—9:00 am: House meets for morning business
—11:00 am: Senator John Edwards opens South Carolina campaign headquarters, Columbia
—12:00 pm: Former Governor Howard Dean holds a town hall meeting on health care, Manchester, N.H.
—12:00 pm: National Journal Group releases 2004 Almanac of American Politics, Washington, DC
—12:25 pm: President Bush makes remarks at Bush-Cheney 2004 National Finance Committee meeting, Washington, DC (CLOSED)
—1:00 pm: Senator Joe Lieberman tours technology company and holds press availability, Palo Alto, California
—3:00 pm: Hadassah Lieberman tours a Head Start facility, Tulsa, Oklahoma
—3:30 pm: Senator Bob Graham has a meet and greet with the Foundation of Orange County, Costa Mesa, California
—3:30 pm: Congressman Dick Gephardt speaks to the Bar Association of San Francisco

NEWS SUMMARY

MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL EVENTS OF THE DAY

1. Dick Gephardt's Iraq speech.

2. Senator Edwards goes after 16 words in the SOTU, but not the ones you think.

3. Any conference call that Karen Hughes is on.

4. The president addresses bundlers in closed fashion.

5. Whatever happens right outside the White House mess between 11:45 and 2.

MOST IMPORTANT NEWSPAPER STORIES OF THE DAY

1. Tom "I taught John King everything he knows except how to say 'that's right, Wolf'" Raum of the AP with exclusive details on the White House anti-uranium PR offensive. LINK

2. Senator Dianne Feinstein comes out … ..in a Washington Post op-ed piece … for vouchers for the first time ever … .for the District … which should get an interesting reaction from her state's teachers union, when, and if, they go shopping for a recall candidate. LINK

3. The San Francisco Chronicle's Robert Salladay and Carla Marinucci put their heads together to produce a comprehensive snapshot in time of where all things recall currently stand, and there's a lot going on. LINK

4. The San Francisco Chronicle's write-up of the Field Poll showing Howard "MOE" Dean in first place in the Golden State amongst Democratic presidential candidates. LINK

5. USA Today writes up the Gallup Poll, with the now-familiar presidential performance trend: height, high; vector, bad. LINK

MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL DYNAMICS TO WATCH

1. When are the campaign staffs of Democratic presidential candidates going to realize that political reporters (let alone the public) couldn't care less who had which idea first, or who "stole" which idea from which other candidate, or who moved up which event to trump someone else?

2. See (1) above.

3. See (1) above.

4. Is the slight lull in the Iraq story (Nightly News notwithstanding) owing to (a) the facts?; (b) the White House fighting back?; (c) Pincus getting winded?; or, (d) the calm before the (next) storm?

5. What is Gray Davis really thinking?

In California recall news today:

-- The Secretary of State's office has already received 390,759 or 43.5% of the total number of valid signatures required to certify the recall. The deadline for counties to report their totals to the Secretary of State is tomorrow at 8:00 pm ET.

-- Arnold Schwarzenegger returns from his European movie tour and his chief political adviser sounds quite confident the actor will make the race in the Los Angeles Times.

-- Potential replacement candidates could only have as little as one day between recall certification and the deadline to declare their candidacies.

Congressman Gephardt is in San Francisco today, delivering a speech about U.S. policy in Iraq to the Bar Association of San Francisco.

Senator Edwards will be in Columbia, South Carolina today to open up his state campaign headquarters at 508 Gervais Street. He will then spend the afternoon campaigning in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Governor Dean will campaign in Lebanon, Manchester, Portsmouth, and Hampton, New Hampshire today. Governor Dean's day includes a tour of Elliot Hospital and a town hall meeting on health care in Manchester.

Senator Kerry had to cancel his appearance in Houston for schedule reasons, and he has no public events.

Senator Lieberman campaigns in Palo Alto, California. Hadassah Lieberman campaigns in Tulsa, Oklahoma today.

Senator Graham will meet and greet in Costa Mesa, California this afternoon.

And President Bush will ride over to the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC to make (closed) remarks at a Bush-Cheney 2004 National Campaign Finance Committee meeting.

Correction: Yesterday, the Note incorrectly reported that Vice President Cheney's July 21 fundraiser in Omaha, Nebraska was closed to the press. The event was, in fact open. The Note regrets the error.

At the event in Nebraska, the Vice President spoke for about 15 minutes made the usual crack about how his "raw charisma" draws a crowd.

The campaign pulled in a record $400,000, the most ever for a fundraiser in the Cornhusker State, surpassing a $340,000 1999 Bush event. LINK

Local press reports Noted that Cheney made no mention of the State of the Union uranium references.

