But trying to figure out how to be another Bill Clinton is certainly the blueprint these 2004 cats are trying to follow.
With the current President overseas, a large percentage of the Democratic presidential hopefuls are heading to the remote outpost of Lake Placid (joined by possible candidate/keynoter Wes Clark) to appeal to rural voters.
But your weekend table-setting is being done by the Man from Hope — and as the Man himself often says, "if you see a turtle on a fence post, the chances are it didn't get there by accident!"
Both President and Senator Clinton pop up all the time, and will again repeatedly between now and November, 2004.
Her monster book tour in a week; his own book tour, Fournier's skepticism notwithstanding, likely right before election day. And they both get big newspaper coverage today.
Even Clinton loyalists debate constantly whether on balance the duo were/are good or bad overall for the Life of the Party, but there IS agreement that the '90s WERE good for the country, or at least, for the country's 401(k)s. And they did take the White House twice.
From Georgetown, to Yale, to Oxford, to the AG and gubernatorial offices in Arkansas, to the DGA, the NGA, and the DLC — the Clintons had thought long and hard about their vision of America, and how to talk about that vision simultaneously to a nominating electorate and a general election electorate.
The Note believes that one of the highest obligations political journalists have is to not lock in a static view of people who offer themselves up as candidates for public office, but, rather, be open to watching them grow and change and evolve over time, to the point where they might become better candidates (and officeholders) , better communicators, and better enunciators of what the electorate wants.
But the snapshot of the day (and the Democratic nomination fight to date) suggests that not a one of the nine now running for POTUS is within hailing distance of where Bill Clinton was at this point in the '92 cycle (and he hadn't even announced yet!).
All of this is why Joe Biden and Al Gore realize that they could launch presidential campaigns in the fall of this year and still have a real shot at the nomination.
It's also why, as Ron Fournier makes clear this news cycle, nearly every Democrat running for president wants to rub the tummy of the Chappaqua Buddha.
Fournier takes up major AP space writing about Clinton and the Candidates. LINK
"Faster than you can say Monica Lewinsky, Democratic presidential candidates are embracing former President Clinton and his economic record. They are just as quick to second-guess Al Gore for running from his sex scandal-plagued boss in 2000 … ."
"Once shunned by his vice president and some Democrats for lying about his affair with Lewinsky … the nation's 42nd president has transformed himself into a youthful party elder: adviser, mediator and uber-strategist urging tough stands against the White House."
"He is the man for all candidates, a living example of how to defeat a president named Bush with a weak economy."
Calling him an "asset sought by nearly every candidate," and quoting Dean, Kerry, Gehpardt, etal. all saying VERY approving things about 42, Fournier writes:
"Along with Kerry and Dean, Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sens. John Edwards, Joe Lieberman and Bob Graham talk about once a month with the former president."
Ron has Clinton giving Edwards media and Iraq advice; Clinton getting Lieberman on a cell phone; Clinton telling the candidates to stop Colliding (as in Columbia); Clinton practically writing the Lieberman Plan on debates (to avoid interest group stickiness); and Clinton, ahem, declining to comment for the story.
There's this: "Associates say Clinton has no intention of taking sides in the primary campaigns — at least until there is a presumptive nominee, when he might urge any die-hard rivals to quit the race and unite against Bush."
"For now, Clinton must be happy with what he hears because nearly every candidate mentions his presidency on the stump. The context is almost exclusively the economy — his record vs. Bush's."
And then Fournier, way down in the story, makes a big point:
"In fairness to Gore, Democrats say Clinton's political baggage has lightened."
The central question of the 2004 campaign, therefore, might be: has it lightened enough?
That's an impossible question to answer for now, but check out today's New York Times ' front-page, and the second-day fallout from Bill Clinton's remarks about repealing the 22nd Amendment, and you'll have no doubt that the Clintons can light up the media sky pretty much whenever they want, but, importantly and also, even when they don't want.
The New York Times ' Raymond Hernandez writes that Senator Hillary Clinton, having borne the wrath of conservatives throughout her first two years in office, is now attracting criticism from liberals who believe she has distanced herself from (what they consider) loftier and leftier principles, possibly to facilitate a bid for national office. LINK
Hernandez lists some groups who have been particularly critical: "Those who have expressed disappointment in Mrs. Clinton include gay rights advocates, antiwar organizers and even advocates for children and the poor, a group with which she has been closely associated for decades."
