Scrapbook
Scrapbook 5:21 P.M.—DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON, D.C. A receptionist picks up the phone at DNC headquarters, a modern office building in the shadow of an overpass half a...
...Senate whom it is so fashionable to disdain as Alfonse D'Amato...
...A half hour ago, D'Ama-to and his entourage were heading downstairs for his concession speech...
...Which is good, because New York is stuck with them for another four years...
...8:15 P.M.—RUBY TUESDAY'S, MARIETTA, GA...
...The rest of us can wear little black lapel ribbons: Free the New York Twelve...
...9:15 P.M.—NEW YORK HILTON, GOP CELEBRATION PARTY, NEW YORK CITY The ballroom is pulsating with all the frenzied energy we associate with the name "Pataki...
...So is Lucianne Goldberg...
...Lauch Faircloth, too, is off the government payroll, back to full-time hog farming...
...And the elevator stopped between floors...
...Grossman arrives with a flourish and strings out a line of such platitudes that the cameramen grumble that it's nothing any of them can use...
...There are now twelve people in the world who know how that feels...
...Sally Vaci is explaining how she and her husband recently went to see Chris Ruddy, the anti-Clinton journalist, speak in a conference room at a local hotel about the Vince Foster "suicide" ("There weren't 18 teeth total in the room," her husband says...
...But there are signs the rumor is baloney...
...The mood here at Labor HQ is cheery enough, but attendees don't neglect to set a good example: All night long, they scrupulously take their news from CNN, in yet another sacrifice in the long, twilight struggle between Labor and Capitol...
...8:45 P.M.—RNC PARTY, REAGAN BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...The line lands with a thud, and as Lott often does in difficult situations, he quickly makes matters worse...
...lost...
...No one else seems convinced...
...Barry is relishing the triumph, before himself retiring to parts unknown...
...Let's make some noise...
...Give me a P!" Silence...
...Soon-to-be-former mayor Marion Barry is at the microphone to spread the good news...
...A small army of RNC staffers, draped in bright red sweatshirts with the logo "Celebrate '98," buzz around haplessly, with nothing to do...
...Senator Pothole, Mr...
...Journalists are to go down the hall to the press room, say the girls...
...But before they do . . . There's a white-haired guy in an elegant cashmere coat who's been wandering around the room all night with no press credentials, only a suspicious "New York Delegation" pass of some sort...
...There's a buy-a-ticket cash bar, we learn...
...A couple of journalists gather around...
...After ABC camera workers, desk assistants, and publicists staged a one-day walkout on Monday and were locked out by their bosses on Election Day, their brethren at the AFL-CIO are maintaining a united front...
...Which makes it kind of a shame you're not having a party," the reporter adds...
...When they spot a woman wearing a Monica-like beret, they dart right over and flirt shamelessly, and who can blame them...
...And as the journalists look on puzzled, the man continues, "Ess-choomer hoe-kay...
...She always emails me back...
...I just spoke to Alexis Herman," Barry purrs, "and she told me that Lauch Faircloth lost...
...Can-do, crammed in 14 riders...
...The left-hand side is manned by three or four security guards...
...One D'Amato staffer insists that the exit polls are contradicted by the "anecdotal evidence...
...8:45 P.M.—DNC HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...As I told Mike Tyson on New Year's Eve," this fellow tells a companion, "you got to keep on battling...
...John Sweeney swigs Cabernet out of a plastic cup, but don't be misled: The AFL-CIO also serves lunchbucket suds, American-made—Bud or Bud Light for these horny-handed sons of toil...
...The union royalty have gathered to watch the returns, and in the crowd by a buffet table stacked with meats and melons and chicken-carcass discard bowls union president John Sweeney is congratulating himself and the American people for focusing on the Real Issues as opposed to presidential indiscretions...
...Since the Republican congressional takeover, Faircloth has been merciless in hounding the District's inept city government...
...9:59 P.M.—DNC HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...And as you look around the room at the company he keeps—a motley assemblage of red-diaper grandbabies and woolhat wannabes— you can't help believing him...
...A receptionist picks up the phone at DNC headquarters, a modern office building in the shadow of an overpass half a mile south of the Capitol...
