W A S H I N G T O N, April 4
—What a difference a news cycle makes.
Yesterday, the media zeroed in like a laser beam on the White House's attempt to play verbal-and-policy Twister on its definition of terrorism and its view of Arafat and Israeli military moves.
You've requested an ABCNews.com page that does not exist.
If you've reached this page by selecting a bookmark that worked previously, it's likely the file moved to a new location because of our recent redesign. Please update your bookmarks.
If you still can't find the page your looking for, check out our homepage or use the search form below:
Click here, and we'll let you know when The Note is ready each day.
Today, the coverage is all over the place, and not so focused on how the administration is doing — with the big, broad, important exception of the New York Times , which follows up on yesterday and seeks to explain how the policy has changed.
The Wall Street Journal , for example, turns its attention away from the White House and puts it story in the foreign section. The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Times look — from different perspectives — at those documents the Israelis claims to have found linking Arafat to terrorist acts, on which the West Coast Times quotes White House officials saying they can't tell if they're real.
We'd put this down to luck and the swirl of events, rather than to the success of some grand-and-sneaky White House communications effort to fuzz things up.
To the extent this White House is, um, poll-influenced, Gallup's latest might encourage them to stay this still somewhat ambiguous course. The poll shows adults are "split on whether the Bush administration has a clear policy on the Middle East; 48% say it does not, and 41% say it does. When asked whether President Bush should become personally involved in negotiations to solve the crisis, 55% said no. Also, 58% say the United States should encourage the sides to reach their own solution."
( http://www.usatoday.com/hlead.htm )
However, "[r]eminded that U.S. policy says that anybody who harbors terrorists will be treated as an enemy of the United States, 77% said that policy should apply to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat."
Until and unless Woodward and Balz crank up their machinery, we'll probably never know exactly why the administration's transitioning posture went from Fleischer gaggle to Fleischer briefing to Powell briefing to Powell on 60 II, but transition it did, with Powell by nightfall sounding open to more meetings, more US involvement, and a quicker turn to potential political settlements.
None of which solves the problem of violence, but it certainly gets the administration off the dime.
As the New York Times says, "While [yesterday's] statements fell short of defining a new policy for an administration whose approach has been criticized as too hands-off and too muddled, taken together they seemed to show that the White House was bending — slowly — to calls for a new approach."
( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/international/middleeast/04PREX.html )
Continuing the very un-43-insight-into-the-sausagemaking-and-acknowledgement-of-weakness dynamics that this story has produced, the New York Times actually gets a Bush official to sound an awful lot like a Clinton official: "'There is a general agreement that we can't stand where we are for much longer,' the official said. 'It's simply not working.' But the official cautioned there 'are still arguments' within the administration 'about where to go next.'"
But the new tact's direction vector is not likely to please Tom DeLay or Bill Kristol, both of whom are taking up space in this news cycle by muscularly urging the president to drop any pretense of balance and skew heavily toward Israel. The New York Times gives serious play to DeLay's speech last night in Missouri, about which, the paper says, "Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican, provided an advance copy of his address to both the White House and the State Department." ( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/international/middleeast/04RIGH.html )
The New York Times also says "[O]fficials suggested that Mr. Bush is considering a significant statement on the Mideast in the next three days," which is kind of the perfect off-the-shelf programming for CNNI, and could coincide with the "George and Tony Show."
"The White House said yesterday it was willing to open discussions about Palestinian political demands before the current violence is brought under control, dropping its insistence that diplomatic efforts be focused solely on achieving a cease-fire," as the Washington Post puts it.
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58142-2002Apr3.html )
Ari's "comments also reflect a recognition by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that Middle East turmoil cannot be solved solely by military means but requires the sides to create a political context for negotiations, according to sources familiar with White House discussions."
Mr. DeLay gave "what was billed as one of his first major foreign policy addresses" last night and called "on the United States to solidly support Israel," Roll Call reports. "But the fiery Texan stopped short of calling the Palestinian leader an outright terrorist." According to an advance copy of the speech, DeLay said, "'I commend the president for his principled and determined leadership.' Specifically, DeLay said he was encouraged that Bush was standing 'solidly' with Israel and resisting calls 'to force' Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon back to the negotiating table 'where [he] will be pressured to grant concessions to terrorists.'"
( http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/2002/04/news0404d.html )
"[A]lthough DeLay did not openly criticize the administration's track record on the Middle East, he repeatedly called on the country to clarify its role and staunchly support Israel, a country he said that shares our 'principles and democratic values.'"
