W A S H I N G T O N, Aug 1: 96 Days Until The Election....
—Today is August 1. Labor Day is September 2. September 2 is just nine days from September 11. And September 12 is just 54 days from election day.
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The major political parties may not be using Washington to generate their news for the vast majority of this month, but that doesn't mean they are taking August off — or that the rest of the world will.
While Congress might leave for recess and President Bush might take a vacation (or, per Ari, just work a lot from home), political activity and real world events don't stop.
This month will bring a lot of congressional and gubernatorial primaries that will factor greatly in the outlook for the midterm elections, 145 House Republican "accomplishment-touting" district events, plus more economic news, CEO certifications, maybe some indictments, more Middle East turmoil, the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting, a lot of 2004 Democratic wannabe travel, etc.
( USA Today 's Keen, in her second clever story in as many days, writes, "The quickest way to rile the White House these days is to say that President Bush is about to play hooky for a month."
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So don't be thinking that August is going to be slow.
And the question at the end of August will be, how has the political world changed? How has the health of the two major parties fared after a month of primaries and fundraising? Will the generic congressional ballot test or those much-hyped right direction/wrong track numbers look any different?
Who will be best prepared for the final sprint? Who will slack off this month, and who will play hard in the heat?
Will candidates who have not performed up to snuff, per their minders at the national party committees, take this opportunity to elevate their games to the level required to win — in candidate performance, fundraising, etc?
This inaugural day of the month is a good example of this whole dynamic: nothing of mega tonnage is moving, and President Bush has just two public events scheduled, but there are several hardy political items to consider.
We spent a bit of time earlier this week pondering how Al Gore's missing (and in many minds, dissing) the Democratic Leadership Council meeting in New York could hurt him politically as he makes up his mind about a possible 2004 run. Today, we'll focus for a moment on how it could help him.
Despite Dick Gephardt's efforts to straddle both the centrist/DLC and the labor wings of the Democratic party, they remain undeniably distinct, and at odds on certain issues. So take Note of what Gore has on his schedule today: a luncheon with union presidents hosted by AFL-CIO president John Sweeney at the Hay-Adams Hotel.
We've been advised that this meeting 1) was requested by Gore; and 2) is not a fundraiser — it's a (very) belated "thank you" and "listening" meeting to discuss labor issues under this GOP Administration. (More on the meeting below in "Invisible Primary.")
As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Iraq continue today, the Washington Times ' Burn links up the issue with a presidential pet domestic project: "Top Republican lawmakers this month will wage a last-ditch effort to link opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration to the increasing threat of war with Iraq."
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Apparently House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin told a Washington Times ed board that he "plans to spend this month trying to gather support among lawmakers for new drilling in Alaska. After the August recess, Mr. Tauzin will, in coordination with the White House, begin a 'public relations campaign' to drive home the point that developing more domestic energy will reduce the nation's dependence on Iraq for steady supplies of oil."
All the papers cover the likely death of the compromise prescription drug legislation in the Senate yesterday. The news is worse for Democrats, because the GOP managed to look supportive enough on the overall issue to have inoculated itself against major election day repercussions.
Even so, while politically it was a bad moment for Democrats, we feel we should ask: if the president's desire for a prescription drug benefit is so fervent, why isn't he sad about the fact that nothing will pass this year? Shouldn't he be cheerleading hard to get this done, cajoling and encouraging compromise, to get it to conference?
USA Today 's Welch says, "The Bush administration opposed the proposal. Congressional sources said President Bush phoned senators to urge its defeat."
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The New York Times ' Robert Pear spends more than one paragraph making sure the world knows that this is a Scarlett "L" for Tom Daschle …
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… while the paper's ed board calls it a "bipartisan failure."
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The failure to pass a drug plan is getting big play in big states like Michigan.
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Meanwhile, in a move the White House can claim as a clear win and Democrats can't, the Senate is expected to pass fast track today. The Washington Post 's Eilperin looks at the particular business interests who will benefit. "While the trade bill … will affect broad swaths of American industry, a few lawmakers inserted language that will affect a handful of U.S. producers."
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The Washington Post 's Allen, in writing up the president's voiced opposition to offshore tax havens yesterday alongside the White House's confirmation of the Harken offshore tax haven, sort of gets at an emerging White House pattern for fielding reporters' questions on past Bush business dealings.
For starters, "Democrats said the offshore affiliates raise questions about the sincerity of the White House's crackdown on corporate abuses," Allen says.
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Then he gets into the fact that (once again) the president seemed to offer access to answers that his White House team then declined to give. "Bush did not go into detail about the subsidiary yesterday but said, 'As far as the Harken issue, we'll try to answer all your questions on that.'"
