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Presumably because of the war, the serious Hill GOP backtracking that was going on over criticism of Bush economic policies yesterday gets little play today. And by that, we mean Senator Grassley's words of regret at the White House stakeout yesterday over his criticism of Bush's dividend tax cut ("I think I should have kept my mouth shut back in January"), and Speaker Hastert's statement "clarifying" his recent criticism of Bush's Medicare proposal in the Chicago Tribune. More on that below.

But nothing can keep the Fed chief off the front pages when he gently raps the president's rush to cut taxes, even as he backed the dividend tax cut. Whatever potion got Grassley and Hastert on board (and saved them from eligibility for the LaHood Award) apparently wasn't slipped into Chairman Greenspan's morning victuals.

As the Washington Post notes, Greenspan's testimony "is likely to make it more difficult to sell a plan that Bush says is needed to spur the economy." LINK

"Greenspan's call for Congress to wait on tax cuts until after a resolution of the standoff with Iraq resonated immediately with some Republicans."

The New York Times calls it a "serious blow to the Bush administration." LINK

"White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, played down suggestions yesterday that Mr. Greenspan did not fully back the administration's plan." LINK

President Bush will give a speech on the economy across the river in Alexandria, VA today. We wonder how he'll address or skirt the Chairman's testimony on the rush to cut. But we would bet on "forcefully, but indirectly."

Senator John Kerry, clad in a leather bomber jacket, arrived at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore shortly after 6:00 am this morning to undergo surgery for prostate cancer. Kerry told reporters on the way into the hospital that he felt "great."

The Kerry campaign says the operation is expected to last about two hours, and they will issue a statement on the initial results shortly after the procedure. A conference call for reporters with Kerry's surgeon, Dr. Patrick Walsh, will follow. The Note wishes the Senator, his family and his staff well.

Since politics is what we do, and since Team Kerry clearly thought through the politics of this event, it would be wrong not to do some meta-Note work on What It All Means. Since they have thought mucho about the potential politics, so shall we.

While the names Tsongas, Dole and Giuliani pop up with regularity, the first round of coverage of Kerry's prostate cancer seems fair to positive for the current Democratic presidential frontrunner, with lots of media contemplation of how far we have come in terms of candidates acknowledging, and the press writing about, the health issues of the country's presidential contenders, and also, fairly low placement in most print stories, and almost zero mention we've seen in the TV stories, about how Kerry initially lied to a Boston Globe reporter about his condition.

And what print mentions we've seen of the latter generally lay it all in the Boston Globe 's lap — as in, "When a Boston Globe reporter asked Kerry 10 days ago … ," and implicitly accept the justification (Note that we didn't say "excuse") the Senator gave about his family not having been told at that point.

The Reporter Who Asked 10 Days Ago, the Globe's Glen Johnson, leads with the unlikelihood that Kerry's campaign will be affected: "Political analysts said Kerry might suffer initially with donors and activists who are concerned about his long-term health, but they downplayed any serious effect because prostate cancer is commonplace and because many voters know little about any of the Democratic presidential contenders yet." LINK

Then Glen gets into it: "Two weeks ago, Kerry denied that he had any medical problem when a Globe reporter asked him if he was sick. At the time, he had appeared thin and had dark circles around his eyes."

"'Why, do I look bad?' Kerry replied as he was getting into his car to leave his Senate office. When the question was repeated and Kerry was asked additionally if he had a medical problem, he said no."

It will be left to history (and Walter Shapiro) to record WHY Glen was staking out the Senator at his car (perhaps AP nostalgia?).

The Globe's editorial page, however, says Kerry has dealt "forthrightly with the diagnosis and the impending surgery." LINK

Props to Kerry and his media team for their handling of this, right down to the carefully prepared briefing book. Kerry himself walked into the press conference yesterday armed with two of the most key chapters of "Chris Lehane's Great Big Book of Press Management: Chapter 3: "Get All the Facts Out and Completely," and Chapter 4: "Set a Tone of Levity and Lightness."