"Given a taste of the speech before it was delivered yesterday, [a] spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said the Speaker would generally support the ideas DeLay expressed, but cautioned that the rest of the House GOP leadership had not played a role in reviewing or vetting the speech and said its contents are not necessarily a direct reflection of the leadership's views."
The New York Times story notes that "[t]he speech put Mr. DeLay sharply at odds with the rising criticism from some Democrats and moderate Republicans who have said that President Bush has not done enough to encourage negotiations for a cease-fire and a broader political settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority."
And the Boston Globe read it this way: DeLay "called on Bush to come down harder in favor of Israel and against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat."
( http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/094/nation/Bush_gets _appeals_for_more_response+.shtml )
The Washington Post , which apparently didn't get the DeLay speech (or chose to ignore it; which would be worse?), reports that "President Bush's stalwart support of Israel is winning effusive praise from major organizations representing American Jews, who voted against Bush in overwhelming numbers 17 months ago. Several leading pro-Israel lobbyists said they have concluded that Bush is profoundly, personally sympathetic to Israel. They attributed that sympathy to the president's religious outlook, his inclination to think in terms of good and evil, and a trip he took to Israel in late 1998."
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58147-2002Apr3.html )
While calling for the administration to more strongly support Israel, the Kristol cabal, in an open letter to the president yesterday, urged him to move quickly against Saddam Hussein. It's a nice, simple exposition of the view shared by some in the administration. "And with the memory of the terrorist attack of September 11 still seared in our minds and hearts, we Americans ought to be especially eager to show our solidarity in word and deed with a fellow victim of terrorist violence."
( http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/00 0/000/001/085pbyot.asp )
The latest on the Middle East from the ABCNEWS London Bureau:
The Israelis have now re-occupied all but two of the major West Bank towns — Hebron and Jericho — in the past week, in what they say is a campaign to stop terror attacks on Israeli citizens. In the latest move more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles rolled into Nablus, the West Bank's biggest city, and there have been fierce exchanges of fire. Four refugee camps in Nablus have also been surrounded. The Palestinian leadership has urged people to prepare for a long resistance.
Arafat remains stranded in Ramallah. Israeli officials say he will not be allowed to meet with the European delegation, but there is a chance that US special envoy Zinni may visit him later today. Sharon said today that Israel will keep Arafat "isolated" in his Ramallah headquarters and that Israel will press ahead with its military campaign in Palestinian-ruled areas to uproot "terror." Sharon also ruled out any peace talks with the Palestinians before "full cessation of terror."
Israeli soldiers are still surrounding as many as 200 Palestinian police and militiamen in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. A priest inside the church, Father Ibrahim Faltas, has appealed for international help, saying he fears there may be a massacre.
Bush turns in another single-appearance day today, barring schedule changes, when he strolls over to the State Department to call on the Senate to give him trade promotion authority.
As the Washington Post 's Allen puts it, "A month after infuriating many conservatives by imposing stiff tariffs on imported steel, President Bush will begin trying to reestablish his free-trade credentials today."
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58183-2002Apr3.html )
The AP's Lindlaw writes that "Bush wants the Senate to act by April 22 to broaden his power to negotiate trade pacts and to renew trade preferences for four South American countries. Bush was setting the unusual suggested deadline in a pitch for expanded trade … at the State Department."
( http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/2996593.htm )
History will record that the Bush family has a bad track record regarding the setting of deadlines by which it calls on Congress to act.
Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney continues on the fundraising circuit, headlining events today for Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri and Senator Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas.
The Middle East
David Sanger's tour de force New York Times lead story ends with the Tao of Bartlett and the Tao of Bandar, both of which pretty much speak for themselves:
"White House officials say all the conflicting advice was somewhat liberating for the president by making it easier for him to choose his own course."
( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/international/middleeast/04PREX.html )
"'This is a highly passionate issue in which there are deep emotions running on both sides, and there are people who are probably not satisfied on both sides,' said Dan Bartlett, one of the president's communications specialists. 'Most times when that's the case, it appears you might be doing something right.'"
"But that has hardly been the view of America's Arab allies. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, told a conference at the University of Oklahoma today that he was frustrated that the Israelis had spurned the Arab peace offer, a plan the administration gave its support. "'We're offering the Israelis full, total peace and security in return for ending the military occupation,' he said."
