National Journal articles from December 1999

National Journal archives from December 1999

WHO'S EXPLOITING RACIAL DIVISIONS NOW?
December 4, 1999... Brazile... will not let the "white boys" win. And that's not a description of "gender or race, it's an attitude. A white-boy attitude is `I must exclude, denigrate and leave behind,' "Brazile says. "They don't see or think about it. It's a...

GO AHEAD AND APPEASE CHINA-IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
December 4, 1999... If you ever run for President, and if you happen to be of the party that is out of power, there are some things you will need to do. You will need to raise money, file documents, eat bad food, travel to peculiar places, and attack the incumbent...

What Went Wrong.
December 4, 1999... AMERICAN ECONOMISTS HAD GRAND THEORIES ABOUT HOW TO TRANSFORM FORMER SOVIET STATES INTO HUBS OF CAPITALISM. MAYBE THAT WAS THE PROBLEM. Shortly after the Second World War ended, an elite crew of American leaders conceived the idea of the...

The One-Minute Media Diet.
December 4, 1999... AT TODAY'S 24-HOUR MEDIA BUFFET, WASHINGTON POWER DINERS TAKE IN ONLY WHAT THEY NEED. AND THEY SKIP DESSERT. If you still need convincing that Washington people are different from other people, the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire story just...

CAN CHINA DELIVER ON THE TRADE DEAL?
December 4, 1999... In China, it is against the law for foreign companies to sell their wares. That's one reason President Clinton's economic adviser, Gene B. Sperling, and members of the Cabinet have been crowing so loudly about the new U.S.-China trade deal,...

WHY THE FAA BILL DIDN'T FLY.
December 4, 1999... During the first day of the House-Senate conference showdown over aviation spending, Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, displayed the confidence of a champion prizefighter. After all,...

A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR FOES OF HMO BILL.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... Opponents of patients' rights legislation see new hope for staving off its passage following a large multistate health plan's announcement last month that it would give doctors more medical decision-making authority. After Congress...

Hill People.
December 4, 1999... Senate After eight years with the Senate Budget Committee's Democratic staff, Amy Abraham is giving up all things partisan, legislative, and fiscal. Abraham, 38, the committee's senior analyst for education, has signed on with the...

DIGGING IN THE HEELS OF THOSE BOOTS.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... As House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, reflects on the past year, he revels in the fact that House Republicans have avoided their proclivity for self-destruction. In contrast to the prior four years, under then-Speaker Newt Gingrich,...

A CLASH OVER ABORTION CLINICS.
December 4, 1999... On April 17, 1998, Lou Anne Herron, a 33-year-old mother of two, arrived at the A-Z Women's Center in Phoenix to end an unwanted pregnancy. Within hours, she was dead. Herron died because of the center's "rock bottom" health and safety...

From the K Street Corridor.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... GE's E-Commerce Coalition General Electric Co. is attempting to recruit 30 or so companies for a new coalition that would combat state and federal efforts to stymie the growth of electronic commerce. GE has invited corporate lobbyists to...

TRIPPED-UP TRAVEL AGENTS.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... For travel agents, the Internet has become the competitor from hell. Travelers are increasingly bypassing the agent and going online to purchase their airline tickets. Given the increase in online bookings--from $911 million in 1997 to $2.2...

GET READY FOR E-BONDS.
December 4, 1999... Although it might seem that the Internet has loosened the neckties of even the stodgiest of financial investors-- think of that goofy-looking red-haired guy in the TV commercial goading his bifocaled boss into bigger e-trades--for most cities...

HOW SHOULD TEACHERS BE EVALUATED?
December 4, 1999... As the daughter of two public school teachers, Jeanne Slavin Kaplan had always considered herself a "complete teacher advocate." That is, until she had two children of her own in Denver public schools. "I have seen a number of things over the...

PROMOTING THE BEST MILITARY COMMANDERS.
December 4, 1999... Army Maj. Donald E. Vandergriff is doing the military equivalent of taking on city hall. He is working day and night to change the post-World War II military promotion system that he contends is encouraging the advancement of bootlicking...

NOT ALL THE CRITICS WERE IN THE STREETS.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... SEATTLE--As World Trade Organization Director General Mike, Moore and his staff sort through the lessons of this week's conference, it will be easy for them to ignore much of what transpired in the streets. For many of the protesters, the WTO...

People.
December 4, 1999... Corporate Life Wielding a machete in the lush under-growth of the Amazon rain forest isn't on the agenda of the average congressional junket, but then Terry Paul isn't your typical Hill dweller. After 30 years in the Marine...