That joke about the removal of his "aloof gland," while it got few laughs at the time, seems funnier now. And the joking-about-the-foibles thing usually works (think Al Gore making boring jokes, or 43 making jokes about being verbally challenged).

Going forward, if there is more contretemps about this, we would expect the Boston print press and talk-radio folks to be the most unforgiving. Just be very glad, Kerry folks, that Glen is not Lawrence K. Altman.

Dr. Altman only seems to mind when public officials aren't instantly and fully forthcoming about their health when HE is the one who asked the questions. This news cycle, Dr. Altman decided to write (avec the timely "Boston" dateline) about HIV testing. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/health/12IMMU.html

Writing solo, the New York Times ' Nagourney cleverly channels Altman (with a smidge of Rick Berke) for at least three paragraphs: "Mr. Kerry and his staff went to extravagant efforts today to allay suggestions that the cancer diagnosis, and the surgery, would disrupt Mr. Kerry's campaign at a time when he has been recruiting staff members, raising money, and trying to portray himself as leading the Democratic field of six … " LINK

" … [T]he nation has never knowingly elected anyone with a diagnosis of cancer, which means that Mr. Kerry is venturing into unfamiliar political ground."

"In a comparison that Mr. Kerry's aides said they were eager to avoid, Senator Paul S. Tsongas, the Massachusetts Democrat whose seat Mr. Kerry now holds, ran for president in 1992 by presenting himself, inaccurately, as having completely recovered from a form of cancer known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Mr. Tsongas died in 1997."

It's been quite a week or two for Kerry, and there's nothing the political press corps loves more than such a string of events: first, the CW among the Chattering Class gelled that he currently is the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination; then, with the help of the Boston Globe , he discovered more Jewish roots than he'd believed he had; his wife Teresa Heinz began using his name (to those of you who think this item is more trivial than the rest, we respectfully beg to differ); and now, the surgery for prostate cancer.

Kerry's name recognition has grown over the past few months, and the widespread coverage of his surgery will give it another boost, though we wonder how it will play out that many Americans just now getting introduced to Kerry are learning about him as a cancer patient.

To that end, his opting for the surgery and, hopefully, quick recovery, rather than longer-term treatment arguably helps.

And the potential negative impact of that, we say in all seriousness, may be balanced out somewhat by the fact that Kerry has the same disease as America's Mayor, who was all over the morning shows and morning papers talking about it, and how the Senator hopefully will be fine.

Democratic party Bigs like Paul Begala and Tad Devine are on the record saying this should no more than temporarily impact Kerry's presidential campaign, and not hurt him in the long run. And William Bennett is also out there saying Kerry handled it all quite well.

"The junior senator expects to be back at his Georgetown townhouse by Saturday — and back behind his Senate office desk for meetings and phone calls next week. He plans a West Coast campaign swing in two weeks." LINK

We do also wonder what Kerry would be doing right now if he weren't heading in for surgery and expected to be laid up for, as again we all hope, no more than 10 days or so altogether.

Like, he might be issuing statements on the war and Bin Laden.

Kerry's congressional colleagues Dick Gephardt, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman all called yesterday to wish him well. Former Gov. Howard Dean appears to have gotten a statement out to at least some in the press wishing Kerry well.

More on Kerry below.

As best we can tell, the only reporter around to run Speaker Dennis Hastert's statement of clarification, after he really seemed to bash the Bush Medicare proposal as "inhumane" in the Chicago Tribune yesterday, is Mr. Al Kamen. LINK

But we'll give excerpting honors to Ms. Zuckman, who had the story to begin with: "Hastert Tuesday 'clarified' his criticism of President Bush's tentative plan to give senior citizens a prescription drug benefit, but only if they switch from Medicare into managed care plans such as HMOs. Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said the president's plan has been misunderstood, and that Bush does not intend to coerce seniors into leaving Medicare. 'I think there has been a perception out there that the president's plan would force seniors into an HMO in order to get a prescription drug benefit,' Hastert said in a statement. 'My comments were aimed at that perception. The White House plan does not force seniors into an HMO in order to get life-saving prescription drugs.'" LINK

"But administration officials had released material last month describing a plan that would require Medicare beneficiaries to join some type private health insurance plan in order to obtain coverage of prescription drugs. Those who stayed in the traditional Medicare program would receive no prescription benefit. In a meeting with the Tribune editorial board Monday, Hastert said he told Bush last week that his plan to give seniors prescription drug coverage if they leave Medicare for private insurance plans, such as HMOs or preferred provider networks, was unworkable. 'I don't think you can do it humanely,' Hastert said he told Bush. 'I don't think you can do it politically. I don't think it's practical.'"

