Compiled by Max Garrone

Within minutes, the Bush campaign conceded that perhaps the item was not as hot as they had originally hoped. But in a gallant demonstration of poise, Bush California spokeswoman Margita Thompson quickly joked: “So now your headline is ‘McCain veers out of range in California.’” (By Anthony York)

Gore: No Prisoners
Though rumors of the immediate demise of the Bradley campaign have been put to rest (a Washington rumor had the former New Jersey senator pulling out of the race on Wednesday), most polls still have Gore with double-digit leads over the former Knick in almost every Super Tuesday primary state. Thus, the official media execution of Bradley’s quest hasn’t been stayed as much as it’s been put off a week.

Vice President Al Gore, however, continues to kick Bradley, despite the fact that everyone but those in Bradley’s immediate circle of advisors seems to understand that the campaign is coughing up blood. Indeed, the Bradley campaign’s last salvo seems to be a 5-minute commercial it purchased on CBS for Thursday night, at 10:55 p.m. EST — a buzzer-beater of a ploy if there ever was one.

Nonetheless, on Tuesday afternoon, Gore’s campaign sent out a press release hammering Bradley for a “no response” answer to an Associated Press questionnaire about Medicare. This because some Bradley campaign staffer forgot to fill out the AP questionnaire.

“When Bill Bradley was asked about Medicare at the outset of his campaign, he promised to address it in his health care plan,” said Gore press secretary Chris Lehane. “He did not. When he was challenged about failing to invest a penny in the future of Medicare, his answer was that seniors should be exercising more. Today — on the day of the Washington primary, a week from the March 7th national primary and two weeks before Super Tuesday — his response on the issue of Medicare is ‘no response.’ Bill Bradley just doesn’t get it. Medicare is a pillar of health care for millions of seniors. With the number of people on Medicare expected to double over the coming decades, we need to act now to protect the program. That’s why Al Gore makes a major investment in the Medicare Trust Fund as part of his health plan.”

Take a breath, Al. (By Jake Tapper)

Guns and stars compete with the Hillary and Rudy show
The Great New York Petty-Off continued Wednesday with a snipe-fest between
adversaries for the 2000 Senate race that dragged in entertainers named
Puffy and Chuck.

First, Hillary Rodham Clinton made some remarks about gun violence in the
wake of Tuesday’s school shooting of a first-grader in Michigan. Then, the
campaign of her anticipated rival, Rudy Giuliani, slammed her for
“hypocrisy” because her campaign had accepted contributions from a
lite-rapper recently
charged with gun possession.

“She apparently sees no inconsistency” in talking about gun violence
while taking cash from Sean “Puffy” Combs, stated Friends of Giuliani
spokesperson KIim Serafin, referring to recently charges against
Combs for possession of a 9mm pistol following a shooting at a
Manhattan nightclub. “If Mrs. Clinton were really serious about gun
control, she would send the right message and return Mr. Combs’
contribution.”

Not to be outdone, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson
pointed out that Giuliani had himself accepted a $1,000 contribution
from National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston last
December. “We won’t be lectured to by a campaign that’s taken
money from the head of the NRA,” said Wolfson. “It’s unfortunate that on a
day of such tragedy, the Giuliani campaign would engage in hypocritical
attack politics.”

Combs’s girlfriend, calipygian singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, could
not be reached for comment. (By Jake Tapper)

Bush sweeps, McCain weeps
Going into Tuesday John McCain knew he didn’t have a chance in the Virginia primary or the North Dakota caucus. In the former it was because the state has a large evangelical Christian audience (which he went a long way toward alienating with his dressing-down Monday of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell) and a sturdy Republican machine run by Gov. Jim Gilmore, who can deliver on his promises. In the latter it was because the state’s caucus is dominated by Republican faithful.

But McCain was hoping for more from the left-coast bastion of Washington. He’d hoped to win in Washington despite losing in Virginia, thus prompting the question of whether George W. Bush might really be a viable candidate only below the Mason-Dixon line. This triple defeat makes the coming “Super Tuesday” primaries a must-win situation for McCain — most of all in California, where quirky primary rules mean that he could win the popular vote but lose the Republican delegates.

Bill Bradley was also hoping for a miracle from Washington Tuesday. He devoted plenty of energy and money to the state, despite the fact that its primary doesn’t deliver any delegates, in the hopes that it would give his campaign some momentum moving into Super Tuesday. Without that victory, he’ll be hard-pressed to make his five-minute buy of national TV time Thursday matter.

