THE NOTE, PART TWO
"The Connecticut Democrat has been a strong supporter of the anti-Castro cause since he was elected to the Senate in 1988, a lonely voice often siding with Republicans in efforts to pressure and ultimately oust the Cuban dictator."
"The Cuban cause is a natural fit for Joe Lieberman, because it allows him to promote his view that America should be a strong, proactive champion of democracy and should promote moral justice around the world."
"Cuban Americans tend to lean Republican, and if they look to Democrats, there is a long, strong history of backing Florida Senator Bob Graham, who is also seeking the presidency."
Senator Lieberman's Radio Marti broadcast yesterday was rewarded by reporters with the big "R" word ? "resonated" ? as applied to Cuban American voters in South Florida. LINK
Out-righting the president, Senator Lieberman "urged" Bush to "ratchet up the pressure on Fidel Castro's communist government and help the island nation's dissidents. " LINK
The Senator also spent time making the fundraising rounds.
DEAN
Using Gary Hart's decision not to seek the nomination in 2004, James Barnes takes a look at the power of an insurgent candidacy in this week's National Journal.
Mr. Barnes says Howard Dean has clearly staked out the insurgent turf for the moment, but explains why he may not be able to easily keep that label for the long haul.
"The recent history of presidential nominating politics suggests that's a good way for a long shot like Dean to position himself, because the critical battle in primaries and caucuses is less about ideology than a contest between the person who becomes the candidate of the establishment and an insurgent challenger."
"The establishment-insurgent dynamic occurs most naturally when there is a clear front-runner for a party's presidential nomination. That was the case with both Bush and Gore in 2000 and Dole in 1996. It's a little harder to discern these roles when you have a multicandidate field and no clear leader of the pack, as is the case this year with the Democrats. And while Dean may hold an edge on becoming the insurgent, he will probably have to fight to keep it."
Dean made a couple of fundraising stops in Missouri yesterday. The Kansas City Star reports he's the only candidate, other than home state hopeful Dick Gephardt, that has made a campaign stop in the Kansas City area this year. LINK
The Philly City Paper uses a Dean visit to write about him. LINK
As does an AP reporter based in Kansas. LINK
Florida AP writer Ken Thomas notes that Governor Dean has asked Governor Bush to veto an Everglades restoration bill criticized by environmentalists and Senators Kerry and Graham. LINK
SHARPTON
The Virginian-Pilot's Warren Fiske writes that "Sharpton could barely contain a smile Thursday when he visited the tomb of Robert E. Lee." LINK
"Sharpton's appearance at the college over which Lee once presided bordered on surreal. Students, many clad in dresses or suits with striped ties, listened politely from white folding chairs on the lawn. And Sharpton, dressed in a politician's navy suit, white shirt and red tie, let it roll."
Al Sharpton will address the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus this evening despite state Republican efforts to get the caucus to rescind its invitation.LINK
GEPHARDT
Seth Gitell's last article for the Boston Phoenix takes on Gephardt's "old fashioned" populism. LINK
"Gephardt has a political strategy to distinguish himself from the crowd, and it's one that returns him to his pro-labor roots: he hopes to leverage his populist-leaning economic ideas to garner support in the industrial Midwest that will see him through both the Democratic primary and the general election. That design hinges, in part, on his policy initiatives, such as the health-care plan that he formally announced on April 23 to generally positive reviews. The proposal calls for expanding existing health-care group plans to cover most of the uninsured, and funding it by rolling back Bush's tax cut."
The Washington Post editorial page considers Dick Gephardt's heath care plan brave in theory but misguided in its specifics and cost. LINK
"If Mr. Gephardt does manage to kick-start the debate about the future of health care in this country, if his plan helps promote a national discussion about why health care has become so expensive and what better ways might be found to deliver it, then he will have made an important contribution to the presidential campaign. But just because the White House has chosen to abandon everything the Republican Party once believed about balanced budgets, that doesn't mean Democrats should get a free pass on equivalent fiscal recklessness."
