Pat's Last Stand
            

            Issue 1 is the presidential debates--both Democratic and Republican. Issue 2
is Pat Buchanan's jump to the Reform Party.

            Many pundits think Bradley won the Democratic debate in New Hampshire. Gore,
once too stiff, is now trying too hard to loosen up. Gore is the "Eddie Haskell
energizer bunny" while Bradley has the "insouciance of Dean Martin and the
iciness of John Malkovich," says Margaret Carlson (CNN's Capital Gang ). Kate O'Beirne ( Capital Gang ) thinks
Bradley's ideological similarity to Gore helps him, because the voters will
focus on personal style rather than policy. Fox News Sunday 's Juan Williams and Brit Hume think Gore's
attempts to distance himself from President Clinton's "behavior" are
hypocritical, given his loyalty as vice president--especially during the
impeachment. Wayne Slater, of NBC's Meet the
Press , reveals that the Bush camp is privately more worried about
facing Bradley than Gore in a general election. But on ABC's This Week , Gore appears relaxed and amiable. And on Meet
the Press , Bradley supporter Bob Kerry admits that he doesn't know if
Bradley's health-care numbers add up and says that neither candidate has been
intellectually honest about Social Security and Medicare reform.

            Some pundits--such as Tony Blankley and Lawrence O'Donnell (PBS's
McLaughlin
Group )--think Bush was smart to stay out of the GOP debate. But
many--some of them conservative, like Bill Kristol ( This Week ) and Bob
Novak ( Capital Gang )--think Bush hurt himself by not engaging his
rivals and may lose the New Hampshire primary. Bush's absence helped McCain
especially, say Al Hunt ( Capital Gang ) and Eleanor Clift
( McLaughlin ), since he is the only other GOP candidate whom voters can
imagine being president. Meanwhile, on Meet the Press , Wayne Slater
says the Bush camp has ruled out McCain and Dole as running mates.

            Most pundits think Buchanan has a good shot at the Reform Party nomination,
but not the presidency. Some--such as Fox 's Brit Hume,
McLaughlin 's Michael Barone and McLaughlin 's Lawrence
O'Donnell--think he has been too damaged by his recently published views on
World War II and Israeli political influence to make much of an impact. (Barone
notes that, even absent these views, Buchanan's core message goes counter to
the country's entire post-WW-II consensus on trade and foreign policy;
California would have to fall into the Pacific Ocean for Pat to become
president, he says.) Appearing on Meet the Press , Buchanan says he
will not backtrack from his pro-life views and says that this will be his last
campaign, if he loses. Buchanan was scheduled to appear on CNN's Late
Edition , but the entire show is given over to news coverage of
yesterday's plane crash.

            
               
The "Kmart" Myth
            

            The Fox panel has fun with Time 's report that the Gore campaign had been paying feminist
celebrity Naomi Wolf $15,000 a month (laundered through a faceless consultant
agency) to advise the candidate on his wardrobe and on his Oedipal relationship
with Clinton, among other things. "When you get somebody who has been some
exotic consultant for the feminist psychobabble movement, who's trying to teach
[Gore] about 'alpha male' and 'beta male' stuff, you have to wonder if Al Gore
has any idea who he is," proclaims Brit Hume. Asked about Wolf on This
Week , Gore appears nervous but replies that Wolf's pay has been cut and
that she has been working with his daughter Karenna on youth outreach.

            

               Dept. of Self-Caricature
            

            "[McCain] sounded just like a Democrat to me. He started talking about
homeless people and poor people and all that. I don't need a Republican to tell
me about that."

                  --Bob Novak, on Capital Gang
            

            

               Last Word
            

            "I will say this into the camera: Jewish-Americans are in my campaign. They
are welcome to this cause. They are in the Reform Party. ... I am open to
appointment of Jewish-Americans to a Cabinet, to a vice presidential seat. They
are a tremendously able group of Americans. ... Tim, let me just say this: In
this heart, there is no malice or hatred of any individual. But you are looking
at someone who does enjoy fighting. And if that means fighting occasionally
with the Israeli lobby, as liberals like to fight occasionally with the
Christian Coalition, that does not make you an evil person."

                  --Pat Buchanan, on Meet the Press