Note Archives, updated weekly.

E-mail us: Tips, Compliments, Complaints.

And as much as we value and are grateful to our readers, let's face it: TV reaches more people.

One of the consequences of a sluggish US economy, the focus on war, and what's shaping up to be a year-long fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is that often (too often for our tender political junkie hearts), the candidates will hold events that don't draw a single TV camera — even in the early states where there's greater political interest, let alone in places like California, where pretty much every time a candidate heads out there, they enter a broadcast black hole.

As a result, a lot of priceless moments might as well almost never have happened.

Meanwhile, at other times, a camera, or the network it serves, may not be a candidate's best friend.

The no longer quite so Invisible Primary for the right to challenge President Bush saw two main events yesterday, one of which was aired live, in part, on the cable nets, and one of which went utterly uncovered by cameras.

Rep. Dick Gephardt's impassioned and substantive explanation of why he's running for president and how he will represent America's working families gets a lot a positive play in the papers today, and started off, at least, with universal live cable news coverage yesterday.

But a few minutes into Gephardt's speech, the nets cut to a Tom Ridge homeland security briefing. And then at least one of them went to a split screen with Ridge and the rescue of a very nervous-looking Rottweiler stranded on a chunk of ice in the Passaic River.

And then they went back to Gephardt.

The whole sequence inspired a Jeannie Moost piece on CNN, which was not a Pogo piece in that it never acknowledged that "the enemy is us."

In New Hampshire this morning, there were plenty of cameras, as Gephardt did a honed-down version of his new and very much improved stump speech, complete with a Dick-and-Jane joke and a presentation that is at once fiery and more controlled and comprehensive than those of the candidates who have not run before.

Meanwhile, Senator John Edwards, Ms. Carole Newton, and other employees of Page Belting of Concord, NH were having a serious Moment yesterday which went uncaptured on video, and thus probably is doomed to fade quickly for all but those who were present.

The Boston Globe 's Reston (obviously someone we all need to watch) captures it most positively for Edwards this morning: "Almost an hour had passed since Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards left the humming factory floor of Page Belting Co. yesterday, but Carole Newton was still beaming as she stamped silver imprints on the leather lighter cases stacked at her workbench." LINK

"'This is the first young man I've seen that has really gotten me all excited since John F. Kennedy,' said the 64-year-old independent who has voted for candidates from both parties. 'The man looks at you. He doesn't look past you. … You feel like he understands your problems,' said Newton, who has been laid off three times since 1999. 'You have to be a worker like us to know how hard it is out there right now.'"

WMUR covered a lot of Edwards events yesterday, but, by luck of the draw, not this one.

For those in the room (per one of us, who also was there), it was a real moment.

To a surprising degree, Edwards is emphasizing his "son of a mill worker versus son of a president" theme, and his "I'm fighting for you" theme at every stop. The reason why this moment was so interesting was because the audience really reacted to it exactly the way the Edwards campaign would have scripted, had they been able to. The group listened to him make his case, and en masse, they told him in an emotional way that they believed him.

"As the New Hampshire campaign unfolds, Edwards will seek to make connections such as that made Wednesday with Carole Newton, a leather factory worker in Concord." LINK

"'I can see in your eyes you're an honest man,' Newton said as Edwards talked to about 40 of her co-workers."

All was not sweetness and light, of course: "The up-close nature of the New Hampshire trip drew out some of the qualities that have propelled Edwards from a first-term legislator to a viable candidate for leader of the free world. The visit, however, also spotlighted issues including medical malpractice." LINK

"He got a cool reception from a crowd of Democratic professionals at a lunch at a Concord carriage house. One voter chastised Edwards for supporting military action in Iraq. A doctor questioned what Edwards, who made millions as a trial lawyer specializing in medical malpractice, would do about skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums."

"Edwards used the authoritative speaking style he honed as a trial lawyer to bash President Bush as the out-of-touch scion of a political dynasty, in contrast with Edwards' small-town roots."

Hilariously, Ms. Newton's "honest man" quote makes the Charlotte Observer piece, too, along with this: "Emphasizing the work that lies ahead for Edwards, though, she asked afterward: 'What's his name?'"

