On the Prowl
ON THE PROWL Not With a Bang So President Clinton's not a lame duck? In an early February press briefing he had more people there to help with the briefing than reporters to listen to their...
...The American Spectator • April 2000 13...
...So why the concern...
...Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, a longtime Giuliani combatant, had steadfastly denied Giuliani support, partly because of the mayor's refusal to take pro-life positions in his campaigns, but also because the Conservative Party has a rule barring a candidate from appearing on both the Liberal Party's and Conservative Party's tickets...
...Whenever there was a scandal or risk of a scandal brewing and we didn't want a paper trail, we'd just say, 'Go Skytel...
...John McCain's rise in February's primaries, Republican Party Chairman Jim Nicholson met with the GOP leadership of both the House and Senate...
...When one attendee asked McConnell how he and Nickles would get along with McCain back in the Senate, McConnell replied, "We won't...
...It's got a lot of people nervous," says the staffer...
...Nicholson simply smiled and said it wasn't going to happen...
...Days later on CNBC's "Hardball," Reed in identical language said he'd spoken with the head of a school for handicapped children, who felt just as threatened...
...Perhaps the reporter should have asked if he felt disconnected from reality...
...McCain just completely caught them off guard at the RNC, but instead of reacting, they've done nothing...
...Senate race...
...Each of them brought along at least one staffer to assist in answering what they expected would be an onslaught of queries...
...But Long won't bite on the deal, and is enjoying watching Rudy sweat...
...Clinton did claim that one percent of all gun dealers were responsible for more than 5o percent of all gun-related crimes...
...We send each other all kinds of messages on this thing," says one staffer working in the Congressional Liaison office...
...The Best of Enemies Sen...
...Reality Check "I've tried to not get too aloof from the people," President 12 April 2000 • The American Spectator Clinton told reporters on February i8 after he'd returned from a trip to Texas...
...I went down to the Rio Grande Valley the other day...
...Then it was off to two homes in a gated community where Clinton talked and visited with DNC big-wigs who had paid $5,000 a head to talk and visit with the president...
...In the wake of Sen...
...To illustrate the danger posed by this loophole closure, Reed told Larry King that he'd spoken to a minister in South Carolina who said his church would be put in financial danger if McCain's plan passed...
...But Graham helped draw huge crowds to McCain events, and trumped Campbell during media appearances on behalf of his candidate...
...Can't Stand the Heat At a stop in Buffalo this winter, Hillary Clinton told reporters and supporters that she could hardly wait to move into her house in Chappaqua, go shopping at the local Grand Union, and cook a meal in her kitchen...
...At a recent National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser in California, both openly ridiculed the insurgent one...
...Hastert said there was a growing sense the party may have misplayed its hand with McCain, and asked if there were plans to adjust should McCain remain strong throughout the primary season," says a congressional aide who attended the House meeting...
...The refrigerator is empty and there isn't a frying pan in the house," says one Hillary aide...
...The question had less to do with McCain and more to do with the ongoing perception that Nicholson is just over his head when it comes to party politics," the aide says...
...Paging All Interns White House staff are quietly concerned that the pager system they use to communicate both inside and outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the White House may have been compromised...
...But only eight White House reporters flocked to these proceedings (and that's counting the official White House photographer...
...There are actually three grocery stores in the area at which Clinton could shop, but managers at each report no contact with anyone associated with the Clinton household...
...Lindsey Graham...
...Between the impeachment hearings and this primary, he's set himself as a statewide candidate with a national reputation...
...His big issue: the differences between the Bush and McCain tax cuts, especially a McCain proposal that would disallow a tax write-off for some forms of charitable giving...
...A lot of people came out and I stopped along the street and talked to them and visited with them!' Clinton was replying to a question about whether he'd become too disconnected from the public...
...But first she'll have to find her recipe book...
...Never mind that both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon visited the Rio Grande Valley on several occasions during their presidencies...
...One of those mean tossed omelets, or whatever...
...In February a hacker apparently broke into the White House Skytel paging system and, citing a breaking news story, informed reporters to call a Virginia Hospital...
...One reporter in attendance counted at least 20 people standing on the dais...