"Daschle took him up on the offer, repeating his call for Bush to allow the SEC to release its file on an insider-trading investigation involving a large sale of Harken stock by Bush in 1990. SEC officials decided there was no case against Bush. Daschle said the Cayman Islands affiliate was another reason 'why we think that the administration needs to lay the record straight, needs to allow the SEC to open up its records.'"
And then, "White House communications director Dan Bartlett repeated the administration's position that all of the relevant documents about the SEC investigation have been released."
Roll Call 's Bresnahan has details on the FBI's Capitol Hill probe into leaks of classified information on pre-September 11 intelligence failures.
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The Los Angeles Times ' Simon writes up the Democratic outcry yesterday over the administration's alleged attempt to water down the whistleblower protections in the corporate accountability law.
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When a public official survives a Gerth hit (and surely Vice President Cheney will take on less than a Dixie Riddle Cup of water based on today's New York Times story saying that Halliburton might have failed to do enough due diligence on Dresser's asbestos liabilities), the questions become: is Gerth finished working, or is this just a first installment? And might not this piece appearing in the paper bring other sources out of the woodwork?
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Democrats who think Harken/Halliburton can cause the GOP political damage try to milk three thematics: 1) Bush/Cheney broke the law; 2) Bush/Cheney had lives of privilege; and (increasingly) 3) Bush/Cheney had inflated records as businessmen, and their alleged incompetence in business should suggest to the public that they can't run the government well.
In the cycle's other Halliburton "news," we are still having trouble digesting what, exactly, Citizen Works wants us to know, given that they modified their biggest smoking gun (i.e., that Halliburton paid no taxes). LINK
The Ralph Nader group said it believes Halliburton to have incorporated offshore 35 times when Cheney was CEO, though as ABCNEWS' Langer notes, the percentage of offshore incorporations in tax havens declined as the company grew.
From what we gather about oil companies with significant overseas contracts, incorporating subsidiaries offshore was somewhat common, more to avoid the entanglements with the US regulatory process than to avoid taxes, per se.
Cheney helped to grow the company, helped to grow its Middle Eastern construction contracts, and brought in more revenue. (Consequently, as you can see from the revised Public Citizen figures, its tax burden rose appreciably, and declined in 2000, when the company itself began to experience other troubles.)
The Gerth/Stevenson story in the New York Times is most definitely not new, in a political sense. The only thing that jumped out at us, obviously, was the assertion that former Dresser executives had NOT spoken with Cheney about the enhanced asbestos risk or informed the Halliburton board.
The storyline before: Cheney and the Halliburton board didn't do due diligence. The storyline after: a potentially important document (stressing the word "potentially") wasn't shared with them, so they couldn't have done due diligence.
So the question here is one of whether, given an asymmetry of information, Halliburton ought to have nixed its deal with Dresser because of liability claims that would be decided a few years later.
Maybe Cheney wasn't a detail man (he didn't, after all, have all that much knowledge of the oil business when he came to Halliburton), but the Times seems precariously close here to running an analyst's criticism of a straight business decision.
Or (implicitly and with the opposite intent) exonerating the Veep, at least on this matter.
Jane Clayson used a good chunk of her time with Treasury Secretary O'Neill this morning asking him about Cheney's performance as CEO, and the Secretary nobly defended his old buddy Dick.
Roll Call 's Rothenberg, noting that Cheney "has so far adopted a rope-a-dope defense worthy of Muhammad Ali," writes up his enduring popularity as a fundraiser. "The demand for Cheney among GOP candidates apparently has not slowed since the collapse of Enron and WorldCom, even though polls suggest that voters aren't entirely comfortable with his past business dealings."
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"While a Cheney appearance will generate negative charges from Democrats, and some reporters and commentators undoubtedly will use the vice president's appearance as a hook on which to hang a Cheney-Halliburton- corporate accountability story, the veep's ability to raise money for Republican candidates easily outweighs any negatives."
Even with the president's signing of the Sarbanes/Oxley bill, Republicans are still (rightly) bracing for Democrats to try to make corporate scandals a centerpiece of their advertising and message delivery in 2002.
As the New York Times ' Bumiller puts it, regarding yesterday's volley of partisan attacks: "The criticisms signaled that the Democrats planned to continue using the nation's corporate scandals as a political weapon against the president, who remains personally popular even as voters express serious worries about the economy and the rocky stock market." LINK
According to documents obtained from a Republican campaign source, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is giving help to its candidates in the form of a cover letter from their executive director, Mitch Bainwol, topping a long, loving list of research showing Democratic fundraising ties to corporate interests, both massive and scandal-tied.