Even allowing for campaign stumping license, Edwards was relentlessly critical in a personal way of President Bush yesterday in a manner that would make White House blood boil. We recommend that people keep an eye on this, too.

As for Gephardt, his print coverage is widespread and on balance positive, with all the stories basically picking up on the same lines from his speech and the same already much-covered weaknesses he must overcome, showing his campaign can produce a real on-message event.

David Broder writes, "Gephardt is the most seasoned, nationally experienced contender in the expanding Democratic field, with the largest Rolodex of local party officials he has helped, and contributors he has tapped for himself and for other candidates. No one has deeper ties to organized labor and — despite his break over trade policy — no one has a longer history with the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, the political home of past nominees Bill Clinton and Al Gore." LINK

"Still, rivals question whether Gephardt — who failed in four elections to restore Democratic majorities in the House and who was on the losing side of many policy battles with the Reagan, Bush and Clinton White Houses — can convince Democratic voters he has what it takes to recapture the presidency for the party. Aiming to answer those doubts, Gephardt today combined a ringing indictment of Bush's economic and social policies with a set of 'bold' initiatives that his strategists said were designed to show he is more than a skilled legislative negotiator."

"And Gephardt struck an aggressive stance in trying to convert what some call his greatest liability — his long history on the national political stage — into an advantage."

"In a crowded Democratic field, Gephardt's speech today touched the main areas that may distinguish him from the others: Generally more hawkish on Iraq; less receptive to unfettered trade; sharply critical of Bush's tax cuts, and more experienced in government."

But Roll Call got this out of the speech: "Speaking at his St. Louis elementary school, Gephardt did little to separate himself from the other hopefuls. Instead, the 26-year House veteran … painted himself as the better choice against a failed Bush administration."

The New York Times ' Nagourney brought his stopwatch with him to St. Louis: "Mr. Gephardt devoted barely 2 of the speech's 43 minutes to foreign policy, and that included an affirmation of support for Mr. Bush's effort to disarm Saddam Hussein — including military action if necessary." LINK

The Wall Street Journal 's Harwood gets six paragraphs to do the announcement.

"Gephardt was scathing in his assessment of Bush, even as he called the president 'a good man' and reiterated his support for the administration's Iraq policy. Peering across the gym floor into 14 television cameras, Gephardt painted a portrait of the nation as gray and gloomy as the rainy morning outside." LINK

"His homespun announcement — complete with an off-key rendition of 'God Bless America' by the school choir — was a deliberate contrast to the launch of Gephardt's 1988 presidential bid. That event was held in a downtown rail station with a crowd of more than 1,000 people and 20 members of Congress on hand. The purpose then, according to strategists, was to establish Gephardt's credibility as a national candidate. This time, they said, they hoped to reconnect the Washington insider with his Midwestern roots and dispel the notion, as one of them put it, that Gephardt was a creature born on one of the Sunday political talk shows."

The Democratic National Committee kicks off its winter meeting today at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, with DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe, as promised here yesterday, doing a 12 noon pen-and-pad for reporters on the new technologies the party has developed to help the lucky one of their eight (so far) presidential candidates knock off George W. Bush.

Dan Balz met Demzilla. It's unclear who won. See below for details.

The Washington Times ' Lambro writes up the push-and-pull within the Democratic party as his DNC meeting curtain-raiser: "many Democrats fear that their most liberal presidential candidates will undermine the party's attempt to win back the House and Senate in 2004. Interviews with Democratic state chairmen in the South and Southwest in recent weeks elicited numerous complaints and veiled warnings that some of the party's contenders for the nomination were far too liberal for their states or region. Many noted that Al Gore did not carry a single state in the South in 2000." LINK

"At the same time, the centrist Democratic Leadership Council is warning Democrats that the party is moving dangerously to the left and must redefine itself by staking out stronger positions on national security, Iraq and the war on terrorism, and by identifying itself with family values."

Meanwhile, amidst all this agitating on the Democratic side, President Bush heads to Atlanta today to talk up his economic plan.