The Lieberman and Edwards Columbia points make cameos.
KERRY
Senator Kerry had to postpone his trip to New Hampshire yesterday, but his staff arranged a conference call with New Hampshire reporters, allowing their candidate to get coverage anyway. LINK
Two potential commencement speakers for Manchester's Central High School were Adam Sandler and John Kerry, both known for their connection to Jewish history. LINK
IOWA
Chair's Corner
Journal Pages from Gordon R. Fischer
Chair, Iowa Democratic Party
"As a service to readers of The Note who will visit Iowa in the coming months, I have agreed to use the Chair's Corner occasionally to review restaurants and highlight fun things to do in our fair capital city. This week, I highly recommend Bistro Montage, a 3-year-old family owned and operated restaurant featuring contemporary French and New American cuisine (their description, not mine). Monica and I dined there last weekend with John Lapp, the brilliant young manager of Dick Gephardt's Iowa campaign; John's wife, Kim, radiant in her fifth month of pregnancy; Mike Milligan, the up-and-comer who serves as political director for Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Lt. Governor Sally Pederson; and Mike's lovely fiancé, Megan."
"Atmosphere: Intimate, casual-yet-white-tablecloth-elegant space in the hip Ingersoll Avenue neighborhood."
"Food: When people want great steak in Des Moines, they usually head to 801 Steak and Chop House, which is, indeed, quite good (it's in the same building as my law firm ? I eat there often). But the steaks that Lapp, Milligan and I enjoyed at Bistro Montage (thanks, guys, for ordering the same thing I did, thereby limiting this review) easily rivaled the best at 801. The steaks ? aged blank angus New York strip ? were cooked perfectly to order and topped with a roasted tomato balsamic relish. They were served with fresh and tender steamed asparagus and pancakes (crepes, really) filled with goat cheese and green onions (Milligan, the traditionalist, substituted garlic mashed potatoes for his crepes). Kim and Megan put together entrees from the starter course options ? Kim started with a salad featuring pears, walnuts and blue cheese, followed by a leek and gruyere tart. Megan also had the salad, followed by red pepper bisque. Monica had halibut, served with griddled cous cous cake and barely-cooked spinach ? delicious! The bread served before our meals was just average ? though we did manage to finish a basketful and request another."
"Drinks: Bistro Montage has a nice wine list, but it felt like more of a beer night ? Sam Adams never lets me down."
"Service: Service was quick, but a little cool. Is it possible the waitress was annoyed by a table of six that discussed nothing but politics the whole evening? Maybe."
"Details: Bistro Montage, at 2724 Ingersoll Avenue, is open 5-10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Reservations are recommended (515/557-1924 or bistromontage@hotmail.com). Also, though no one ordered from it this time, Bistro Montage is known for its prix fixe menu ($21 for three courses ? $19 before 6 p.m.)."
"Next time: Centro and a play."
NEW HAMPSHIRE
A University of New Hampshire poll finds that most residents think education funding is a big, big problem. LINK >
Are too many New Hampshire teachers Democratic women? LINK >
Big Casino/budget politics
The Washington Post 's Jim VandeHei and the New York Times ' David Rosenbaum both look at the Senate Finance tax deal, with the former emphasizing the tax increase off-sets included therein, and the House upsetness about that.
LINK
and LINK
Trading in his Owl Eyes role for that of a Fiddler on the Roof, Paul Krugman columnizes about the president's capacity to get sunset provisions passed, and then extended. LINK
The New York Times ed board across the page is a bit more restrained, but no more enamored with the president's budget priorities.
LINK
The Wall Street Journal 's "Washington Wire" reports this about the OMB top job: "With Mitch Daniels's return to Indiana next month ? and possible gubernatorial run ? Bush school chum Clay Johnson could be 'acting director.' That's if the Senate finally confirms him as deputy Office of Management and Budget director; Johnson met this week with Senator Byrd, who has blocked him to protest administration outsourcing of federal jobs."