Al Gore’s team is preparing for what now appears to be the inevitable, his nomination at the national convention in Los Angeles in August. But that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t stopped plotting strategy. Gore’s advisors are now deeply ensconced in the question of how they’ll confront either candidate for the Republican nomination, especially in regard to the economy.

Bob Jones University responds

The one voice notably absent from the past three weeks of debate over Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University was the school itself. Well, the wait is over. BJU recently updated its Web site to address the matter of its place in the current GOP contest. “Isn’t it really a compliment to Bob Jones University that the likes of John McCain, Al Gore, and Bill Bradley seethe and fulminate against us? Would we not be embarrassed if they, with their philosophies, spoke well of us?” The Web page also refers to Bradley, Gore and McCain as the political three tenors and provides an explanation of its ban on interracial dating.

Exit polls? I don’t got no stinkin’ exit polls

Ever wonder why all those anchor people are smirking when they tell you that the race is too close to call or use some other platitude to describe voting trends? Slate’s Jack Shafer discusses why he’s not publishing exit poll results anymore even though he has them in his hot little hands.

Robertson prefers Gore to McCain

The New York Post’s Rod Dreher writes that an anonymous GOP official told him that Pat Robertson tried to strong-arm him into endorsing Bush with the argument that he’d “rather have a person in the White House like Al Gore, who I don’t have to worry about offending, rather than have a man like John McCain.”

Post leaning toward McCain?

The New York Post’s columnists appear to be McCain people. In Wednesday’s issue Dick Morris asks whether Bush will “steal” victory from McCain. Guy Molinari, a McCain advisor whose role in the campaign goes unacknowledged in the column, says that the true Republican choice is McCain. But they do have New York state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno endorsing Bush and James Larocca, New York state co-chair of Bradley’s campaign, pulling for Bradley.

Bush opens Lincoln Bedroom South

The Associated Press reports that Bush hosted eight major fund-raisers in the governor’s mansion, something closely akin to President Clinton hosting donors in the Lincoln Bedroom, a practice criticized by former President George Bush.

Willey endorses McCain

Kathleen Willey, who accused Clinton of making sexual advances toward her in 1993, has endorsed McCain for president because “I think we need a hero. I do — I need a hero again as my president.”

The conservative press isn’t so sure. Most of the big hitters support Bush, but there is dissent within the ranks, with a vocal minority –
including William Kristol — supporting McCain. One of the things that is preventing
more conservatives from jumping on the McCain bandwagon is the fact that he is swooned over by the “liberal” press. As Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, says, “If Jonathan Alter loves the guy, if Al Hunt loves the guy, there must be something wrong with him.”

Dowd thinks McCain is the man

Maureen Dowd reduces the GOP primary race to this: “It was a thrill akin to watching Wile E. Coyote push the plunger on a load of Acme dynamite to hear Mr. McCain tag Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton, all in the same breath, as ‘agents of intolerance.’”

Candidates demonstrate contrasting means

On the night of the Virginia and Washington primaries, McCain supporters in Memphis, Tenn., gathered to show support for the presidential candidate in Gore’s home state. The $25-a-person campaign rally was held in response to the growing interest in McCain’s viability as president. Also, Barbara Bush will be at a $1,000-a-person fund-raiser Tuesday in Memphis. (Suzi Parker)

Talking heads

CNN’s Crossfire: Senators Barbara Boxer and Paul Wellstone (7:30PM)

Tonight Show With Jay Leno: McCain will make an appearance.

Late Night With David Letterman: Bush will appear via satellite.

Thursday:
Washington Journal:
7:00 AM EST — Hotline founder Doug Bailey
7:45 AM EST — Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network on NY Politics
8:30 AM EST — Senator Paul Wellstone on the Bradley Campaign

On the trail

Bradley: Huntington Park and Los Angeles, Calif.

Bush: Duluth, Ga., and St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.

Gore: Los Angeles.

McCain: Riverside, Los Angeles and Westminster, Calif.

Sound off

E-mail me with your comments, suggestions and tips at max@salon.com.

According to the New York Times, Gore’s shift was a shock to the Clinton administration and other Democrats. The Times quoted an administration official as saying, “Oh, my God, it’s unbelievable!” and Rep. Maxine Waters as saying, “I was totally blindsided. The calculation doesn’t make sense. If Gore did it because he’s trying to get the anti-Castro Cubans, first of all, they’re not going to vote for him anyway. These are Republicans. And number two, the last polls I saw a month ago showed the American public is on the side of sending Elian back to his father.”