And the Washington Post 's Weisman has a must-read on how the White House has corralled business support for it (and we bet almost any amount of money that the Macker will be waving this around at the DNC meeting): "Using a reputation for playing hardball, and a little presidential persuasion, the Bush administration and its allies have swung the fractious business community into line behind the president's $665 billion economic growth plan, lobbyists say — or at least driven any dissent underground." LINK

"Now, dividend-paying companies like Verizon Communications Inc. are stuffing fliers in with their dividend checks to talk up the president's plan. A broad coalition of large and small businesses, under the umbrella Tax Relief Coalition, agreed this month to establish a task force to sell the dividend plan. And another group of dividend-paying companies has begun meeting with Republican lobbyist Ed Gillespie in hopes of launching an advertising and talk-radio campaign on the president's behalf."

"Such visible support is important, lawmakers and lobbyists said, because significant business opposition would signal to Congress that the plan had no basic constituency, much less broad political appeal."

"That shift was, at least in part, because White House officials and Republican House leaders let it be known that the Republican Congress would consider additional special-interest tax provisions as long as the groups seeking them were on Bush's team."

Reporting on how a coalition of concerned housing lobbying groups collapsed under pressure, Weisman gets this: "'The White House has a reputation of taking names and exacting punishment,' said one housing lobbyist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'I think this White House plays rougher [than predecessors], and I think they're proud of it.'"

"White House allies scoffed at such assertions, attributing them to overactive imaginations. One Republican business lobbyist, who advises clients to keep any Bush criticism off their Web sites and official correspondences, conceded the White House's reputation for retribution might be based more on paranoia than experience."

And we LOVE the Grover kicker quote about the business lobby: "'They're so in line now it should be called in-line skating.'"

Big Casino/budget politics

Big Casino doesn't get any bigger than Medicare and Medicaid, and with the governors due in Washington next week, and the administration still having a dog-ate-my-homework problem over its Medicare plan, the two health care programs that cover millions of Americans are much in the news today.

The Wall Street Journal is all over Medicare.

First, to paraphrase Mark Twain, everybody talks about the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, but nobody ever explains how it could serve as a model for fixing Medicare.

So thankfully, on A4, Sarah Lueck explains how the FEHPB (as the cognoscenti call it) works and appraises its chances as being a good model.

Second, a truly must-read Journal editorial takes the White House and congressional Republicans to task (but with more blame for the latter than the former) for failing to assume the hard work of reforming Medicare without dealing with the hard choices that might offend the person the Journal calls "Grandma," a designation the Journal has used in this apparently dismissive way before.

Beyond the spine-stiffening advice, this editorial is a must-read because the Ed Board seems to have gotten a look at some sort of Administration draft Medicare proposal.

Finally, across the editorial page, the Journal runs a very solid policy explanation from someone from the Heritage Foundation on why Medicare "needs far more than a face lift."

On Medicaid, one can practically hear the odd sound of the New York Times ' Robert Pear rubbing his hands together in anticipatory glee as he waits for the National Governors Association meeting to begin in Washington. LINK

The New York Times intones thusly: "With budget deficits climbing rapidly, the Bush administration acknowledged today that the government had reached its legal limit on borrowing and would run short of cash by early April unless Congress once again raised the debt ceiling. Because Congress inevitably does raise the ceiling after intense jousting, the announcement will have little, if any, effect on operations. But it highlights the new era of red ink that the government faces even before President Bush's latest proposals for more than $1 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years." LINK

On D2 of the Wall Street Journal , the paper reminds everyone to "brace yourself" again, and still, for likely increases in state taxes even in places with GOP governors and/or legislatures.

Big Casino meets the war, and not for the first or the last time: Knight Ridder has a story on how Bush is basically "buying support" from would-be allies like Turkey, Israel and Egypt. "None of the money has been requested by the Bush administration, much less approved by Congress. Lawmakers are beginning to ask questions about the foreign assistance bill they may be handed." LINK

The new Bush Treasury Secretary wants to raise the debt ceiling, too. LINK

The War

The Wall Street Journal 's David Wessel ticks off the reasons why the end any war with Iraq might not lead to the resumption of what we like to call robust economic growth.