...Campbell is looking a bit long in the tooth by comparison...
...Total population met: twelve people, ten of them politicians, two of them wives of politicians...
...Mitch McConnell has long butted heads with John McCain over campaign finance reform, as has Sen...
...But who has he been talking to...
...Nicholson replied that the RNC would continue to downplay the McCain insurrection...
...The conservative Republican is mulling a Senate run in 2002, but has been hesitant to commit for fear former Gov...
...But even with all that intellectual firepower to draw on, neither Clinton nor anyone in his crew could give a straight answer to the one question at least three different reporters asked: How many gun dealers are responsible for the guns that are traced to crimes...
...Clinton's real reason for being there was to attend a DNC fundraiser hosted by obscure Rep: Ruben Hinojosa on February 9. His glad-handing with average folks was limited to a few handshakes with dignitaries at the airport, and stopping off at a taco stand in the town of McAllen for six beef tacos with extra cheese and extra hot sauce...
...George] Pataki had persuaded the Liberal Party to put any one of several Manhattan liberal Republicans on their line, and not Rudy," says a GOP state party spokesman...
...At the podium to discuss new plans to curb unlicensed gun dealers and gun shows were Clinton, a deputy press secretary, Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Director Brad Buckles, Undersecretary for Enforcement James Johnson, and White House domestic policy adviser Bruce Reed...
...It's like he didn't exist...
...I don't know that anyone in South Carolina cared about that particular McCain initiative, but Reed sure beat it to death...
...Carroll Campbell might want to run himself...
...I was the first president since President Eisenhower to go down there...
...But no one, not even Harvard eco0 nomics ace Summers or the 0 ATF folks, could say how many is one percent...
...Lott asked how it would feel in December, when the party had $5 million in the bank and Gore in the White House," says a Senate aide who attended the meeting with Lott...
...When pressed, the ATF staffer admitted: "We don't keep those kinds of statistics...
...Reed] used the same story and just changed the profession and location," says a Bush advance man...
...During the South Carolina primary campaign, Reed did extensive national TV commentary...
...So it's no surprise that each displays absolute contempt for the gentleman from Arizona...
...To peals of laughter from the crowd, McConnell and Nickles introduced themselves as members of McCain's cabinet and promised the audience no voice (read: no donations to politicians), no smoking, and no personal freedom...
...What, Me Worry...
...It allows users to send not only numeric messages, but text messages as well...
...GOP leaders want Conservative backing for Rudy as well...
...During the Lewinsky scandal, everyone knew our e-mails might be subpoenaed, so we used Skytel to send messages instead...
...Both Hastert and Lott asked Nicholson to shore up grassroots support for Bush, but Nicholson steadfastly refused, saying the expense precluded it...
...Because Conservative endorsement is essential to the Senate race, Giuliani very much wants it and has told Long he won't accept official Liberal backing...
...Let Me Repeat Political consultant Ralph Reed, former director of the Christian Coalition, earns his keep, apparently by working the phones...
...But after the recent hacking incident, White House staff worries that a secure system has been compromised—and that embarrassing or incriminating messages will become public...
...Walking the Line For a time last year it appeared that New York's Republican Party had found a way to broker a deal that would allow Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be the Conservative Party's candidate in the U.S...
...More telling was the part about stopping to visit with the locals...
...Gov...
...A Republican has not won a statewide New York race in more than 5o years without Conservative backing...
...Considered to be a secure system, Skytel is carried by most White House staff and reporters...
...In an early February press briefing he had more people there to help with the briefing than reporters to listen to their droning...
...When she and the president were up there 'unpacking' they had to send out Secret Service agents to get takeout from local restaurants...
...Rudy was going to support a ban on partial birth abortions, and those two events would have allowed Long to save face in putting Rudy on the Conservative Party line...
...Lucky Lindsey An overlooked winner in the South Carolina primary is turning out to be McCain supporter Rep...
...The party would have no trouble with Graham running," says a Republican National Committee aide...
...Don Nickles over McCain's anti-tobacco position...
...When pressed by both Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Trent Lott, he refused to allow for the possibility that McCain could complicate Republican plans for the fall elections...
Vol. 33 • April 2000 • No. 3