The Wall Street Journal says with a perfectly straight face: "Shifting strategy, the White House is telling Capitol Hill that it isn't likely to send lawmakers a detailed plan for revamping Medicare and adding a prescription-drug benefit."

"Instead, alarmed by congressional criticism of a leaked version of President Bush's Medicare plan, the White House is considering offering what aides are calling 'principles' to guide negotiations with Congress on restructuring the federal health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled … "

"House and Senate Republicans told the administration they couldn't pass legislation unless it offered some drug coverage to all Medicare recipients."

It sure is going to make figuring out that $400 billion figure (and how you get that from "principles") that much harder to do …

Because you can't read it in any of your finer papers, we're going to run Senator Grassley's seemingly uncomfortable sorta-reversal on the dividend tax cut at the White House stakeout yesterday for you in full — courtesy of ABCNEWS' Katy "I'm Typing As Fast As I Can" Textor and Ann Compton:

QUESTION: Senator Grassley, did you tell him what you felt about the dividend tax elimination, that you felt the whole thing wouldn't fly.

GRASSLEY: You know, I said that back in January in the sense of it was the most difficult part of it, I think, to sell. But what we have going on now is an understanding that this is an issue to help tame and reform corporate governance and do away with the bias in the tax code against paying dividends. A lot of stockholders are beginning to write in to their company, particularly — to their senators — particularly retired women, saying how important it is. The principle of double taxation of anything doesn't sell well in the American people. And I think I should have kept my mouth shut back in January.

QUESTION: Why?

GRASSLEY: Because I think that it's good tax policy. I don't …

QUESTION: Senator Grassley, are you 100 percent behind the dividend tax cut that's been proposed by Bush?

GRASSLEY: It's very good policy.

QUESTION: And you expect it to pass 100 percent, you don't expect it to be scaled back?

GRASSLEY: Oh, do I expect it to pass? I said this to the president, so I can say it to you: Everything's on the table. When it's all said and done in the United States Senate, the president is going to get an overwhelming percentage of his various proposals that are in that bill.

QUESTION: What would you like to see him get?

GRASSLEY: A hundred percent.

In another domestic policy boomlet worth Noting, with huge Big Casino implications: "Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with the White House's encouragement, are working on compromise legislation and seeking early test votes to enact President Bush's plan for private Social Security investment accounts," the Washington Times ' Lambro reports. LINK

"White House officials have been working behind the scenes with various lawmakers and their staffs to advance Mr. Bush's proposal that would allow workers to invest a part of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds to potentially realize higher long-term retirement benefits."

"Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina," who gave an interview to the Times , "is one of several Republicans working on a bill to create such accounts. He intends to offer it as an amendment to legislation this year."

Treasury Secretary John Snow addressed the National Association of Manufacturers this morning. NAM is in the midst of their annual "72 Hours To Hours to Educate and Celebrate" Conference. At roughly the same time, White House economics adviser Glenn Hubbard spoke to business lobbyists at the Chamber of Commerce.

House Minority Leader Pelosi will take after Bush's economic plan at a press conference today, and we'll also hear from Senate Minority Leader Daschle later this morning.