Hernandez observes Clinton's efforts to present herself as a capable colleague rather than an icon of liberalism (citing her willing interaction with impeachment-eager Lindsey Graham and mild reaction to Rick Santorum's recent controversial remarks), sums up her cautious, non-polarizing actions since joining the Senate, and suggests taking the liberal vote for granted might not be such a big risk for a Clinton after all.
A very nice table-setter for the Hillary-Is-Everywhere storm that is about to hit, sucking all other Democratic oxygen out of the politico-media room.
And, purposefully or not, Senator Clinton has now achieved a prominent Sister Soulja'ing of some liberal interests, something the actual presidential candidates have been unable or unwilling to do so far.
As for her private-sector spouse, his Tuesday constitutional amendment remarks get big paper play in the New York Times and other places that didn't staff the Boston speech, or read the wires in time. LINK
The Boston Globe 's incomparable Scott Lehigh was actually there, and (after watching Ted Kennedy appear to cry) asks this non-musical question: LINK
" … (W)hen will the Democrats see his like again? That is, produce a candidate as adept at framing a message and arguing a point? (Certainly Clinton's cogent critique of George Bush's ill-considered tax policy is more persuasive than anything this columnist has yet heard from the candidates this time around.) "
"A variant of the second question was put to some of the local Democratic wise men in attendance: Was there anyone in the current field with Clinton's strengths? And could any of them beat George W. Bush?"
Invisible Primary devotees (and Kerry staffers) are going to want to read what Paul Kirk has to say about John Edwards' "charisma, and his easy manner" (reminds the old DNC chief of a fella named "Clinton" … .), and about sage words of Bostonians Solomont and Dukakis, but the rest of you can get back to our main theme.
Clarence Page seems to think that the candidates can in fact capture that Arkansas magic LINK
" … (T)hat glimmer you see in Democratic candidates' eyes, whether you can name them or not, is a sense of what Yogi Berra might call deja vu all over again, a re-imagining of Clinton's 1992 upset with each of themselves as the new 'Comeback Kid.'"
But the New York Times ' Adam Nagourney (who knows a thing or two about Bill Clinton's maiden presidential campaign) casts the 2004 Democratic candidates' attempts to talk about tax increases as a battle between sounding like Mondale and sounding like Clinton, and suggests that the rhetoric so far sounds more '84 than '92.
While the more Mondalian candidates talked up a storm to Adam ("Quick! It's the New York Times on the phone! Pick up!"), wily Senators Lieberman and Edwards refused to take Nagourney's call, perhaps wise to the political risks (and, less so, possibilities) of calling for a repeal of the Bush tax cuts with a full throat. LINK
Clinton, you'll recall, effectively ran on raising taxes on the "rich," while getting mucho more attention for his call for a "middle-class tax cut."
And there's still MORE Clintonia today:
The New York Post 's Page Six has some last "60 Minutes" Clinton v. Dole digs to get in, pointing to Dole's intimidating wit. LINK
The Washington Post 's Lloyd Grove, in one of several tidbits matching/beating the New York Post 's gossip columns item for item (hmmmmmmmm), obtained Bob Dole's vetoed "60 Minutes script" (which Lloyd considered "fabulous"), but Clinton (brace yourself) considers it too self-referential. LINK
Lloyd also picks up another Clinton Page Six item from yesterday in which Ken Starr braided and tied his own noose of irony with the demand "'Is nothing private?.'"
So and thus, with dog-eared copies of "Putting People First" tucked under their arms, the candidates campaign:
Today, Senator Edwards is campaigning in Washington State. Ambassador Moseley Braun has no public events scheduled, but she'll be in Illinois. Senator Graham continues his Florida campaign swing. Governor Dean will spend the day in New Hampshire. Will he run into Representative Kucinich, who'll also be there?
Senator Kerry will be in Iowa again. and Congressman Gephardt gets one more day Cal-ee-forn-I-A
And Senator Lieberman will campaign in Arizona before sundown.
A busy political weekend, so far as weekends go, but not terribly so.
As we said, five of the nine Democratic candidates for president (four in person/one by videotape) will speak about issues affecting rural America this weekend at the New York Democratic Rural Conference (DRC) in Lake Placid, NY.
Some of the Democratic candidates have been appealing for support from the, yes, "NASCAR" crowd, the rural white Democrats and independents (mostly in the South) who have resisted the Republicanizing trend of the past two decades. They tend to be economically populist but are generally more conservative about cultural and religious issues. They're also against most types of gun control.