The Bush campaign issued a release saying, “I’m glad the Vice-President now supports legal residency for Elian Gonzalez. I wish he could convince the rest of the Administration of the wisdom of that approach. The Vice-President is an influential member of this Administration. I hope he’ll use his influence to encourage the president and the attorney general to follow suit.”

In his statement Gore pointedly noted, “Let us be clear that the real fault in this case lies with the oppressive regime of Fidel Castro.”

Half of us are related to Bush
Research reveals that George W. Bush is related to 16 presidents and Pocahontas but also distantly
related to roughly half of the American population.

Granny D controversy fizzles
Thursday the Bush campaign sent out a press release
lambasting Gore for having turned away Granny D, the 90 year old grandmother who walked across
America to promote the cause of campaign finance reform, from a fund raiser because she couldn’t pay
the $500 entrance fee. The story isn’t that clear cut. It turns out that when Granny D was
walking through Little Rock, Arkansas President Clinton and Al Gore were holding a fund raiser so she
and Mark Keller, a lobbyist with the campaign finance watchdog group Common Cause, decided to try and
see Gore. According to Keller they went to the fund raiser and were turned away because
they didn’t have a ticket.

Bush courts New York conservatives

The Associated Press reports that George W. Bush has agreed to speak at the New York Conservative Party’s annual dinner, noting that no Republican candidate has carried the strongly Democratic state since Ronald Reagan in 1984 and that “Reagan courted New York’s Conservative Party early on, speaking at its annual dinner in 1975.”

The AP also reports that New York Gov. George Pataki is raising money for the Conservative Party despite the fact that party chairman Michael Long “also is courting potential alternatives to the New York City mayor.”

McCain giving Bush some delegates

The AP reports that John McCain is giving Bush some of his delegates. “The deal reached Thursday in Michigan allows Gov. John Engler to attend the National Republican Convention as a Bush delegate and is the latest move toward GOP reconciliation after the divisive primary contest.”

Bush ads to his education plan

According to the AP, “After a morning of finger painting and storytelling, the Texas governor promoted his five-year, $2.9 billion package for teacher training, recruitment and retention.” Bush’s plan, titled “Strong Teachers, Strong Schools,” would funnel more retired military personnel into teaching, expand financing for teacher training in return for higher state standards on teachers, feature a “Teacher Protection Act to shield teachers from meritless lawsuits when they enforce reasonable classroom rules” and allow teachers to deduct $400 for classroom supplies annually.

The New York Times writes that, despite their differing education plans, either Bush’s or Gore’s plan would mark a shift to a more activist role for the federal government in education.

Clinton takes on the GOP

The Washington Post reports that President Clinton attacked Bush and congressional Republicans directly in a speech Thursday. Referring to their failure to pass a nuclear test ban treaty last fall, he blamed his failed efforts at easing tensions between India and Pakistan on congressional Republicans: “One of their greatest strengths, by the way, is they have no guilt and no shame. I mean, they’ll say anything.” He also accused Bush of sinking hate-crimes legislation in Texas: “All he had to do was lift his hand and they would have had a hate-crimes bill.”

The AP reports that Friday Bush responded “This is about the fifth or sixth time that the president
of the United States during the course of this campaign has
taken time out of his busy schedule to serve as campaign manager
for Al Gore and I’m honored that he would take
my campaign so seriously.” The AP also reports that Bush said he felt the administration was trying to “tear me down.”

New York headed for the record books

The Washington Post reports that the New York Senate race is well on its way to becoming the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history. Through the first quarter of 2000 Rudy Giuliani raised $19 million and Hillary Rodham Clinton raised $12 million.

Giuliani gets conciliatory
The New York Times
reports that in recent days Rudy Giuliani
and his police commissioner, Howard Safir, have been getting more conciliatory towards the relatives
and supporters of Patrick Dorismond, the unarmed man killed by police March 16. The Times notes that
“The tenor of Mr. Giuliani’s remarks shifted subtly, almost imperceptibly, beginning on Sunday, when the mayor for the first time
publicly said Mr. Dorismond’s parents deserved condolences.” and that he’s recently acknowledged
that there’s room for improvement in the police department.

