NBC: Yesterday's events illustrate that Dems have Repubs on the defensive

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/

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Roll Call, covering the dueling national security events yesterday, notes that Bush's Iraq speech was moved up so as to coincide with Democrats' planned national security agenda rollout. (Democrats then bumped back their planned background briefing on their plan to take place after Bush's speech, and the White House also had Vice President Cheney do a FOX radio interview to counter the Democrats' events.) "Democrats interpreted the timing of Bush’s speech as the clearest signal yet that they are putting the GOP on the defensive on an issue that has served as an electoral firewall for Republicans, and they argued it mirrored a favored 2004 campaign tactic of Bush adviser Karl Rove in which Bush would upstage Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) by holding an event in the same town either the same day as or just prior to a visit from Kerry."