Mr. Bainwol writes, "As you know, the Democrats have adopted a strategy to make corporate irresponsibility a political rather than a criminal issue. They believe they can convince Americans that because Republicans have received campaign contributions from certain corporations, Republicans are responsible for the criminal activities of people within those corporations … "
And this part will annoy the heck out of Bainwol's equally tough-minded Democratic counterpart, Mr. Jordan: "It's incumbent upon us to stay our own positive course — and hope that the Democrats will soon follow. But there is absolutely no indication they will do that. In fact, what they desperately want to do is blame all Republicans for the economic troubles. They do this by pointing to relationships Republicans may have had with various implicated corporations."
Every paper covers yesterday's gloomy economic data, and the president's cheery response, but we'll let the Wall Street Journal 's lead story speak for the class: "The nation's economic recovery is weaker than previously believed and last year's recession was deeper, raising the chances that the still-fragile recovery could stall."
The White House's top economist channels Nick Brady to the Journal: "'The bet has always been for a turnaround in business investment in the second half. I see no reason to suggest that won't be the case.'"
And one of the three legs of the stool, housing prices (along with consumer spending and autos), could be warping just a bit, the Journal says on the front of its chatty "Personal Journal" section (a strange place to put something so deathly serious).
If the bubble bursts during George W. Bush's presidency, God help him: "In a potentially troubling development, a small but growing number of homeowners are selling their homes for less than they paid. Owners of high-end houses are facing the biggest problems. While many of the cities involved are not surprisingly high-tech areas like Austin and San Francisco, slower growth and instances of price cuts are now becoming more widespread. For example, appreciation has slowed considerably in places such as Baton Rouge, La., Charleston, S.C., and Detroit … "
"The price drops and sales slowdown in some markets suggest that the residential real-estate bubble may finally be losing some air. Sales of existing homes in June dropped 11.7%, a sign, some economists say, that potential sellers are having trouble getting the prices they want for their homes."
While the overall trends are still fine, the Journal says, "a possible slowdown in housing appreciation bodes ill for the national economy, since the buoyant residential real-estate market has helped keep consumers spending even as the stock market slumped. If home prices soften, it could undermine the already sluggish recovery from last year's recession."
Buried in the Washington Post business section today is this: "A Senate Appropriations subcommittee decision to increase spending for homeland security beyond what the Bush administration is seeking could jeopardize an economic census planned for December that is needed to update data on about 20 percent of the U.S. economy, Commerce Department officials said yesterday."
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Life is not fair, in politics and especially for Al Gore, who continues to dominate this week's Invisible Primary, even though we haven't laid eyes on the guy.
Life was unfair for him in 2000, when he drew the hovering, covering trio of Sobieraj/Seelye/Connolly, whose combined noses are, to say the least, harder than Frank Bruni's (and we love you, Frank). And life is a bit unfair for Gore this week, too.
There's another shot today for Gore and for us media jackals (look for a duo comprised of one ABCNEWS and one Washington Post intern staking this out) at his labor luncheon at the Hay-Adams Hotel, in the Concorde Room between 12 noon and 2:00 p.m..
Mr. Sweeney, we are told, will lead the labor contingent, but we do not know, as of this writing, which Bigs from the House of Labor will show up.
The essential labor endorsement for 2004 will likely go to Gore, to Gephardt, or to no one, and today's meeting might someday be seen in history as a key moment for Gore's attempt to lock in Outcome #1 or Outcome #3.
We have received some Gore-friendly and Gore-unfriendly e-mails since he blew off the DLC on Monday suggesting that Gore purposefully snubbed the group to send some sort of signal (and not just to assert his frontrunner status, even without going to SMU for a ceremony honoring his wife).
No one has adequately explained what exactly that signal would/could have been, or by whom it would have been received. But this kind of meta-analysis is premised on the same thing that made visitors to Gilligan's Island just so certain that Gilligan must be some kind of secret genius, because, well, nobody could actually be that dumb and bumbling.
The thinking goes: a man who has run for national office four times couldn't be so silly as to blow off one of the key groups in Democratic politics from eight-tenths of a mile away without a good reason.
Gore's labor meeting, scheduled, we are told, by him, is at least symbolically interesting for its timing.
Now here is the unfair part: Gore, on the merits, is totally right in this phony fight with the DLC, who was so quick to claim that he lost the election in 2000 because he didn't run as one of them.