"Bush allies' bets for director: domestic-policy chief Josh Bolten or Federal Trade Commission Chairman Tim Muris. Muris, a Reagan OMB veteran, is said to like his current post."
Filled to bursting, the "Wire" also has this:
"Steve Moore Muzzled? Hardly, says the conservative antitax activist."
"White House and Senate Republican leaders get his Club for Growth to pull new TV ads against Republican Senator Snowe in home state Maine, temporarily. They fear continuing to target Snowe for demanding smaller tax cuts will provoke her to exit from the party ? and perhaps Rhode Island ally Senator Chafee, too ? throwing Senate power to Democrats again."
"But a tax-bill deal late Thursday to assuage Snowe enflames the group. 'We're definitely going to continue to hammer at her,' Moore says. 'Our members' ? investor-class Republicans ? 'consider her Olympia 'Benedict Arnold' Snowe.' Ads also run against Ohio's Voinovich and Democrats Nelson of Nebraska and Daschle of South Dakota."
Economy:
The Wall Street Journal says: "The economy is expected to get a lift from the speedy end to the war in Iraq, but economists have scaled back their forecasts for the second half of the year and say they expect growth to remain moderate well into 2004."
"A group of 54 economists who participated in The Wall Street Journal Online's economic-forecasting survey this month left their predictions for second-quarter growth, as measured by gross domestic product, unchanged at a 2.1% annualized rate, above the anemic 1.6% rate recorded in the first quarter. The economists expect growth to accelerate only modestly later this year, and they see little improvement through the first half of 2004. Over that period, they believe, growth won't climb above a 3.7% rate."
And here's the part that will have the White House a wee bit worried: "There have been sporadic signs over the past 18 months that the economy appeared to be turning the corner ? in the surprising surges in GDP in the first and third quarters of last year and the unexpected rise in business spending late last year, for instance. But each time, the expected recovery never materialized. Businesses ? and consumers ? are now demanding clear signs of a solid rebound before making big investments."
Judicial confirmation battles:
The Washington Post 's Helen Dewar and Mike Allen report that Senator Frist "intends to offer a plan today that would limit the delaying tactics that Democrats are using to block two of Bush's proposed appeals court judges." LINK
"Under the plan, a nomination could be forced to a vote within about two weeks. It is less drastic than several alternatives that are being threatened by Republicans, including lawsuits and tricky parliamentary maneuvers ? known as the "nuclear option" ? that some senators have warned would likely prompt all-out war in the Senate."
"Bush will not endorse Frist's plan, administration officials said. But it may have more chance of winning Democratic support without the White House imprimatur."
The New York Times ' Neil Lewis writest that the president's "nomination of Carolyn B. Kuhl to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, may be his presidency's most contentious judicial confirmation battle to date. Even though Democrats have mounted filibusters to block confirmation votes on two other Bush appeals court nominees, Judge Kuhl's record has provided critics with a far richer target field." LINK
The Houston Chronicle 's Karen Masterson writes, "Priscilla Owen, whose nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was stalled again Thursday, would tip the balance of an already conservative court that handles more death penalty cases than any other circuit court in the nation." LINK
"This morning, President Bush will ramp up pressure on the Senate during a Rose Garden ceremony marking the two-year anniversary of Texas Supreme Court Justice Owen's nomination to the federal bench."
The Washington Post 's Charles Lane has an awesome analysis of the filibuster. LINK
Lane writes, "The filibuster's counter-majoritarian nature is one of its virtues, defenders say. At times, it takes a determined minority to defend unpopular but important values."
