Senator 'Taz" Races to Help Iditarod Icon
It's no surprise that Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska's big man in Washington, is a fan of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. "It's such a great sport," he says of the annual 1,150-mile Anchorage-to-Nome adventure set to run in March. "It epitomizes the Alaskan spirit."
But he's not just an observer: He's a husky dog guy, and, with his wife, Catherine, is mushing an effort to save the life of their old friend and four-time Iditarod winner Susan Butcher, the face of the event. "She's a great friend," says Stevens of Butcher, 51, who's battling leukemia and in need of a bone marrow donor. Stevens tells us that he es in Washington, one named Princess Keely after the daughter of pal Sen. Conrad Burns, the other "Taz" for the nickname Sen. Trent Lott has given Stevens: "Tasmanian Devil." "But," he says, " they had no place to run." So he gave the dogs to the daughters of Butcher and husband David Monson, who says Stevens still visits the dogs at their Trail Breaker Kennel when he's in Fairbanks.
Well, those visits sadly turned serious last December when Butcher was diagnosed. The Stevenses and Monson, backed by others of Susan's friends, including Bill Gates, George Lucas, and Colin Powell, then embarked on a race to boost bone marrow donor typing in hopes a match will be found. "She's a fantastic competitor," says Stevens, "and that's why we hope she'll win this last battle."
Pro Bono for the Gitmo Gang
Legal and military sources tell us that some 57 American law firms are offering free legal advice to more than 150 "enemy combatants" held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A list provided to Whispers shows several prominent shops, many of which brag about their efforts on their websites. The pro bono service, organized by the Center for Constitutional Rights, is under the gun in conservative legal circles and some military offices that suggest it's bad form to help alleged terrorists while also working for clients involved in the war on terrorism like Boeing and General Dynamics. But don't hate lawyers just because they're helping accused terrorists.
Thurston Moore, chairman of Hunton &l Williams, says pro bono "is the right thing to do." Moore adds that firms like his aren't working a detainee's criminal case, only the legality of imprisonment at Guantanamo. "If good lawyers did not take on engagements fundamental to our constitutional rights, our rights would be meaningless," he says.
Where There's Smoke There's Bill
Bill Clinton still has great timing. On approach to Bangor, Maine, recently, the cockpit of his jet filled with smoke, forcing a long layover. While he was on the ground, a military jet packed with 300 troops returning from Iraq happened to land, and he bounded out to meet them. Once the jet was fixed, he got back on, but the smoke reappeared, and he jumped off just as a second troop transport arrived from Iraq. Yes, he shook all their hands, too. "He was actually glad he was grounded," says spokesman
Jay Carson, who adds that Bubba has since written to some of those troops. Now Clinton's visit will even figure in a documentary on troop greeters. "It was coincidentally being shot," says Carson, "and they're going to make President Clinton a big part of that."
Odds Favor a Bush Nuke Proposal
Energy experts are predicting that
President Bush is likely to offer up a new nuclear program in his State of the Union address. In fact, they believe that French President
Jacques Chirac earlier this month announced his own call for a "fourth generation" of nuclear power reactors just to steal Bush's thunder. The experts think Bush will push a plan to reprocess spent nuclear fuel for use in advanced reactors. But when we asked Energy Department spokesman
Craig Stevens about the rumors, he shrugged. "Whatever the president chooses to say," he said, "is up to him."
McCain's Hot, but Gore's the Talk
Sen.
John McCain's white-hot public approval ratings--59 percent in the new Diageo/Hotline poll--are fast giving rise to a new 2008 presidential primary scenario among Washington's political brain trust. If, as conservatives believe, McCain's liberal stands on gays and abortion kill his GOP primary chances, he may ride into the election as an independent. And, strategists add, he might not face Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton. Seems a lot of pols still believe that
Al Gore will enter the race as the "anti Hillary." But don't dismiss another Democrat, former Virginia Gov.
Mark Warner. How do we know? The moderate is being assailed as a fake southerner by allies of other Democratic candidates, a sure sign they see him as a threat. Some deride him as "Nutmeg Mark," a reference to his growing up in the Nutmeg State, Connecticut.
First NATO, Now the Library
Wes Clark may have found the easiest way to take charge of the publishing world. No, not by writing a book: by picking the subjects of new biographies. We hear he's joined Palgrave Macmillan as the editor of a new collection of books, "The Great General Series."The first,
Patton by
Alan Axelrod, will be unveiled in Washington February 7. "He tells us which generals we should feature," says Palgrave's
Alessandra Bastagli. "He also tells us what authors he thinks would be good." The books aren't just bios but studies of how to apply the general's strategies to modern warfare.
Clucking Over the Click Count
Here's how much
President Bush dislikes fundraising photo sessions with donors, many of which he'll have to suffer through during the ramp-up to the fall midterm elections. While other presidents simply budget time for the grip-and-grins, Bush wants to know how many flashes of the camera he'll face for every event. Aides call it the "click count," and they actually put the number of "clicks" the staff photographer will make on Bush's schedule.
With With Marianne Lavelle and Suzi Parker
This story appears in the January 30, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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