David Broder does a "how we got here" Q&A on Iraq, as only David can do: "Has the president decided what to do? Disclaimers notwithstanding, all the evidence suggests that Bush made up his mind soon after 9/11, if not before, that 'regime change,' i.e., the removal of Saddam Hussein, was the only certain answer to the Iraqi threat. With great skill, he has orchestrated resolutions from both Congress and the U.N. Security Council that he can legitimately claim sanction that policy. As his implied deadline approaches, there is some buyer's remorse in both bodies, but not enough to deter him from carrying out his intention." LINK

"What are the risks for President Bush? They are enormous. Already the level of threat of terrorist attacks here at home has been raised to the next-highest category. Al Qaeda will use a war with Iraq to recruit supporters and may launch another attack. Israeli-Palestinian tensions will increase, and more bloodshed may result. Divisions in NATO have become far more public and intense. The price of oil is increasing and could tip a shaky U.S. economy into trouble, jeopardizing Bush's reelection."

"With all these risks, why is Bush doing this? Because he is convinced that failure to deal with Saddam Hussein now would lead to greater danger down the road."

The Washington Times ' Z. Hallow reports that many conservatives "regard Mr. Bush as one of their own, and support his stated aim of forcibly disarming Saddam Hussein's regime, if necessary. But some conservative critics are philosophically opposed to using the U.S. military as a force to transform dictatorships into democracies." LINK

In her story on Democrats and the war, the USA Today 's Lawrence notes that the party worked tirelessly to shed its Vietnam-era war posture. "In the late 1990s, with centrist Democrats pushing for tough defense and foreign policies, the Democratic Party tempered its anti-war image and neutralized the advantage voters gave Republicans on national security. But recent polls show Democrats behind Republicans in handling terrorism, foreign affairs and Iraq." LINK

And she observes that candidates with "layered" views, like Senator Kerry, often can't please friend or foe.

Senator Kerry

After the press conference, we didn't see Glen Johnson so much as flinch.

And yes, Adam Nagourney asked a Rudy question.

Fleshed-out tick-tock from the Boston Herald, compared to the prep work that clearly went on, may stir up questions of when staffers got told: "As his doctors continued tests to determine the best medical course, Kerry kept up a busy schedule of Senate and campaign business, trying to create a veneer of normalcy … The only hint of illness was the visits to various doctors for tests that sprouted on his schedule. 'None of us knew until today,' said a senior Kerry aide. 'This really did come out of left field.' The senator's Capitol Hill and campaign staffs were informed during meetings yesterday." LINK

"As Kerry's doctors zeroed in on his prostrate cancer in recent weeks and set a date for surgery, aides began lining up statements from doctors and thinking about a possible time line for treatment — and for informing the public."

Overall, the Boston Globe seems to be kinder to Kerry than we might have expected. The Globe's Lehigh writes, "Certainly it will put his campaign on pause, though Kerry had already planned to spend the next few weeks concentrating on fund-raising rather than making speeches or pressing the flesh. And it will no doubt raise some doubts in the minds of people who hear the word cancer and instinctively flinch. Health concerns are legitimate issues, of course … " LINK

"And there's a strong feeling, meanwhile, that if Vice President Cheney experiences more incidents of heart problems, it might not make sense for him to run with George Bush in 2004."

"But as cancers go, prostate cancer is both common and easily cured."

Jake Tapper seems to know more about science (somewhat surprising, despite his fancy Ivy degree) and about erections (not surprising at all; the Ivy degree is from Dartmouth) than he does about spelling (it's "Glen," Jake). LINK

Tapper confronts the reasons for surgery over radiation more directly than they treat such matters in most newspapers, and in Austin Powers films.

Boston doctors seem to appreciate Kerry's going public — even though he chose a Baltimore-based surgeon. LINK

Big Casino/Budget Politics

Senator Kent Conrad (D) gets the Wall Street Journal to publish his Big Casino letter.

On the august op-ed page of the Journal, R. Glenn Hubbard launches a determined defense of the president's tax plan, diligently explaining the troubles of "double taxation of corporate income," firmly asserting the benefits workers would ultimately enjoy, and slicing, measuring and serving up many pieces of financial pie. In conclusion, he apologizes that the "arguments do not fit on a bumper sticker," and we forgive him, but now we want our dessert.

