National Journal articles from January 2000

National Journal archives from January 2000

THE MEDIA SHOULD BEWARE OF WHAT IT EMBRACES.
January 1, 2000... The uncritical enthusiasm of most media organizations for abolishing "soft money" and restricting issue advertising by "special interests" prompts this thought: How would the networks and The New York Times like a law imposing strict limits on...

THE STATE OF THE WORLD: RICHER, CLEANER, BETTER.
January 1, 2000... Here in London at the turn of the 20th century, the mood is cautious. Reflecting, as ever, the views of the nation, the BBC recently appended an extra segment to its late-evening news program: a special four-part series to mark the new...

Judging Clinton.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2000... CLINTON'S LEGACY DEPENDS ON WHAT'S BEING MEASURED--THE STATE OF THE NATION OR THE STAMP HE LEFT ON THE OFFICE, THE POLITICAL SYSTEM, AND THE COUNTRY. At 7 p.m. on Jan. 20, 1998, Bill Clinton dressed for dinner as the soothing sounds of...

The Economy: Luck and Skill.
January 1, 2000... Historians get to wait for the dust to settle before opining on a, Presidents legacy, but partisans don't dare. For them, the stakes are too high. So it should come as no surprise that the candidates who want to succeed Bill Clinton in the...

Episodic Interest.
January 1, 2000... For a President who entered office showing little interest in foreign affairs, Bill Clinton has had his share of challenges overseas: Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, North Korea, the Middle East, Russia, China,...

Pet Causes.
January 1, 2000... AFTER YEARS ON THE FRINGE, ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WANT TO CREATE A MAINSTREAM POLITICAL MOVEMENT. BUT AN UPTICK IN VIOLENCE HAS HARMED THE CAUSE. It seemed like a surefire winner for Al Gore. In early 1999, the Environmental Defense Fund...

SWATs Under Fire.
January 1, 2000... AS THEY GROW IN NUMBER, SWAT TEAMS ARE UNDER ATTACK FOR THEIR INVASIVE TACTICS AND CLOSE LINKS TO THE MILITARY. BUT DEFENDERS SAY THEY'RE ESSENTIAL IN TODAY'S VIOLENT WORLD. Sixty-four-year-old Mario Paz and six other members of his family...

TO ERR IS ... REASON FOR A NEW LAW.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Congress will return later this month to resume debate on a handful of already well-debated health care issues: whether to provide prescription drug benefits to Medicare beneficiaries, take steps to ensure the privacy of medical records, and...

THE SENATE'S TEFLON PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... When Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire pulled out of the presidential race in late October, his decision was greeted with a yawn. With no traction in the polls, not much money in his campaign coffers, and no party affiliation because he had...

Hill People.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... House "This is the only job in politics I would want to have," said J. Pepper Bryars, the new media flack for Rep. Bob Riley, R-Ala. "I wanted to work for a conservative Republican from Alabama as a press secretary." Bryars' new assignment...

BLOCKING THE PRESIDENTIAL POWER PLAY.
January 1, 2000... President Clinton's broad use of executive orders on a range of issues is prompting a move by some conservatives in Congress to curb the next President's ability to sidestep Capitol Hill. It's a familiar complaint by lawmakers, who jealously...

People.
January 1, 2000... Media People After 10 years in Knight Ridder's Washington bureau, Larry Williams has been named Washington bureau chief of The Detroit News. During his career, Williams, 54, has directed Knight Ridder's coverage of the White House,...

FINDING THEIR RELIGION.
January 1, 2000... Steven Baines is the first to admit that he's a walking oxymoron. A native South Carolinian who was raised a Southern Baptist and became an ordained minister in the church, Baines considers his faith an important part of his identity. Baines is...

FROM THE K STREET CORRIDOR.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... A Taxing Issue for Retailers Major brick-and-mortar retailers, worried about their Internet competitors' to keep online shopping tax-free, have formed the e-Fairness Coalition. The International Council of Shopping Centers and the...

FEW DARK HOURS FOR SOME SCHOOLS.
January 1, 2000... SAN JOSE, Calif.--In a city built on the currency of "the New New Thing" in high technology, some community leaders are trying out an old-fashioned idea. In much of the country, proponents of school vouchers and "charitable choice"...

YET ANOTHER MAKEOVER FOR JAPAN.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... TOKYO--A banner draped down the side of the Sony Building in the busy Ginza shopping district here proclaims "Merry Christmas and a Happy New You." These holiday sentiments come courtesy of Monex Inc., Japan's newest online brokerage firm, a...

