-gay marriage calls that came in during that debate.
All eyes (or most, anyway) remain on Frist and Santorum.
The Washington Post 's Vargas examines the under 30 vote. Did they actually get out and vote despite the word on the street since last Tuesday? Or are they just more divided than people gave them credit for? LINK
Will Democrats begin to court Hispanic voters less like a Democratic voting bloc and more like independent minded swing voters? The New York Times keys off President Bush's improved electoral performance among Hispanics and suggests they could be the swing vote of the future. Make sure to Note the different advertising approaches used by the Bush and Kerry camps while wooing the Hispanic vote this year. LINK
The Los Angeles Times reports on the ongoing Ohio vote count. LINK