Candidates like John Edwards and Bob Graham say they want to win back enough of these voters back to put in play some swing states. (Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida). Weirdly enough, Edwards and Graham (along with another non-Northern-non urban Democrat, Dick Gephardt), will not be there.
The candidates are expected to deliver slightly altered versions of their stump speeches highlighting how their health care, education, economic, and energy proposals will benefit rural America.
The candidates will be split into two sessions and they will address the conference one at a time. They will each get roughly 15-20 minutes to speak to the attendees. Then there will be a 20 minute Q&A session with a mix of questions posed by a panel of rural issues experts and members of the audience.
The host of this weekend's rural conference issued a stern warning (via the AP's Marc Humbert) to those presidential candidates not coming to his event.LINK
"'This is the only event so far where (Democratic) presidential candidates are gathering at one time to discuss rural issues,' said Stu Brody, chairman of the state's Democratic Rural Conference. 'Any candidate who proclaims the importance of rural issues, as some of them have, should be here.'"
(Note Note: Neither the current nor the former Mudcat/Jarding clients are slated to attend)
Congressman Gephardt and Senators Edwards and Graham all apologetically cite prior commitments to Mr. Humbert.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle's Joseph Spector writes, "The home of the 1980 Olympic Games will be home this weekend to at least four Democratic presidential candidates." LINK
Tonight, Senator Clinton and other New York pols speak to the group. We wonder if the Senator will outshine tomorrow's speakers …
Also tomorrow, Vice President Cheney delivers the commencement address at West Point.
From Lake Placid, Dean heads out to California. Kucinich zips into Iowa. Edwards goes to Wisconsin. And, uh, Bush goes to his summit in France.
Reverend Al Sharpton is spending the weekend in South Carolina, where he's expected to preach thrice and campaign more times than that. And Joel Siegel will someday check the disbursements for this very trip.
ABC 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
Last night, the AP's Nedra Pickler wrote, "Bush's re-election campaign is quickly bulking up." LINK
And sure enough, what we believe is the very first Bush-Cheney '04 press release hit our mailboxes this morning at 8:47 am (having been sent at 8:45 am), making the announcements, courtesy of the man Howard Fineman calls "meticulous," campaign manager Ken Mehlman.
As the AP wrote 'em up:
"- Kelley McCullough will be his deputy for operations. Mehlman and McDullough come from the White House, where they worked for strategist Karl Rove. "
"- Terry Nelson, deputy chief of staff at the Republican National Committee, will be political director. "
"- Nicolle Devenish, director of local media affairs at the White House, will be the campaign's top spokesperson and communications director. "
"- Matthew Dowd, who ran Bush's polling operation in 2000, will be a senior strategist "
"- Thomas J. Josefiak, chief counsel at the RNC and former Federal Election Commission chairman, will serve as general counsel to the campaign. "
"- Ben Ginsberg will serve as chief outside counsel, as he did for the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign."
Now, long before today's announcement, and long before Mike Allen broke news of one of these appointments yesterday, The Note had diverted a requisite number of Googling monkeys from preparing for the impending announcement of the Webby Awards to preparing: The Note Presents: Meet Nicolle Devenish.
After a decent interval, we give you the very Noteworthy biography of the newly-named Devenish.
A San Francisco native, Devenish graduated with a bachelors degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994 and took her masters degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 1996.
In a haunting Lincoln/Kennedy-type thing, here are just a few of the resume highlights that Ms. Devenish and President Bush share:
1-- Both have worked in Major League Baseball: the president as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers and Devenish as an assistant to Oakland Athletics owner Walter Haas.
[Note Note: Texas (52 wins — 62 losses) finished one game ahead of Oakland (51 wins — 63 losses) in the American League West Division before a strike ended the 1994 season. Following some sub-par seasons, Devenish went to grad school and the president took a job as governor of Texas. Every game counts.]
2-- Both have worked on successful campaigns to elect a George Bush to the presidency: the president for George H.W. Bush in 1988 and Devenish for George W. Bush in 2000.
3-- Both have worked for energy companies: the president for Harken Energy in Texas and Devenish for Pacific Gas & Electric in California (yes, that of Erin Brokovich, uh, infame).
The Note was starting to freak out about the uncanny parallels between Ms. Devenish and the president, but luckily the monkeys found some differences too.