He DID win the popular vote, as Noted earlier this week (what with it being a fact and all), and if he had won a handful more electoral votes, people would have marveled at his brilliant comeback campaign, at the expense of the DLC.
And his 2000 horse-race standing got a boost during the time of the "people versus the powerful," although not necessarily for that reason.
And his campaign rhetoric and the DLC's current rhetoric aren't really all that different.
But this fight isn't actually a fight over these (semi-)substantive things — it is a surrogate fight for what Democrats really want to engage on: Gore ran a horrible campaign.
There's not a soul who worked for his 2000 effort who will defend the candidate's performance, or the performance of the campaign, and the press, the informed grassroots folks, and the chattering class are convinced now more than ever that Gore's effort was horrendous.
So by trying to convince the world that he is right and the DLC is wrong, Gore is fighting a battle he cannot win.
The Washington Times ' Lambro writes today of the fire Gore came under at the DLC: "Such criticism of their former nominee had some liberal Democrats complaining loudly yesterday that the party's more-conservative wing was pursuing the wrong campaign strategy."
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Joe Lieberman, meanwhile, is playing some pretty tough symbolic politics with the administration over unions and the homeland security department.
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Roll Call 's Preston rounds up the busy busy travel plans of the recessing Democratic wannabes. Gephardt "is scheduled to be in Los Angeles today and will make several stops in the Golden State over the next few days before flying to Boston and then on to Chicago at the beginning of the week."
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"Along the trail, Gephardt will be raising money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and his own war chest. Later this month, the Minority Leader is expected to make a stop in Iowa to stump for Hawkeye Democrats, part of a campaign tour that will bring him to more than two dozen Congressional districts."
"But Gephardt won't be alone in Iowa. Edwards and Lieberman both plan to visit separately in two weeks to tour the State Fair and attend Democratic fundraisers."
Edwards will stop in Illinois, South Carolina, and Seattle. Lieberman will visit "Colorado, Minnesota, and New Hampshire."
"Kerry, who visited Iowa earlier this summer, said he plans to make stops in California, Illinois, New York and New Hampshire this month to 'campaign for people … and help some of the parties.' Meanwhile, Daschle is expected to spend the second week in August on the West Coast to help raise money for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and candidates in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state."
Joshua Micah Marshall gets at the history, facts, and dilemma of the Lieberman Pledge in the New York Post . And he teases out an important dynamic at play here in his last paragraph regarding the chomping at the bit by the members of Team Lieberman.
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Deborah Orin gets at a potential Achilles heel for all sorts of Democrats who refuse to release their tax returns. LINK
David Lightman writes up the "third coming" of Senator Joseph Biden, who seems very much in his element when foreign policy questions are at the fore.
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Imus spent MORE time this very morning talking about the weeks-old Style section piece on the Kerry/Heinz marriage.
High fives will fly in the (Minority) Leader's office when they read the Wall Street Journal 's grudging editorial on Gephardt and immigration reform, in which the sharpies at the Journal express disappointment in the GOP for letting themselves be outfoxed by Gephardt, and they even give him props for how all this could play out in November.
It never really occurred to us to string together the words, "Senator John Edwards, environmentalist," even after Edwards huddled with enviro leaders a few weeks ago, and even after he talked about clean air at the DLC meeting earlier this week. But nevertheless, Edwards is joining confirmed enviro Joe Lieberman, along with independent Senator Jim Jeffords, for an 11:00 am press conference today to announce their opposition to EPA plans to roll back clean air rules and let utilities expand power plants without installing pollution-control equipment.
The Scrum has some good stuff posted now on Gore, Google, and Democrats running in 2002.
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece on how the administration is working closely with the Fraternal Order of Police, who seem to have gotten the president to go back on a campaign pledge involving studying racial profiling.
The FOP, which provided one of Bill Clinton's breakthrough endorsements in 1992, is now part of Karl Rove's "peel-off-labor-support-where-we-can-for-2004" matrix. The story details all the White House is doing to make sure that the "FOP piece" (as a cynical political operative might call it) stays in place.
Does the New York Times ' Richard Oppel get upset about pretty much anything that bothers Senator John McCain and Fred Wertheimer, or is it just when they think the FEC, the House leadership, or Mitch McConnell are up to no good? LINK
The Washington Post 's Edsall looks at how the Federal Election Commission's proposed new campaign finance rules could wind up "gutting" McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan's ban on issue ads. The new rules "include a set of four 'alternative' exemptions to the ban," with issues ads "defined as those that 'promote, support, attack or oppose' federal candidates 30 days before primary elections and 60 days before general elections."