E.J. Dionne does his best MasterCard impersonation: "Here are some facts on judicial nominations. The number of Bush circuit court nominees the Senate has confirmed: 22. The number of Bush nominees confirmed to the district courts: 101. The number of Bush judicial nominees currently being filibustered: 2. The claim that Democrats are being obstructionist: priceless. And laughable." LINK
Legislative agenda:
Gotta go to the B section (B5 to be exact) of the hard copy of your Wall Street Journal to read David Roger's 8 paragraphs of pure magic on Dr/Sen/Leader Frist and the AIDS bill.
And gotta wait until Sunday (for most of you) to read the New York Times Magazine cover story about Frist.
The New York Times ' Carl Hulse reports, "Voting largely along party lines, the House agreed today to renew a $6.6 billion employment training program, rejecting Democratic criticism that the measure would sanction discrimination by religious groups that provide job services." LINK
"Democrats accused Republican backers of the bill of trying to roll back civil rights protections by allowing groups with religious affiliations that receive the federal money to limit employment to those sharing their religious views. Some compared it to the old practice of posting signs like 'No Irish Need Apply.'"
Politics:
Warning: if you read this next section, you risk being called as an expert witness in the likely case of Wagner v. Stolberg.
Before you read today's New York Times ' story by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, in which she visits with the surprisingly low-profile "celebrity senator" Elizabeth Dole, re-read Monday's version by the Raleigh News & Observer's John Wagner: LINK
Now, to induce déjà vu read Stolberg's excellent work, which says that Dole has thus far taken the Hillary Clinton path and "has gone underground, everywhere but in her state," as evidenced by this piece itself, which apparently has Dole's first national news interview as a Senator. > LINK
The current Senator Dole is coy about following the Clinton route:
"'I think being the new senator from North Carolina, it's important to put North Carolina first for a while,' she said in an interview, her first with a national news organization since joining the Senate."
The former Senator Dole, not so much:
"'That's what Hillary did,' the former Senate majority leader said, with characteristic bluntness. 'I don't think Elizabeth is following anybody's model, but I think Hillary did it about right. You come in with a fairly high profile, the first thing you want to do is get the confidence of your colleagues and let them know you're one of 100.'"
As for the model herself: " ? Mrs. Clinton, Democrat of New York, called it 'an obvious route' for her colleague from North Carolina."
Stolberg, writes " ? Mrs. Dole appears to be turning low profile into a high art," as the Senator, controlling her image with scrupulous intensity, has snubbed appearances on Larry King and GMA and participation in Republican media events, in favor of intimate, hands-on tours of North Carolina.
"While she has made herself scarce in Washington, Senator Dole has popped up all over North Carolina, appearing in tiny towns and mountain hamlets most senators would never visit. During the spring recess, she and her aides crisscrossed the state in a rented Dodge, with Mrs. Dole working in the back seat."
Even so, with Senator Dole's seemingly strict adherence to the Bush agenda thus far, and her focus on her home state, Stolberg poses the classic Liddy question of, well, polite versus might:
"Some analysts wonder when, or if, she will use those connections. 'Is there more there?' asked Jenny Backus, a Democratic strategist. 'Is she going to be an active senator and move out of her husband's shadow?'"
"If she has an answer to that question, Mrs. Dole is not giving it away. 'I just want to be the best senator from North Carolina,' she said, smiling, 'that I can possibly be.'"
The Washington Post 's Juliet Eilperin does a wonderful job of making accessible the on-going redistricting efforts in Texas and Colorado that have been occupying the attention of insiders within the NRCC, the D-trip, Karl Rove's office, and Tom DeLay's brain. LINK
The New York Times ' Steven Greenhouse writes up the beginning of the O'Sullivan era at the scandal plagued union-owned insurance company, Ullico.LINK
Senate Judiciary Committee members narrowed the partisan divide over the Patriot Act. LINK
"Senate Republicans backed down today from an effort to make permanent the sweeping antiterrorism powers in a 2001 act, clearing the way for passage of a less divisive measure that would still expand the government's ability to spy on foreign terrorist suspects in the United States."