AND DON'T FORGET YOUR GOLF CLUBS.
December 4, 1999... Although they're still eight months away, next year's national political conventions are already attracting plenty of attention from politicians, lobbyists, and fund-raisers who plan to use the gatherings to further their agendas. For party...

HOW THE FIGHT FOR THE SENATE LOOKS NOW.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... While children are readying their wish lists for Santa Claus, party leaders and strategists are finalizing their candidate lists for the 2000 elections. (The first filing deadline is Dec. 10 in California.) In the Senate, Republicans are...

Hotline Extra.
December 4, 1999... Seeing Green A look at the pleasures and pains of being--and not being--viewed favorably by environmentalists: The Sierra Club is broadcasting television and radio commercials in New Hampshire that harshly criticize Republican Texas...

'TIS NOT THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... MANCHESTER, N.H.--With the presidential election year still a month away, the six surviving Republican candidates and both Democratic contenders swooped down on New Hampshire this past week in a pointed demonstration of what the front-loading...

VIEWS ON THE AMERICAN SCENE.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... New York State of Mind Do you believe Hillary Rodham Clinton is a qualified senatorial candidate? (margin of error [+ or -] 3 percentage points; Gallup Organization Inc.) 11/21/99 YES...

A BUMPY ROAD FOR MANY A SENATOR.(Brief Article)
December 4, 1999... "Any Senator who stays out of jail or a detox center is a contender for the White House," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., once said. But Senators--even respected Senators with strong legislative records--usually make terrible presidential...

Professionals and Unions.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... "Why would self-employed psychologists want to join a union?" That's a question I was asked many times when the New York State Psychological Association announced plans to affiliate with the AFT. These psychologists are highly educated...

AMBIVALENCE IN THE PURSUIT OF JUDICIAL MODESTY IS NO VICE.
December 11, 1999... It's no secret that the next President could alter the ideological balance on the Supreme Court. The Court is so closely divided that the next appointment or two could produce a shift either to the liberal or to the conservative side. ...

BRAINLESS IN SEATTLE. ALSO SPINELESS, WITLESS, HOPELESS, AND SHAMELESS.
December 11, 1999... The collapse of the trade talks in Seattle is among the worst failures of American political leadership of recent years. That, you may say, is quite a claim--but consider: The Clinton Administration pressed for this meeting. It was keen, it...

False Prophets.
December 11, 1999... FROM MALTHUSIAN POPULATION EXPLOSIONS AND UNENDING OIL SHORTAGES TO ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT AND THE END OF POVERTY, MOST MILLENNIAL FORECASTS WERE FANTASTICALLY WRONG. Televangelists, credit cards, shopping malls, just-in-time inventory,...

Future-Shock Troops.
December 11, 1999... ON TOMORROW'S BATTLEFIELD, THE LAPTOP MAY BE AS VITAL AS THE RIFLE, AND THE PENTAGON IS GRAPPLING WITH HOW TO MANAGE THIS MICROCHIP REVOLUTION. A decade after the end of the Cold War and fresh from an air-war victory in Kosovo, the...

Making Their Mark.
December 11, 1999... A LOOK AT 26 LAWMAKERS WHO WERE WINNERS, LOSERS, OR SURPRISES DURING THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 106TH CONGRESS OK, so it wasn't the most productive year in Congress. The list of what didn't get accomplished in 1999 is a lot longer than the...

2000 ALREADY ADDS UP TO A ROUGH BUDGET YEAR.
December 11, 1999... Facing a broken budget process and numbers that didn't add up, Congress last month resorted to accounting shenanigans to finish the 13 annual appropriations bills, and then went home for the year. But when lawmakers return in January, they...

A BANDAGE, NOT A CURE, FOR RURAL HOSPITALS.
December 11, 1999... The nation's rural hospitals are critically ill, but they have friends in high places on Capitol Hill. In the final hours of this year's legislative session, Congress administered a $1 billion emergency transfusion to these facilities. And a...

Hill People.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... House Duke Hipp, 31, says his interest in politics developed during his childhood in rural South Carolina, where his GOP family was an island in a sea of Democrats. "Republicans were unheard of," he said. Hipp, who most recently served as...

READY TO POUNCE ON THE Y2K BUG.
December 11, 1999... Across the country, many Americans will be forced to abstain from the champagne toasts, the "Auld Lang Syne," and the jampacked college football lineup on television. Instead of ringing in the New Year, they will be focusing their attention on...

MAKING ALL THE RIGHT MOVES.
December 11, 1999... Seven years ago, Hill and Knowlton, the giant public relations firm, hit the skids in Washington. In a muckraking book, The Power House: Robert Keith Gray and the Selling of Access and Influence in Washington, Susan B. Trento explained how...

