The Note on the first politcal ad and more

These days The Note is becoming the daily political necessity.

The first political ad, and its by Dean.

They feature a simple, medium shot of a white-shirted Dean in front of what appears to be a very powerful tractor, some hay, and a barn.

"I'm Howard Dean. It's time for the truth."

He steps forward.


"Because the truth is that George Bush's foreign policy isn't making us safer."

"His tax cuts are ruining our economy and costing us jobs, and too many Democrats in Washington are afraid to stand up for what we believe in."

Cue the zoom.

"Well I believe it's time to put our people back to work. To provide health insurance for every American. A time for Democrats to be Democrats again. That's why I'm running for President."

"That's why I [a]pprove this message. I'm Howard Dean, and it's time to take our country back."

From the context, it's clear Dean means "approve." It comes out "prove," with the "uh" eliding with the "prove" a bit too quickly for our ancient ears.

The Note also provides a link to a good Kerry article from the Boston Globe.

His two meetings with President Kennedy are explicitly highlighted as Forest Gump moments (but this guy's life has plenty of those), and there are tons of great anecdotes.

Our favorite concerns Kerry and his Rat Pack of Yale friends, including Richard Pershing, grandson of the legendary general John Joseph Pershing:

"Pershing's dazzling girlfriend from Smith College caught everyone's eye: Kitty Hawks, the smart, witty daughter of the legendary Howard Hawks, who directed 'The Big Sleep' and 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.' Reached at her home in New York, Kitty Hawks described her time with Pershing and Kerry and the other bonesmen in romantic terms: 'To fall in love with one of them was to fall in love with all of them. It was an amazing time. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about it.'''

and the Note on CREEP fundraising -

On Sunday, the New York Times ' Stevenson and Nagourney masterfully summed up the Bush fundraising advantage in a must-read. LINK

Their citation of men who used to be big Democratic contributors but are now helping the CREEP is powerful.

The Medicare Drug Bill disaster

Governor Dean and Senator Kerry both oppose the
prescription drug benefit compromise being worked out by Congress, the Des Moines Register 's Tom Beaumont reported Saturday.

"Dean, the former governor of Vermont, said the bill puts too much power in the hands of private industry. Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, said it would cover too few Americans." LINK

The Austin American-Statesman's Chuck Lindell reports that Texas Democrats are holding tight to their endorsements, including five Congressmen for Gephardt. LINK

GRAHAM

The Washington Times ' Stephen Dinan has Senator Bob Graham seeking a reversal of a provision of the 1996 welfare reform bill that "barred many legal
immigrants from receiving federal Medicaid funds" as part of the Medicare bill that comes to the Senate floor today. LINK

"'Last year, hundreds of thousands of low-income legal immigrant children around the country had no options when it came to health care,' Mr. Graham
said. 'This bill will go a long way toward assuring that all deserving children get health care.'"

More on the Medicare Bill

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post filed for Sunday on the substantive skepticism some have about the Medicare plan. LINK

Robin Toner's Sunday New York Times piece is hauntingly similar, but focuses more on the politics. LINK

Same day, the Los Angeles Times Vicki Kemper did it as a news-you-can-use Q&A. LINK

The New York Times ed board holds its nose and sort of endorses the emerging bill. LINK

But the real opposition comes from the principled Wall Street Journal ed board, which knows how hard it is to stop a "runaway train," but wants to try anyway.

The paper makes too many good points about the prescription drug scheme to mention here, but we do owe you the last two powerful paragraphs:

"The Republicans are fooling themselves in the long run, and perhaps even about next year. Republicans can never win an entitlement bidding war. They will spend the rest of their public lives sounding like Scrooge for not expanding benefits, or raising taxes on their own voters to pay for the subsidies, or imposing price controls on drug makers that will stifle innovation. This is how parties of the right became me-too socialists in Europe."

"The sheepish support for this from the likes of otherwise conservative Senators Rick Santorum and Mitch McConnell gives the game away. They're playing loyal spinners, but their heart doesn't seem to be in it. They're going along for the ride with a Republican White House that seems to have forgotten that it has an obligation to more than its own re-election."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg ended her charming look at the politics of the senior vote in yesterday's Week in Review section in the New York Times with a fabulous Glen Bolger parable:

"'It's a group that you have to pay special attention to as a Republican candidate because you know Democrats are going to go after them and go after them hard,' said Mr. Bolger, the Republican pollster. He said he advises his clients to have a 'SUTS page in their campaign plan.' That's S-U-T-S, Mr. Bolger said, as in 'suck up to seniors.'" LINK