Joe Lieberman got up early Tuesday to sing “Happy Birthday” to Maxine Waters. She is the vocal California congresswoman whose voice rises out of the most liberal corners of the Democratic Party. For Lieberman the move seemed to bear immediate political fruit. (Read on.)

This last major poliical speech Bill Clinton would deliver as president was a typical Clinton production–lots of last-minute improvisation, a certain lack of orderly coordination, an arrival on the podium later than scheduled, additional embellishments that became more frequent as the president neared the end of his speech text. And it was, with a few exceptions, all about me. (Read on.)

LOS ANGELES–Patrick Kennedy is telling a joke that makes fun of Patrick Kennedy, self-deprecating humor being the only kind of humor that is safe for politicians to indulge in these days. Kennedy is standing on the lawn of the Norman and Mary Patiz estate, high up on a hillside in Beverly Hills, the city of Los Angeles spread out like a twinkling map-of-the-stars-homes beneath him. (Read on.)

I didn't think he had it in him. Not Vice President Al Gore, the careful, calculating, deliberate, no-controlling-legal-authority guy. Not tactical Al, looking for a state to win. Not political Al, looking for a youthful running mate to play the generational card. And certainly not special-interest Al, trying to keep labor and Hollywood happy. (Read on.)