ILLUSTRATION BY JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WR

Robert Redford poses it at the end of The Candidate, but you know every presidential victor has asked it on election night: "What do we do now?" In the works for 50 years, there's finally an answer. Actually, it's more a handbook, and it comes from legendary White House scholar Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution. "It's my life in elections and transitions," says the veteran of three White Houses dating back to Eisenhower. "It's a workbook for new presidents," he adds of What Do We Do Now?—out by Election Day.

Hess's workbook is a must for the incoming administration. He touches on everything from decorating the Oval Office, dodging cabinet nomination fights, and penning a memorable inaugural address to firing bumbling aides. He gives inspirational case studies—and duncelike examples, many featuring Bill Clinton, who could have used Hess's advice. Like: Act first on campaign promises, not press questions, like the gays in the military issue that tripped Bubba up. Don't pick non-Washington friends, as Clinton did with grade-school pal Thomas "Mack" McLarty, for top insider jobs. "Hillary Clinton won't like this book," says Hess. "If a new president spent one hour reading this," says Hess, "they'd be able to more clearly consider the order of what they have to do." He adds: "Maybe they could recall and tap these ideas as things go by."

Sen. John McCain's proposal to suspend the federal gas tax as prices jump might make it into the Republican Party national platform at the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, we hear. It's a lock if Sen. Barack Obama, who scoffs that it won't save much, is the Democratic nominee.

His flashy "Barack Obama" signature or his pert "bo" initials signed by hand are hot in the autograph biz. Some of Sen. Barack Obama's felt-tipped autographs are going for $399. But beware. Because his signature is hurried with big letters and more like NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s than the distinctive John Hancock of Revolutionary fame, it's easy to copy. So the market is being flooded with fakes, autograph sellers tell Whispers.

Probable GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain won't have to give any more speeches about the kind of conservative judges he'd appoint if he looks to Yahoo search engine users for advice on whom to pick for his running mate. That's because conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ranks second in searches to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the GOP side. Either would be unusually historic picks, and certainly much more unconventional than the two other leading search choices: former candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. There are no surprises among the top Democratic searches for vice presidents. No. 1 is Sen. Barack Obama followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton. Do the results of the Yahoo "Search Buzz" meter mean anything? Yes: It's been a good predictor for election results this year, especially voter support for candidates.

It could have been a smooth launch for the Department of Transportation's entry into the blogging world. But by choosing the title "Fast Lane" for Secretary Mary Peters's online blog, DOT was either asleep at the wheel or dizzy from the fumes of $4 gas, say critics. That's because it's the name of the General Motors blog established three years ago, GM FastLane Blog. Industry insiders snicker that DOT should have done a better probe of the blogging world for what's already in use. But GM spokesman Greg Martin took the high road, telling us, "I guess we could look at it as a case of imitation as the highest form of flattery." Peters's spokesman Brian Turmail says nobody has the franchise on "fast lane," explaining: "Our sense was that people want original thinking and an honest discussion about substantive issues more than they care about having catchy, clever blog names that nobody has ever used." In its first week, Fast Lane had 30,000 hits, he says, adding, "Besides, Peters' Pensives sounded too much like something you'd find in a Harry Potter novel."

Losing hurts, but it's a lot less painful when you're Mitt Romney. We hear that the former GOP presidential candidate, who loaned his campaign $35 million, isn't even trying to recoup his loss. The reason: He's focused on raising money for Sen. John McCain and other Republicans. "Governor Romney has no plans either now or in the future to raise money so that he can retire his debt," says spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. It helps, of course, that Romney entered the race after amassing a fortune of at least $200 million. And even if he had planned to eventually recoup the money after Election Day, he can thank McCain for messing that up: There is a provision in the McCain-Feingold campaign reform act that says fundraisers to pay off debts must end on Election Day, effectively the convention.

He's been called a hatemonger and televangelist money grabber, but the late Rev. Jerry Falwell was a regular guy who had an eclectic gaggle of pals and was a sucker for poor college kids. In wife Macel Falwell's new book, Jerry Falwell, His Life and Legacy, the GOP preacher who died last May is portrayed as the kind of guy who drove to the mall, then hung a sign on his car window reading: "I'm not dead. I'm just sleeping while my wife shops." He was also a fan of local fave steak soup served at O'Charley's in Lynchburg, Va., where he once offered a waitress a full scholarship to his Liberty University because she couldn't afford it. And consider his friends, like Sen. Edward Kennedy, who spoke at Liberty in 1983. Macel says they dined with Kennedy years later and worried about being served "fancy sauces." When plain steak and potatoes arrived, she thought, "They're just regular people."