"In an agreement finalized over the last week, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dropped his effort to extend provisions of the 2001 legislation, the Patriot Act, whose broad powers to investigate and track terrorist suspects are scheduled to expire in 2005."
"As a result, the Senate voted 90 to 4 to approve a measure expanding the government's ability to use secret surveillance tools against terrorist suspects who are not thought to be members of known terrorist groups."
The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports Tom Daschle apparent victory in the first round of his battle with The Rushmore Policy Council.LINK
"The Rushmore Policy Council, a conservative group that opposes Daschle, is backing away from plans to run attack ads against the South Dakotan, who will be up for re-election next year. A leaked strategy memo from the council obtained by the Argus Leader set off a fury in political circles in Washington and South Dakota, as Daschle aides and allies accused the group of preparing to break campaign-finance laws if it went ahead with its ads."
Despite budget woes and bad polls, Mayor Bloomberg took a little time to "marry" Barbara Walters yesterday in a fantasy wedding on "The View." LINK
The New York Daily News was watching Terry McAuliffe on local news channel New York 1, when he advised Mayor Bloomberg, formerly a Democrat, to return to his political roots and old party. LINK
"'He was a Democrat his whole life ? these Republicans have done nothing for him,' McAuliffe said. '[Gov.] Pataki has abandoned this city, and the people here in New York understand it.'"
"Bloomberg said he has no plans to switch parties, adding that it's 'nice to know that Terry, who is a nonpartisan guy if there ever was one, really feels I'm doing a good job.'"
And the Wall Street Journal gives The Mayor a lead editorial ("Mayor John V. Bloomberg") AND a Carey/Gilder/Hemmerdinger/Hertog/Rohatyn/Wriston six-way byline on an op-ed piece about the city's finances.
BCRA Redux
Yesterday, the groups who wrote and supported the new campaign finance legislation (BCRA) asked a three-judge panel to postpone their entire decision until the Supreme Court decides its constitutionality.
Last Friday, the lower court upheld many of the provisions banning soft money and stuck down a few of the advertising provisions.
Yesterday, the NRA filed for a stay governing one of those planks.
The pro BCRA side, which had been leaning against asking for a stay, was persuaded to act by the NRA's action, and by the desire, they say, to avoid confusing the entire political class by adding another level of complexity to what already is an arduously complex piece of legislation.
Anti-BCRA lawyer James Bopp also filed a stay application yesterday.
The three-judge panel will decide the merits of all three stay applications. Both sides indicate they'll appeal to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay if the trial court's stay isn't granted.
So here's our daily BCRA check-list: BCRA itself ? the lower court has ruled ? SCOTUS will decide.
Three stay petitions.
One lawsuit against the FEC for enforcement.
Whew.
The Note can tell that the New York Times ' Richard Oppel really wants to use a telestrator to map out what's happening and what could happen next with the campaign finance decision. LINK
"If they fail to win a stay from the special three-judge district court, the [Congressional] sponsors [of the law] can carry their request to the Supreme Court, which is required by the new law to hear an appeal of the case."
"This afternoon, meanwhile, a lawyer for the California Democratic Party, one of many groups challenging the law, said the party would go to court in the next few days to argue that the part of the decision striking down the soft-money ban should remain in effect. "I'm virtually certain we'll oppose any request for a stay,' said the lawyer, Lance Olson."
"Two Republican officials said the party believed that last week's ruling gave it the ability to work closely with candidates and party organizations in the five states that will have major state elections this year: Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia."
"On the other hand, these officials said, a stay of the lower-court decision would mean a return to the provisions of the challenged law, a step they said would place severe restrictions on their ability to coordinate efforts with the state parties and candidates."
Bush Administration Strategy/Personality:
The Washington Post 's Lloyd Grove writes that the White House says President Bush is not actually due to attend the May 19 "Israel at 55" event, given the state dinner on the schedule that very night. LINK |