Hotline Extra.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Quotables of the Year A sampling of the most memorable quotes of 1999: "Senators will be in order."--Senate President Pro Tempore Strom Thurmond, calling the Clinton impeachment trial into session (CSPAN, 1/7) "Have you ever used...

MISSING: DIVISIVE CAMPAIGN ISSUES.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... BEDFORD, N.H.--With delegate selection to begin in Iowa in just three weeks, the imponderables for each party in the 2000 presidential campaign can be distilled to a relatively modest two or three. Among Republicans, a basic question is...

VIEWS ON THE AMERICAN SCENE.(Brief Article)(Polling Data)
January 1, 2000... Questions About `Don't Ask' Do you support the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality in the U.S. military? (margin of error [+ or -] 3 percentage points; Gallup Organization Inc. for CNN-USA Today) 12/12/99 YES ...

A PRIMARY THAT MAY BE DECISIVE. OR NOT.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... It's 2000. Do you know where your presidential campaign is? Here's a clue. Of the two front-runners, Republican George W. Bush is more vulnerable than Democrat Al Gore. But GOP Senator John McCain is a weaker challenger than ex-Democratic...

CONGRESS, THE COURT, AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.
January 8, 2000... Can Congress authorize battered wives, rape victims, and other people harmed by gender-motivated crimes to file federal civil rights lawsuits against their assailants? That's what Congress did in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994,...

THE MILLENNIUM DAWNS: UPDATE FROM THE YEAR 2050(*).(Fiction)
January 8, 2000... At 6:45, Murphy's biochip awakened him. The bedroom window admitted a trickle of faint morning gray. Janet and Caitlyn were still asleep. He had programmed the chip for an early start, to have a few quiet minutes before the day's filings began....

Government's End.
January 8, 2000... THE REFORMERS IN THE `80S AND `90S TRIED TO PULL THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT. BUT, IN THE END, THEY DID NOT REMAKE GOVERNMENT. IT REMADE THEM. Since 1980, three waves of reformers have sought to transform American...

Campaign Medicine.
January 8, 2000... DEMOCRATS THINK THEY'VE FOUND AN ISSUE THAT WILL PUT REPUBLICANS ON THE DEFENSIVE IN THE RACES FOR THE WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS. Nashua, N.H.--Vice President Al Gore listens intently as Florence Seitz, a sweet-voiced elderly woman,...

Showdown at Snake River.
January 8, 2000... HOW FAR WILL POLICY BEND TO SAVE THE SALMON? These days, folks in the Pacific Northwest may be excused if they're experiencing a little deja vu. Just a decade ago, a federal judge ruled that regulators weren't doing enough to protect the...

IN THE SENATE, IT'S EAT AND RUN.
January 8, 2000... The Spark M. Matsunaga Table, which stands in the center of the ornate Senate dining room, is a monument to the Hawaii Democrat whose spirit of aloha prompted him to offer "free" meals--sometimes dozens in a single day--to countless...

Hill People.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... Senate Senate Finance Committee Deputy Chief of Staff Joan Kois Woodward is going corporate, and she's thrilled about it. After more than a decade on Capitol Hill, Woodward, 34, is opening a new Washington office for the New York City...

THE MAPMAKERS ARE ALREADY AT IT.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... REDISTRICTING WARS ARE COMING SOON TO A STATE CAPITAL NEAR YOU. The Census Bureau's national population estimates, announced a few days ago, seemed innocuous enough. Same for a subsequent extrapolation that showed Illinois' population had...

STAYING TILL THE LIGHTS GO OUT.
January 8, 2000... When President Clinton delivers his last State of the Union speech this month, presents his final spending blueprint to Congress in February, and flies aboard Air Force One on the year's farewell world tour, he will be able to turn to a small,...

BUSINESS CONFRONTS LABOR'S CLOUT.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... Corporate war chests are bulging with millions of dollars as business groups prepare to counter organized labor's investments of money and manpower in dozens of House and Senate races in 2000. Still smarting from the successful...

From the K Street Corridor.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... From Music to Movies Jennifer Bendall, the top lobbyist with the Recording Industry Association of America, is moving to the Washington office of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, the giant distiller that has also become a major Hollywood player....