"'You still have the Arab leadership ready to stick its neck out and say, yes, let's have peace,' he added. But he warned of dire consequences if the situation remains unchanged. 'I cannot guarantee this down the road, when everybody becomes a suicidal bomber.'"
Bob Novak barely hides his contempt for the president's foreign policy, but at least, he says, it is consistent. But only as consistent as you can get from ad hoc sausage-making: as much as possible, he is allowing the Israeli definition of Arafat as a terrorist to hold. ( http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20020404.shtml )
Circling back to last Saturday's Bush remarks which seemed to contradict the US vote at the United Nations, Novak writes, "Bush's remarks seemed so far off from a rational U.S. strategy that they suggest no president should discuss delicate foreign policy issues without a script or, at least, careful briefing. The president appeared to be picking sides in a debate of vast importance mostly fought below the surface in an administration that is particularly loath to admit internal disagreement … "
"The deep concern among former senior foreign policy officials, Republicans and Democrats, is that Sharon's offensive — however unintentionally — can result in Yasser Arafat's death. Sharon's iron fist transformed Arafat from a fading force in Islam to a hero, and his death would make him a martyr. The scope of this disaster has not been visualized by the president, to judge from his Easter Saturday remarks."
Deborah Orin buys the "Bush is resolute" and "Bush is not Clinton" arguments.
( http://www.nypost.com/commentary/45174.htm )
You decide which is more hawkish: the New York Post editorial — ( http://www.nypost.com//postopinion/editorial/45108.htm )
Bill Safire unfurls the rest of his days-old (but still compelling) Sharon interview. ( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/opinion/04SAFI.html )
Howard Fineman on the web says, "This is the first case I can think of in which Bush's lifetime lack of foreign travel and deep reading in history put him at a distinct disadvantage."
( http://www.msnbc.com/news/733430.asp?cp1=1 )
ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary
Tipper Gore sat knee-to-knee with Katie on the Today show, well, today. Mrs. Gore said she considered the effects of a loss in the Senate race on her husband's possible presidential plans. She said she didn't know if he is going to run for president or not, but said it's fair to think he will decide by the end of the year. She also said her husband agrees with those Democrats who think it is time to have a debate about domestic issues again.
We liked it best when Katie closed the interview with, "We only have 30 seconds left, but I promised you we would talk about mental health … "
The two politicians pictured in separate b-roll shots with Al as Tipper voiced over an answer about why her husband shaved: Lamar Alexander and Gray Davis. We ask: is that good for Al Gore, or bad?
If Middle East coverage doesn't pre-empt "Inside Politics," watch between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. for Jon Karl's New York subway interview with the less nervous-seeming woman in Al Gore's life, Karenna, during which she doesn't rule out running for office herself in the future.
Into the big, robust national debate over the Bush version of "ending welfare as we know it" comes a survey for the National Governors Association suggesting, per Robert Pear, that "President Bush's welfare proposals are not realistic and would encourage states to place poor people in menial, unproductive jobs to meet stringent new work requirements." And into Mr. Pear's New York Times story comes plenty of feisty quotes from hard-charging Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who even gets a photo — both web and hard copy.
( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/politics/04WELF.html )
Dean gets Washington Post coverage, too:
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58310-2002Apr3.html )
(We don't mean to blow off the political implications of the study itself, which don't appear to be great for the Bush Administration: "Although not intended as a lobbying document, the findings are being seized upon by Democratic governors and lawmakers to bolster their case that the president's welfare proposal is misguided … The near-unanimous response from states also poses a political predicament for GOP governors, reluctant to criticize a Republican White House openly on the issue. Republicans sought to play down the findings," the Post writes.)
Senate Majority Leader Daschle will be in New York today and tomorrow raising dough and speaking to College Democrats.
Gannett has a good article on the two new 527 groups founded by friends of Tom Daschle to defend him and his record.
( http://www.argusleader.com/news/Thursdayarticle1.shtml )
"The National Right to Life Committee launched a radio ad in South Dakota yesterday urging listeners to tell that state's senators — including Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle — to support a ban on cloning human embryos," the Washington Times reports. "Mr. Daschle would like the Senate to debate the issue sometime before the end of May, Daschle spokeswoman Molly Rowley told The Washington Times ."
( http://www.washtimes.com/national/inpolitics.htm )
"The NRLC ad, which began running in five cities, including Rapid City and Sioux Falls, features a man and a woman discussing the issue. The man notes that the House-passed bill is supported by the president, so the 'only obstacle' to its passage is the Senate. The man also says South Dakota's two Democratic senators — Mr. Daschle and Tim Johnson — indicated they may vote for a competing bill. Mr. Johnson is running for re-election in November … The woman in the ad says this would 'allow human embryo farms to open for profit.'"
