4/26/01 Aboard the USS Gorby The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, has been sailing through Washington this week promoting various self-interests, chief among them the Raisa Gorbachev Memorial Fund for Leukemia Research, named for his wife who died of the disease. The big event for that fund was held last Sunday when Gorby and others took a voyage on the Sequoia, the old presidential yacht. We've got the inside scoop from the boat's owner, Gary Silversmith. In an E-mail to Whispers, Silversmith wrote: "During Gorby's brunch cruise on the Sequoia, a few interesting tidbits: He sang several Russian songs to the group. He went to the Captain's wheelhouse, and took the wheel for a while. He discussed with me the end of the Cold War. I told him that the Cold War ended because of him. He responded that it was due to the actions of a number of people. I then said that it was primarily due to you. He then thought about that, and then said, "maybe" with a shrug of the shoulder. He complained about Churchill's speech in Missouri that talked about the Iron Curtain, when the "Soviet Union had the biggest loses in the war, and they were protecting their territory ..." I explained that Churchill and Roosevelt planned D-Day on the Sequoia, and Gorby commented: "They were here on this yacht planning strategy, and we were starving and dying over there ..." He drank mimosas instead of vodka. He has a good voice. His daughter had him wear a Sequoia hat, because she was concerned about the sun. He loved the Brezhnev pictures on the Sequoia. The Russian Ambassador hopes that Bush and Putin can meet onboard.

4/25/01 Arkansas is asking, 'Where's Bill?' Former President Clinton's aversion to returning home to Arkansas has some state bigs talking about offering free food–or more–to get the ex-Arky to pay a social call. It ticked them off that he rejected his state residency for New York, but they expected to see more of him due to the construction of his library and museum in Little Rock. Many top Dems thought his post-presidency homecoming would be at the annual June 2 Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner–the party's biggest annual event. But now comes word that presidential wannabe Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is the headliner.

4/24/01 Talking up President Bush It's not much of a movie plot, but the White House has hastily produced a 100-days script that brags of President Bush as a "strong leader" who's "plain spoken." The six-page document follows a frantic effort to convince Washington journalists and pundits that the 100-day report card period is a phony and meaningless deadline. We got our copy from the West Virginia GOP which noted that the "100 days is typically drawn by the media as a line in the sand for demarking the success of an early Administration." It came to them from the White House communications office. It's a far cry from the huge project the Clinton administration produced to celebrate its 100 days. The Bush "talking points" includes a chart showing how many times Bush has traveled and held cabinet meetings, two lists of achievements, and a sample essay. Take a look for yourself: • "Historical insights" chart • Moments to remember • Final talking points • Sample essay

4/20/01 Powell goes Madison Avenue Colin Powell is bringing Madison Avenue to Foggy Bottom. Not only has he decided that the State Department needs more aggressive branding and a higher profile, he's named Charlotte Beers, the elegant former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather and chairman of J. Walter Thompson, to do the job. Her title, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, will require Senate confirmation. Her role will be to market U.S. foreign policy prowess and feats–and no doubt the secretary himself–around the world. The move is yet another product of Powell's recent turn in corporate America. The former general met Beers around the boardroom table at Gulfstream Aerospace. And it doesn't hurt, says the White House, that she hails from Beaumont, Texas.

4/19/01 Hillary Clinton, legal eagle Hillary Rodham Clinton is more than a senator from New York: she's an experienced lawyer, a first lady who weighed in on judicial picks, and the wife of a fella who was Arkansas's attorney general but who is losing his law license for lying. So who better than Mrs. Clinton to give advice on the judiciary? She's one of several Washington legal stars invited to St. Petersburg, Russia, this July to a World Bank conference titled "Empowerment, Security and Opportunity Through Law and Justice." She won't be the only U.S. big if World Bank President James Wolfensohn, a Clinton pal, gets his way. We hear he's also invited a couple of U.S. Supreme Court justices to speak on the legal issues of a country many U.S. government officials fear is reverting to communism.

4/18/01 Joe can't let Florida go Seems Joe Lieberman, Al Gore's old running mate, can't get Florida off his mind. "Deeply disappointing," the senior senator from Connecticut says in a new letter to potential donors to Florida Rep. Robert Wexler. It's the first Democratic fundraising letter we've seen that plays up the Florida recount while stoking liberal fears that Secretary of State Katherine Harris, the GOP legislature, and Gov. Jeb Bush could redistrict House Democrats out of jobs. "The power to redraw the boundaries of congressional districts in Florida this year lies solely in the hands of Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican-dominated Florida legislature," warns Lieberman, who associates say plans to run for president himself in 2004. "Many people have asked me what we can do to prevent what happened in Florida from ever happening again. I know one thing for sure," Lieberman writes. "We can start by keeping my friend Robert Wexler in Congress."

4/17/01 The big diff between Bill and W. Lots of questions have arrived asking what's the diff between traveling with President Bush and former President Clinton. Well, in a word: Lots. We took a trip just to check it out and can report the following. Where the Clinton Air Force One served yellow lemonade Crystal Lite, the Bush team prefers pink. Also, the jet is off its Hillary Rodham Clinton-ordered health kick. We got hoagies, stuffed pizza, and Klondike bars. And the candy baskets were full, as usual, with butterscotch drops and Milky Way bars. Beer is still available, too, thankfully. Some non-food changes: Bush doesn't fill his jet with hangers-on; only essential personnel, thank you. That has the added benefit of shortening the official motorcade by some five cars, to just 16. On the road, Bush doesn't dawdle or host closed-door fundraisers–yet. It's in and out for the boss–and home for dinner.