The Cutting Edge.
January 8, 2000... A Thousand Bucks in Every Crib Maybe it's the glint of McGovernism that seems a little startling. The federal donation of $1,000 to every American that then-Sen. George S. McGovern, D-S.D., proposed in 1972 probably contributed to the...

PUTIN LOOKS BACK FONDLY, AND SO DO WE ...(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... RUSSIA With appropriate timing, the millennium-eve elevation of Vladimir Putin to the presidency of Russia was probably the first peaceful transfer of power there in a thousand years, said historian Richard Pipes of Harvard University. It...

... WHILE THE RUSSIAN MEDIA BEAR-HUG PUTIN.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... RUSSIA On his first day as acting president of Russia, Vladimir Putin flew to Chechnya, where the state-controlled television cameras dutifully recorded him awarding ceremonial hunting knives to Russian soldiers. Thanks in part to a...

ZUMWALT REVOLUTIONIZED THE NAVY.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... ZUMWALT WELCOMED WOMEN AND BLACKS INTO THE NAVY AND ABANDONED OUTMODED TRADITIONS. When it came to doing what he saw was the right thing, Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. lived according to the order given by Adm. David Farragut, a Civil War...

ANOTHER WASTED YEAR?(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... IN 2000, TRADE NEGOTIATORS IN WASHINGTON AND ELSEWHERE DITHERED, DELAYING CRITICAL DECISIONS. Crystal ball gazing is a journalistic staple of the season. To stay a step ahead of the competition and to save our readers the burden of...

People.
January 8, 2000... Around the Agencies Former Peace Corps volunteer Mark L. Schneider has returned to the agency 32 years after completing his service in El Salvador. Schneider, 58, was sworn in as the new Peace Corps director in late December. This...

WHY BRADLEY AND GORE NEED THE MEDIA.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... Bill Bradley and Al Gore need good press coverage now, but they'll really need it in a few weeks. After the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 1, Democrats don't cast any more ballots until March 7. That five-week hiatus in the presidential...

Campaign Circuit.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... Do Not Disturb Advocates of ballot initiatives are expressing dismay at a recent Washington state court decision that allows Waremart, a grocery chain, to bar petition-circulators from its property. The 7-1 ruling follows several other...

At the Races.
January 8, 2000... A weekly review of Campaign 2000 * Verbatim Excerpts from a campaign speech by Vice President Al Gore at West High School in Davenport, Iowa, on Jan. 3. Senator Bradley seems to believe America can address only one thing at a...

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE HOPEFULS NEED TO DO.
January 8, 2000... Who would have thought a few months ago that a January 2000 political column would start out this way: With the Iowa caucus just over two weeks away and the New Hampshire primary just eight days later, the presidential nominations for both...

Hotline Extra.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... Money Talks With $67 million in campaign contributions, Texas Gov. George W. Bush far exceeded the fired-raising totals of the other presidential candidates. Bush: "I am humbled and honored that so many Americans are responding to my...

TO SEE STEVE ISN'T TO LIKE HIM.(Steve Forbes)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... STEVE FORBES HAS INVESTED A TON OF MONEY AND TIME IN IOWA. AND FOR WHAT? DES MOINES, Iowa--With barely two weeks to go before Iowans troop to their precinct caucuses, voters here can't claim they haven't seen enough of the candidates to...

Poll Readings.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... VIEWS ON THE AMERICAN SCENE Tale of the Tapes Linda Tripp is currently in court facing charges stemming from the tape recordings she made of her conversations with Monica Lewinsky. Do you approve or disapprove of the fact that charges...

BRITAIN DESERVES ITS MILLENNIUM DOME.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... FEW NATIONS MADE MORE LASTING--AND CIVILIZING-MARKS ON THE 20TH-CENTURY WORLD. Why has the turn of the century been a much bigger deal in Britain than here? Over the past year, a lot of travelers have noticed that the British are making a...

Unfinished Business.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2000... Let's promise our leaders the new century will care more for children. As we enter a new millennium, I'm thinking about my remarkable father-in-law, Oscar Barnes, who just turned 99 and fully expects to celebrate his next birthday in the...

BIGOTRY, BASEBALL, AND THE MAGIC OF THE MARKETPLACE.
January 15, 2000... Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker's ugly remarks about foreign-born and gay people, and his reference to a black teammate as "a fat monkey," may have provoked a broader public debate about how to deal with bigotry than have all the college...