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While the Democratic National Committee's building fund sucks up most of the attention paid to this little but oh-so-fun niche of political fundraising, the Democratic Senate campaign committee just got $625,000 in soft money from Freddie Mac for its new building, per Roll Call 's Keller. "The DSCC is in a race against the clock to finance the new headquarters before the recently enacted campaign finance reform law, which will limit such activities, goes into effect Nov. 6."
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"Among the companies and groups filling the DSCC's building coffers were some of the industry's most vocal proponents of the controversial Yucca Mountain initiative — companies such as the Louisiana-based Entergy, the Exelon Corporation, FirstEnergy Corporation and the Nuclear Energy Institute."
Variety's legendary Mr. Archerd says, and we have confirmed, that the Democratic House campaign committee has a big Hollywood event planned for late September, which is expected to include Gephardt stalwarts Streisand and Spacey. LINK
Since he done got this McCain-Feingold thing passed, a Democratic source says that Gephardt has been working on a model of pulling sympathetic talent together for big stadium events that would allow Democrats to up their hard-money efforts.
USA Today 's Lawrence updates the battle for the Latino vote.
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That farm team for future governors, the ranks of the state attorneys general (never, we were taught when we were young, say "attorney generals"), get full and loving treatment on B1 of the Wall Street Journal , with Blumenthal, Miller, Shurtleff, Lockyer, Reilly, and Napolitano all getting dot drawings. You can't pay, as the man said, for buzz like this, and, of course, one can't help but notice how Democrat-heavy the list is.
A bunch of contested congressional primaries get attention today:
In Michigan's Dingell/Rivers bout, the United Auto Workers will mount one of its trademark get-out-the-vote campaigns on behalf of Rep. John Dingell next Tuesday. LINK
And the Detroit Free Press has a good look at the give-and-take in these final days.
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Roll Call 's Pershing takes the latest look at the New Hampshire Republican Senate primary.
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In Georgia, the redistricting-inspired Republican primary between GOP Reps. Bob Barr and John Linder gets the Z. Hallow treament.
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And in Kansas, longtime observers of Kansas politics will be shocked, shocked! when they read Roll Call 's Cillizza's story about the Republican contest for the nomination to take on Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore, which has gotten nasty!!!
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The New York Times ' and The Wall Street Journal ed boards have come to the same conclusion: Senator Robert Torricelli continues to basically say he did nothing wrong, while still accepting the Ethics Committee's findings. LINK
Will either of these shoes drop: Torricelli holds a no-holds-barred press conference and answers the remaining questions, and/or documents from the court proceedings and/or the various investigations get released?
That three-page letter of "severe admonishment" is all the Senate Ethics Committee is going to release in the case of Senator Robert Torricelli (D) — only Senator John McCain, who thinks the case "'should be treated as the Keating Five were treated'" — called for the release of more records — though there's enough in that letter for a couple of Republican campaign ads.
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Roll Call 's Kane goes on to say that "Torricelli supporters are claiming some vindication in the report, noting that the committee discounted most of the allegations against the Senator, including far-reaching contentions that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in cash from Chang and tried to intimidate him out of telling the truth."
"The National Republican Senatorial Committee and New Jersey Republicans have already demanded that the committee, or Torricelli on his own, release the transcripts of the seven hours of testimony he gave to the committee under oath."
The New York Times ' news story stresses the fact that Jersey Democrats are on background expressing worry about Torricelli topping the ticket.
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We muse: just how massive is the Torch's coterie of outside political advisers right now, scheming to reduce the damage? Also: will Jersey/New York/Philly papers produce editorials now and (endorsing ones) before election day that could hurt the incumbent? Will the Torch sit for ed boards?
The Times has to eat a bit of crow on a key fact about the Senator's apparent repaying of David Chang's generosity. LINK
Torricelli's GOP opponent, Doug Forrester, denounced the Torch yesterday as "'unfit for office.'"
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Even so, the Washington Post offers this anecdotally based assertion: "as Republicans scramble to exploit — and Democrats to play down — the ethics committee's ruling, the famously independent voters of New Jersey have news for both parties: In one suburb after the next, they declared themselves numb to scandals in Washington and in boardrooms — and equally distrustful of all candidates."
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The Star-Ledger says he "deserved the rebuke."
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Home-state second-day coverage is much like first-day coverage: Torricelli roundly denies that he is corrupt, and asserts that the Chang gifts weren't gifts in his mind, and Doug Forrester promises to restore ethical vigor to New Jersey's Senate delegation.
The Star-Ledger's reporter nabbed a short interview with the Senator.
