On the Prowl
New Newt Needed Since mid-March, congressional reporters have been hitting House Majority Leader Dick Armey with this question: Is he interested in the speaker's position after the 2000...
...Northern Exposure In 1999 Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum was considered one of the Republicans most at-risk of losing his Senate seat this year...
...Maybe he should check with Minority Leader Dick Gephardt...
...I mean, really, a former Ole' Miss cheerleader and a Texas pompom girl...
...Soft Landings AI Gore says the 1996 campaign-finance scandals taught him some hard lessons--so much so that his campaign is encouraging his boss to raise big-time bucks for the 2ooo presidential race...
...Santorum lends a bit more intellectual heft to the leadership than Hutchison would," says a leadership staffer...
...In geographic terms, however, she's as Southern as the rest of the leadership-Loft of Mississippi, Don Nickles of Oklahoma, and Paul Coverdell of Georgia...
...Clinton did Gore one better by committing to raise $75 million...
...Martin's Press was pushing...
...Bowman...
...called Hastert an anti-Catholic < ,~ bigot...
...Prayer Meetings The closest Democrats have come to tarring Dennis Hastert was the recent blowup over the speaker's blocking the selection of Rev...
...It was a pleasure to watch him stand there, grinning and clapping and realizing he'd been burned...
...To that end, McCain, who suspended his presidential run after Super Tuesday, has signed over six of the 52 delegates he won in Michigan to Bush, allowing them to attend the convention as Bush delegates...
...Conason was furious the review stayed in house, given how his book slams the Times for its coverage of the Clinton scandals...
...Publicly and privately Armey says he has no interest in the post, and he wonders why the question is even being asked...
...Interestingly, even though Clinton arrived at the hotel by motorcade, the Gore campaign paid for a suite at the hotel for the president's use...
...The minority leader didn't know what was happening until the moment Coughlin stood to be sworn in," said a House colleague...
...On the Rebound It used to be the president of the United States would call the winner of a national championship...
...In either case the family deserves an apology...
...But not Bill Clinton...
...Means and Ways Mean Rep...
...Sounds like he needed to make some important phone calls...
...Bill Thomas, who has also announced his desire to succeed Archer as chairman...
...In late February, Gore's internal tracking polls showed him cutting into George W. Bush's once double-digit lead in Florida, thanks largely to the troubles Bush's brother, Florida Gov...
...While Clinton left the private affair a little after lo p.m., he did not return to the White House until after 11:3o...
...New Newt Needed Since mid-March, congressional reporters have been hitting House Majority Leader Dick Armey with this question: Is he interested in the speaker's position after the 2000 election...
...Sensing an opportunity to score additional points, this time with Florida Cubans, Gore took it...
...One opponent of any conciliatory deal is reportedly McCain campaign adviser Mike Murphy, who some McCain aides say is pressing his man to continue "bloodying up" Bush in the hopes that McCain can have a greater influence in the selection of a running mate and the fall campaign...
...Clinton appeared briefly at both...
...Democrats in the House are terribly frustrated with Speaker Dennis Hastert, and his seeming invulnerability to partisan attacks...
...Making Nice In an attempt to broker peace between the two camps, aides from the campaigns of George W. Bush and lohn McCain have been negotiating since late March to bring the two men together welt before this summer's Republican convention...
...McCain's people approached us with the plan," says a Bush campaign source...
...First, the Washington Post conspired by asking TAS movie critic James Bowman to review his book...
...We need a strong leader for this committee and perhaps Crane's time is past...
...Standing on the Corner An irate Rep...
...Daniel Coughlin, a conservative Catholic priest from Chicago, on the recommendation of Cardinal Francis George...
...Thomas is a better man for the job at hand," said one of his committee aides...
...If Loft tries to ram this thing through, he may end up with a fight on his hands that he doesn't want...
...Timothy O'Brien, a liberal Roman Catholic priest with ties to the Democratic Party, as House chaplain...
...In a confidential memo sent to the White House chief of staff, Gore campaign chief Tony Coelho asked for the president's help in raising $50 million in "soft" money to be used for "issue-oriented" TV advertising in support of the Democratic Party and the Gore campaign...
...Never mind that Kasich has been commuting weekly from the family's home in Ohio, where his wife has resided full-time for more than a year, or that Kasich was present for the twins' birth and home with them for much of the 12 May 2o o o _9 The American Spectator recess...
...Even before the review hit the newsstands Conason was demanding space to address what he claims are Lewis's many inaccuracies...