He who spends the most …

The Washington Post takes a look at Bush’s campaign spending, noting that he spent $66 million through the primary season. The article cites evidence that Bush was spending early. Dylan M. Snyder, catering director for Famous Dave’s, a Midwestern chain of roadside barbecue stands, collected a check for $62,678.38 on Aug. 14, 1999, for an “all-day lunch at a silly summer straw poll in Iowa. Turns out the silly summer straw poll became the first test of muscle for GOP candidates and, for Bush, an exercise in steamrolling.” Snyder said it was the “biggest check [he'd] ever collected.”

Congress owes $10.5 million in taxes
The AP reports that members of Congress are delinquent for about $10.5 million in taxes “one of the
highest rates of delinquency in the federal government.” An Internal Revenue Service report
released Thursday also shows that all federal employees owe an estimated $2.4 billion.

Who should you vote for?
Try our new presidential selector. It asks you where you stand on issues and pairs you with the candidates
who agree. The answers may surprise you.

Talking heads

(All EST and all guests tentative)

Who’s the education candidate?

Bush proposed a five-year, $5 billion plan Tuesday that would ensure that “every child” could read by third grade.

Chris Lehane, spokesman for Al Gore, responded that Bush’s plan didn’t go nearly far enough. “We need smaller classrooms, more teachers, modernized classrooms and an emphasis on pre-kindergarten education,” he said, adding that Bush’s proposed tax cut — estimated at between $1.3 and $2 trillion over a decade — “leaves no money for domestic programs.”

But who has the better ideas for improving education? According to most experts, both candidates have part of the solution: Bush is right to emphasize accountability; Gore is right to emphasize significant investment in schools.

The press has done Gore wrong

The Washington Monthly takes a look at how the press has been treating Gore: An “examination of dozens of these articles, which purport to detail the chief cases of Gore’s exaggerations and lies, finds journalists often engaging in their own exaggerations or even publishing outright falsehoods about Gore.” Robert Parry blames the New York Times, the Washington Post and other major news outlets for taking out of context comments Gore made to make it look as though he had claimed to have discovered the toxic-waste problems at Love Canal, N.Y.

Can Bush lump Gore with Clinton?

Maureen Dowd weighs in with an answer: “If W. keeps banking on disgust with Clinton-Gore to propel him to the White House, he’ll lose.” She then quotes a Gore advisor as saying, “It won’t work to connect Gore to Clinton. It didn’t even work to connect Clinton to Clinton.”

Giuliani to appear in court

The New York Times reports that New York’s public advocate and candidate for the 2002 mayoral race, Mark Green, obtained a court order Tuesday directing Rudy Giuliani “to show by next week why he should not be held legally accountable for the release of Patrick M. Dorismond’s sealed court records.” (Dorismond is the unarmed civilian shot to death by New York police a few weeks back.) Immediately after the shooting, Giuliani released Dorismond’s criminal records — even juvenile reports — sparking a storm of protest. Giuliani responded Tuesday, noting that the law “says nothing about prohibiting the release of those records after a person is dead.”

Bush going for fund-raising record

The Associated Press reports that Bush is expected to collect a single-day record of $15 million for the Republican Party in a fund-raiser April 26.

“Soft money” ad hits California

The New York Times reports that a campaign ad funded by “soft money” has started airing in California. The ad features a game show patterned after “Jeopardy” called “Hypocrisy,” with the following exchange: “He says he supports campaign finance reform, but held an illegal fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple.” The contestant replies, “Who is Al Gore?”

Senate GOP agrees on a budget

The Washington Post reports that Senate Republicans, led by Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, announced a $1.8 trillion budget, “largely along the lines of the plan approved last week by the House.” The budget calls for increased spending on the military and prescription drug coverage in Medicare while also calling for $190 billion in tax cuts over five years.

Talking heads

(All EST and all guests tentative)

More on the “veepstakes”
Gail Collins sounds off
for the New York Times on the “veepstakes” with this sound bit of wisdom “if none of your elected
officials are being talked about as potential veeps, there is probably something wrong with
your state, and you should consider moving elsewhere.”

Gore’s anti-money show
Al Gore proposed a sweeping reform plan for the campaign finance system Monday that, if implemented, would end soft money and direct donations to single candidates. George W. Bush’s campaign responded by questioning Gore’s credibility on the issue, and other observers wondered whether the American public really cares enough about the issue for it to give Gore much traction.

