The White House Catches Nats Fever
Washington Nationals fever, stoked by a 10-game winning streak and an improbable first-place standing in the National League East Division, is fast spreading through Washington. It's so bad that local power brokers are fighting for good seats and politicians are considering sidelining their home teams for the new kids parked temporarily at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
Just listen to Vice President Dick Cheney go on about the Nats. "I am impressed, I got to tell you," he says. "Ten in a row and first place in the division. I might even have to reconsider my Cub loyalties." Adds a Cheney associate: "It's clear he caught Nats fever." Then there's his boss, President Bush, who built the stadium in Arlington, Texas, when he ran the Texas Rangers. We're told the prez is deeply interested in the construction of the new Nats stadium and even points it out to coptermates when Marine One flies over the Anacostia River site.
Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has wangled a July 24 invitation to throw out the first pitch. And it's not uncommon to see White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, GOP boss Ken Mehlman, top aides to Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean, and Treasury Secretary John Snow in the stands. Could this lead to bipartisanship? "Everyone wants to go," says GOP pollster Frank Luntz. "They have the potential to be America's Team."
Here's Why Jeb Bush Won't Run
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has for months sternly rejected running to replace his brother in the White House, but only now are we finding out why. Friends say it's his wife, Columba, who closed the door. "His wife has just said no," a close Bush Florida political pal tells us.
Will Barbara Bush Tuck Bubba In?
Republican mutterings over former President George H. W. Bush 's budding friendship with one-time archrival Bill Clinton are growing. What started when President Bush put the two foes on the tsunami relief parade has some GOP-ers worried that the old man and wife Barbara have fallen for Bubba. And now this: Clinton's staying at Bush's Kennebunkport, Maine, summer home during a book tour this month. Why care? Republicans fret that the ties might prompt the Bushes to pull punches against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs in 2008.
Playboy Adviser: Start With Veep
Christie Hefner knows what it's like to be a female in a man's world, even if it is her dad's Playboy empire. Which gives her an interesting perspective on politics and a woman's becoming president. Fact is, she told us over breakfast last week, she doesn't see it happening. Sorry, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of State Condi Rice. For Ms. Hef, it's a question of voters' accepting a woman as commander in chief. Her advice: Get elected veep first and handle military issues.
Journalism Is War: The Times at 25
For fans and even foes of the scrappy and conservative Washington Times: Editor Wes Pruden recently told C-SPAN that he's leaving in a couple of years after 13 plus at the top, a period that saw the paper's influence expand as it paved the way for other conservative media like Fox News. But don't worry about the Times 's tempering its aggressive style when Pruden departs, around the paper's 25th anniversary in 2007. That's because it looks as though Managing Editor Fran Coombs will take over. His motto: "Journalism is war."
Afghan Foes Grow In Numbers, Hits
As the killings of Americans creep upward in Afghanistan, we're hearing that the attacks are coming more frequently and from larger gangs. Where in the past the enemy attackers were huddled in small groups, Special Forces tells us that the killer bands are growing to over 100, a sign they are gaining support.
Air America to Land On Tom DeLay
Imagine some of these titles leaping from bookstore shelves in the years to come: Hammer Time, a memoir about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay 's stint in prison and his conversion to Islam, and Liberals Are to Be Hunted Down and Killed, by conservative vixen Ann Coulter . Silly? Yes. Crude? You bet, but what would you expect from a satirical bestseller list in 2020 as dreamed up by Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill of lefty radio Air America's Majority Report ? It's in their forthcoming book, which has a title lifted from a crude military acronym for "f[ouled] up beyond all recognition." They title it F.U.B.A.R.: America's Right-Wing Nightmare and How You Can Wake Up From It.
The New Hill Look: Wireless Clip-ons
Has anybody else noticed all the Madonna look-alikes on Capitol Hill? No, not the bra she wore on the Blond Ambition tour; it's the headset look she made so famous. Thanks to new wireless technology, the combination earpieces and microphones are showing up on the ears of chattering lawmakers. "This is the greatest invention," Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. told us. "I used to be tethered to a cord," but the new gizmos "work even 25 feet away from my cellphone." Another fan is Rep. Ellen Tauscher of California, who likes that it hides under her shoulder-length hair. "You don't even see it," she cheers. "It's great for girls."
Who Had the First Presidential Car?
The famous Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles has offered us a bit of unusual trivia: All presidents from George Washington to Teddy Roosevelt had to pay for their own vehicles. Granted, that meant horses and buggies back then, but it wasn't until 1909 that William Howard Taft won an appropriation for $12,000 to hire a chauffeur and buy four cars--a White Steamer, two Pierce-Arrows, and a Baker Electric. Other tidbits from Petersen's upcoming exhibit of cars that presidents, popes, and potentates drove: FDR liked Fords, and the first "Popemobile" was Paul VI 's, a Toyota painted white to signify the important passenger.
usnews.com To subscribe to Washington Whispers E-mail newsletter: www.usnews.com/whispers
With Linda Robinson and Richard J. Newman
This story appears in the June 27, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.