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.