The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, March 19—<br> -- TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)
FUTURES CALENDAR
NEWS SUMMARY
Today's big policy/politics event is the president's Washington speech on the war against Iraq;
Saturday's big politics/politics event is the president's first pure campaign rally — to be held in Orlando (which was the Cleveland of the 2000 election).
The Note remembers when a presidential visit to Orlando wasn't run of the mill — seeing George H.W. Bush attend a campaign rally at Church Street Station downtown and reading days and days of obsessively detailed media coverage bracketing the event.
Today, the Sentinel doesn't go overboard, preferring to use the president's visit as a way to assess the Orange County Convention Center's preparedness for such things. LINK
(Perhaps more to the point, the front page of the paper is running an Iraq anniversary series that looks at how the war touched five individuals, individually.) LINK)
Anyone still looking for tickets for tomorrow? LINK
The Note remembers watching Ric Flair take on Barry Windham in 1989 at this convention center, which, at the time, was covered by an ugly, rotted, mirror-glass exterior and could barely fit 5,000 people.
The new convention center is sparkling and broad, and was built with the expectation that Orlando would one day host a national political convention. And there are plenty of secure locations for the Secret Service and their orthodox embusses.
There's plenty to do this weekend in O-Town.
For instance: take a tour of Reggie, the RNC registration bus.
Or, today, you can watch gay and lesbian couples protest for same-sex marriage rights in Orlando. LINK
Hungry entouragers can cross the street and sup at one of the Peabody Hotel's fine restaurants.
Tiger Woods is there for the Bay Hill invitational. The NCAA's in town, too. LINK
Art lovers can venture to Winter Park for its annual sidewalk arts festival.
We send you into your weekend (happy snowboarding!!!) with these Friday must-reads:
1. Senator John Kerry is uniting party resources in an effort to raise $100 million for his efforts to White House, write Jim VandeHei and Thomas B. Edsall of the Washington Post . They go on to Note that Kerry has "pulled in more than $26 million, including $18 million over the Internet," since the Iowa caucuses. LINK
Interesting blind paraphrase here.
"Kerry, who appears to be capitalizing more on animosity toward President Bush than on excitement for his own candidacy, is positioning himself for a big financial lift heading into his party's summer convention, the officials said."
"Although Bush is virtually certain to raise more money than Kerry — and perhaps double — Democrats are no longer concerned that the president will spend the Democratic nominee into the ground even before most voters tune into the race months from now. Some Republicans privately express concern that Bush's money advantage will not prove invincible, as they had once believed."
And Note that Terry Lierman is identified as a Kerry fundraiser (graduating from his former incarnation as one of Howard Dean's top money men.) Plus, great info from Susman, Grossman and Maroney.
And this: " … .Democrats are copying Bush's successful model of creating scorecards for their top fundraisers, and have added special Internet tracking systems so that the people who raise large amounts get credit from the campaign and their peers."
2. We're not sure where this will go: "Senator Kerry of Massachusetts yesterday retreated from his earlier steadfast denials that he attended a meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which a plan to assassinate U.S. Senators was debated," reports Josh Gerstein in the New York Sun. LINK
"The reversal came as new evidence, including reports from FBI informants, emerged that contradicted Mr. Kerry's previous statements about the gathering, which was held in Kansas City, Mo. in November 1971."
"'John Kerry had no personal recollection of this meeting 33 years ago,' a Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, said in a statement e-mailed last night from Idaho, where Mr. Kerry is on vacation."
"Mr. Wade said Mr. Kerry does remember 'disagreements with elements of VVAW leadership" that led to his resignation, but the statement did not specify what the disagreements were.'"
3. The New York Times ' Andrews and Pear write that "Trustees for Medicare and Social Security will report next week that the two entitlement programs will eventually need more than twice as much money as previously estimated, experts who helped prepare the calculations say." LINK
4. "Richard S. Foster, the government's chief analyst of Medicare costs who was threatened with firing last year if he disclosed too much information to Congress, said last night that he believes the White House participated in the decision to withhold analyses that Medicare legislation President Bush sought would be far more expensive than lawmakers knew," reports the Washington Post 's Amy Goldstein. LINK
6. The Wall Street Journal 's Schlesinger reports that with voters already worrying about a weak economy and slow job growth, soaring gas prices could further decrease Bush's approval ratings.
6.Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times delivers the must-read of the day for those tooling with their E-College calculators. Both campaigns claim they get to at least 200 electoral votes with relative ease and will doggedly fight over 10-12 tossup states. And if you haven't been paying much attention of late … it's all about Ohio! LINK
"The Democrats' focus appears to have moved from Southern states that Gore fought for but lost in 2000 toward other possible pickups: Southwestern states — especially Nevada and Arizona — and states that have lost jobs under Bush, such as Ohio, West Virginia and Missouri."
"Bush advisers see states with large numbers of rural and culturally conservative voters — principally Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Oregon — as their best opportunities to capture electoral votes Gore won in 2000."
7. The Washington Post 's Robin Wright and Dana Milbank on the administration's war predictions, one year hence. LINK
President Bush delivers a speech on the situation in Iraq and visits soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He will attend a rally in Orlando, Florida on Saturday.
Senator Kerry is on vacation in Ketchum, Idaho until March 24.
Rep. Kucinich campaigns in Alaska. He will be in New York City on Saturday.
Ralph Nader campaigns in San Antonio, Texas. He will be in Texas on Saturday and Oklahoma on Sunday.
Saturday brings three more caucuses: Wyoming, Guam and Alaska.
And happy Spring!
ABC News Vote 2004: Senator John Kerry:ABC News Kerry campaign reporter "Diamond" Ed O'Keefe, who, (not) incidentally, looks hot in his ski gear, files this exclusive report from atop Bald Mountain in Idaho:
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