The 31-year-old Devenish, for instance, has also worked as an on-air reporter for the Redding bureau of KHSL television, the CBS affiliate in Chico, California, which is a job the president hasn't had. (Although Bush 2000 spokeswoman Karen Hughes also did work on-air in local news. Whoa.)
On the other hand, Devenish also worked in state politics, not in Texas, but as an aide to former California Assemblyman Bill Leonard, and, incidentally, Leonard's Web site claims he was "was one of the first California legislators to endorse Bush for President" in 2000. There's even a picture. LINK
Devenish was a press secretary for Governor Jeb Bush in 1999. The Note knows the president never had that job, but we are still sure he's been in some pictures with Jeb Bush too. And he does get good press for — and from — his bro.
Devenish also worked for former Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry when he was planting the seeds for www.grassroots.com (LINK), and The Note is pretty sure that the president never worked there either. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
One final did-you-know item: when Ms. Devenish took her first job out of grad school with KHSL in Redding, California, her landlord told her that her new apartment had just been vacated by fellow Medill broadcasting alum Rich Eisen, who had just bolted for the east coast to take a niche job with some cable sports outfit in Bristol, Connecticut. A CABLE OUTFIT THAT IS ONE OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S FAVORITES!!!
Okay, one last bonus did-you-know: Eisen was in the same 1994 Medill class as recently hired DNC spokeswoman Deborah DeShong.
So Devenish and DeShong are practically cousins. Well, not really.
The Wall Street Journal 's Washington Wire reports: "Bush's June events could raise $20 million for his re-election?.Two California events could bring $6 million?"
The New York Post 's Cindy Adams complains the Vice President's office requested a retraction for a Cheney joke, which at least gives her the opportunity to write "Only in D.C., kids, only in D.C.". LINK
And Lloyd is right there with Cindy, quoting a Cheney staffer: "'I don't see anything funny in this at all"" and Dame Cindy herself: "'Did you ever hear of anything so damned dumb in your entire life? It was a joke! Does Jay Leno go on the air and say, 'political joke coming!'?. . . Do people in Washington have no sense of humor at all? I've gotten quite a few annoying calls from the Cheney office today. All I can say is that young lady must have a poker up her pantyhose'").LINK
We await the denial from the unnamed (but obvious) Cheney staffer?.
Big Casino budget politics:
Once again showing its unparalleled influence, the New York Times got its front-page "exclusive" to echo around the nation — leading network newscasts, pickup in major papers, etc.
All this, even though the Washington Post 's editorial page had written about the denial of the child tax credit to some low-income families before yesterday, and, of course, there were Democrats all around when the bill passed.
The Times ' David Firestone, who "broke" the story, stays on it today, rounding up the views of Pelosi, Daschle, Fleischer, Voinovich, and Snowe. LINK
The Washington Post 's Weisman tries the finesse things by wrapping the controversy in a larger story about "what got dropped" overall in the bill, and introduces things this way:
"Perhaps the highest-profile victim of negotiations between House and Senate Republicans and the White House was a Senate provision that would have extended the child tax credit to working families on the edge of poverty." LINK
The Wall Street Journal news story does much the same thing as the Post 's, wrapping the child credit up with the insurance industry's complaint about not getting taken care of in the final bill, and the awesome reproduction of Maurice Greenberg's letter to his friend John Snow. ("What suggestions do you have, John, to help put right a very major wrong? When we last spoke I was assured that this problem would be solved. I relied on that fact.")
The Los Angeles Times' second-day take on the child tax credit refund portrays Republicans as being on the defensive.
But it Notes: " … influential centrists — such as Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) — were more concerned about ensuring that the bill included a fiscal bailout for states. The new law gives cash-hungry states $20 billion." LINK
The New York Times editorial page staff should really read the Washington Post 's editorials. LINK
The AP's Nedra Pickler presents the Democrats' criticism of the tax cut bill. LINK
"Democrats running for president are taking aim at a change in the latest tax bill that will prevent millions of low-income families from receiving an increased child tax credit, their latest volley against President Bush's economic policies."
ABC 2004: The Invisible Primary:
The New Republics Jonathan Cohn rates the Democratic health care plans, as they try to avoid Clintoncare '94, which he says makes for good politics, but not-so-good policy, although he says they are better than what 43 is doing. LINK
Julianne Malveux's USA Today column has very nice things to say about both Reverend Sharpton and Ambassador Moseley Braun. "Both bring tremendous energy to their party's debates and will help define what it stands for." LINK
Governor Howard Dean sure has a lot of nice things to say about Senator Bob Graham.