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Ethics flap "experts" told the Trenton Times that the dispute is by no means over. LINK
Forrester says simply that Torricelli isn't telling the truth and he should resign. LINK
Deborah Orin in the New York Post plays up the McCain angle.
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The state's primaries, including a bunch of key House contests, crowds on both sides for the open governorship, and the Lamar-vs.-Bryant GOP Senate primary, take place today. Polls close at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Most Tennessee counties use optical scan technology, but 21 use punch card ballots. The legislature simply didn't have enough money to replace them. A total of 11 different election systems are now in use. Two of four corners punched constitute a vote on dimpled or pregnant chads.
Tennessee has no automatic recount, though counties can decide for themselves whether and how to run them. The state does have a type of provisional ballot voting. LINK
Note that the NAACP gave Tennessee an "F" on election reform.
The Tennesseean has a good overview of the strengths and weaknesses of Alexander and Bryant. LINK
Both spend time in vote-rich West Tennessee, and both "ended the day with rallies in Shelby County, home to more than one-fifth of the statewide GOP primary vote."
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As we've said before, early voting rates are high, so election officials are predicting a big turnout today. LINK
David Keene's American Conservative Union lent his group's influential patina to Bryant's campaign yesterday, but it's unclear if it's too little, too late.
We don't quite know what to make of the state's gubernatorial race.
On the one hand, public polls and internal polling for both sides continue to show the race really close.
On the other hand, ongoing problems with his business and personal finances are undermining Republican Bill Simon's efforts to challenge Gov. Gray Davis's management of the state.
Here's the biggest whammy so far.
"A Los Angeles Superior Court jury ordered the William E. Simon & Sons firm to pay $78 million in damages for fraud and other misconduct in an investment debacle that also led to a major personal financial loss for Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon Jr," the Los Angeles Times ' Finnegan reports.
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"The damages awarded at hearings Tuesday and Wednesday by a state Superior Court jury were a major blow to a candidate who has marketed himself primarily as a successful businessman."
"The jury ordered the Simon firm to pay $65 million in punitive awards and $13.3 million in compensatory damages to the plaintiff, P. Edward Hindelang of Santa Barbara."
Simon, who was not named as a defendant in the case, hopes the verdict will be set aside or overturned on appeal.
"Simon's difficulties could grow further next month when--just weeks before the Nov. 5 election--a trial is scheduled to begin in a 1992 lawsuit he filed to recover his family's $40-million investment in the defunct Western Federal Savings and Loan."
How does Garry South have the time to focus-group all this different stuff?
Boy, Simon must be happy to see this game plan, written as an op-ed, by GOP strategist Ken Kachigian in the Los Angeles Times : "Bill Simon Jr. must be tired of hearing how he can't win the governorship. Well, he can."
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An opportune federal waiver allowed Florida to expand its Medicaid prescription drug program and allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to present an expansion of his drug proposal yesterday. The state says that 60,000 seniors are eligible for the $109 million plan, netting them as much as $160 per month. Democrats said the plan was too little, too late, and smacked of election-year politicking. LINK
"More than half the nearly $1.1 million raised so far by the group seeking smaller class sizes in Florida public schools has come from out-of-state contributors, campaign finance records show," the Tampa Tribune reports. "The proposed constitutional amendment, which is expected to be approved as early as today for the November ballot, has heavy backing from two national teacher unions, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and People for the American Way. All oppose Gov. Jeb Bush's school voucher program."
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"Minnesotans can finally see what juicy film role lured Gov. Jesse Ventura away from the state the day after the Minnesota Twins were targeted for elimination last fall. Mr. Ventura plays a thief who steals the Liberty Bell in the comedy 'The Master of Disguise,' the Associated Press reports."
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"In a cameo role, he joins a plot to steal the world's precious symbols. As star-struck security guards toting their own Jesse Ventura action figures look on, Mr. Ventura hefts the historic bell. 'Thanks for the Liberty Bell, guys,' he says. 'I'll bring it right back.' Then he reminds the guards that those aren't dolls they're carrying — they're action figures."
The four major candidates for governor debated last night. Ventura and the state's budget crisis were the two most talked about subjects.
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Highly endangered moderate GOP Rep. Connie Morella yesterday started a cable TV ad buy. "Aimed at crossover Democrats and independents, Morella's 60-second spot seeks to remind voters of the life story that has long helped her connect to voters while distancing her from a party affiliation not shared by the majority of Montgomery County and Prince George's County voters in the district. The ad never mentions that Morella is Republican and instead portrays her as 'the most independent voice in Congress.'"