Self-image-saving appendage to correction: Despite the above, the AP Notes that the Veep DID go to a closed Las Vegas fundraising even before that, in keeping with the campaign's policy of making events in private homes closed to the press.

"Cheney arrived in Omaha about 4:30 p.m. following a fund-raiser in Las Vegas." LINK

Although the Vegas press was totally aware of the event (as were protesters staking it out), we lost track of it, and you can be certain that in a manner the Humane Society would find acceptable, some individuals (or monkeys) will be disciplined.

Politics of national security:

Tom Raum of the Associated Press wire service has lots of detail about the administration's organized push-back on Iraq. LINK

Saying 1600 is "in full damage-control mode," Raum catches White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett going "to Capitol Hill to urge Republicans to emphasize positive aspects of the broader war against terrorism, administration and congressional officials said."

"Bartlett met with top GOP House and Senate aides to essentially provide 'talking points' for countering Democratic attacks and to share recently declassified intelligence information with them, officials said."

"The administration wants its GOP allies in Congress to do more to emphasize some of the upside to deposing Saddam, including humanitarian gestures and the freeing of the Iraqi people."

"Other aggressive efforts are expected by the administration in the days ahead to try to regain control of the message, including a possible speech on the issue by Vice President Dick Cheney, administration and congressional GOP aides said."

The Note's efforts to learn more about a possible Cheney speech ended in utter failure.

As part of the coordinated counter-attack, we hear there is a memo from incoming RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie to GOP leaders doing the two things Ed does best: analyzing what the Democrats are doing and why, and pushing back hard — by suggesting Democrats are on the wrong side of the divide on the policy of pre-emption.

We got someone who has received the Gillespie missive to read parts of it to us, and the last two paragraphs go something like this:

"Democrats are coalescing behind an 'aftermath policy' toward potential threats that is naive in the Post 9-11 world. It is a passive, reactive approach that fails to connect the dots and would put America's fate in the hands of people who seek to destroy us."

"Those unwilling or unable to stop terrorist activity by dealing with it will be forced to deal with its aftermath. Our choice is confronting terrorists in Baghdad or Boston, in Kabul or Kansas City."

The three Wisconsin television stations went ahead and aired the anti-Bush ads, according to the AP, despite Republican requests not to. LINK

The Debra DeShong talking points about the spot are at once both steely and giddy.

''I'm not concerned about weapons of mass destruction. I'm concerned about getting Iraq on its feet. I didn't come (to Iraq) on a search for weapons of mass destruction," said Paul Wolfowitz to a group of reporters traveling with him.

To make Ed Gillespie AND Paul Wolfowitz angry, USA Today 's Jill Lawrence writes up the "growing confidence among Democrats on security issues" and the "surprising consensus" among rivals about "the approach they would pursue as an alternative to Bush: closer cooperation with allies; more financial support from them; more NATO, Arab and Muslim troops in Iraq; and consequent easing of the U.S. image as an occupying power and target of violence." LINK

Lawrence also Notes that a USA Today /CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday shows "an improving political climate for Democrats on foreign policy and security."

"In the survey, 46% said Republicans in Congress would do a better job handling foreign affairs, and 41% chose Democrats. In January, the GOP advantage was 51%-34%. Democrats also narrowed the gap on handling Iraq, from a 24-percentage point deficit in January (53%-29%) to 15 points now (51%-36%)."

The Washington Post 's fascinating Evelyn Nieves has a piece about how the anti-war left has been (re)mobilized by the uranium snafu that is going to make Rush go nuts, since it suggests there's more to all this than there probably is numerically. LINK

The Hartford Courant's David Lightman writes an interesting article on the role reversal that is going on in presidential politics today with Democrats talking about national security and Republicans about the economy. LINK

Paul Krugman takes up for the Wilsons. LINK

ABC 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:

"The sluggish economy and the continuing daily threat to U.S. forces in Iraq have taken a toll on President Bush's public standing, according to a USA TODAY /CNN/Gallup Poll." LINK

"The president's approval rating fell to 59%, its lowest level since March, in the poll of 1,003 adults over the weekend."

"Bush's lowest marks came on his handling of the economy: 45% approved, 51% disapproved. That weakness extended to the Republican Party, which controls Congress. Democrats had a 17-point advantage, 53%-36%, when poll respondents were asked which party would do a better job handling the economy. In January, the GOP had a 43%-42% edge."