Outer Boroughist Jake Tapper of VH1 writes about Tom Daschle, sexual hijinks, and MTV's "Real World."
( http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2002/04/04/nussbaum/index_np.html )
This would appear to us to be the woman causing the hubbub.
( http://www.mtv.com/onair/realworld/season11/cast/cara.jhtml )
Florida Democratic Party convention
Coming later today: is Janet Reno's hold on the Florida Democratic gubernatorial nomination stronger than the punditocracy thinks?
( http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/
Politics
Al Hunt's column gives Democrats the first pundit-generated "good news" they've had in awhile: "Domestically, unlike his father, George W. Bush doesn't face an economic downturn, but he too has a limited agenda. Midterm elections are about turnout. Democrats have more upside with the emergence of health care, particularly prescription drugs, and worries over Social Security, as major issues this fall."
"Enron, by itself, isn't a big deal politically. But this administration's willingness to give business interests — particularly energy — a blank check presents an opening for Democrats. The argument: If these guys control everything — the presidency, House and Senate — these special interests will bankrupt you."
Hunt ends his column with some good reporting (bad news for Democrats) and some "bad"/anecdotal reporting (good news for Democrats, if true): "President Bush may be aided by the timidity of the opposition. At periodic caucus meetings, Democrats hear from consultants who warn them against raising taxes, Enron, the Middle East or most any other controversies."
"But high poll numbers notwithstanding, public embrace of Mr. Bush's leadership is softening. A small indicator: Opening Day of the baseball season in Baltimore Monday the president, a huge baseball fan, appeared on the centerfield JumboTron, amid patriotic flourishes, with a message; the crowd ignored him. Several minutes later the University of Maryland basketball coach, Gary Williams, appeared on the same screen to a tremendous ovation."
That said, Stuart Rothenberg writes in Roll Call , "We can't know now exactly what odds the president will face in his expected bid for re-election, but we do know that he'll have a bit of a cushion next time: seven additional Electoral College votes to play with. In 2000, Bush carried seven of the eight states that gained population over the last decade. Those states will gain House seats in the midterm elections and electoral votes in 2004. In contrast, Al Gore carried six of the 10 states that will lose electoral votes in 2004."
( http://www.rollcall.com/pages/columns/rothenberg/ )
"If Bush carries the same 30 states he did in 2000, he would draw 278 Electoral College votes instead of the 271 he received in 2000. And the Democratic nominee's total number of electoral votes would fall from 266 to 260."
Bill Clinton uses one of our favorite expressions of his ("I could give a rip") in his History Channel interview with Roger Mudd tomorrow, regarding how historians rate him.
( http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/45128.htm )
Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe will appear at a civil rights event in Kansas City today.
A subhead for a Knight-Ridder article on new means of political communication pretty much sums it up: "Some Political Experts Say E-Mails Will Irritate Voters."
( http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/2993945.htm )
Which does raise a good point — how do you use the Internet to exploit the new post-CFR environment without mucking up your image with undecided voters? The Democratic and Republican National Committees have a temporarily solution: leadership teams where friends recruit friends, cutting out unwanted spam, except, of course, from friends.
New York
Attention 20/20 and others who like the story of incumbents up for re-election putting themselves in taxpayer-funded public service announcements in election years: Governor Pataki is at it again — ( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/nyregion/04ADS.html ) — even as his shoe-throwing gets second-day coverage.
The Washington Times reports off Gov. Gray Davis' earlier comments to the Bay Area Reporter that he is setting up a task force to look at Vermont's civil union law "'to find out if any of those measures are applicable to California.'" "Opponents of same-sex 'marriage' believe Mr. Davis' task force is an attempt to circumvent a March 2000 statewide vote that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman."
( http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020404-23844754.htm )
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times looks at the Davis campaign's trumpeting of GOP opponent Bill Simon's high scores from the National Rifle Association and the California ProLife Council, and finds some pundits to say that Simon has made a mistake trying to keep those positions under wraps because voters may think he's trying to hide the fact that he's conservative.
( http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000024139 apr04.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia )
New Hampshire/Tennessee
(Don't think you won't see that dual sub-topic header again; think Gore '04.) In Nashville today, GOP Senate candidate Lamar Alexander is scheduled to host a fundraiser for New Hampshire Senate candidate and Rep. John Sununu.