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"The Republican National Committee has asked two candidates in the Kansas Republican primary for attorney general to stop using President Bush's picture in campaign literature," the Kansas City Star reports. LINK
"The committee sent a letter to David Adkins last week. Adkins' campaign manager Nancy Lindberg agreed to the request, saying she did not realize the White House objected to having Bush's picture used, she said. Adkins' chief opponent, Phill Kline of Shawnee, received a similar letter Wednesday. Kline and Adkins, of Leawood, are vying for the Republican nomination in the Aug. 6 primary. Charles McAtee of Tecumseh near Topeka also is running."
Bush circuit court of appeals nominee D. Brooks Smith was confirmed by the Senate yesterday by a relatively close 64-35 vote.
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Al Gore's riff on the administration when he appeared before a group of young Democrats on Capitol Hill last week for so publicly leaking plans concerning Iraq didn't get a lot of notice.
If you didn't already think this Administration was looking indecisive about Iraq, you have only to read the Washington Post 's Ricks today, who describes the debate within the administration as "increasingly contentious:" "Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld are pushing most forcefully for aggressively confronting Hussein … Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and CIA Director George J. Tenet are asking skeptical questions about a military campaign … Much of the senior uniformed military, with the notable exception of some top Air Force and Marine generals, opposes going to war anytime soon."
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"One advocate of confronting Hussein said he worries that the determined opposition of senior military leaders ultimately will dissuade Bush … But several others predicted that the military's objections will be overridden … Ultimately, noted a senior administration official, 'the military has limited influence in this administration.'"
The Washington Post editorial page cautions Paul O'Neill to watch what he says: "perhaps Mr. O'Neill hasn't gotten used to the idea that, as Treasury secretary, his comments can move markets."
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Rudy Giuliani says his drop-by at 1600 yesterday was just a "social" chat.
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— 9:30 am, Senate meets, possibly to consider fast track, possibly for cloture vote on homeland security
— 9:45 am, White House off-camera morning gaggle
— 10:00 am, Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Iraq
— 10:15 am, President Bush meets with the King of Jordan, Oval Office
— 11:00 am, Israeli Foreign Minister Peres meets with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, then heads to the White House for meetings with Administration officials
— 11:30 am, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott and other members of the Senate GOP leadership hold pre-recess press conference
— 12:15 pm, White House on-camera briefing
—12:15 pm, Senate Majority Leader Daschle, Senator Kennedy, Worldcom employee Osman Guven, and others hold press conference on pension protection
— 1:15 pm, President Bush signs the Nurse Reinvestment Act of 2002, Oval Office
—1:45 pm, Israeli Foreign Minister Peres Q&A, State Department
— 4:30 pm, Israeli Foreign Minister Peres meets with members of Congress
— 8:00 pm, polls close in Tennessee
Newly listed events are italicized.
— Aug. 1: Tennessee primary
— Aug. 1: New York Stock Exchange vote on new corporate governance rules
— Aug. 1: King Abdullah of Jordan visits President Bush, DC
— Aug. 3: 5th Annual Iowa antique tractor hunt, Pomeroy, Iowa
— Aug. 3: 13th Chowderfest, Waterville Valley, New Hampshire — Aug. 4-6: RNC site selection committee visits New Orleans
— Aug. 6: Michigan primary; Kansas primary; Missouri primary
— Aug. 6: President Bush physical examination expected — Aug. 6-8: RNC site selection committee visits Tampa-St. Petersburg
— Aug. 7: last day for Ohio ballot measures to be presented
— Aug. 8: Vice President Cheney headlines fundraiser for House candidate John Swallow, Salt Lake City
— Aug. 8-10: International Association of Firefighters convention, Las Vegas — Aug. 8-10: RNC site selection committee visits New York — Aug. 8: Winning Margins PAC event for Texas Senate candidate Ron Kirk, DC
— Aug. 8-11: Democratic National Committee meets, Las Vegas
— Aug. 8-18: Iowa State Fair, Des Moines, Iowa
— Aug. 10: Sen. John Edwards keynotes Magnuson Dinner, Washington state — Aug. 10: Sen. Pete Domenici leads "Campaign Caravan" of GOP candidates across New Mexico
— Aug. 13: Colorado primary
— Aug. 13: Sen. Joe Lieberman addresses American Postal Workers Convention and headlines Sen. Paul Wellstone fundraiser, Minneapolis — Aug. 13: President Bush hosts economic summit, Waco, Texas
— Aug. 13: Ex-UNC coach Dean Smith hosts birthday fundraiser for Erskine Bowles, Chapell Hill
— Aug. 14: Lynne Cheney's birthday.