"Bush's party held its edge on handling the threat of terrorism: Americans preferred Republican policies by 55% to 29%. The divide was narrower on the overall handling of foreign policy: Republicans were preferred 46% to 41%."

"On the handling of the Post war situation in Iraq, the GOP advantage dropped since January from 24 percentage points to 15 points. Republicans were favored on that question by 51%-36%."

"Bush held a 6-percentage-point advantage, 47%-41%, when those polled were asked whether they would support his re-election bid against a Democratic candidate, down from 12 points a month ago."

The playful tone of New York Times story about the New York-Boston rivalry energized by the convention wars is broken by the savage musings of a nunchaku-wielding LINK Ed Skyler, who apparently is unmoved by Mayor Menino's health problems. LINK

(Either that, or Ed is even more ruthless than the Mayor pays him to be.)

(Get well soon, Mr. Mayor. LINK)

Donald Lambro's Washington Times interview setting the table for Gillespie's ascent to party chair says that John Kerry is "seen by the White House as the likely Democratic nominee," and we wonder if Gibbs will recommend that for inclusion in the clip pack. LINK

The Des Moines Register 's editorial board slams President Bush for not covering the full cost of the No Child Left Behind Act. LINK

ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary:

A new Field Poll in California shows Howard Dean atop the Democratic field with 16%. John Kerry is at 15% and Joe Lieberman follows at 14%. LINK

"Presidential candidate Howard Dean — buoyed by Internet campaigning and strong word-of-mouth among grassroots voters — has rocketed to the top of the Democratic pack in crucial California, a new Field Poll released Monday showed."

Sam Dealey of the Hill writes up — a little late — the Democratic candidates fundraising results. The headline holds no bars: "Graham flops in key states." LINK

The State of Columbia writes that Democrats in that, er, state have rallied to fund a 2004 primary for their party, when it was previously feared that the event would be too expensive to hold. LINK

The AP reports that Arizona and New Mexico are receiving lots of attention from presidential candidates. LINK

Dean:

"The most incredible thing has happened."

So begins an e-mail from Joe Trippi, touting the results of the Field Poll showing Howard Dean leading the Democratic pack in California.

Trippi's e-mail goes on chattily and ESTily:

"Today, over 206,000 Americans across the country are supporting Howard Dean. A critical goal of our campaign is to have 450,000 Americans behind Howard Dean by September 30th."

"You can make this happen. We have 70 days. If every person who receives this email fires up three people about Howard Dean, and gets them to sign up for the campaign, we will have not only met our goal-- we will have exceeded it."

Congressman Frank Pallone becomes (just) another superdelegate for Howard Dean. LINK

Nothing fascinates a good political reporter more than an invitation to a fundraiser; the opportunities for anthropological work are endless.

So as we considered the August 3 morning fundraiser at the home of Diane English in Edgartown, Mass. ("Parking in this area is extremely limited. Please consider carpooling."), it was hard to know where to look most intently.

Rob Reiner, Steve Grossman, Mary Steenburgen, Ted Danson — all interesting, but SO part of the old Democratic Party (no offense, and none taken, we are sure).

But Kirsten Dunst and Jake Gyllenhaal!!! Two of the first big names from Young Hollywood to break for the Good Doctor, or anyone else for that matter.

Our bet would be: Trippi has heard of Dunst, but not Gyllenhaal.

The New York Daily News has some of Dr. Dean's other glossy supporters. LINK

Dean campaigns in New Hampshire today. LINK

We find the New York Times gossipy write-up of Governor Dean's fabulous Hamptons fundraiser impossible to believe on several scores. LINK

Edwards:

John Wagner of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that Edwards plans "to critique another 16 words in Bush's State of the Union address." LINK

"'And what about the 16 words he did say in the State of the Union about the economy?' Edwards asks in remarks prepared for a campaign appearance in South Carolina, an early primary state. 'The line, "We will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents and to other generations?"'"

Two quick Notes on this:

First, this looks quite a lot like Paul Krugman's column in the New York Times from this past Friday, which he began by writing, "Here's another sentence in George Bush's State of the Union address that wasn't true: 'We will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents and other generations.'" LINK

And second, the way Edwards quotes Bush, it's not 16 words. The additional "to" before "other generations" brings the total count to 17. Sorta like "deceit" has six letters, not five.