The Journal also says: "The political rift between Europe and the U.S. over a possible war with Iraq makes it unlikely that finance ministers will be able to devise a coordinated plan to deal with the consequences of military conflict. The prospects of a new Persian Gulf war will overshadow the meeting this weekend in Paris of finance ministers from the Group of Seven largest industrial powers. The gathering was previously scheduled and had been expected to focus on counterterrorism efforts, but is quickly expected to move to a discussion of how a war might affect oil prices and general economic well-being."

Bush Judicial Nominees

Comparing the situation to "the bitterness among African Americans during the Senate confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas," the Washington Post reports of the split in the Latino community over Miguel Estrada, "Latino activists have differing perceptions of who Estrada is and what kind of judge he would be." LINK

A GOP lawyers' group is bringing the ABA into the debate, arguing that "Democratic demands on [Estrada] would break the American Bar Association's Code of Judicial Conduct." LINK

ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary:

Deborah Orin writes that the "problem facing the Dems is that their anti-war party is way, way out of whack with the rest of America, and that's especially true of the liberal activists who pick presidential nominees in key early states like Iowa and New Hampshire." LINK

The Washington Times coverage puts Gephardt in the frontrunner category along with Kerry and Lieberman, and lists Edwards an "other announced candidate," but forces Gephardt to share the lead with Moseley-Braun. LINK

USA Today 's nation-trodding Jill Lawrence gives the just-filed Carol Moseley-Braun treatment roughly equal to what Gephardt gets in his own story on the same page. LINK and LINK

Look at the choices Susan Page makes: "Gephardt enters the 2004 contest as a major contender with the longest record in politics of any in the Democratic field and the only previous run for the presidency, in 1988. But he must battle the perception that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts or John Edwards of North Carolina would be a fresher and more dynamic nominee for a party that has suffered setbacks in recent elections."

Roger Simon had this to say about Gephardt's appeal: "know, trust and belief is exactly what Dick Gephardt will be selling." LINK

"The latter point, often called the Golden Rule, is mentioned in many of Gephardt's speeches. But it symbolizes both his strength and his challenge: The Golden Rule is a wonderful thing and what a fine nation this would be if everybody — - or even every president — - followed it. But how do you turn it into an exciting political concept?"

"Well, maybe the answer is that you don't. Maybe exciting is not what the people want these days. Maybe they feel what with terrorism, Iraq and North Korea their lives are already exciting enough."

"'I'm not the political flavor of the month,' Gephardt said near the end of his speech, his voice thick with emotion. 'I'm not the flashiest candidate around. But the fight for working families is in my bones. It's where I come from; it's been my life's work.'"

"Later, in Des Moines, Gephardt sat down with reporters and put it this way: 'Politics in the end is about human relationships. The candidate is the product. If people like you, know you, trust you and believe in you, they will vote for you.'"

"At a nursing school in Iowa, where precinct caucuses launch the 2004 nominating season, Gephardt touted what he called the main theme of his campaign. He wants to repeal virtually all of a tax cut pushed through Congress by Bush, and use the money to offer health coverage for everyone." LINK

The Register's Beaumont writes that Gephardt said he thinks he can win the Iowa caucuses.

"Only last month," Beaumont notes, "the Missouri congressman was tamping down expectations that his success 15 years earlier made him the Iowa front-runner. Iowa's precinct caucuses launch the race for the White House in January 2004."

Apparently, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Deirdre Shesgreen didn't get the revised expectations memo: "Gephardt's campaign is already working to tamp down expectations, pointing out that Gephardt has not been on the ballot in Iowa for over a decade and that other contenders — mainly Dean and Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., — are both aggressively campaigning in the state." LINK

While some Iowa unions apparently find the idea of a new Gephardt candidacy a bit stale, the manufacturing and building trades unions in Michigan seem warm to the man who fought for their economic interests in the 1980s.

But as the Detroit News' Price notes, fairly or unfairly, the relative reticence of some union leaders to endorse Gephardt has mushroomed into a multi-state constellation of doubts about his ultimate viability.

