Contenders and Pretenders
            

            The Iowa straw poll results--and the candidates' on-air reactions to
them--are Issue 1. (Unfortunately, about half the chat shows were taped before
the vote.) The teaching of evolution in schools is a distant second.

            The straw-poll verdict by the pundits is largely unanimous: Elizabeth Dole
and Gary Bauer proved they can compete with George W. and Steve Forbes. All the
other candidates proved they can't. The candidates seem to agree with this
verdict--even the losers. On NBC's Meet the Press , for example, Lamar
Alexander all but bows out of the race. Later in the program, Pat Buchanan
hints at bolting the party. (Tim Russert asks, "Will you pledge today that you
will support George W. Bush if he's the nominee?" Buchanan responds, "No--let
me say this--uh, I don't know where I'm going to be in August of the year
2000.") The only straw-poll loser determined to stay in is Dan Quayle, the
former vice president, who received fewer votes than Alan Keyes.

            The pundits pronounce Dole and Bauer the biggest winners. Since Dole--with
little money and a weak organization--had the most to lose, her third-place
finish gives her campaign a big boost (Susan Page, of CNN's Late
Edition ; and George F. Will and George Stephanopoulos, of ABC's This
Week ). Bauer is now the candidate of the Christian right, say Fox
News 
               Sunday's Mara Liasson and Juan Williams. George
Stephanopoulos and Bill Kristol ( This Week ) argue that Bauer still has
to draw social conservatives away from Forbes to be truly competitive.

            (On Late Edition , Dole and Bauer appear one after the other, and
the contrast is instructive. Asked about abortion and the George W.-cocaine
controversy, Dole waffles on both--giving nervous, have-it-both-ways responses.
Bauer says confidently and directly that W. should answer the cocaine question
and that as president he would pose a litmus test for judges on abortion.)

            Many pundits--including Kristol, Will, Page, and Late

               Edition's Steve Roberts--predict Pat Buchanan will leave the
Republican party. (Will calls Buchanan "a cocked gun" at the GOP's head.)
Everyone agrees Alexander and Quayle are toast, and some--such as Roberts and
Kristol--point out the irony that the winners in Iowa are relatively
inexperienced, while Alexander and Quayle are political veterans.

            The commentariat expresses surprise at the straw poll's growth in
importance. Some--such as Stephanopoulos and Williams--attribute it to the
front-loaded primary season and the GOP's White House hunger. Fox News

               Sunday's Bill O'Reilly and Tony Snow say the media attention it has
generated makes it important regardless. (In other words, it's important
because we say it is.)

            A few programs touch on the Kansas school board decision not to require the
teaching of evolution in schools. Kristol and Late 
               Edition's
Tucker Carlson think the decision is not that unreasonable, since it doesn't
give either creationism or evolution exclusivity. Roberts sees it as proof that
the "purist wing" of the GOP is gaining strength, but Stephanopoulos points out
that, at the straw poll, none of the candidates would go near the topic (save
Alan Keyes).

Know Your Rights

               Fox News Sunday plugs what it claims to be a scoop on the campaign
finance scandal. In an interview to be aired Tuesday, Johnny Chung tells the
news program The O'Reilly Factor (Fox) that during the House
Governmental Reform Committee hearings into campaign finance (the "Burton
hearings"), a Democratic counsel to the committee sent Chung's attorney's
unsolicited documents detailing how to go about taking the Fifth
Amendment.

            
               Attorney General Health Report
Talking to Wolf Blitzer in the Late Edition studios, Janet Reno shows
the ravages of her Parkinson's Disease. Her mind is obviously as sharp as ever,
but her arms shake uncontrollably throughout the interview and the microphone
picks up her hands spasmodically rustling against her papers on the interview
table. As they talk about gun control, both she and Blitzer keep stealing
glances at her hands' distracting gyrations.

            
               Bad Boy, Georgie!
Asked on Late Edition about George W.'s repeated use of the F-word in
his Talk magazine interview, Gary Bauer quips, "I found that article
surprising--[although] I'll leave it to Governor Bush to talk with his mom
about the language he uses."