...Half of them leave...
...the master of ceremonies screams...
...Where is it...
...Oh, yes—that would be nice," one of the cameramen mutters...
...the old lady at the ticket counter says, craning around for security...
...The DNC has announced through every possible grapevine over the past two days that there will be no post-election party this year because we never hold them for off-year elections...
...That's the officially approved scuttlebutt, anyway...
...Five undergrad-age DNC volunteers (including Miss American Apartheid) are stationed at the doorway to keep the journalists from wandering into offices and doing interviews ( "Ap-ap-ap-ap-ap...
...Moments later, it becomes clear that Sen...
...Just to be in the same room as the one Republican in America who can start a sentence with "As I told Mike Tyson" seems to open up limitless vistas of opportunity...
...It's surprisingly moving to see him there, being so intimate and emotional...
...Including Ed Koch...
...8:18 P.M.—RNC VICTORY PARTY, REAGAN BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...Some take this as a cue to leave, others to dance...
...I don't understand what's happening," she says...
...Talk about a privilege...
...No," she says, "no, no...
...But in overtime—Ole Miss won...
...The night is young...
...All right...
...The journalist says, "What...
...9:20 P.M.—OUTSIDE THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CLUB, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...8:45 P.M.—AFL-CIO HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...But now, at the end, he's touchingly graceful and warm...
...And . . . and . . . Why is this guy spinning the exit polls...
...mayoral candidate Anthony Williams (no relation to Armstrong) have come to celebrate their man's victory...
...And they're not worried anymore...
...It's certainly nothing anyone can remember...
...The press has come for the impromptu party...
...We put New York's children first," he declares...
...But fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and a staffer's gotta spin...
...Meanwhile the press room is so dead no one's even dipping into the free beer...
...Soon enough, the Pataki family comes on-stage, looking like the kind of people you'd want for neighbors...
...But really: Somebody has to do something about this music...
...Vaci, along with her husband, has found her way to the bar at Ruby Tuesday's to watch the returns on CNN...
...With 14 people...
...He begins to improvise with a story about having recently attended a football game pitting Ole Miss—his alma mater—against LSU...
...Lost...
...Can I just pop in to take a look...
...10:05 P.M.—RNC DEFEAT PARTY, REAGAN BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...Pataki has just been reelected by a historic margin...
...lost...
...It's a reporter on the line, calling to ask about the poll numbers that have begun leaking out of the networks...
...This night is still young...
...Within about a beer, the night's trend becomes undeniable...
...Vaci doesn't work in politics, but she seems to know at least as much about the elections as many people who do, and a lot more about the Lewinsky scandal...
...So it's down a hallway full of offices to the press room, a 20-by-20 holding pen where reporters are kept for hourly force-feedings of spin from DNC chairmen Roy Romer and Steve Grossman...
...The bar is silent...
...That's the Clinton News Network talking...
...When a friend introduces him as "a D'Amato staffer," he mumbles: "Well, for a few more hours...
...This is a pretty inexperienced crowd, but even they sense the obvious: Winners don't use lines like "The night is still young...
...Tonight even the concessions are dull...
...he's asked...
...D'Ama-to...
...But when he takes the stage and begins his valedictory, he looks cheerful and brave...
...At the end of this game, it was tied," says Lott, savoring his words...
...That's news to the reporters who've been calling all afternoon...
...Ten seconds...
...11:45 P.M.—NEW YORK HILTON, GOP VICTORY PARTY, NEW YORK CITY Twenty-five minutes stuck in an elevator with Alfonse D'Amato and Ed Koch...
...Those days are over...
...Sweeney contorts his face like a Mephistophelean Mickey Rooney and laughs until the dry-scalp detritus shakes from his rounded shoulders...
...Some footage...
...Being a good guy...
...This is not D'Amato's lucky night...
...But a half-dozen stringy-haired coed volunteers (one is reading a book called American Apartheid) are manning the right-hand side of a gauntlet in the lobby...
...A pair of Republican lobbyists are passing out cigars bearing labels that read "The Big Lewinsky...
...Immediately the rumor spreads through the ballroom: The exit-polling company has messed up the sample...