AP reporter Jim Davenport writes that North Carolina Senator John Edwards raised more money in his neighboring state, South Carolina, than his eight presidential primary opponents combined … ." LINK

Amy Gardner and Bill Krueger also write in the Raleigh News & Observer that "John Edwards is getting high marks for being forthcoming about who is contributing to his presidential campaign," while Senator Kerry and President Bush were less revealing. LINK

Gephardt:

Congressman Gephardt sat down with Gannett News Service for an hour yesterday, and USA Today 's hard copy has a large photo of Gephardt and excerpts from his stock answers on post-war Iraq, Niger, fundraising, labor support, the economy, and prescription drug benefits.

Gannett's Des Moines Register also writes up the Gephardt ed board, paying special attention to Gephardt's call for "wider use of international troops in Iraq." LINK

In a special edition of Granite Status, John DiStaso curtain raises Gephardt's San Francisco foreign policy speech. LINK

DiStaso asks Gephardt: "Why didn't Bush act sooner to secure U.N.-led international help for the Post -war period?"

"'I'm not altogether sure,' Gephardt said. 'He has an inclination here, a pattern here, of going it alone. Whether it's pride or arrogance or whatever it is, I don't think it's helpful.'"

"State GOP spokesman Julie Teer responded, 'We're not going it alone. We have 37 nations who have pledged $3 billion, and we have 19 countries already contributing troops. This is already a substantial international operation, so perhaps Congressman Gephardt has missed those facts.'"

The Gephardt pile on continues with a Jeff Zeleny piece in the Chicago Tribune. LINK

"The fundraising prowess he built during his 27 years in Washington hasn't delivered the returns he expected. His support for the Iraq war offended many Democratic loyalists and remains a threat to his appeal. And fresher-faced rivals are aggressively trying to pick away at his support from labor unions, the lifeblood of his constituency."

Graham:

The Orlando Sentinel's Bob Mahlburg reports Florida's House Speaker, Johnnie Byrd, has picked up two of Jeb Bush's aids for his attempt at Graham's Senate seat. LINK

Knight Ridder's Frank Davies writes for the Tallahassee Democrat about Senator Graham's efforts to keep working at his day job while applying for a new one. It's no easy task that and Mr. Davies reminds his readers that no Senator has made the leap to 1600 since 1960. LINK

A very interesting op-ed piece in the New York Post about Bob Graham's pump priming, big spending ways LINK

Kerry:

Senator John Kerry walked a fine line on Iraq on Monday, defending his vote last fall in support of U.S. action in Iraq while criticizing President Bush for not exhausting all the diplomatic options, AP's Nedra Pickler reports. LINK

"'The president promised to build the international coalition, to do this as a matter of last resort, to go through the United Nations process and respect it,' he said. 'And in the end, it is clear now that he didn't do that sufficiently. And I think in that regard, the American people were let down.'"

Kerry told reporters in a conference call that he voted for the resolution with thinking that the administration would put together a multinational force before attacking Baghdad, Pickler writes. An international peacekeeping force is still necessary, and should be the administration's next step, he said.

After Noting that Senator Kerry on Tuesday accused President Bush of sidestepping the process on war laid out in the congressional resolution while defending his vote in favor of that resolution, Amy Fagan of The Washington Times gets the RNC push back from Christine Iverson:

"'If Senator Kerry regrets his vote to remove Saddam Hussein, he should just say so. If Senator Kerry would change his vote to remove Saddam Hussein, he should just say so. If Senator Kerry is embarrassed by his vote because it's unpopular with the antiwar base of his party, he should just say so,' she said." LINK

Kerry's call for a new UN resolution to "build support for an international peacekeeping force in Iraq" is highlighted by Kevin Landrigan of The Nashua Telegraph . LINK

The Boston Globe 's Anne Kornblut felt compelled to write up the call. LINK

Lieberman:

Senator Lieberman "launched a petition drive yesterday urging President Bush to break the gridlock over extending the child tax credit to more low-income families", reports the AP's Holly Ramer. LINK

"Lieberman said he plans to continue the petition drive this week, possibly longer, and then send the results to the White House."

"In addition to collecting names through e-mails to supporters and a form on his Web site, www.joe2004.com, Lieberman also has organized petition drives in New Hampshire, Iowa, Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma and New Mexico."

The Washington Times ' Wesley Pruden pans Senator Joe Lieberman for groveling to the NAACP and for (jokingly?) suggesting that he might one day appoint Kweisi Mfume to the Supreme Court. LINK

Sharpton:

"The Rev. Al Sharpton canceled a trip to Liberia yesterday after the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia warned that American forces could not guarantee his safety," The New York Post reports. LINK

"Sharpton had hoped to meet with embattled Liberia leader Charles Taylor, but a spokesman said he had managed to see Taylor's representatives in Ghana, where efforts to hammer out a peace plan continued yesterday."