Like when he told a Hotline reporter a few weeks ago that he'd vote for the Florida Senator if Dean himself weren't running.
Remeber the first-in-the-nation candidate debate in South Carolina when Dean lobbed Graham a softball?
Why did he vote for an amendment sponsored by South Carolina Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings that would have erased Bush's tax cuts from a budget proposal?
"You voted for that amendment," Dean said to Graham. "Senator [John] Edwards, Senator [John] Kerry, and Senator [Joseph] Lieberman did not vote. They voted for an amendment that would add $350 billion in additional tax cuts. Why'd you make that choice?"
Graham had little choice but to answer with a well-rehearsed paean to fiscal probity.
What is Mr. Dean thinking? Here's our take: LINK
A poll conducted by a Republican purportedly shows that voters "disqualify" Democrats who aren't strong on national defense. LINK
EDWARDS
The American Conservative Union, caught in a row within the movement about president David Keene's support for Senator Arlen Specter, has decided to file an FEC complaint against Democratic Senator John Edwards and the Arkansas law firm "who, according to published reports attempted to illegally funnel money to Edwards' campaign by contributing, and ultimately concealing the campaign funds' source in an effort to bypass the recently increased $2,000 per person, per election donation limit."
From the press release: "Declaring Edwards, 'a petty criminal and major-league hypocrite,' Keene said that the ACU 'intends to help bring those who pass laws infringing on the rights of others and then ignore them themselves to account.'"
Says Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri: "Looks like Messr. Rove and his cronies had a particularly productive outside groups meeting this Tuesday at the White House. First Edwards was attacked by Americans for Job Security, now the American Conservative Union. I assume Grover Norquist will be next. We continue to be flattered to be the source of so much Republican consternation."
John Wagner of the Raleigh News & Observer took his copy of Senator Edwards' letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell and ran with it. LINK
"U.S. Senator John Edwards has added his voice to the diverse chorus of those seeking to stop the Federal Communications Commission from relaxing rules on media ownership."
In the letter, Senator Edwards surprisingly explains how the relaxed rules might affect rural America.
"'The effects on rural America could be particularly harmful,' he wrote. 'People in rural communities and small-town America have distinctive interests, and local stations offer programming that responds to these interests. … Local stations in North Carolina have offered prime-time broadcasts of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games, Billy Graham crusades, and muscular dystrophy telethons.'"
DEAN
Governor Dean was back in his old hood Thursday, attending "a major fund-raiser at the home of Donna and Jake Carpenter" in Stowe, Vermont, writes the Stowe Reporter's John Zicconi. LINK
Zicconi reports, "That Dean is coming to Stowe for support and money is not surprising. Although often pegged as a Republican stronghold, voting results say otherwise. As for money, some of the state's deepest pockets and most well-connected folks in the business and political world live here, or nearby in and around Burlington."
In Concord, Dean spoke about his health care plan, criticized President Bush and bashed his Democratic rivals "in one fell swoop," the Union Leader's DiStaso reports. LINK
The AP's Ramer picked up on a subtle part of Dean's message: health care consumers need to make better choices.
"Pharmaceutical companies, insurers and lawyers deserve some of the blame for rising health care costs, he said, but so do individuals who don't take care of themselves or don't make realistic decisions about their medical care," Ramer paraphrases Dean as saying. LINK
At the Warner bookstore in, ah, Warner, the Union Leader's Cox noted Dean's references to his own electability. LINK
And there was this exchange with "a little girl."
"The feisty Democrat repeated his call for universal health care and a balanced budget. During a question and answer session, Dean was asked by a little girl, 'Can you make it so there won't be war in any other countries?'" LINK
"'I don't know,' Dean said. He said you can't be President if you rule out the possibility of using military force. 'If we're going to be the most powerful country in the world we have to use our force judiciously.'"
KERRY
Senator Kerry spoke with fellow veterans at a "well-worn" VFW post yesterday. LINK
The Boston Herald's Andrew Miga has some Massachusetts Democratic reaction to the revision in the tax bill, including one from a rival candidate. LINK
Senator Kerry: "'George Bush promised to leave no child behind and with the stroke of his pen . . . he did just that to 12 million children.'"