"There's no doubt that things feel better today, by a lot, than they did in March."

Henry Paulson, Treasury secretary, on the credit crisis

"I've been losing weight on this campaign. I hope there are some biscuits and grits."

Sen. Barack Obama, campaigning for president in Indiana

"We've broken the tie, and thanks to you it's full speed—on to the White House."

Sen. Hillary Clinton, in Indiana, after eking out a thin victory against Obama there while losing big in North Carolina, a day some say ended her chances of winning the presidency

"Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman...to show us how it should be done."

Bob Crow, general secretary of a London transportation union, mocking Mayor Boris Johnson's bid to end drinking on the city's legendary subway system, the Tube

Sources: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, AFP

CHRIS BRITT/COPLEY NEWS SERVICE/THE (SPRINGFIELD, ILL.) STATE-JOURNAL REGISTER

Team Clinton is vowing to take its uphill battle against front-runner Sen. Barack Obama beyond the June 3 end of the Democratic primary season if neither candidate has yet captured 2209 delegates, which includes superdelegates and the disputed delegates from Michigan and Florida.

The Clinton victory-by-superdelegate plan? Convince the 20 freshmen Democrats from Republican-leaning congressional districts that Clinton would help them more at the top of the November ticket than Obama. And lay out an argument to uncommitted superdelegates that only Clinton has a shot at winning big swing states - and thus the decisive Electoral College vote - in the fall.

Campaign strategists Geoff Garin and Howard Wolfson, during a breakfast this morning with reporters including our Liz Halloran, said that according to their reading of current state polls, Clinton would capture 42 more electoral votes than presumed GOP nominee John McCain. Their analysis shows that Obama would trail McCain by eight electoral votes. The states that Obama has won during the primary season, Garin says, “are not in play” on the Electoral College map.

And in an analysis they call "Winning in the Tough Districts," found here,

the Clintonistas argue that she’d be better able to lead freshmen Dems, all superdelegates, to a second term in the fall because she appeals to older, rural voters in those traditionally GOP districts. Clinton out-polled Obama in 16 of those 20 districts during this primary season. She has been endorsed by five members of Congress from the 16 districts she won; Obama by four.

With the Obama camp saying they plan to declare victory based on elected delegates and the popular vote after the May 20 primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, and the Illinois senator all but crowned the party’s nominee, the Clinton aides say they know what they’re up against. But even with that - and their candidate’s money woes, they appeared dug in for a fight. They’ll take that fight to a May 31 meeting of the Democratic Party’s rules committee, at which members will attempt to hash out a resolution to the controversy over whether to count Michigan and Florida delegates.

“We’re not oblivious to the environment in which we’re operating,” says Garin, comparing Clinton to a tennis player who may be down a few games in the third set, but with the potential to come back and win in the fifth. The Clinton campaign, Garin says, is moving forward “with a sense of continuing enthusiasm.”

A new memo from the Democratic National Committee claims that voters are more than ready to shift from a Republican White House: They are showing up in historic numbers to back the Democratic presidential candidates.

"The message this election is clear: voters want change, not the third Bush term they’d get with John McCain,” says Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. “Democrats are energized all across the country and we’re competing in all 50 states, proving that if Democrats  show up and talk about our values, we will win. As we head towards November, I’m confident we will unite behind our nominee and harness this unprecedented enthusiasm to beat John McCain."

His memo details the voter turnout as he suggests the voters will be there in the fall to back the eventual nominee--Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton.

According to the memo, found here, the DNC also says that Republicans are iffy on McCain.

"As Democrats continue to see unprecedented enthusiasm for our candidates, the news continues to be worrisome for John McCain. Even after locking up the Republican nomination, 27 percent of Republican voters voted for another Republican candidate in North Carolina, and 23 percent of Republican voters voted for another Republican candidate in Indiana. At the same time, Democrats are campaigning in all fifty states this primary season and bringing new voters into the process. As the numbers show, Democrats are poised for victory in ’08."