Florida
Another election year issue defined: Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has officially come out against raising taxes to pay for education spending, preferring to let cities and counties do it themselves.
( http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/2980113.htm)
South Dakota
This article on President Bush's late April visit is significant only as it reveals, once again, a dynamic of the Senate race. Carp as national Democrats might that the president isn't sufficiently being held accountable, it just ain't the way to go in certain red states. ( http://www.argusleader.com/senate/Thursdayfeature.shtml )
"Dan Pfeiffer, communications director for [Democratic Senator Tim] Johnson, said he welcomes the president to the state and hopes he will focus his trip on discussion of education, the farm bill and lower costs for prescription drugs. Johnson's voting record has been supportive of the president 71 percent of the time, according to the Congressional Quarterly. 'Tim and the president have worked well together on cutting taxes, reforming education and fighting the war on terrorism,' Pfeiffer said."
We look forward to seeing what the Johnson media strategy will be while Bush is in state.
South Carolina
"The chairman of the two-month-old Republican Minority Outreach Committee has been ousted in what he called a coup d'etat," The State's Bandy reports today. "The state GOP created the committee to build bridges with African-American communities and attract black voters."
( http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/2996283.htm )
"State party leaders ousted him, he said, because 'I'm not a yes boy. Never have been.'" The new chairman "declined to tell The State newspaper why it was done."
"Lovett was dumped by the nine-member committee during a closed meeting in Greenville on March 27, following President Bush's address at a fund-raiser for U.S. Senate candidate Lindsey Graham."
Massachusetts
Mitt Romney's reversal of his formerly neutral position on the GOP lieutenant governor contest and his endorsement of newcomer to the race Kerry Murphy Healey has roiled the state GOP a bit. "Romney's maneuvers are upsetting some Republicans, who are uneasy about his aggressive moves to reshape the party and what they view as a lack of candor about his plans."
( http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/094/metro/ With_switch_on_2d_spot_Romney_opens_a_rift_in_GOP+.shtml )
"One [LG candidate Jim] Rappaport aide said Rappaport, who encouraged Romney to get into the contest, feels betrayed by him, but has more anger for his advisers, such as Mike Murphy, Romney's Washington consultant. Rappaport feels Romney is listening to advice from out-of-staters, who he sees as out of touch."
For those who know them, or know of them, Rappaport-vs.-Murphy is quite a match-up.
Bush Administration Strategy/Personality
Complete with a 43-41 polling chart tracking their post-war numbers, Al Hunt's Wall Street Journal column ("A Presidency in Disarray," with NO question mark) rounds up the Middle East, steel, lumber, and campaign finance in virtually predicting a Bush numbers collapse.
Hunt quotes the man who has gone in the space of a few years from the GOP's favorite pollster to its least favorite: "'We may be seeing a reprise of Bush One,' ventures independent pollster John Zogby."
And who can argue with this paragraph?
"Imagine the outcry if Mr. Clinton's United Nations representatives voted against the Israelis on a Saturday morning and the president was trotted out only hours later expressing a different view. Or if President Clinton sent his vice president on a highly publicized overseas mission that turned out disastrously. Remember 'amateur hour' in foreign policy? And what a hypocrite Mr. Clinton would have been called if, as a supposed free trader, he raised taxes, in the form of higher tariffs, to placate important electoral and contributor bases."
"Indeed, public opinion, not elite opinion, all over the world, has turned decidedly negative on George W. Bush and his politics. Mr. Zogby soon will release a survey of five Arab and five non-Arab countries which will show clear identification with American culture and the American people but with growing opposition to George W. Bush and his policies. Foreign policy shouldn't be conducted by international polls, but it's tough to marshal support for efforts like toppling Saddam if leaders face public resentment."
Hunt also tags "a passive White House press corps (which) continues to tell us (that Bush) is a strong or at least secure president."
If you have never worked on nor covered Capitol Hill, you can't even imagine the extent to which people on the Senate side are virtually oblivious to (and contemptuous of) the business, practices, and people on the House side, and vice versa. It never fails to boggle the mind. So Tom Ridge's decision to speak informally -- and likely, privately -- to two House committees this month most certainly will leave him at loggerheads with the Senate.
( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/politics/04RIDG.html )
The New York Daily News curtain raises next week's Letterman-Ashcroft hoedown.