...But now that the Democrats have failed to muster a strong candidate to run against him, he's thinking bigger than just holding on to his job...
...McCain is also releasing some of the delegates he controls in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts, which ensures Bush a smooth nomination in Philadelphia...
...Jeb Bush, ran into over charter schools, the upcoming budget, even plans for a publicly financed baseball stadium in Miami...
...John Engler, who helped broker the deal...
...This is especially true if our majority is going to be tighter and we're going to be battling Democrats on every little thing...
...It had nothing to do with Bush himself or anything Gore was doing," says an RNC pollster...
...Joe Conason, director of positive spin for the Clinton White House and lead author of The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton, is not a happy man...
...The story appeared in print about the same time that the Bush camp was floating Kasich's name as a vice presidential nominee...
...In return, McCain will be allowed to select the cochairman of the Michigan delegation...
...As the only "northerner" in the mix, Santorum is expected to push hard for the post...
...The White House was mum, but could it have anything to do with the support Izzo gave George W. Bush during the Michigan primary...
...Conason has reason to be unhappy...
...Rather than acknowledge s O'Brien's political leanings, Dick Gephardt & Co...
...Bill Archer, who is stepping down as Ways and Means chairman, is said to be hoping to take a Cabinet level position in a Bush administration...
...But as usual with A1 Gore, his split with the administration was as principled as everything else he does...
...Mean Joe Spleen Mr...
...Crane is next in line for what is clearly the most influential committee chair in the House, and he's ~ made no attempt to hide his desire to take control...
...She hasn't formally announced, but Lott is said to want a woman on the leadership team...
...Instead of getting on the horn with Michigan State's head coach, Tom Izzo, after his team won the NCAA national basketball tournament, Clinton called the losing coach, Florida's Billy Donovan first...
...Phil Crane's midMarch decision to take a 3oday leave of absence for treatment of alcohol dependency caught colleagues by surprise...
...It was just local politics playing havoc with a national campaign...
...John Kasich was storming around the Capitol building in between sessions in late March demanding a retraction from the Hill newspaper for alleging that Kasich's wife, Karen, had stood on a street corner near the Capitol asking people for help finding her husband, whom she claimed had not yet set eyes on their newborn twin girls...
...But has Conason called Lewis at home to berate him as he did Mr...
...Not the reason so much as the timing...
...We want Hastert out of there...
...On a recent flight down to Washington on the 6:3o Delta shuttle--for his book party, no less--he pressed his way on board, scowled at not landing one of the six precious bulkhead seats that allow for greater leg room, declined refreshments from the stewardess, and sat through the 45-minute flight glaring at all who came within five feet of his seat, refusing to even acknowledge a nod from his aisle mate...
...When we poll, the potential of an Armey speakership still scares people, so if we can remind people that Armey is in line for the post, it helps us politically...
...Actually there were two events, a $5oo a ticket reception and a private, $5,0o0 a ticket gathering...
...Instead, the Times went with one of its own, Washington bureau reporter Neil Lewis...
...Cuba Goring Gore aides made much of their candidate's belated decision to side with Republicans calling for the government to block return of Eli~in Gonz~ilez to Cuba...
...One of those delegates is Gov...
...In a bit of inspired o gamesmanship, Hastert one,~ upped the Democrats by going behind their backs and appointing Rev...
...Tou wonder if this is politics or just stupidity," says a Kasich adviser...
...The American Spectator _9 May 2 o o o 13...
...But Crane's leave of absence opens the door to California's Rep...
...Santorum wants a leadership post, and he's the only announced candidate for the No...
...House Whip Tom] DeLay would be the best villain, but he's still low on the totem pole," says a policy adviser in Gephardt's leadership office...
...He truly didn't know what hit him...
...While Thomas hasn't commented on Crane's troubles, his staff has begun a whispering campaign against Crane...
...4 Senate post, GOP Conference secretary...
...Then the New York Times declined to turn over reviewing duties to any of the ten names publisher St...
...Fiscal conservatives are hoping for a Crane chairmanship, in part because he is expected to be a strong tax-cutter and bureaucracy slasher...
...The first event for Clinton was held in early March at the Hay Adams Hotel, two blocks from the White House...
...The two men still haven't spoken, but this was a good start...
...Santorum is popular in the Republican grassroots for his pro-life advocacy and voting record, which probably explains why Trent Loft is pushing Kay Bailey Hutchison for the slot...
Vol. 33 • May 2000 • No. 4