GEPHARDT
The San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci writes, "Rep. Dick Gephardt, the first Democratic presidential candidate to outline a detailed health care proposal, said Thursday that his plan is 'better than what the president is offering in terms of tax cuts,' because it would give California's budget-strapped state and local governments an economic boost of $22 billion in the first three years." LINK
"Gephardt is among the Democratic contenders traveling in California to raise money and highlight their campaign proposals. He is scheduled to appear today at the Pacific Exchange to discuss health care with San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi, his successor as House minority leader, and business leaders."
GRAHAM
The Florida legislature will soon decide whether to re-instate primary run-off elections. A decision one way or another could have an effect on Senator Bob Graham's decision-making. LINK
Senator Graham again questioned the intelligence undergridding about WMDs and Iraq. LINK
His complaints about the September 11th report made it high into a USA Today article on whether Congress will use its own powers to declassify the intelligence. LINK
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The state legislature approved a parential notification bill. Governor Craig Benson said he will sign it into law. LINK
Benson, meanwhile, denied using state offices for political purposes. LINK
IOWA
The Wall Street Journal says: "Senate next week begins another energy-policy fight, with skirmish over replacing oil industry's MTBE as a gasoline additive with corn-based ethanol — a pet of White House wannabes for its popularity in caucus-state Iowa. Majority Leader Frist of Tennessee and Minority Leader Daschle of farm-state South Dakota mount a rare joint effort for ethanol. Senators from California and New York, fearing higher gas prices, mobilize against it."
Politics:
The Greenville News' Dan Hoover reports that the administration "will go 'full-tilt' in 2004 to win the South Carolina U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Ernest F. Hollings, presidential strategist Karl Rove said Thursday." LINK
"Whether or not Hollings decides to seek a seventh full term is immaterial to the president's interest in winning the seat, a potentially pivotal contest in a Senate where the GOP holds a slender edge," Rove told the paper.
And, just in case you're wondering, "Rove was in Greenville for an evening debt retirement fund-raiser for former Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler at the home of state House Speaker David Wilkins."
The Louisville Courier-Journal's Al Cross reports, "In the first visit by a Bush administration official to help elect Republican Ernie Fletcher governor, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham appeared with the Lexington congressman at a fund-raiser and news conference yesterday." LINK
The Washington Times fronts the DNC's decision to rescind the termination of 10 minority employees, citing a source who said it was a "mistake" and was never approved by top officials. LINK
The story gets picked up as well in the Washington Post and New York Times , with milder play.
The AP's Pete Yost reports, "An Indian tribe paid $100,000 to the Republican Party at the same time it was trying to meet with Interior Secretary Gale Norton over land issues, internal GOP records show." LINK
"Republican Party officials say leaders of the Agua Caliente tribe of Palm Springs, Calif., were never promised anything in return for their six-figure check in 2001."
"But the donation and contacts are reminiscent of Clinton-era fund-raising practices that Republicans sharply criticized and investigated during the 1990s."
The Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill reports that despite some intra party squabbling, things are looking good for the North Carolina GOP. LINK
"The nearly 1,000 N.C. Republicans gathering for their state convention in Charlotte today can find plenty of reasons to be hopeful about 2004. They have a popular president leading the ticket. They have a U.S. Senate candidate backed by his party and the White House — running against an incumbent busy campaigning for president."
The State reports, "Local governments will receive about $200,000 in state funds to fight potential military base closings in South Carolina." LINK
The AP reports that the New Hampshire State Senate "voted 18-5 on Thursday to rename Mount Clay in the White Mountains after former President Reagan." LINK
Washington-on-the-Potomac's Grover Norquist (the father of the Reagan-renaming movement) makes the Washington Wire in the Journal: "Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, who is close to Bush adviser Rove, writes governors to stop dues to the National Governors Association, claiming its 'left leaning' staff undercuts Bush agenda. Texas Gov. Perry has, and others might, he says.
But Thusday Arkansas's Republican Gov. Huckabee writes back to laud NGA as 'a valuable, cost-efficient asset.' He and Idaho's Gov. Kempthorne had protested to White House about Norquist. 'Nobody's asked me to back off this,' Norquist says. He blasts the two governors, Nevada's Guinn, New York's Pataki and Alabama's Riley for tax increases, and says Kempthorne broke a promise to fire NGA staff. 'There was no promise,' Kempthorne says."