(http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-04-04/ New_York_Now/Television/a-146480.asp )
Our thanks to the Washington Post for letting Dana Milbank stay on his cheeky White House Style section beat. Today, Milbank points out how "[t]he carnage in the Middle East" has sorta contrasted with the pictures of the President at the Easter Egg Roll, hosting the New England Patriots, and yesterday, jamming with Elmo.
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58146-2002Apr3.html )
"In Bush's honor, the boa-clad trio called the Vowelles, dressed in orange, opted to don cowboy hats and perform a western tune called "W Trouble," written to help children make the 'wuh' sound."
"Sail on, O ship of state, sail on."
Campaign Finance
"The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $12 million in the first three months of the year and carried $16.5 million in its war chest at the end of the first quarter," Roll Call reports. "The latest totals brought the DCCC's haul for the cycle to $46 million, putting the committee ahead of its pace in the 2000 cycle, when they raised $105 million … The committee also finished paying off a $5 million hard-dollar debt accumulated in the last cycle."
( http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/2002/04/news0404a.html )
"Although the Democratic campaign committee declined to provide a breakdown of the amount of hard and soft money raised this quarter, {DCCC spokesperson Jenny] Backus estimated that 55 percent of the $12 million came in the form of soft money, while 45 percent was in hard, federal dollars."
The soft money, of course, must be spent by November 6, 2002. The DCCC is expected to trail its Republican counterpart (though the GOP tends to spend a lot, so we'll be curious to see what the gap is) when the other House campaign committee releases its fundraising data.
Roll Call also reports that a fundraising letter from GOP Senate campaign committee chief Bill Frist "invokes the name of party-switching Senator Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) in an effort to bring wayward donors back into the financial fold. 'Last year Senator Jim Jeffords left the RepublicanParty and gave control of the Senate to liberal Democrats, but I fervently hope that you are still with us … Are you still on the Republican team? he asks. 'You were once an active part of our effort to build a Republican majority. But recently I haven't heard from you.'" A committee spokesman called the letter a "'prospecting piece' designed primarily to bring new donors into the fold."
( http://www.rollcall.com/pages/columns/hoh/ )
"In the letter, Frist also notes that 'gaining the Senate majority is the Republican Party's number one priority' … If Democrats remain in control of the Senate after this year's elections, Frist warns that 'liberals like Hillary Clinton [D-N.Y.], Ted Kennedy [D-Mass.], and Tom Daschle [D-S.D.] will have free rein to bring back Clinton-Gore era big-government programs and dream up new liberal social experiments in government.'" Them are frightening words to some.
Legislative Agenda
"At a meeting with business leaders scheduled for Monday," the Washington Post reports, "President Bush will urge the Senate to take up terrorism insurance legislation when lawmakers return next week from spring recess, a Bush administration official said. The official said Bush will focus on the potential for job loss if the federal government does not step in to help."
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58099-2002Apr3.html )
"The group of business leaders meeting with Bush will include J.W. 'Bill' Marriott Jr., chairman and chief executive of Marriott International Inc. Marriott is a member of a business group formed to lobby for terrorism insurance legislation. Sources said representatives of the AFL-CIO and the building and insurance industries have also been invited to attend."
Enron
The Los Angeles Times editorial page calls for Army Secretary Thomas White to resign.
( http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la- 000024015apr04.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Deditorials )
Energy Task Force
The New York Times ' Van Natta keeps plugging away at the FOIA'ed energy documents, or more accurately, the Natural Resources Defense Council does. The council found some parallel language between what an energy trade group proposed to the administration and what ended up in some Bush executive orders.
( http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/politics/04ENER.html )
Van Natta is nice enough to acknowledge that the "council discovered the parallels in language between the trade association groups' proposals and the two executive orders," and even to let the administration point out that the orders didn't give the group exactly what it wanted.
Another result of the NRDC's legalizing and FOIA-ing is a memo showing that "[t]he Bush administration is pushing for an engineer from India to take over the helm of an influential international science panel on global warming that is now headed by an American atmospheric chemist who has been criticized by the energy industry … In a memo to the White House a year ago, a senior Exxon Mobil Corp. official urged the administration to push [the current director] out."
( http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la -000024164apr04.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Da%5Fsection )
We'll say it again: governments frequently let like-minded outside groups help draft things, even groups that happen to be contributors.
Media
See Paul Slavin's quotes in the Los Angeles Times ' look at the networks' struggle to keep the video coming out of the Middle East despite the risks and despite the threats of legal action from the Israeli government.
