On the Prowl
Watts the DeLay? House Republican conference chairman J.C. Watts has told a number of close advisers that he wants out of the House. In early December, though, Watts denied reports...
...Hillary Clinton's office has so far declined Marton's requests for an interview...
...According to a parent of one of the children who wrote to Hillary, teachers at the school never mailed the letter for fear it would be made public and embarrass the school, which is located about a mile away from the Clinton home...
...But he wasn't troubled by its content, which asked independents if they would be more likely to vote for Gore if it was known his wife, Tipper, was being treated for a form of cancer...
...Having the support of the National Education Association can pay dividends...
...Spence Abraham remains ahead of Democratic state Representative Debbie Stabenow, but early internal polls show his support among independent voters--critical in Democratic Michigan--is weak...
...All these letters were posted- except the one to Mrs...
...The official line is that the first lady is too busy with her Senate campaign to discuss her relationship with the president," says a member of the first lady's White House staff...
...Despite knowing the fix was in, the White House press corps and photographers went right along with the staged event...
...He was angry that his campaign has shelled out $2o,ooo for the survey...
...Those who agreed were then dressed in the plant's overalls, while White House staffers broke open crates of already-packed tomatoes...
...Bernie Sanders, who is staying put...
...Vin Weber asked Watts about taking a high profile position with Empower America, the conservative group Weber leads with William Bennett and Jack Kemp...
...Shea got the news of his firing from a 24 year-old White House intern...
...That's better than the 4 ~ percent he was seeing in New Hampshire at the same time...
...According to knowledgeable sources inside the political wire service, those rumors were planted by members of House Whip Tom DeLay's staff...
...No release was sent out...
...In early December, though, Watts denied reports circulated on the Hotline that he would resign in January...
...But so far DeLay has been unable to topple Watts, who is popular with Republican House members and with Republican voters around the country...
...Now Gore wanted to back off...
...Get something going," he was heard to tell a staffer...
...Podesta hit the roof, because the 'Clinton-Gore administration' thing was Gore's idea back in 1997, when he was laying the groundwork for his presidential run," a press office source told the Prowler...
...he just ignores Hastert and keeps on prodding Watts toward the door...
...Clinton...
...Abraham has to win...
...In plain sight of White House reporters, the manager of the tomato plant stood out on the street asking passersby if they wanted to "pose for the president...
...Michigan Sen...
...It's getting around in Austin that someone has been asking a lot of questions among old time University of Texas employees and faculty," says a UT faculty member who heard about the questioning from colleagues...
...Senate Serenade Republicans may still lose the House of Representatives next fall, but the Senate looks better for them, particularly some seats that were thought to be lost...
...It showed that 6 5 percent surveyed would back him...
...Pass Fail When George W. Bush failed the surprise quiz thrown at him by a Boston TV reporter last fall, A1 Gore told his staffto put out a press release saying Gore would never shy away from taking a pop quiz...
...Santa Honey Hillary Clinton may not have spent much time at the White House during the Christmas season, but her holiday spirit filled the compound nonetheless...
...Turns out Hillary didn't like Shea's performance at White House events in 1998 , and ordered her staff to find another Santa for 1999...
...Handed a sheet of paper and asked to fill in the names of three world leaders-the president of France, the president of South Africa, and the Italian prime minister--Gore drew a blank...
...Why Gore's anger...
...If you want to run for Senate, you should run from either Arkansas or Illinois since those were places you actually lived in," the letter said...
...The Way It Goes On a trip home last November 8, President Clinton threw a fit when he arrived at the Hermitage Tomato Cooperative Association in Hermitage, Arkansas, for what was billed as an opportunity to push his New Markets Initiative...
...Gore Gall A1 Gore may want to put distance between himself and Bill Clinton, but the White House seems to be doing everything it can to connect the president to Gore...
...Gore was suffering from a thyroid condition, which proved not to be malignant...
...DeLay has subjected Watts to a steady drumbeat of criticism over Watts's vocal calls for a substantive legislative agenda for the spring 2ooo House session...
...He's potentially a Senate leadership candidate--we can't let the Democrats target him and win...
...J.G...
...With some of the good news elsewhere, it means we can focus more RNC money and Senate campaign committee money on those states where our people are going to need a bigger push," says a Senate campaign committee aide...
...Little Rascals As part of a seventh-grade civics project at Bell Middle School in Chappaqua, New York, some students wrote a letter to First Lady Hillary Clinton telling her she should not move to New York...
...Democrats have failed to find a strong challenger to Washington's Slade Gorton, and in Vermont Jim Jeffords won't have to face popular socialist Rep...
...Two high-profile Republicans still face real problems: John Ashcroft of Missouri is in a tough race against the state's popular sitting governor...
...As it happened, Shea's services were used twice this year when the White House in its usual chaos needed a last-minute fill-in...
...A Marriage of Minds U.N...
...Shea is taking retirement in 2ooo, but has yet to be thanked for his years of professional and volunteer work by the Clinton White House...
...Other groups of students in the class wrote letters to the president, the vice president, the speaker of the House, and several congressmen...
...They're being asked if they knew George Bush back in the early to mid-seventies"-- a period when Bush's future wife Laura studied library science at UT and later worked as a librarian at an Austin school...
...Looking lost, Clinton was forced to wait in the tomato co-op's parking lot, as members of the White House press corps looked on...
...Those tomatoes were then placed on nonworking conveyor belts, as Clinton walked among "workers" who pretended to be packing tomatoes that a half hour earlier had already been packed and ready for shipment...
...Despite promises that he would not go negative against Democratic foe Bill Bradley or George W. Bush, A1 Gore has hired private investigators through a Washington law firm to look into both men's backgrounds...
...In Tennessee, Bill Frist is now safe because House Democrat Harold Ford, Jr...
...Without a serious challenger, Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum is looking at an easier run than was feared six months ago...
...told [House Speaker Denny] Hastert that it was him or DeLay, and Hastert asked q him to take some time and let things settle," says a member of the House lead.( ership...
...The American Spectator _9 February 2000 13...
...That's because he has agreed to be interviewed for a book she is writing about presidential marriages...
...Austin P.I...
...Just ask Jim Shea, long-time uniformed Secret Service officer and, for the past 27 years, the fellow who played Santa Claus at White House functions, not to mention charity events at Washington homeless shelters and hospital children's wards...
...In early December, Gore 2ooo campaign chief Tony Coelho asked White House Chief of Staff John Podesta to put an end to White House press releases that refer to the "Clinton-Gore administration...
...Gore himself hit the roof when he discovered 12 February 20 o o _9 The American Spectator that a high-ranking campaign staffer in Nashville had ordered an overnight national survey on December 2 9 of 8oo voters who identified themselves as independents...
...But after hitting Gore with a surprise quiz during a stopover in Nashville, campaign manager Donna Brazile and several assistants were able to persuade Gore to rethink his position...
...In mid-November, according to a friend of Watts, former Republican Rep...
...Peter Jennings, will be spending time with President Clinton in late February and early March...
...He wasn't mad about the poll itself, but the cost," says a polling consultant on Gore's payroll...
...has decided not to run...
...But DeLay hasn't o let it rest...
...The packing plant had closed for the season in mid-October, but no one had informed the White House press office...
...ambassador Richard Holbrooke's wife Kati Marton, the former Mrs...
...A day earlier it was reported that Mrs...
...He wanted us to say he'd pass those kinds of tests every time," says a Gore campaign aide...
Vol. 33 • February 2000 • No. 1
