Washington Whispers
Goodbye Barbecue, Hello Baseball
The New York Yankees feature large in upstate Republican Rep.Sherwood Boehlert's life. And for the first time in 24 years, that's a good thing. Because this post-season-and World Series, to hear "Sherry" brag on-he'll have a chance to sit in Yankee Stadium instead of campaigning in Utica and Cooperstown for re-election. He's retiring. "Just to give you an example of how this year's been different," he tells our Bret Schulte, "September 3 in an election year, I usually have two or three chicken barbecues and maybe a walk in a Labor Day parade. This September 3, I was sitting in the front row behind the dugout in Yankee Stadium with two of my daughters and grandkids."
You could say he's a rare example of congressional retirement. While others hang around Washington to lobby, Boehlert's giving back to his family. "What about us?" they asked him. So he's obliging, as long as they like baseball. And how could they not? His district includes the Baseball Hall of Fame, which he's already hit up for playoff tickets. "They're the best seats in the house," he says of Cooperstown's front-row dugout spots. He knows: At that September 3 game, centerfielder Johnny Damon rolled a ball to his grandson. Then third base coach Larry Bowa rolled one to his granddaughter. "They thought I was 10 feet tall," he says with a grin. And for the record: He predicts a 27th world championship. Sorry, Mets fans.
A Sneak Preview and an Ashton Fix
The sprawling and stiff Department of Homeland Security, parent agency of the U.S. Coast Guard, is getting pretty jazzed about The Guardian, starring dreamy Ashton Kutcher and oldie-but-goodie Kevin Costner. We hear the agency plans to rent out a Georgetown movie theater for a DHS-only screening of the new Coastie flick. And what a welcome change that would be: Younger workers say DHS used to be a lot more fun before the buttoned-up Michael Chertoff took over. Maybe he'll buy the popcorn.
Make No Mistake: Bush Wants OBL
All this recent talk about whether President Bush tried as hard as former President Clinton to nail Osama bin Laden had us wondering just how bad the prez wants the terrorist. Real bad, it seems. One key insider says that Bush is nearly obsessed with "OBL," as he's called. "He's very taken with the hunt, and it is very much a priority on his mind," says terrorism adviser Frances Townsend. "He has an extraordinary memory for detail. He has an extraordinary ability to recall particular details, plots, individuals, to ask questions about it. And I will tell you that he asks very specific questions on the hunt for bin Laden on a regular basis."
Just Don't Say Iran Caved In-Please
Good news on those Iran-European Union talks over stopping Tehran's bid to build a nuke: Iran's likely to suspend its uranium enrichment program if nobody really calls it that. Insiders say they want some face-saving language in any deal that makes it look like they didn't cave in to western pressure. "They can call it whatever they want," a U.S. official says, "but they have to stop the work" before formal talks including Washington can begin.
And Besides, I Don't Look Like That!
To the list of Clintonista complaints leveled at ABC's The Path to 9/11, add a funny new gripe: Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tells students of the Clinton School of Public Service in Arkansas that the actress who played her was a fraud. "She actually had a face-lift, and I haven't," she said to laughs. As for the rest of the story that hit the Clinton crowd pretty hard: "Pretty interesting program when I wasn't frothing at the mouth."
Debating in the 'Cave of the Winds'
John Danforth was probably one of the most levelheaded U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations in years, but that doesn't mean he's a fan of the 192-member General Assembly. "The General Assembly, which has no power, is the debating society," says Danforth, who's pitching his new book, Faith and Politics: How the Moral Values Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together. Worse, he says, the General Assembly's goal is attacking Washington and Israel. "When I went there, [former Secretary of State] Colin Powell said, 'Well, try to improve our vote on anti-Israel resolutions.' So I asked, 'Well, how many votes do we get?' Four. We usually get four votes ... so they had a big vote and we got six, and I said, 'Well I've increased our vote by 50 percent!'" His choice is where the power is: the 15-member Security Council and the U.N.'s do-gooder agencies. "The General Assembly," he says, "is not where the action is in the United Nations. The General Assembly is the Cave of the Winds."
The Oval Office or Comedy Central?
If New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson doesn't run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, he might have a chance in comedy. Over bacon and eggs last week, he laid out his view of the political landscape, which has him helping Democrats regain control of Washington. But it was his joking references to Hispanics-he is one-his support for embattled Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and his remarkable recovery of Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek and two colleagues from Chad prisons that had us thinking he was Comedy Central material. Addressing the explosion of Hispanic voters, he said, "It's not just in the Southwest. As you know, they're everywhere. I was just in Maine, and I met the three of them." Then on Dean, rapped by House Democrats for spending too much building party offices in all 50 states, Richardson said: "I'm on Dean's side. Jeez, how do I step out of that one?" Finally, on Salopek, he told the Christian Science Monitor's David Cook, "On that prison exchange, let me just say that the good news was that we got Salopek back. The bad news, David, is that it is a prisoner exchange, and I'd like you to leave with me after this interview." Badda-bing.
With Angie C. Marek, Thomas Omestad and Suzi Parker
This story appears in the October 9, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.