CNN, Fox News eclipse Big Three nets after 9/11
Bedtime For Bill
Bill Clinton won't hit the campaign trail if the little woman gets her way. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has put her foot down against his yapping it up for Democrats in the fall, worried that it will stall his recovery from heart bypass surgery. Bubba's pushing to campaign the weekend before the election, but we hear that Mrs. C is saying no.
Liar's poker
The newly restructured Kerry-Edwards campaign plans to charge in the final six weeks that President Bush is a liar on issues like the environment, Medicare, and his National Guard service. Call it the "Broken Promises Presidency," says a Kerry insider. Sen. John Kerry, says our tipster, "knows that elections are decided on a balance of issues and character and believes Bush is about to topple on both. It's high noon on character."
Sticky waffles
New proof that President Bush 's drive since spring to portray opponent Sen. John Kerry as a waffler is sticking: In a new Winston Group poll, even 34 percent of Democrats think he flip-flops on the issues.
President pepperoni
The next time you order a pizza, pick up dry cleaning, or even buy a new house, you might get an unexpected pitch: Vote. KB Home, for instance, one of the nation's largest builders, offers voter registration forms in model homes and offices. And look out for more: We hear that the Kerry and Bush campaigns are being swamped by companies that want to sell ad space on pizza boxes, dry cleaning bags, and even emery boards.
Screening the dead
The folks who brought you tougher airport checkpoints--the Transportation Security Administration--are now making sure the dead are screened, too. To settle a little-known controversy over TSA cops opening metal cremation urns impenetrable by X-rays, the agency has teamed with funeral homes to get the ashes through security unopened. The solution: The funeral industry is providing wood and plastic urns for airplane transport.
Secrets on video
There's nothing the government hates more than revealing secrets, but all that might change when a new intelligence analysis of international terrorism is finished. Robert Hutchings, head of the National Intelligence Council--which just produced a "National Intelligence Estimate" showing trouble ahead in Iraq--plans to issue an unclassified version of a forthcoming NIE on terrorism. And he's even considering a video version. The reason: Heads of Fortune 500 companies and cops not cleared for the classified version need to know about the threat if they are to prepare for it.
Hooked in Iraq
Send our troops some worms and bobbers, because they'll soon have a new fishing lake at Camp Cook, near Taji, Iraq. At least that's the goal of Arkansas outdoorsman extraordinaire Rollie Remmel, who has talked the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission into getting a tanker of catfish, bass, and bream ready for shipment to Camp Cook, home to many state National Guardsmen.
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With Suzi Parker, David E. Kaplan and Kevin Whitelaw
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