"Gephardt's record on trade and fuel economy standards are expected to serve him well in Michigan. But with organized labor holding back an endorsement, newer faces such as Vermont's former Gov. Howard Dean and North Carolina Senator John Edwards may undercut Gephardt's strengths in the state. Similarly, influential Michigan Democrats haven't come out early for Gephardt, another blow to his hopes of an early, unstoppable lead in the state." http://www.detnews.com/2003/politics/0302/19/a02-89155.htm

The Washington Times editorial page takes on Gephardt over the tax cuts: "if Mr. Gephardt is serious in his commitment to roll back tax relief, we think voters might profit from an explanation. To wit, if he feels so passionately about the 2001 tax cuts, why didn't Mr. Gephardt sponsor legislation to roll them back? Certainly, as leader of the House Democrats he had every opportunity to do so. Now, the inescapable conclusion is that when Mr. Gephardt had a chance, he didn't do anything." LINK

Kerry

A virtual get-well bouquet for Senator John Kerry striped across the front page of the Union Leader.

Heads up: Boston-Maine Airways is about to begin direct service between Manchester and Nantucket. LINK

We'd better run this one in full, no pun intended: "A MAN IN FULL'S PHOTO SPREAD Senator John F. Kerry gets the full Vogue treatment when the magazine hits the streets Tuesday with its March 'Power Issue.' The Massachusetts Democrat and presidential candidate is the subject of a story by Vogue's political reporter Julia Reed, who writes that 'there has always been a take-it-or-leave-it quality to him that is appealing.' Reed also quotes the man whom all the presidential candidates want talking about them, Senator John McCain. 'Kerry's got courage. He does what he thinks is right,' said McCain, an Arizona Republican who ran a maverick bid for the White House in 2000. But perhaps the choicest elements in a package headlined 'A Man in Full' are the trademark Annie Leibovitz shots of Kerry windsurfing off the San Diego coast. Leibovitz got Kerry as he visited his former Vietnam friend Wade Sanders, not far from the spot in Coronado where Kerry trained for the US Navy and his Swift boat command. We hear the piece also runs through Kerry's other hobbies: ice hockey, riding his Harley motorcycle, skiing, playing soccer, flying a twin-engine Cessna, and the highlight of his Yale career (other than meeting George W. Bush): running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain." LINK

Thank you, Glen.

Edwards

PoliticsNH.com now shows Edwards and Kerry tied at 11 endorsements apiece in the Granite State.

The Union Leader's write-up of Edwards' day yesterday emphasizes what would strike any of you, if you spent time in Iowa or New Hampshire watching any of the Democrats who support military action against Iraq talking to Democratic activists who are more dovish.

The story makes it clear that Edwards enjoyed a cheeseburger and fries at Derry's spanking new Depot Square Steakhouse, but it fails to highlight the magic moment at Page Belting or the fact that the hostess at Depot Square (formerly the site of a day care center) was oh-so-right about how "wicked good" the steak tips are. LINK

Attention Senator Edwards: you might want to read today's front page Wall Street Journal story, with its "Durham, N.C." dateline, about how the offspring of donors and wealthy alumni get preferential admissions treatment at many universities and colleges.

The reason we suggest this is because you're probably going to want to come up with a way to reconcile your opposition to such practices with the fact that your political hero, Terry Sanford, is described as having elevated this gambit to an art form.

Dean

Former Gov. Howard Dean's anti-war position has reaped him Rob Reiner's endorsement, which is pretty big. LINK

Jake Tapper seems fascinated by Dean's brusque manner, which winds it way throughout a long, interesting Salon profile. The key grafs: "[h]is primary opponents' staffers are ramping up a nice 'Dean is an arrogant jerk' narrative for reporters, which has made every one of his impolitic comments subject to particular scrutiny." http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/02/20/dean/index_np.html

"And his opponents have an interest in pointing out where he's vulnerable — he's a threat."

"And yet, this sensibility, to avoid labels, to be unpredictable, to revel in his maverick side, has limitations, and invites some confusion. Dean's confidence, combined with his doctor's love of precision, could lead him down a path of arguing details and irrelevancies that won't well serve any attempt to convey a grander vision."