"The Bush administration yesterday proposed eliminating most tariffs on goods imported from Latin America by 2015, including a controversial offer to accelerate the removal of tariffs on apparel and textiles." LINK

Estrada

Roll Call 's Kane writes up the latest Estrada action (inaction?) and its potential impact on the congressional calendar, paying some (but not, we think, enough — not to mention the Invisible Primary … ) attention to what it'll do to fundraising:

"While neither side would officially declare the current floor action a filibuster, the effect was the same. Democrats will not allow a unanimous consent motion to bring Estrada's nomination to a vote on the floor, while Republicans are refusing to file cloture to force a vote. For the time being, Democrats can maintain their unofficial filibuster as long as they have one Senator on the floor to object to any Republican calls for unanimous consent on Estrada."

And he notes: "Frist's handling of the Estrada issue is shaping up as one of the first true tests of his leadership skills within the GOP Conference, as a group of Senate Republicans are pushing to take the hardest line possible on the nomination fight."

"One GOP aide described Santorum as the head of a 'core group' that is pushing for Frist to take a very hard line, seeking late-night procedural votes this week and a cancellation of next week's recess, whatever it takes to exert the maximum possible pressure on Democrats."

"Another cancelled recess would mean more missed money events, and the Senate would not be slated to take another recess until the end of April."

Legislative Agenda

Norm Ornstein reminds us that moderate Republicans not only live, but hold the power in his Roll Call column, "there are still more than enough moderately liberal, centrist and moderately conservative Republican lawmakers to shift the locus of the House to the middle from the right. They have the numbers to do so — do they have the will?"

Not if the White House political shop can crush it out of them (and we mean that in a nice way).

The dispute over the size and scope of this year's farm bill is bigger than the attention it's getting.

ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary:

DODD

MoDo slips the Senator's name into her column. LINK

GRAHAM

Senator Bob Graham's advisers say he should be back on his feet and participating fully in the life of the nation by February 24. He continues to recover nicely. Around that time, he'll either set up an exploratory committee or postpone the decision a few weeks to account for a possible war with Iraq.

If he runs, he'd officially begin a campaign in April. LINK

DEAN

Walter Shapiro notes that Howard Dean is poised to benefit from Iowa caucus-goers' unique "anti-war militancy." LINK

"It wasn't too long ago that Dean was the Rodney Dangerfield of the Democratic race, the long-shot candidate from a minuscule state who didn't get much respect. But all that is changing fast, largely because of Democratic doubts about war. As Iowa party Chairman Gordon Fischer, who is neutral in the presidential race, put it Monday: 'I can see Dean winning the Iowa caucuses. He's as much a player here as anybody.'"

HART

For the second day in a row, former Senator Gary Hart gave a speech in the Bay Area in which he said, "We must not let our role in the world be dictated by … Americans who too often find it hard to distinguish their loyalties to their original homelands from their loyalties to America and its national interests."

The Note and others who still remember Pat Buchanan's talk of "New York bankers" wondered what exactly the Senator meant.

So after he was done speaking at the Stanford Law School yesterday, The Note waited patiently to ask him to whom or to what he is referring when he makes this point.

"Patiently" is the right word, because in front of us to talk to Mr. Hart was one of those LaRouchies who's sane enough to be really dangerous.

Anyway, when we asked the Senator, he seemed at first reluctant to give any specific examples, but then offered up Irish Americans and Cuban Americans as two of many examples of lobbying groups who exercise disproportionate power, sometimes, in his view, skewing US policy.

Which is not nearly as controversial as what we had guessed he meant. And actually might be a pretty intellectually appealing point to some, although it might not help carry Florida in the general election.

FLORIDA

The Orlando Sentinel notes that Rep. Dick Gephardt will spend two days meeting with labor leaders when they convene for a winter conference in Ft. Lauderdale later this month. Former Gov. Howard Dean will fly down, his misspelled campaign manager tells the paper, Senator John Edwards says he'll make an appearance, and Senator Joseph Lieberman is "weighing" a visit. LINK

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Federal authorities are now looking at whether the GOP-hired firm that jammed union phone-bank lines did anything illegal.

