Senate Vets Bucked Up Kerrey; Now Batting ... at Treasury ...; Tricky Terry; Russ for Prez; Chipping Away; Homesick; Man for All Seasons; PB&J on AF 1; Gone Fishing; Divided We Stand
Man for all seasons; PB&J on AF 1; Gone fishing; Divided we stand
Senate vets bucked up Kerrey
Politically they're all over the map, but when former Sen. Bob Kerrey started taking flak for his behind-the-lines mission in a Vietnam village 32 years ago, Senate Viet vets moved quickly and in an unprecedented fashion to form a support group for their ex-band member. Republican Sens. John McCain and Chuck Hagel and Democrats John Kerry and Max Cleland started calling each other and Kerrey to devise a battle plan. Kerry led, dispatching best friend, war expert, and vet Tom Vallely to do recon. His target: Get five of the six Kerrey SEAL squad members to reiterate the ex-senator's story that they didn't murder innocent villagers, as the sixth claimed. "Tommy was the first person to say, `Bob, you've got your own story to tell,' " says one insider. Kerrey's problem: He didn't want to burden his squadmates and couldn't believe anyone would doubt his version. "I was trying to help him get this into perspective," says Vallely, who minimizes his help. But it was the Senate vets who bucked Kerrey up. "They're almost like a support group," says an aide to one. "They have a shared experience no one else has."
Now batting ... at Treasury ...
He's not tossing back pints at the nearby Old Ebbitt Grill with his aides yet, but Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is moving quickly to show that he's not a big ego geek. Consider: He shuns bodyguards and keeps his entourage small and his motorcade to one car. That is when he's not spinning around in his silver Audi TT convertible. Also: He pens his own speeches and keeps his word. Like when he rebuffed staffers who wanted him to kiss off a promise to read at the White House Easter Egg Roll. But being rich, he hasn't had to shack up in garages like some Bushies. The ex-Alcoa boss is moving from a hotel room to the swank Watergate. He even makes fun, telling about getting the best tables in New York because maitre d's think he's Yankee slugger Paul O'Neill. "Is there any chance Derek Jeter or Roger Clemens will be joining you?" one asked. But it's the Yankee O'Neill who is wowed, using a Washington visit last week to ask the bean counter: "When are we going to get our name on the money?" referencing the Treasury chief's signature on greenbacks.
Tricky Terry
It's three years away, but Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe is already trying to figure out a way to mess with the 2004 GOP presidential convention where, presumably, President Bush will be renominated. We learn that the DNC has picked the week of July 18 for its convention. If past practice is followed, that means the GOP convention will be the week of August 8, which is the week leading up to the historic 2004 Olympics in Athens. Bush's speech could come on the opening night of the Olympics. The GOP's Trent Duffy suggested another motive: "They must be accommodating Barbra Streisand's summer tour."
Russ for Prez
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold is the latest wannabe pondering a presidential run in 2004. A progressive reformer who is the other half of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform package, he has already visited New Hampshire, home of the first primary, and is building a staff of campaign advisers. He's also picking the brain of Sen. John McCain about his short-lived but popular reformist bid against George W. Bush.
Chipping away
They've done a good job so far sticking to policy differences, but Democrats are now whispering catty comments about President Bush. One potential Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Edwards, tells us how Bush hates to talk policy, switching to sports instead. Dems even make fun of Bush's rejecting former President Clinton's practice of making regular press statements. He's still "feeling his way in the presidency," says Edwards.
Homesick
Guess Attorney General John Ashcroft didn't get the memo requiring early starts and long days. Insiders say Ashcroft is working banker's hours, normally 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Others say he can't shake his old Senate schedule and think he dreams of running against his replacement, Sen. Jean Carnahan, in the upcoming 2002 election. Another example of apparent trouble settling in: Ashcroft continues to chafe at the security protecting him from bad guys. For example, he rides to work in his wife's car, forcing his security detail to tag along in a separate limo.
Man for all seasons
It's the little things that have State Department workers cooing over their boss, Colin Powell. Their latest brag: Powell does his own photocopying and gets on his hands and knees to fix the machine when it jams. But he's so active that aides are pressing him to commit to taking the last two weeks in August off, more for their rest than his.
PB&J on AF1
The most amazing product, peanut butter and jelly packaged in cellophane like cheese slices, is headed to the White House and maybe even Air Force One. Knowing President Bush is a PB&J fiend, an outfit called PJ Squares has shipped off a case of its strawberry and grape offerings. "Who knows, a quick slice before turning in for the night or placed upon Air Force One could be in both our futures," wrote firm president John Codilis in a letter to Bush.
Gone fishing
The parade of White House reporters who left when the new Bush administration came in are glorying in their decision now that President Bush's team is eyeing a three-week summer vacation in hot and dusty Crawford, Texas. It's a far cry from recent summer White House destinations--Kennebunkport or Martha's Vineyard. And when leaked, some reporters on the White House beat started scheduling their vacations to coincide with the Bush trip, hopeful that editors will give them the OK and send a flunky to do Bush watch in the nearby Waco Motel 6.
Divided we stand
With the crush of daily journalism over, we're starting to get juicy nuggets from the 2000 presidential campaign. This week we're shamelessly plugging our guy Roger Simon's latest, Divided We Stand, which reveals that Al Gore really thought he would win in the Supreme Court, expecting Republican Sandra Day O'Connor to join the liberals. Simon's a regular on the campaign book circuit and really gets the pols to open up. Gore campaign boss Bill Daley, for example, reveals that ex-President Clinton and Gore grew distant, and not just because of the Lewinsky lies. That just widened the divide opened in the 1996 fundraising scandal when Gore felt betrayed by Clinton. On the Bush side, when Simon asked a top aide what Americans thought of when they considered the Texan's qualifications, he was told, "adequacy."
Daily Washington Whispers at www.usnews.com/whispers
IN QUOTES
"Because rich, yuppie environmentalists are slowly but surely shutting this country down economically."
Rep. John Duncan Jr.,
Tennessee GOP-er, issuing blame for high gas prices
"I asked him the most important question . . . if he had ever seen Caddyshack."
Jesse Ventura,
Minnesota governor, on meeting the Dalai Lama
"Gay people are raising their eyebrows and winking right along with the ad."
Cathy Renna,
of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, on new Minute Maid ads showing foes Bluto and Popeye as oddly close pals
"Bryant, when you were on the Today show you weren't as fat as you are now."
Rosie O'Donnell,
to CBS Early Show cohost Bryant Gumbel
With Chitra Ragavan and Kevin J. Whitelaw
This story appears in the May 21, 2001 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.