"Take the single issue Dean will probably be hammered on most should he win the nomination, the one the Republican National Committee is already highlighting: Vermont's 2000 law permitting civil unions between gay and lesbian couples. In 1999, the state Supreme Court ruled that gay couples were entitled to the same rights as straight ones, and Dean marshaled the Democrats in the state House and Senate to sign a law to comply with the ruling. As a result, in the next election, the Democrats lost control of the state House. Dean signed the bill into law in a closed-door ceremony, but since it's the only law of its kind in the country, it's what he is perhaps best known for."

"Intriguingly, however, Dean seems to spend quite a bit of time steaming about newspapers that call his civil union bill 'gay marriage.' It's not gay marriage, he says, since marriage is a religious covenant between a man and woman while civil unions grant same-sex couples the same rights as straight couples — hospital visitations, say — but don't involve religion. To me it seems like a distinction without much of a difference, but Dean says that when reporters refers to civil unions as gay marriage 'it drives me nuts.'"

John DiStaso says Dean is at odds with the Medical Marijuana Project, or maybe vice-versa. LINK

Hart

The Forward's Kessler writes about former Senator Gary Hart's recent statements about the alleged divided loyalties of some Americans and the interest and concern it's causing among some Jewish Americans. LINK

Clark

Washington Whispers seems to have evidence that retired Gen. Wesley Clark is, indeed, a Democrat: Democratic party sources say Clark, a former NATO boss, this month called Arkansas party chair Ron Oliver and asked him to hold off endorsing a candidate. "Endorsing anyone else by his home state party," says our source, "would hurt him bad." LINK

New Hampshire

DiStaso's Granite Status has the latest on the state GOP's leadership changes and legal investigation. LINK

Our favorite Thursday Union Leader headline: "Man Urinates in Hall, Pulls Alarm Thinking He Was in Bathroom."

But the more important Union Leader headline in our world is probably this: "Study: No Child Act Promises N.H. Money."

The Union Leader runs the AP write-up of the new New Hampshire poll showing President Bush's numbers down over time, but still quite healthy. LINK

Rockabye Sweet Baby James. Yuppie presidential candidates with cash to spare should consider getting their campaign staff attaboy tickets to James Taylor's July 2 Manchester concert. LINK

PoliticsNH.com's Bartlett reports that RNC chairman Marc Racicot will attend the first state GOP "Grassroots Convention" on February 27. LINK

And he says that the Concord Coalition is returning to New Hampshire to try and recapture some of its influence and glory. Steve Marchand will lead the discussion about fiscal solvency and the economy.

Politics

So, Demzilla's real name is Project 5104. "At its heart, the project is a huge, new database containing the names of 158 million voters nationwide, along with demographic, economic and consumer data about them and assorted technological bells and whistles that will allow the party to carve up the electorate in infinite ways and for a variety of purposes." LINK

The Macker "said the party will use the information to find new contributors, deliver tailored campaign messages as efficiently as Republicans do and provide the party's presidential nominee invaluable assistance in deciding how to wage a campaign to defeat President Bush in 2004."

"McAuliffe said the Democratic Party invested heavily in prospecting for small donors over the past two years and has added 300,000 names to the 400,000 that were on its rolls two years ago. Party officials have dubbed their fundraising database 'Demzilla' and McAuliffe said he is confident that small donations alone will be able to fund basic operations at the national committee. Larger contributions allowed by law will go directly into a fund for the presidential nominee."

"Beyond fundraising, however, Democratic officials say they now have the tools to begin to match Republicans in finding voters and motivating them to go to the polls."

"McAuliffe said Democrats would adopt the GOP strategy of supplementing television commercials with localized messages delivered via e-mail or direct mail to voters."

To paraphrase President Bush from last year's White House Correspondents Dinner, shout-out to Ozzy Osbourne: Adam Gigot loves your stuff.

The Wall Street Journal ed board gives its own shout-out to Adam Nagourney's Wednesday story about how McCain-Feingold supporters are actually having to familiarize themselves with the law post facto and deal with its consequences.

A Washington Post editorial decries the hint of "thuggery" it's sensing among Republican lawmakers over how they're allegedly pressuring lobbying groups to hire from their party's ranks. LINK