A FISTFIGHT OVER FAMILY LEAVE.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... It took nine years and the perseverance to overcome two presidential vetoes before the Family and Medical Act finally became law in 1993. Now, the Clinton Administration wants the law, which allows an employee to take unpaid leave for some...

FROM THE K STREET CORRIDOR.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... Drug Industry Lobbyist Looks to Leave Barry L. Caldwell, the top federal lobbyist at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, is looking for a new job and has talked to various companies and trade associations about key...

THE SURE THING.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... Here's a mortal lock for the millennium. Come this time next year, the new public affairs shop formed by Ed Gillespie and John M. "Jack" Quinn will be making a galaxy of greenbacks. Want another prediction, albeit a dicier one? In five years or...

THE MILITARY SCRAPES FOR SPARES.
December 11, 1999... As planners in the Pentagon dream of a "revolution in military affairs" with a new generation of microchip-driven weapons, a different reality prevails in the motor pools and aircraft hangars where the troops toil. Until the future force...

THE WTO DID NOT DELIVER.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... SEATTLE--Late on Friday night, Dec. 3, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, European Union Trade Minister Pascal Lamy, and World Trade Organization Director General Mike Moore went before the leaders of the 135 delegations attending...

People.
December 11, 1999... At the Bar Energy regulatory specialist Orlan Johnson is leaving the Securities and Exchange Commission for the Washington office of the New York City-based international law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Johnson, who was branch...

THE DEBATE OVER THE DEBATES.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... No one on the Commission on Presidential Debates wants a repeat of 1996, when the panel caught a lot of flak for excluding Reform Party candidate Ross Perot from the televised face-offs between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. Perot failed to secure...

Campaign Circuit.
December 11, 1999... Infighting, Pro and Con The war of words in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination between Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey isn't out of control and it may even be good tot the party, says...

IT HAPPENS EVERY 10 YEARS, SO BE PREPARED.
December 11, 1999... No sooner will the Nov. 7, 2000, ballots be tallied than the next big political fight will officially commence--the decennial fight over congressional and state legislative district lines. American history is rife with examples of the dominant...

Hotline Extra.
December 11, 1999... Hot and Cold Candidates Is this how the Republicans hope to reverse the gender gap? Coverage of recent Republican debates shows a friendliness--perhaps an effort to convey the real meaning of "compassionate conservatism." A recent New York...

BRADLEY'S CHALLENGE IN IOWA.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... DES MOINES, IOWA--In 1980, Rich Bond, a young political operative managing the presidential campaign of George Bush in Iowa, was faced with a problem as the precinct caucuses approached. Many of Bush's supporters, Bond feared, would be...

Poll Readings.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... VIEWS ON ELECTION 2000 Comparing Democrats Which candidate would you be most likely to support for the Democratic nomination for President in the year 2000? (margin of error [+ or -] 5 percentage points; Gallup Organization Inc.) ...

TRADE: A SLEEPER ISSUE NO MORE.(Brief Article)
December 11, 1999... Seattle has been called the homeland of the new economy: information technology (Microsoft), world trade (Boeing), and an expanding service sector (Starbucks). Now it can also be called the homeland of a new political issue. The protests at...

OUTRAGES AND CURMUDGEONLY COMPLAINTS FROM THE YEAR GONE BY.
December 18, 1999... In the spirit of the season, and in the hope of a fresh start in the New Year--with malice toward none, with charity for all--I hereby purge myself of various vexations of the old year. LIBERAL CLAPTRAP * The Clintonization of Al Gore,...

GOLDWATER'S GRANDCHILDREN REBEL AGAIN--THIS TIME, TO THE CENTER.
December 18, 1999... The old man's place is up for sale. It perches atop a desert hill in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix. Growing up almost literally in its shadow, I used to marvel at the mighty antenna that bespoke the owner's passion for ham radio. Later...

Our Cherished Perks.
December 18, 1999... FROM F-16 JOYRIDES TO SPECIAL PASSES FOR ART EXHIBITS, GOODIES MAKE LIFE IN WASHINGTON A BIT MORE SPLENDIFEROUS. They're known as "benefits," "goodies," and "gratuities"--or in the common-speak of Washington, "perks." They're the little...

Desperate Measures.
December 18, 1999... FED UP WITH THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS, SOME LOW-INCOME PARENTS ARE EMBRACING REPUBLICAN-BACKED VOUCHERS. CAN THE DEMOCRATS COME UP WITH ANYTHING BETTER? As president of the Urban League of Greater Miami, T. Willard Fair collects stories...