New Hampshire:

"While a nationwide debate continues about what the Bush Administration knew in the lead up to war in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidates have largely campaigned on the economy in New Hampshire … ", reports James Pindell of PoliticsNH.com. LINK

"The issue may play well in New Hampshire … . A poll by the University of New Hampshire last week found that overall Granite State residents were 'cautiously optimistic' that the business environment would improve in the next year, but only 40 percent of those polled said they thought the overall economy would improve. Among Democrats, 76 percent said that the economy had either gone for the worse or stayed the same from the previous year."

Politics:

The Washington Post 's Juliet Eilperin takes a pop-gun Fred Wertheimer report and can barely keep her own eyes open in writing about the Tom DeLay political/financial network. LINK

Sure, there is the occasional "now why did they go and say that?" quote, but for the most part, Ms. Eilperin is reduced to a "it's what's legal that is a scandal" subtext.

Though Democrats never called in the police, Republicans appear to have learned how to rule the House with a tight fist from watching 40 years worth of Democratic majorities. The Los Angeles Times duo of Janet Hook and Richard Simon key off of last week's histrionics on the Hill to look at the power of the majority. LINK

A New York Times lead editorial with the sentence "Senator McCain is right."!!!!! LINK

Chris Cillizza of Roll Call writes that the Daschle Accountability Project, a "nonprofit organization that earlier this year pledged to 'destroy' Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's political career," has begun "a direct-mail appeal comparing the South Dakota Democrat to French President Jacques Chirac and the Rev. Al Sharpton."

"The front of the Daschle Accountability Project mailer … asks, 'Who said: "This president failed so miserably at diplomacy that now we're forced to war,"?' above pictures of Chirac, Daschle and Sharpton, a Democratic presidential candidate."

Mike Madden of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader writes that the mailing was sent to "this month to tens of thousands of conservatives around the country, Executive Director Rob Regier said in an interview Monday." LINK

Happy 80th birthday, Senator Dole. LINK

The Washington State governorship is an open seat for 2004. Washington Governor Gary Locke (D) announced Monday that he won't seek a third term in office, AP's David Ammons reports. LINK

Locke, the U.S.' first Chinese-American governor, is chairman of the Democratic Governors Association and delivered the Democrats' response to the president's State of the Union address in January.

A list of possible gubernatorial candidates sprang up almost immediately after the announcement. Attorney General Christine Gregoire will join former Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge in seeking the Democratic nomination. On the GOP side, former Microsoft exec Bob Herbold is an oft-discussed contender, Ammons writes.

Legislative agenda:

The New York Times leads with the Republican defections on the drug importation bill, and no one has a good whip count. LINK

The AP's Alan Fram reports that AmeriCorps may receive funding despite House efforts to prevent it. LINK

California recall:

The San Francisco Chronicle's Robert Salladay and Carla Marinucci wrap up the accelerated pace of the recall process and all its ramifications. LINK

The highlights include:

1. The expedited calendar where potential replacement candidates may have as little as a day to decide to get in the race.

2. Arnold's chief political adviser sounds like he's got a client who is running even though Maria doesn't seem to be thrilled with the idea.

3. Mr. Riordan states again that he won't run if Arnold does and Mr. Simon maintains a schedule complete with political speeches.

4. The latest legal tactic filed by Davis supporters in hopes of halting the verification process

5. The confusion surrounding what has become known as the Dan Walters question concerning whether or not replacement candidates can appear on the recall ballot. (The Secretary of State is reviewing the matter.)

Michael Finnegan gets a more bullish quote from Schwarzenegger adviser Gorton: "I'm pretty darn sure he's running." LINK

The Boston Herald cites the Beeb, as Arnold Schwarzenegger met crowds in London and "according to the BBC, he appeared more like politician than movie star. However, Schwarzenegger Terminated talk about his running for governor of California." LINK

The Associated Press' Erica Werner has the latest numbers from the Secretary of State's Web site. LINK

Here's the link to the Secretary of State's Web site very handy recall section. LINK

The Associated Press also looks at how the recall effort has local county election officers stretched thin. LINK

Senator Dianne Feinstein finally makes her intentions known … as far as the issue of school vouchers in the District of Columbia is concerned. LINK

Congressman Darrell Issa launched his campaign Web site yesterday and attempts to tap into to anger over Governor Davis' recent tripling of the car tax. Check out the car tax calculator feature. LINK

California Democrats have been complaining about Republican efforts to stall budget negotiations. Isn't there some expression about stones and glass houses? LINK