E.J. Dionne denounces the president, Karl Rove, and Norquist as too partisan. LINK
The Chicago Tribune's Bob Kemper writes, "Since the nation's Republican governors helped propel one of their own, George W. Bush of Texas, into the Oval Office more than two years ago, the president, by many accounts, has only made life harder for his former colleagues." LINK
Kemper Notes: "In fact, the growing gap between Bush and his former colleagues in state capitals is most apparent in the debate over how to fund Medicaid, the state-federal health-care program for the poor and elderly that represents the states' single largest financial problem."
And: "Even the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, has not openly embraced the administration's plan for remaking Medicaid. In a statement released by his office, Jeb Bush said his brother has 'shown great awareness of the problem' states face with respect to Medicaid funding."
The New York Times ' Jonathan P. Hicks is keeping an eye on "an early volley" in the 2005 New York mayor's race. LINK
Legislative agenda:
In the Washington Wire of the Wall Street Journal , there is this: "With tax cuts done, White House and Congress struggle again for consensus on senior citizens' health care. Some Republican lobbyists fault administration for continuing to push a plan giving a bigger drug benefit to seniors who drop traditional Medicare for private plans. A Bush official insists that's 'the right policy, but then again, I'm not up for re-election.'"
"Possible compromise: Provide an equal drug benefit to all in Medicare now, switch to unequal aid in 10 years."
The Washington Post ed board has the jury out on No Child Left Behind. LINK
Bush judicial nominees:
"President Bush has seen more of his appeals court nominees confirmed by the Senate at this point in his term than any other president since at least the 1970s, despite Democratic filibusters against two nominees," the Washington Times ' Hurt reports. LINK
"The Senate has confirmed 24 of Mr. Bush's appellate nominees in his first 29 months in office. By comparison, the first President Bush saw 23 confirmed, and President Clinton saw 22 confirmed, at the same point in their presidencies. Republicans say those numbers are misleading because Mr. Bush has nominated so many more judges than his predecessors because of both existing vacancies and recent expansion of the federal courts."
Bush Administration strategy/personality:
The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank was on hand (indirectly) to watch how the Yale Dekes of '68 have evolved from "Animal House" to the White House. LINK
Milbank covers the logistics for the president's 35th reunion, including the attendees (500+ classmates, with dates, equaling a total of 1,000 or so guests); the non-attendees (those declined for political reasons, or for matters of principle, such as the New York Observer's Ron Rosenbaum); the invites (which read a "'once in a lifetime opportunity'"for the price of $135 to $195); the transportation (a chartered Amtrak); the weather (rain, causing picnickers to find unexpected shelter inside the White House); the menu (which "mixed Bush's Texas — gulf shrimp with mango jalapeño salsa and hominy and poblano casserole — with dishes, such as bay scallops and basil chicken, more commonly found in New Haven"); the media (not invited); the entertainment (the 2003 Whiffenpoofs, some of whom acted as eyes and ears, as well as vocal chords, for the unwelcome Milbank); and the end time (9-ish, for a crowd of 57-year olds).
Milbank also tracks the comic anticipation of this ultimate "slobs vs snobs" event (except try to define which is which in this case) via Doonesbury, Comedy Central, and Leno ("'Boy, that is every C-student's dream come true, isn't it? … Go back to your class reunion as president'"), and follows the development of the hard-partying '68 Dekes into Administration officials (Donald B. Ensenat) and ambassadors Clark T. Randt Jr), developers (Roland W. Betts and C.E. Thomas Cleveland), lawyers (Franklin "Biff" Levy) and, well, the tee-totaling commander-in-chief himself (W), all of whose behavior, once so rowdy, is now described by guests as "'civil'" "'placid'" and "'vanilla.'"
As for the host, Milbank describes a "stirring rapprochement" for Bush and his ivy-covered alma mater, as the former Deke head and current leader of the free world sang along with "Bright College Years" and "waved a handkerchief in the air for the closing words: 'For God, for country, and for Yale.'"
The Associated Press reports that "Vice President Dick Cheney's former company already has garnered more than $600 million in military work related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and potentially could earn billions more without having to compete with other companies." LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Reynolds quotes current and former national security officials as wondering whether Condi Rice is being too much an adviser to the president rather than an arbiter of State-Defense disputes. LINK
Media:
Gwen, Bryant. Bryant, Gwen. LINK