Last Call for Alcohol?(Statistical Data Included)
December 18, 1999... ALL SIDES ARE CHOOSING THEIR WEAPONS IN THE NEXT HIGH-PROFILE PUBLIC HEALTH BATTLE: UNDERAGE DRINKING. The nation's long war on drugs and the more recent fight against big tobacco have seared these vices into the national consciousness....

MOO II: THE MILK MONEY SAGA CONTINUES.
December 18, 1999... The spectacle of Congress lurching toward adjournment always makes for good political theater. This year was no exception, as lawmakers' plans to pass the $385 billion omnibus spending package, and leave town, were held up for several days late...

THE CENTURY'S 10 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWMAKERS.(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... A lot has changed in Congress over the past century. In 1900, Senators were elected in backroom deals with state legislators, the federal income tax was not constitutionally permissible, and the birth of Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., was still...

Hill People.(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... Senate The Senate Democratic Steering and Coordination Committee has just lost its high-tech point man. Jamie Houton, the committee's deputy director, moved to Microsoft Corp. last week, where he's now a federal government affairs manager...

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HATE-CRIMES BILL?
December 18, 1999... The images are indelible: Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead in Wyoming; James Byrd Jr., a black man dragged to his death in Texas by racists who tied him to the back of a truck; Jewish...

TRADE WINDS SWIRLING OVER CHINA VOTE.
December 18, 1999... Could it be that Bill Clinton, who was carried into office on a pledge to focus "like a laser beam" on the problems of the U.S. economy, will close out his presidency in a messy fight with Congress on an international policy matter beyond the...

FOR HIGH TECH, IT'S A NUMBERS GAME.
December 18, 1999... The ultra-competitive Internet industry is built on the latest in high technology, but it closely resembles the frightful "state of nature" that English political thinker Thomas Hobbes sketched out in 1651. In cyberspace, the strongest...

FROM THE K STREET CORRIDOR.(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... The NRCC Taps Trade Groups With the race for control of the House in 2000 looking as if it will be a squeaker, the National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a special effort to entice trade groups to donate $100,000 a year...

People.
December 18, 1999... Around the Agencies After her recent confirmation by the Senate, Irasema T. Garza has taken up her post as director of the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor. The bureau was created in 1920 to promote the interests of America's...

RUSSIA RESURGENT.
December 18, 1999... Feeling an awful lot like a wintry blast from the Cold War, recent provocations and blusterings from Moscow are rattling East-West relations and serving as an unwelcome reminder of the unfinished business that is Russia's future. The rhetoric...

NEW PLAYERS IN THE TRADE GAME.(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... At the World Trade Organization's meeting in tumultuous Seattle in early December, the planet's civic activists--trade unions, environmentalists, Third World development advocates, and others--finally figured out that the WTO, much like a...

NOW THE GOP HAS A TWO-MAN RACE, TOO.(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... For the moment at least, the first round of presidential debates has helped distill the Republican race--it's a contest between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. That face-off is very likely to intensify in the...

Need Cash? Call Mike or Billy.(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... Two ambitious Republicans, Reps. Michael G. Oxley of Ohio and W.J. "Billy" Tauzin of Louisiana, both want to succeed Tom Bliley of Virginia as head of the House Commerce Committee. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois has said that,...

THE NUMBERS SHOW WHY HILLARY'S IN TROUBLE.
December 18, 1999... In theory, Hillary Rodham Clinton's bid for a Senate seat in New York shouldn't be too difficult. After all, her husband carried the state twice, by 16 percentage points in 1992 and 29 points in 1996. Even Democrat Michael Dukakis carried New...

Hotline Extra.
December 18, 1999... A Hail Mary? When the candidates in the Republican presidential debate in Iowa were asked to name the political philosophers who have had the most influence on them, Texas Gov. George W. Bush responded: "Christ--because he changed my...

GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN.(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... DES MOINES, IOWA--In the aftermath of the first Republican presidential debate in Iowa, an obvious question is why John McCain--the only one of the six surviving GOP White House hopefuls not actively organizing for the state's Jan. 24 precinct...

VIEWS ON THE AMERICAN SCENE.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 18, 1999... The Bottom Line? Do you think you are better off today than you were before President Clinton was elected? (margin of error [+ or -] 3 percentage points; Opinion Dynamics Corp. for Fox News Channel) 12/07/1999 YES ...

BIG HAT, NO VISION?(Brief Article)
December 18, 1999... When is a front-runner not a front-runner? When he shows up for a debate. Then he's just one of the gang, unless he can use the give-and-take to outclass his rivals. George W. Bush didn't do that in the first two primary debates. John McCain...