( http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la -000024148apr04.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Da%5Fsection )
-- 10:00 am, White House off-camera morning gaggle
-- 10:00 am, Pentagon spokesperson Torie Clarke and Gen. John Rosa conduct Pentagon briefing
-- 12:15 pm, White House on-camera briefing
-- 12:30 pm, State Department briefing
-- 1:00 pm, White House trade promotion event with Secretaries Powell, O'Neill and Evans, State Department
-- 1:00 pm, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton appears with California Gov. Gray Davis at the launch of his "Women for Davis" campaign, San Francisco
-- 1:25 pm, President Bush makes remarks on trade promotion authority, State Department
-- 2:00 pm, Vice President Cheney appears at fundraiser for Rep. Sam Graves, Westin Crown Center, Kansas City, MO
-- 7:00 pm, life imitates art as James Carville "interviews" Jerry Falwell on Crossfire
-- 7:30 pm, Vice President Cheney takes part in a fundraiser for Sen. Tim Hutchinson, The Town Center, Fayetteville, AR
-- 8:00 pm, Joint Chiefs Chairman Myers speaks at Harvard, Cambridge, MA
-- 10:10 pm, President Bush arrives at the Crawford ranch
The Future
-- April 5: Sen. John Edwards headlines Buchanan County, IA Democrats fundraiser
-- April 5: Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle speaks to College Democrats, New York City
-- April 5-8: National Action Network convention, New York
-- April 5-7: British Prime Minister Blair and his family visit with the Bushes at the Crawford ranch
-- April 6: Sen. John Edwards appears with Sen. John Breaux at North Carolina Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson dinner, Raleigh
-- April 6: Massachusetts GOP Convention
-- April 9: President Bush meets and has dinner with NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson
-- April 7: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean marches in Greek Independence Day Parade, Boston
-- April 8: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean keynotes California League of Conservation Voters luncheon, San Francisco
-- April 9: Pennsylvania pre-primary financial disclosure forms due
-- April 9: Texas run-offs (Democratic run-off for Senate)
-- April 9: President Bush visits Connecticut.
-- April 10-12: House Minority Leader Gephardt, Sen. John Edwards, and Gov. Howard Dean address Democrat-leaning Campaign for America's Future, DC
-- April 10: Florida quarterly campaign finance reports due
-- April 11: Tennessee quarterly campaign finance reports due
-- April 11: Former President Clinton honors Kathleen Kennedy Townsend at DLC event, DC
-- April 11-12: House Minority Leader Gephardt campaigns for Democratic candidates in Iowa
-- April 12-14: Florida Democratic Party convention, Orlando
-- April 12: applications to host 2004 Democratic National Convention are due
-- April 12: Vice President Dick Cheney headlines fundraiser for Rep. Randy Forbes, Virginia.
-- April 12: New York's Republican Gov. George Pataki headlines New Hampshire Republican Party fund-raiser, Manchester, N.H.
--April 12-14: New Democrat Network holds East Coast Retreat, New York
-- April 13: Sen. John Edwards keynotes West Virginia Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson dinner
-- April 13: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean keynotes Minnesota Democrats' Humphrey Day Dinner, Minneapolis
-- April 13-14: annual White House spring garden tours
-- April 14: Vice President Dick Cheney campaigns for Sen. Tim Hutchinson, Fayetteville, Arkasnas.
-- April 15: Vice President Cheney travels to Illinois to campaign for Rep. John Shimkus
-- April 15: tax day; deadline for first-quarter FEC financial disclosure forms
-- April 15: Sen. Joe Lieberman gives speech on higher education, SC
-- April 15: President Bush headlines fundraiser for Iowa Rep. and Senatorial candidate Greg Ganske
-- April 15: Vice President Cheney travels to Illinois to campaign for Rep. John Shimkus
-- April 16: tax day in Maine and Massachusetts, and in states whose tax returns are filed through Andover, MA
-- April 17: Trent Lott and others hold fundraiser for Rep. John Sununu, Washington, D.C.
-- April 19: Vice President Dick Cheney campaigns for Penn. Rep. Pat Toomey.
-- April 19: Republican National Lawyer Association annual conference, Washington, D.C.