"Meanwhile yesterday, state Republican Party Chairman Jayne Millerick continued to deal with the national attention the case has received. She announced that she has instituted a new Republican 'Code of Ethics' which forbids GOP staffers, consultants or vendors to engage in 'false or misleading attacks' and from indulging 'in any activity which would corrupt or degrade' the political process," John DiStaso notes. LINK

"Millerick said she will speak with the party's executive committee members about expanding the code to include party officers and other volunteers."

PoliticsNJ.com tries to move the story along: "A Republican political consultant with deep New Jersey roots is at the center of a dirty tricks scandal that has already cost a New Hampshire party leader his job." LINK

"For all New Hampshire's dogged fiscal independence, lawmakers depend on millions of dollars in federal funding to balance the state budget," the Lawrence Eagle Tribune's Tuohy notes. LINK

"And yet the Live Free Or Die state is a 'donor state,' getting just 71 cents back from every tax dollar sent to the federal government. It ranks near the bottom — 48th of the 50 states — in the amount of support received compared to the amount sent to Washington."

KUCINICH

Rep. Dennis Kucinich gets favorable reviews in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. LINK

MOSELEY BRAUN

Former Senator Carol Moseley Braun's public schedule: she'll spend Saturday afternoon at the Hotel Fort Des Moines and part of Sunday afternoon at the Center of New Hampshire Holiday Inn. Monday, she'll be at the Clarion Townhouse Hotel in Columbia, SC.

Politics

That letter continues to dog Tom DeLay: DeLay "indicated yesterday why he so quickly disavowed a union-bashing, fundraising letter bearing his name: He fears the diatribe might undermine his delicate alliance with Teamsters leaders on the issue of drilling for gas and oil in Alaska," writes the Washington Post 's Eilperin. LINK

"DeLay, who telephoned Hoffa on Sunday, said yesterday he saw the Teamsters as 'a very good ally on certain issues' such as the push to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

"Still, DeLay was willing to rail against unions in a recorded GOP fundraising phone message, according to a Democrat who recently received one of the calls."

Bob Dole, Alston & Byrd. LINK

The FPOTUS (42) spoke at his alma mater yesterday and told students that their votes could have kept Congress in Democrats' control. LINK

He also bashed the Bush tax cuts. LNIK

The Log Cabin Republicans have scheduled their annual convention for May 8-10 in Washington.

Broward County held a virtually glitch free election yesterday. LINK

Take Note, gentlemen: it's all in the handwritten thank-you notes. "I think all of my notes are an attempt to tell Linda one thing: that she makes me feel like a man Victor Hugo wrote about. As he put it, 'I met in the street a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, his cloak was out at the elbows, the water passed through his shoes — and the stars through his soul.' How could anyone ever be late for someone who makes you feel like that?"

So says Tom Daschle of his wife Linda. The Senate Democratic Leader and his spouse, along with Rep. Billy Tauzin and his wife and Cokie and Steve Roberts, will be honored tonight by the Master Chorale of Washington at a black-tie benefit at the Four Seasons Hotel. The Daschles, Tauzins and Robertses were chosen by the Master Chorale for marriages that symbolize the "joy of true love." Proceeds from the event will go to the Master Chorale of Washingtion and its DC outreach programs.

On page 40 of the current Texas Monthly, Mary Matalin compares FLOTUS with FFLOTUS (41) and finds them similarly without airs.

The Wall Street Journal tells you (and us) more about Alabama's tax code and morality than you (and we) ever wanted to know.

Bush Administration strategy/personality:

Vice President Cheney has a cameo in the Wall Street Journal 's defibrillator story, which asks the tough question: "It's the central dilemma of modern medicine: Which patients should get high-cost but potentially lifesaving treatments, and which ones shouldn't?"

Media

Yet again, the wsj.com puts John Harwood's name on Gerald Seib's column link on the "Politics and Policy" page.

Nagourney dominates the New York Times health section today, with four stories. LINK

That is, of course, Eric Nagourney: hips, hearts, cell phones, and scuba.