But she's a woman!

Elizabeth Dole's decision to quit as president of the American Red Cross and encourage speculation that she would run for President prompted a burst of extensive media coverage. The broadcast networks prominently featured her move in their nightly newscasts. The major newspapers dispatched their top political reporters, who all but named Dole the nation's first credible woman candidate.

Most of the reporting assumed an established woman candidate would get an even chance with voters.

But a rare contrary view was raised on C-SPAN. The Orlando Sentinel's Charley Reese, a conservative columnist who is syndicated in 150 newspapers around the country, was skeptical about the wisdom of the Republicans backing a woman.

"I think it would be a disaster if they nominated Elizabeth Dole, and I don't think the American people would ever elect her President. ... Because, one, she is a woman. I know the feminist fantasy flourishes in Washington, New York on Madison Avenue, and in Hollywood, but I don't think the mainstream Americans, including American women, are going to elect a woman chief executive right now." (Washington Journal, 1/11)

New Hampshire Republican Party Assistant Chairman Barbara Russell on those who say a woman could not win: "They haven't been to New Hampshire. We have a female governor [Democrat Jeanne Shaheen], and too many Republican women crossed over to vote for her because it was gender first and issues second." (Politics Daily, womenconnect.com, 1/12)

Seeking Dianne

With all the focus on a Republican woman possibly running, how will Democrats play the gender card? Richard Benedetto of USA Today writes that an Elizabeth Dole run "may force" Democrats to put a woman in the running-mate slot in 2000, and the "prospects include" Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. (1/11)

Feinstein, appearing on CNN's Larry King Live, was asked if she wants to be Vice President. "No one has asked," Feinstein said. "I have not faced the question." On if asked: "If asked? It depends. It depends on who. It depends on whether I think I can bring something to the office. It depends on whether I believe the team would be a winning team." (CNN, 1/8)

Tom, This Is Bob

Variety's Army Archerd reported on Tom Hanks' surprising plea for funds for a World War II memorial at the People's Choice Awards Jan. 10. A phone call from Bob Dole prompted the move, Archerd learned from Hanks. Archerd wrote that Dole told him that the site and the design for the memorial exist, but "the only thing missing is funds." Hanks said that if all those who heard his televised plea sent $2, enough funds would be raised. (1/12)

The Unlucky 13: Santorum's One ...

The Senate impeachment trial of President Clinton poses risks for a nervous group of Senators facing re-election in 2000: the 13 who come from states that Clinton won in 1996.

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., got a swift lesson in the perils of 2000 just as the Senate began impeachment proceedings. Several established Democrats said that they would consider running against him, and one announced her candidacy.

"I think people are surprised at how extreme his views are," state Sen. Allyson Y. Schwartz said as she announced her candidacy. "He represents the extreme right wing." (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/12)

Millersville University professor G. Terry Madonna told The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., that Schwartz is "one of the more prominent female officeholders in this state, and her candidacy has to be taken seriously." (1/12)

Santorum's election in 1994 was widely credited to anti-Clinton sentiment at the time, but these days the President fares quite well in Pennsylvania opinion polls.

Schwartz, who has hired veteran Democratic consultant Robert D. Squier, has raised over $300,000 for her challenge to Santorum, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Other potential Democratic challengers include former Reps. Peter H. Kostmayer and Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, and Rep. Ron Klink.

Ashcroft's Another ...

On the day after the November elections, Sen. John D. Ashcroft, R-Mo., got the bad news that he would face a tough 2000 re-election. Popular Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, a Democrat, announced that he would run, placing Ashcroft among the most vulnerable of the 13 Republicans from Clinton states on the 2000 ballot.

Eyeing the battle ahead, Ashcroft recently decided against the presidential run he had pondered. Jon Sawyer of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that Ashcroft said nothing in his speech "about the more pedestrian factors at play in his decision, especially the difficulty of running for President while, at the same time, defending his Senate seat." Ashcroft "left some supporters mystified and others disappointed."

Carnahan consultant Roy Temple: "I think that when Mel Carnahan got in the Senate race, and given the outcome of the November elections, it was pretty clear to John Ashcroft that he was going to have to abandon his right-wing presidential effort and that he would have to come back to Missouri to try and shore up a weakening political base." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1/6)

So Is Gorton ...

Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., offered an impeachment trial plan that might appease Clinton supporters in his state, but his role in the debate angered conservatives, who could jeopardize his 2000 re-election. Daniel Eby, state chairman of the conservative American Heritage Party, told the Associated Press that his party would "love to field a candidate" against Gorton.

That is no idle threat. The AHP cost the Republicans a crucial House seat in November when the party ran a candidate against Rep. Rick A. White, R-Wash. The challenge denied conservative votes to White, who lost the seat to Democrat Jay Inslee in a close race.

Washington Republican Chairman Dale Foreman: "It would be very sad if they tried to do to Senator Gorton what they did to Rick White. ... It would not be helpful to the cause of conservatism and not helpful to the American Heritage Party." (Associated Press, 1/11)

Prominent Democrats considering bids against Gorton include Rep. James A. McDermott, state Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn, and several local government officials.

And Then There's Abraham

Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., also among the 13 Republicans from Clinton strongholds, might face a 2000 challenge from one of the state's best-known Democrats, former Gov. Jim Blanchard.

Blanchard told the Detroit Free Press that he has no plans to run "at this time," but added, "it's still too early for me to give you a firm final answer."

Blanchard: "There are a lot of ways to serve, and they can be challenging, rewarding, meaningful, and fun; I'm not ready to retire from public service."

Hugh McDiarmid of the Free Press reported that "insiders in both parties" suggest that a Blanchard vs. Abraham race is "more likely than not." (1/12)

Detroit Mayor Dennis W. Archer is another Democrat considered a possible challenger to Abraham.

Quotables

"Maybe you'll come back next week and the week after."
-Hustler publisher Larry Flynt telling reporters his plans for releasing details on the private lives of politicians (C-SPAN, 1/12)

"I am astonished at how well he stands up under this fire, and the fact that he does his job, I credit him for that."
-Pat Buchanan, on President Clinton (McLaughlin Group, WRC-Channel 4, 1/10)

"Hyde is a fine human being, but I don't give a damn what he thinks we should do."
-Sen. Robert Kerrey, D-Neb. on House Judiciary Chairman Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill. (National Journal Group's CongressDaily, 1/7)

"That means Monica's dress is an only child."
-Jay Leno on DNA proof that President Clinton is not the father of an Arkansas child, as the child's mother had claimed (The Tonight Show, NBC, 1/11)