...He takes the stage to warm applause, but his remarks are lackluster...
...I'm always lurking at FreeRepublic," Vaci explains...
...Alfonse D'Amato down by as much as 10 points...
...Actually, no one's danced to "It's Not Unusual" in 30 years...
...says another fellow in a suit, who has foolishly left his press pass on...
...But some old ladies are zealously vetting the guests, and they're keeping the press out...
...The bar is still glum, as the beer-drinkers imbibe the crushing news about Lauch and Fob...
...A minute...
...I don't think that's a problem that I have to be concerned about...
...This is a private club...
...Tepid cheers...
...The emcee gives up...
...This is ominous news for D'Amato...
...For twenty-five minutes...
...Polite opinion finds him esthetically displeasing...
...A print reporter stops him and says, "Hey, man, is there some kind of Schumer party in town...
...That's because of FreeRepub-lic.com, a web site where anti-Clinton netheads mull over the latest outrage from Washington...
...Remember, that's a CNN estimate," says one...
...So it was (b...
...There's no blaming it on CNN this time...
...lost...
...I just don't happen to speak English...
...It's Not Unusual" was bad enough...
...The mood is one of serving a detention, and some people are trapped here—the foreign journalists who have no place else to go and a handful of cameramen who are accumulating Romer footage in dribs and drabs...
...7:30 P.M.—REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE VICTORY PARTY, RONALD REAGAN INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTER, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...The Pothole Man has a heart...
...Faircloth a bus ticket back to North Carolina—to live with the pigs...
...Give me an A!" Silence...
...Well . . . well, can we get into it...
...But up here on the eighth floor, in a conference room overlooking the White House, the style is strictly tech-school baroque...
...Exit polls show Sen...
...Yes...
...I don't even think about that," he snorts...
...His big applause line: "When this night is over, we will have picked up seats in the United States Senate...
...This year, it seems, the bland, respectable candidates are the ones who've done well...
...Tepid applause...
...The results are so unreliable, TV stations nationwide are throwing out the whole batch of results...
...You might think that, after several decades of plundering members' paychecks, the greatest labor guild in the world would have a more impressive headquarters...
...If Republicans lose the House, they'll probably haul out "Ode to Joy...
...Oh, but we are having a party...
...At FreeRepublic, she goes by 'Trix-ie.'" Before Vaci has a chance to elaborate—Trix-ie?—CNN announces that Fob James has just lost his job as Alabama governor...
...It was a great victory, and that's what we're going to have tonight...
...You just got to keep on battling...
...The effervescent Armstrong Williams suddenly returns to the stage, urging the crowd to persuade the media that "We're not dead...
...Yes," the man says...
...Never in my wildest dreams," he says, "did I think I would have the privilege to serve this state for 18 years...
...He may not have inspired idealism or grandeur during his long Washington tenure...
...What was that...
...At the bottom of every television set in the conference room is a handwritten note: "Please do not switch to ABC...
...So Republicans are going to eke out a "great" victory in overtime...
...We're buying Sen...
...But what about those indiscretions...
...10:10 P.M.—MAYFLOWER HOTEL, WASHINGTON D.C...
...the receptionist interrupts...
...Surely that counts for something...
...The prom queen and the star quarterback still haven't arrived, but the place is filling up with people who look oddly as though they wished they were somewhere else...
...A group of gray-suited Tommy Newsome clones mill about the half-filled chamber...
...On the big screen, Pataki's opponent, Peter Val-lone, is conceding his defeat...
...And the security guards say, "Sir...
...With a disco beat...
...All night, partiers have been buzzing about the North Carolina Senate race and the fate of Lauch Faircloth...
...Look down, and you'll notice they read, "Roommate wanted: Male, Non-smoker . . ." The cameramen have been promised an appearance by Romer, so they've taken their positions and set their shots...
...Wouldn't you prefer to go back to the detention room and watch C-SPAN and wait for Steve Grossman...
...Finally, a Republican message for the new millennium: "We're Not Dead...