4/13/01 Don't CC the White House There's a reason the Bush administration hasn't been as quick as some in filling top jobs: A huge number of people want in. We're talking some 58,000 job seekers. In fact, there's a saying in Washington about working for Bush II: "It's going to be just like the Reagan administration. You're gonna have to say you worked in this administration down the road." Interpretation: Pay your dues now, and the good jobs will follow after leaving the administration. Plus, another hiring problem is gooing up the works. The old rules don't work. In the past, those in line for top jobs had friends, members of Congress, and lobbyists send recommendation letters to the appropriate cabinet secretary. But the Bush White House wants those original letters, not a carbon copy, because it's acting as the employment clearinghouse.

4/12/01 Pass the Windex, please. Even though the prez told them to put a cork in it already, key aides can't stop whining about the way the Clinton gang left the White House. OK, they aren't whining about vandalism and graffiti anymore. But workers in the West Wing, East Wing, and neighboring Old Executive Office Building say the filth is too much to handle. "There are stains on the walls and rugs," says a key Bush aide, pointing to a spot on the rug that looks like the product of a doggie mishap. Here the Clinton crew won't bicker: They readily admit some staffers were office pigs.

4/11/01 Political dot-bombs litter the landscape Washington can be such an inbred town. So it should come as no surprise that one of its more obnoxious habits–name-dropping–is seen by many as an asset. How else to explain last year's frenzy to sign up some of the biggest names in town–Mike McCurry, Carl Bernstein, John Sununu, Jack Quinn, etc.–to back political news Internet sites. "At that time, the business model depended on a lot of buzz. Names helped bring that" says McCurry, the former White House spokesman. But, he concedes, "it didn't matter ... you need to make a product to survive." The graveyard is filled with the likes of Politics.com and Voter.com. Others, like SpeakOut.com and Grassroots.com, have changed focus. What nailed them? Real news sites beefed up political info, few cared about their famous supporters, and nobody made money. Still, the disease is spreading. Take EzGov.com, which does e-commerce for governments. Backers include former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and GOP heavy Jack Kemp. But its customers are mostly county tax collectors; nameless competitor Nicusa.com has cornered the bigger state biz.

4/10/01 On the run in California California utility execs are taking a page out of Monica Lewinsky's playbook: They're going incognito. Southern California Edison bigs tell our L.A. correspondent, Betsy Streisand, that they're giving up their freebie cars with the company logo on the doors in favor of unmarked and personal cars. Reason: Peeved at the recent 46-percent rate hike, some consumers have taken to egging and stoning company cars.

4/6/01 Trying to outspin the 100 daze As we reach the 75th day of the Bush administration, top presidential aides are trying to convince reporters and political allies to ignore the traditional 100-day mark when analysts size up the new team. "They're trying to redefine the 100 days. And by that they want to kill it," says one Republican analyst pressured by the White House. Our source, in comments echoed by other Republicans, says the White House feels that the standard measure should be scrapped because the new administration got off to a slow start hampered by the Florida recount. "It's been hard to get up to speed," says one administration insider. But others say the reason for trying to scuttle 100-days talk and news stories is more basic: The Bush list of successes may be short.

4/5/01 Lights, cameras, lawsuits It's lights, cameras–and possible legal action for showbiz's Creative Coalition, a star-studded public interest group based in Manhattan. TCC, as it's known, is weighing in on the congressional fight to pass the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance legislation. Actor William Baldwin, president of TCC, and 56 of his friends in the movie, TV, music, and political arena have penned a threatening letter to members of Congress. "We hereby declare that if the campaigns of any candidates for federal office do not embrace the McCain-Feingold principles, we will consider that sufficient reason to no longer contribute to, nor raise money for, nor have our names used in connection with the raising of money for, any such candidate." There's just one problem. Not only is the nonprofit barred from making political donations, the TCC letterhead was emblazoned with these words: "The Creative Coalition does not endorse or raise funds for political parties or candidates." Conservative groups are eyeing legal action; congressional Republicans are also looking into it.

4/4/01 Bush fears time is running out The White House is white hot mad at Sen. John McCain and Senate Republicans for robbing it of four key weeks to talk campaign finance instead of tax cuts. "Two weeks on campaign finance, then two weeks for Easter recess and it's already May," gripes a Bushie (view House calendar). Administration officials believe they've had a successful first two months but complain that it's been overshadowed by McCain and his fight for campaign finance reform. Top Bush aides were so fed up last week that they put out orders to underlings to draw up a victory chart to show backers worried about the lack of headlines on Bush wins.

4/3/01 Clinton gang tees off on Bush Even as President Bush deals with his first foreign crisis, the old Clinton gang is calling the new administration’s general diplomacy bone-headed. Words like “isolationist” are being hurled about by the former president’s team. “I don’t think the United States, as we get into the 21st Century, can be minimalist,” ex-national security adviser Sandy Berger told reporters during a breakfast meeting Tuesday. He came armed with a list of issues “I worry about,” including global warming agreements, the U.S. presence in the Balkans, the Middle East peace talks, and arms reductions and peace negotiations in North Korea. “We need to be engaged,” said Berger, who didn’t indulge in the bacon and egg spread. For the record, he didn’t break any news on the current crisis between Washington and China over the mid-air accident between an American spy plane and a Red Army jet. But he also didn’t raise concerns that Bush, while a foreign policy novice, can’t handle it. “Foreign policy experience is not the sine qua non of being a good foreign policy president,” explained the top overseas policy adviser of a president who also had no international experience when he arrived in Washington. Back to Washington Whispers