-- April 17-20: Republican party state chairs meeting, New Orleans
-- April 20: Senate Majority Leader Daschle keynotes South Dakota Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson dinner
-- April 20: Sen. John Edwards keynotes Kentucky Democrats' fundraising dinner, Lexington, KY
-- April 22: Vice President Dick Cheney hosts fundraiser for Rep. Clay Shaw, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
-- April 22: former President Clinton keynotes Connecticut Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson dinner
-- April 22: Sen. John Kerry keynotes Massachusetss Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson dinner
-- April 22: Vice President Cheney travels to Florida to endorse Rep. Clay Shaw and campaign for Rep. Ric Keller
-- April 25: Ohio pre-election financial disclosure forms due
-- April 26-28: National Rifle Association annual meeting, Las Vegas
-- April 26-28: Democratic Leadership Council retreat, New Orleans
-- April 30: National Right To Life annual "Proudly Pro-Life" Dinner, DC
-- May 3: Sen. John Kerry keynotes South Carolina Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Columbia, SC
-- May 4: Sen. John Edwards addresses South Carolina Democratic convention, Columbia, SC, and addresses Michigan Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson dinner
-- May 3: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean keynotes Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Bar Association Dinner, Cambridge, MA
-- May 3-5: Former Vice President Gore and Tipper Gore appear at BookExpo America to tout their forthcoming book, Jacob Javits Center, New York
-- May 4: New Hampshire GOP gubernatorial candidates forum, St. Paul's School, Concord, NH
-- May 4: Kentucky Derby, with politicians galore in attendance
-- May 4: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean keynotes Empire State Pride Agenda annual dinner, New York
-- May 4: White House Correspondents' Dinner
-- May 5: AFL-CIO meeting, New York
-- May 5: Sen. John Edwards addresses Michigan Democrats, MI
-- May 6: first New Hampshire gubernatorial debate, both parties, Mount Washington Hotel
-- May 9: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean speaks at DNC Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council Chairman's Dinner
-- May 10: Bill Clinton appears at Natural Resources Defense Council fundraiser with Steve Martin and more, Los Angeles
-- May 10: Mary Matalin headlines Iowa GOP fundraising dinner
-- May 11: New Hampshire Democratic gubernatorial candidates forum, St. Paul's School, Concord, NH
-- May 17: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean speaks to Gill Foundation Outgiving Conference, San Francisco
-- May 20: Florida Democrats Jefferson-Jackson dinner, speaker TBD
-- May 21: Pennsylvania primary (Democratic primary for governor)
-- May 22-23: New York Democratic party convention, Sheraton New York, NYC
-- May 22-23: President and Mrs. Bush visit Berlin
--May 22: AFL-CIO members expected to ratify increased dues levy for political purposes, New York, NY
-- May 23-25: President and Mrs. Bush visit Moscow
-- May 24: signature deadline for some California ballot initiatives
-- May 25: signature deadline for Oregon ballot initiatives
-- May 28: South Dakota pre-primary financial disclosure forms due
-- May 28-29: New York GOP Convention (Gov. George Pataki's formal renomination)
-- June 1: New Hampshire Democratic Party State Convention
-- June 1: Massachusetts Democratic Party State Convention
-- June 4: Iowa Primary
-- June 23-25: Election Law Summit, Washington, D.C.
-- June 27-30: Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Charlotte
-- July 5: last day for Washington state ballot measures to be presented
-- July 9-12: Northwest Regional Election Conference, Portland, Oregon
-- July 13: Sen. Joe Lieberman keynotes Louisiana Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson dinner
-- July 15: New York periodic disclosure forms due
-- Aug. 6: Michigan primary (Democratic primary for governor)
-- Aug. 7: last day for Ohio ballot measures to be presented
-- Aug. 20: Georgia primaries
-- Aug 26: Jury selection begins in John Walker Lindh trial
-- Sept. 10: Florida, New Hampshire, and New York primaries (Florida: Democratic primary for governor; New Hampshire: Republican primary for Senate and primaries on both sides for governor; New York: Democratic primary for governor)
-- Sept. 17: Massachusetts primary (Democratic primary for governor)
-- Sept. 30: Jury selection begins for trial of Zacarias Moussaoui
-- Oct. 15 (tentative): Zacarias Moussaoui trial begins
-- Nov. 5: Election Day
You've requested an ABCNews.com page that does not exist.
If you've reached this page by selecting a bookmark that worked previously, it's likely the file moved to a new location because of our recent redesign. Please update your bookmarks.
If you still can't find the page your looking for, check out our homepage or use the search form below:
You've requested an ABCNews.com page that does not exist.
If you've reached this page by selecting a bookmark that worked previously, it's likely the file moved to a new location because of our recent redesign. Please update your bookmarks.
If you still can't find the page your looking for, check out our homepage or use the search form below:
PRINT THIS PAGE
VIEW MOST EMAILED