See Steve Roberts For Job--or Wedding
For cub reporters eager to hit the big time in Washington, there has always been a secret fast track, few more legendary than the research assistant network run years ago by the late James Reston , the former New York Times bureau chief. Do well there, and the well-connected "Scotty" Reston did the rest. Just ask Steven Roberts , a former Times and U.S. News reporter and author of a new memoir, My Fathers' Houses . "Every day," he says, "Reston did something to help me. He shaped my whole life."
Now, 40 years later, Roberts is following Reston's lead with a much-expanded mentoring network based out of George Washington University, where he has taught politics and journalism since 1991. Pass his course, and Roberts might hook you up with jobs he learns about from former students now working at places like Fox, CNN, and several Washington newspaper bureaus. "Steve is that lucky break for so many people," says Heather Clapp , who produces CNN's shows at GWU. "He just asks that you help someone else someday." Roberts's students also fill a Who's Who list of spokespeople sprinkled throughout the White House, Capitol Hill, and K Street, many in top GOP jobs--ironic, they think, because of Roberts's liberal leanings. "That's where the jobs are," he shrugs. The Roberts network also extends beyond schools and jobs: He officiates at weddings as the "designated substitute" rabbi.
Are Arnold's Woes Clinton's Gain?
Teased by his plummeting polls, California Democrats are putting out an APB for a candidate who can take on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger . But small-time pols need not apply. We hear that major donors are reaching out to former President Bill Clinton , once governor of Arkansas, to run. "On first blush, it might sound nuts," says a prominent Democratic strategist. "But he'd be governor of the fourth-largest economy in the world and have the ability to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton] " if she ran for president, he said. Also on the wish list: ex-Lakers star Magic Johnson , San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and activist actor Rob Reiner of All in the Family fame. Imagine a "Meathead vs. Terminator" race in 2006.
The Hillary Effect May Hit Hastert
House Speaker Dennis Hastert's retirement, already delayed by a plea from President Bush to stick around, could be put on hold permanently if Democrats get their way, we hear. Top Republican insiders say that the Illinois lawmaker, who has pledged to stay until 2008, will be urged to continue if New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gets the party's presidential nomination, as many expect. "We'll need continuity if she's president," said a key GOP strategist. "We'll need our side organized to fight."
Freedom Walk Stirs Antiwar Passions
It's just a walk to show support for 9/11 victims and the armed forces involved in the war on terrorism, but the Pentagon's Freedom Walk is fast becoming a larger symbol for those who support or oppose the war in Iraq. Consider: Last week, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez urged employees in an E-mail and phone message to join in the September 11 march from the Pentagon to the National Mall. "Thousands of our service members are defending freedom," he said. "They need to know that we're behind them." But almost immediately after the message was sent, some workers rebelled at the idea of being "forced" to support the war. Others sent angry E-mails like the one that griped about being "pressured" to join a "war party." All that led Commerce spokeswoman Christine Gunderson to say, "The secretary welcomes this opportunity to honor our troops and the victims of September 11." And to the critics, she offered: "He also respects those who do not wish to participate. That freedom is at the heart of what our troops in Iraq are fighting for."
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