The New York Times quotes Carla Eudy, the top fund-raiser for the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, as saying, “Al Gore is only proposing this because he wants to be John McCain.” McCain’s response was slightly more subtle: “The campaign-finance abuses of the current administration prove beyond a shadow of a doubt how badly reform is needed.”

The Washington Post says that Gore’s “new stridency on campaign finance reform is an attempt to neutralize the damage of his 1996 fund-raising lapses and seize the reform mantle in the wake of Sen. John McCain’s departure from the presidential race.”

While Gore trumpets his reform initiative, the Washington Post investigates how the Bush campaign is trying to raise more money after spending an estimated $66 million to defeat McCain in the primaries, leaving it with only an estimated $8 million.

Perot faction back on top

The New York Times reports that a federal judge awarded control of the Reform Party to Pat Choate, a member of the Ross Perot faction, and denied the Jesse Ventura partisan, Jack Gargan, his claims to the position. But this may be just the first step in rehabilitating the Reform Party. The Post quotes Gargan on the witness stand as saying the party “looked to the outside world ‘like a bunch of clowns.’” The Post goes on to note that “when it comes to comic relief, the Reform Party never lets you down.”

New York Senate race to be a squeaker?

The latest Zogby poll on the New York Senate race shows Hillary Rodham Clinton pulling ahead of Rudy Giuliani, 45 to 42, for the first time, with 10 percent undecided. The Zogby survey notes, “Support for Giuliani has plummeted among several subgroups including Upstate voters, Hispanic voters and Jewish voters.”

In an article titled “Giuliani Takes Poll Slide in Stride,” the New York Post quotes Giuliani’s response to the results: “I don’t use polls to guide my activity as mayor.” The Post also quotes Long Island GOP Rep. Peter King as opining that “this race is going to be a roller coaster and in some ways it’s going to be Rudy running against Rudy. He could be his own worst enemy.”

Giuliani relents

The New York Times
reports
Rudy Giuliani and the Brooklyn Museum of Art have agreed to drop their respective law suits for a status
quo ante bellum arrangement. The museum’s board of trustees chairman, Robert S. Rubin, said “The events of the past six months have
only made our institution stronger and
more dedicated to our mission.” For Rudy’s side of the story Michael D. Hess, the city’s corporation
counsel, said “The exhibit is closed, and at this point it was time to end the hostilities on both
sides in terms of court proceedings.”, “part of that exhibit was
obviously religion-bashing, and the mayor took exception to that, and rightly so.”

Black activist quits GOP

USA Today reports that Faye Anderson, vice chairman of the New Majority Council, established in 1997 by the GOP to reach out to minorities, quit her position on March 13. In her latest column for politicallyblack.com, Anderson cites as her reason the “recent spectacle of the two leading Republican presidential candidates … refusing to condemn the flying of the Confederate flag — a symbol of defiance of the first Republican president — over the South Carolina Statehouse. And Gov. Bush has yet to apologize to African Americans for failing to speak out against Bob Jones University’s ban on interracial dating.”

Talking heads

(All times EST and guests subject to change.)

The campaign finance reform plan would establish “an endowment fund from donations by individuals, corporations and unions, among others, to raise $7.1 billion over seven years … The interest from the fund would be used starting in 2008 to pay for the general election campaigns of House and Senate candidates, but only if they did not accept money from another source.” George W. Bush has rejected Gore’s plan as “a government takeover that replaces individual spending decisions with decisions made by an unelected government committee.”

Wide speculation on the “veepstakes”

Congressional Quarterly writers take a hard look in the Washington Post at the speculation surrounding the “veepstakes,” paying especially close attention to the possibilities in the Democratic field.

GOP likes boomer Bush because he can relate

The New York Times writes about Bush as the first baby boomer nominee in the Republican Party, noting that he represents a “changing of the guard.” The Times quotes a Republican strategist, Greg Mueller, saying, “There was a definite underlying, subliminal theme within the party that we needed to nominate a hip young conservative, somebody who can directly relate to baby boomers, who understands them.” Mueller cites as an example how Bush was able to “relate to voters of different ages without looking ridiculous or uncomfortable” in an off-camera exchange in Chicago between the presumptive GOP candidate and a 20-year-old woman with a pierced tongue. “Can you eat steaks?” Bush asked her.

