Bits & Pieces
Bits and pieces from this reporter's notebook.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....The House Minority Leader has announced that he will not seek re-election to the post. This in the wake -- and what a good word that is! -- of the Tuesday elections. Although he doesn't say it quite this way, Richard Gephardt is paving the way for his presidential bid in '04. Take about hubris, The Dick Principle is truly at work. Do nothing in Congress, counter historic trends by actually losing ground in the mid-term election, and then run for the nation's top office. Tobacco money will help him with the smoke-'n-mirrors.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Whip and the first woman to hold the post, is said to be the front-runner to replace Gephardt. She is being challenged by Martin Frost of Texas, who claims that the gentlelady from San Francisco is too left for the party. He says he better represents the mainstream. That's what the Democrats drowned in on Tuesday because the public couldn't tell the asses from the elephants.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Jumping into the leadership race this morning was Harold Ford, a three-termer from Memphis. He's the son-of-a-pol, and by some accounts, like his father, more self-promotional than ethical. Ford can't win, not just because he's black, but because he's only 32; he doesn't have the stripes. It may just be posturing...trying to cut a deal for support for a lesser leadership position. But if he stays in the running and grabs the black vote that would have likely gone to Pelosi and it costs her the top job, he will deliver the party into a very dark dumpster indeed.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Speaking of the dark side, it turns out that Slick Willie Clinton helped Gray Davis knock Dick Riordan out of the running for the GOP gubernatorial nod last winter. His sage council induced the chary Davis to drop $10 million into television ads -- which Clinton helped to craft -- which knocked Riordan down and allowed novice Bill Simon to win the nomination. Of course, if Simple Simon hadn't been such a complete incompetent, he would have beaten Davis, but he was and he couldn't. Davis, who had raised $67 million campaign dollars instead of governing, managed to sneak back in by a 5% hold-yer-nose margin.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Finally, Harvey Pitt may be gone, but not yet William Webster, who was named to lead the federal oversight of corporate crookedness. It should be familiar territory for him, if he stays. Webster has been accused of firing an accounting firm which was auditing the company of which he was a director. They were dumped because they warned him of some, er, hem discrepancies. Webster said he couldn't recall being so informed before he fired them. "I've had a chance to check my records and I have no memory of it." The man who once headed the FBI and the CIA is considering had to check his records before his memory? Webster is, um, reconsidering his new position.
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
.