Some Democrats Driving in the Red
Better red than dead" has a new meaning in Washington, especially for Democrats. It's the motto of a few likely 2008 presidential hopefuls who realize that playing it safe in Democratic blue states and avoiding the expanding swath of Republican red counties and states means certain defeat. Take Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. She's been privately talking about reaching out to red states. And she's been telling donors of her growing support in New York's red counties.
Then there's Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, who started "listening sessions" long before Clinton's 2000 campaign. This year, he's taken them national. "I'm tired of Democrats losing . . . we've got to get the presidency back," he explained after a trip to Alabama, where he dined on grits and was roasted by Republicans. "I don't think the blue-state, minimalist strategy works. You have to have a message in all 50 states."
What he hears both troubles and pleases him. Top gripe: Southerners say snooty Washington Democrats ignore them, which, of course, is why he traveled there. "Sometimes the word elitist was mentioned," he said. "Sometimes New England elitist was the phrase used." Hmmm. Guess that keeps him and Clinton in the running. Well, he added: "I did hear a number of southerners say that the Midwest was OK, but the North isn't."
Being Frank on Lesbian Marriage
Gay marriage is a serious issue for Congress's most prominent homosexual, Rep. Barney Frank . But that doesn't mean he can't tell jokes about it. Just last week he kidded that the issue proves a point about guys. "We have done the one thing for American stand-up comedians," he says, "that the heterosexual community could not do: We have validated the premise that men don't want to get married and women do. The disproportionate number of marriages have been between lesbians." To a mostly male and heterosexual crowd, he added, "There's always been this assumption that men want to get married less than women, but left to your own, you couldn't prove it."
Savoring Salmon, Sparing a Pig
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has moved into a new phase of its save-the-fish campaign: warning that the toxic substances absorbed by fish can rot your brain. The first target: Sen. Joe Lieberman . Seems Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski revealed Lieberman's daily diet of salmon. "Senator Lieberman is a gentleman and a scholar," says PETA's Bruce Friedrich, "but he's supporting some very ungentlemanly cruelty to animals and rotting his very able brain by eating fish." Don't look for Lieberman to change his diet, says Matt Gobush, spokesman for the Senate's most famous Jew. He added: "Think of all the pigs he's saved!"
Glasnost in the Pressroom
It might get good again for bored White House correspondents. Bush insiders say the prez wants to hold monthly press conferences, a far cry from the few he held in the first term. "He's enthusiastic about it," says one associate. "He likes exchanges with the press. This is a sign of things to come: glasnost on Pennsylvania Avenue."
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