Bush gets low key turnout in Arkansas
It didn’t go unnoticed during Bush’s trip to Little Rock Friday that there
were more students at a send-off rally supporting the presidential candidate
than at Central High School where Bush held an education forum. Only three
students were invited to meet the presidential candidate. Irony, indeed, on a
day when the school was holding its own student body elections.

Bush also told the state’s GOP leaders that he will return to the state in
the near future to campaign for Arkansas Republicans seeking office this
fall. He made it clear to the event’s planners that he wasn’t in the state to
show his support for any GOP candidates, but rather to speak about his
education reforms–and of course, raise money. Some GOP candidates didn’t
even bother to attend the $1,000-a-plate luncheon.
(By Suzi Parker)

Tight race for the House

The New York Times takes a look at the race for the House of Representatives and finds it very tight. The Washington Post reports on how the Republican leadership is trying to get cash-rich incumbents not facing a serious challenge to loosen their money belts for the benefit of the party.

Poll positions

Presidential race:

The Post also notes that the presidential campaign has shifted into high gear much earlier than usual, possibly, according to Democratic consultant James Carville, because of the widespread belief that Bob Dole lost the 1996 presidential election by losing momentum between the primaries and the conventions. That, Carville said, has “got everyone believing that you can’t let the other side get a leg up. We’ve got too much testosterone going on here.”

In an interview with USA Today, McCain advises Bush to “go back to the message that he was transmitting at the beginning of the campaign. That was a unifying and inclusive message.”

More baggage from Monica Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky made her return to the headlines Wednesday when she unveiled her line of purses in New York.

Is Giuliani sinking his own ship?

Rudy Giuliani’s accusation that Hillary Rodham Clinton was guilty of “projection” for her remarks about his response to the Patrick Dorismond shooting in New York is only the most recent example of his obsession with psychobabble as a smear tactic.

The New York Times writes that Giuliani’s attacks on Dorismond over the weekend are “causing bewilderment among members of his own party.” The Times quotes ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Rich Bond as saying, “I don’t think she can beat him, but he can beat himself.” A New York Republican county chairman said, “I think he’s coming really close to crossing a line he ought not to cross.”

Giuliani may face competition before he officially squares off against Clinton. MSNBC reports that New York’s powerful Conservative Party chairman, Michael Long, is mulling another candidate for the Republican nomination. No word on who it is, but according to Long, “People will recognize the name.”

Did the White House cut a sweetheart deal with Smith & Wesson?

Not everyone believes the recent deal between the White House and Smith & Wesson broke any significant new ground, noting that the changes the gun manufacturer agreed to were already in practice or planned. Elisa Barnes, a New York attorney who won a negligence suit against gun manufacturers, said, “This was a terrible settlement.” Continued Barnes: “It does absolutely nothing. It requires Smith & Wesson to either do what they have already done for years or what they are already required to do by law.”

The Washington Post explains how Andrew Cuomo, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the man credited with negotiating the deal, and a group of city and county representatives are trying to force other gun manufacturing companies to comply with the same package of gun safety regulations and restrictions that Smith & Wesson agreed to last week. But they may meet legal problems. The Post notes that “a senior Treasury Department official later acknowledged that implementing such a policy could be complicated by a thicket of laws,” among other obstacles.

Meanwhile, USA Today reports that two major gun manufacturers, Glock and Browning, have turned down a deal similar to the one the White House struck with Smith & Wesson.

House nixes tougher oil legislation

The New York Times reports that House Republicans first considered a strong measure that would have required the president to cut foreign and military aid to countries that fix oil prices, but then gutted the bill because “lawmakers from oil states who are satisfied with the high prices had exercised their clout.” On the same issue, the Wasington Post reports that the bill was gutted “after intense lobbying by aerospace and defense contractors in California and Texas.”

Trial lawyers gunning for Bush

The New York Times writes that trial lawyers, who gained large shares of recent tobacco settlements, are donating big sums of money to the Democratic Party with the explicit goal of gaining a Democratic majority in Congress and defeating Bush. They fear the tort reform measures Bush has launched in Texas and supports on a national level. According to a Common Cause report, in 1999 trial lawyers donated $2.7 million in soft money to the Democratic Party, giving only $2,800 to the Republican Party.

Reformer by day …

The New York Times notes that while Gore raised $700,000 at a single fund-raising event Wednesday, “he refrained entirely from mentioning his newfound ‘priority’ of eliminating the large, unregulated contributions known as soft money.”

Talking heads

(All EST and all guests tentative)