...Apparently, there are parties going on upstairs, because ruddy activist-looking types keep wandering in from their cigarette breaks in the driveway (this is a non-smoking environment) and lurching towards the elevators—or toward the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee offices, on this floor—with juice-based cocktails in plastic tumblers...
...Cheers erupt from within...
...9:00 P.M.—AFL-CIO HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON, D.C...
...They figure that the Democrats are either (a) strapped for cash or (b) worried they'll get blown out...
...Vaci stops talking and looks up at the television...
...Deep down he knows the truth...
...8:00 P.M.—NEW YORK HILTON, GOP CELEBRATION, NEW YORK CITY It's still early, but already New York Republicans in the ballroom are filled with foreboding...
...A couple of brave Republicans try to put the best face on the news...
...Losers do, especially when they realize the night is almost over...
...Spinning after the polls close can't do any good...
...Come on people...
...Whenever a journalist begins to drift along with them, the girls stop him with a scolding "Ap-ap-ap-ap-ap...
...I love the Democratic party platform...
...Lets make some noise...
...With a minute to spare, one of the 21-year-old detention wardens comes in to say, "Steve Grossman, our national chairman, is gonna come in and make a real quick statement so you guys can get some footage before you file...
...A 10-piece oldies band is cranking out the Tom Jones hit "It's Not Unusual," but no one's dancing...
...asks the warden...
...But the journalists who don't meet either description soon drift off into the night...
...a man in a suit asks the closest guy to him...
...Yes...
...Terrific...
...He's opening up, making an effort...
...9:22 P.M.—RUBY TUESDAY'S, MARIETTA, GA...
...There is nobody in the U.S...
...Get over here at 8 o'clock...
...And besides, the poll numbers are from New York City, where D'Amato is notoriously weak...
...How much you guys need...
...The bad news is settling in—starting to seem real...
...This could be a long night...
...What would happen to him if he were ingested by an intern and got caught...
...The only imports here are the waiters, who are quick to point out that they're union and that they're leaving at 10 o'clock sharp— whether the partygoers are finished or not...
...Okay, here's the Big Democratic Party party, in yacht-club-esque surroundings right next door to the Democratic National Committee...
...Armstrong Williams, the hyperactive radio-talk-show host, comes to the podium and tries to whip the lethargic crowd into a frenzy, Republican-style...
...The one plastic plate of crudités is 99 percent gone, and the Diet Cokes are all gone...
...A dapper, mustachioed fellow says, "Damned if I know...
...It looks like some surprising Democratic wins...
...CNN has just announced Schumer beating D'Amato...
...Trent Lott is here...
...he shouts...
...The crowd erupts and Barry slashes the air with his outstretched hand...
...Maybe there's hope after all for Republicans...
...He makes a thumbs-down and goes: "P-p-p-p-p-p...
...A leering Chuck Schumer fills the screen...
...The elevator's capacity was eight riders...
...As the ballroom empties, at least one D'Amato fan takes the long view...
...Sir...
...This is where supporters of D.C...
...The boredom—and the hermetic isolation—have been so bad that one camerawoman for a Japanese network has spent the last hour diligently filling dozens of 4-by-6 index cards with handwriting...
...But now, just as the big-screen TVs announce another Republican defeat, the band cranks up to top volume and plays Kool and the Gang's "Celebration...
...Romer's supposed to be back at 10:30, but at 10:20 the warden comes in and says he'll be half an hour late...
...Here's what happened...
...It's too late...
...We like Newt, but we love Bob Barr," says Sally Vaci, a graphic designer who lives right here in Newt Gingrich's hometown...
...Suddenly, word arrives that Al D'Amato has lost his Senate seat...
...The journalists are at the end of their patience...
...The party's just started, and it has the deflated feel of a high-school dance an hour before the prom queen and the star quarterback arrive...
...Reported by the staff of The Weekly Standard...
...Let's repeat that: Twenty-five minutes stuck in an elevator with BOTH Alfonse D'Amato and Ed Koch...
...Ginny Williams, a pleasant young Gingrich staffer from South Georgia who is standing nearby, looks like she might cry...
...Spirits are high—and not merely because of Williams's crushing defeat of his Republican rival...
Vol. 4 • November 1998 • No. 10