— Aug. 14: SEC deadline for company heads to certify financial statements for 2002
— Aug.14-15: Sen. Joe Lieberman visits Iowa
— Aug. 16-18: Sen. John Edwards visits Iowa and Iowa State Fair
— Aug. 18: Sen. Joe Lieberman appears at Hillsborough County Democratic Picnic, Manchester, NH
— Aug. 19: Bill Clinton's birthday
— Aug 19: Tipper Gore's birthday
— Aug. 19: Sen. Joe Lieberman headlines fundraising events for Senate nominee Chellie Pingree and gubernatorial nominee John Baldacci in Maine
— Aug. 20: Georgia primary
— Aug. 21: New Hampshire campaign finance reports due
— Aug. 23-24: Florida Republican Party state executive committee meeting, Orlando
— Aug. 23-24: Michigan Republican Party state convention
— Aug. 24-25: Michigan Democratic Party state convention
— Aug. 25: Sen. Joe Lieberman headlines fundraiser for Rep. Eliot Engel, Westchester, NY
— Aug. 25-27: Southern Governors Association's 68th Annual Meeting, New Orleans
— Aug. 26: Jury selection begins in John Walker Lindh trial
— Aug. 27: Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidates debate
— Aug 27: Alaska primary; Oklahoma primary
— Aug. 27-28: FEC hearings on BCRA regulation proposals, DC
— Aug 28. Saint Anselm college hosts American Political Science Association short course on the 2004 New Hampshire primary and The Invisible Primary
— Aug. 29-Sept. 1: American Political Science Association annual conference, Boston
— Aug. 29-Sept. 2: 13th Annual Midwest Polka Fest, Humboldt, Iowa
— Sept. 2: 6th Annual Rubber Ducky Regatta, North Woodstock, New Hampshire
— Sept. 3: Nevada primary
— Sept. 6: Congress meets for special session in New York City
— Sept. 7: Delaware primary
— Sept. 9: First Lady Laura Bush chairs Kennedy Center's "Concert for America," DC
— Sept. 10: Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina and New York primaries (Florida: Democratic primary for governor; New Hampshire: Republican primary for Senate and primaries on both sides for governor; North Carolina: Democratic and Republican primaries for Senate; New York: Democratic primary for governor); Arizona primary; Connecticut primary; District of Columbia primary; Maryland primary; Minnesota primary; Rhode Island primary;
Vermont primary; Wisconsin primary
— Sept. 11-14: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 32nd Annual Legislative Conference, DC — Sept. 13-14: Georgia Republican Party "Road to Majority" conference, Augusta
— Sept. 22: 4th Annual Great North Woods Lumberjack Championships, Berlin, New Hampshire
— Sept. 17: Massachusetts primary (Democratic primary for governor)
— Sept. 27-29: California Republican Party convention
— Sept. 30: Jury selection begins for trial of Zacarias Moussaoui
— Sept. 30: Discovery ends in McCain-Feingold lawsuit (tentative).
— Sept. 30: 401(k) statements begin to roll out.
— Oct. 4: Al Sharpton's birthday
— Oct. 5: Tri-state's Largest Chili Cook-Off, Dubuque, Iowa
— Oct. 5: Sen. Chris Dodd keynotes Ohio Democratic Party dinner — Oct. 12: Sen. John McCain hosts Saturday Night Live, New York
— Oct. 13: Iowa State Hand-Cornhusking contest, Kimballton, Iowa
— Oct. 15 (tentative): Zacarias Moussaoui trial begins
— October 26: New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's birthday
— Nov. 4: Laura Bush's birthday
— Nov. 4: Deadline for opening briefs, McCain-Feingold lawsuit (tentative).
— Nov. 5: Election Day
— New SEC disclosure rules go into effect
— Nov. 17: Vermont Governor Howard Dean's birthday.
— Nov. 18: Deadline for opposition briefs, McCain-Feingold lawsuit (tentative).
— Nov. 20: Delaware Senator. Joseph Biden's birthday
— Dec. 4: Oral arguments begun in McCain-Feingold lawsuit. (tentative)
— Dec. 9: South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle's birthday
— Dec. 11: Massachusetts Senator John Kerry's birthday
— Dec. 13: Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack's birthday
— Dec. 26: California Governor. Gray Davis's birthday
— Jan. 30, 2003: Vice President Dick Cheney's birthday
— Jan. 31, 2003: Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt's birthday
— Feb. 24, 2003: Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman's birthday
— March 11, 2003: Georgia Governor Roy Barnes's birthday
— March 31, 2003: Al Gore's birthday
— June 15, 2003: Senate/House/key adviser personal financial disclosure forms due
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