AMERICA ONLINE, TIME WARNER, AND THE NEW ECONOMY.
January 15, 2000... What does the colossal merger of America Online and Time Warner say about the prospects for the fabled "new economy"? According to Gerald Levin, the chairman of Time Warner and chief executive of the new merged company, it says a lot: The deal...

Money Players.
January 15, 2000... FOR TOP TRADE ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVES, THE PAYDAYS ARE BETTER THAN EVER. FORTY-TWO LEADERS MAKE AT LEAST $500,000 A YEAR. On any given Sunday during the 1970s, Gene Upshaw of the Oakland Raiders laced up his cleats, donned his shoulder pads,...

WHAT TRADE ASSOCIATIONS PAID THEIR CHIEFS.(Statistical Data Included)
January 15, 2000... BENEFITS & ORGANIZATION REVENUES AGRICULTURE, FOOD, BEVERAGE, AND TOBACCO ASSOCIATIONS American Bakers Assn. $5,129,319 American Dietetic Assn. ...

Trouble in the Near Abroad.
January 15, 2000... A WAR RAGES IN COLOMBIA, STRONGMEN WIN ELECTIONS, ECONOMIES TURN DOWN, WASHINGTON IS DISTRACTED, AND SUDDENLY THE LATIN AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY OF THE MID-1990S GOES SOUTH. Last November, just before leaving on a trip to European capitals...

DIAGNOSIS IMPROVES FOR CYBERPHARMACY BILL.
January 15, 2000... When Congress adjourned last November, Rep. Ron Klink, D-Pa., was feeling downright gloomy about his chances of getting legislation passed to better regulate the sale of prescription drugs over the Internet. Klink was just about the only...

Hill People.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2000... House After spending a year as assistant communications director for the House Banking Committee, Andrew Parmentier has joined the National Association of Home Builders as assistant director of legislative communications. In his new...

A NEW DEBATE ON GUN CONTROL.
January 15, 2000... When President Clinton renews his pitch for gun control in his State of the Union address later this month, he may face an unexpected hurdle: the Constitution. Quietly, out on the high plains of gun-friendly west Texas, a federal court of...

CREATING A NEW YORK PERSONA.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2000... During the second week of February, Hillary Rodham Clinton will stand in front of some carefully groomed and appropriately symbolic backdrop ill New York state--accompanied by her husband, the ever-supportive President of the United States, and...

People.
January 15, 2000... Political Stripes The planning staff of the Republican National Convention is lining up key organizers to prepare for the 37th Republican National Convention, set for July 31-Aug. 3 in Philadelphia. Lawrence G. Flick, recently named the...

AT AOL, FINDING NEW FRIENDS.
January 15, 2000... Out with the old, in with the new: America Online's metamorphosis into a multimedia empire will most likely force it to change its lobbying priorities, much to the distress of some business allies, hired lobbyists, and policy advocates. The...

LAND OF THE FREE AND MP3.
January 15, 2000... Forget sex. No, the term used most often on Internet search engines is now "MP3." That's computer shorthand for one of several new Internet technologies that allow anyone with the right computer knowledge and interest to compress...

TAXING TIES WITH THE EU.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2000... Rarely has an issue of greater economic and diplomatic consequence been buried in such an obscure, seemingly arcane dispute. On Jan. 19, at the Geneva headquarters of the World Trade Organization, Clinton Administration trade lawyers and tax...

VIEWS ON THE AMERICAN SCENE.(Brief Article)(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
January 15, 2000... Chief Concerns In general, do you approve or disapprove of the way Bill Clinton is handling his job as President? (margin of error [+ or -] 2.5 percentage points; Yankelovich Partners for CNN-Time magazine) ...

RUNNING WITH JESUS.
January 15, 2000... St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his immortal challenge to Christians everywhere, once posed three simple questions for believers: "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ?" Two thousand years after the...

IS THAT A BIG-MO' SIGHTING IN IOWA?
January 15, 2000... Texas Gov. George W. Bush's supporters are increasingly confident that he will wrap up the Republican presidential nomination before the March 7 bonanza, when 13 states hold primaries or caucuses. To ignite that drive, a significant victory in...

At the Races.(Brief Article)(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
January 15, 2000... A weekly review of Campaign 2000 * Tuned In National polls and ratings agree few Americans are tuning in to view the White House 2000 hopefuls as they duke it out on television. Roughly 1.6 million people watched the Dec. 2 GOP debate...

Verbatim.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2000... Excerpts from the Jan. 10 Republican presidential debate at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. John McCain: I am very much in favor of tax cuts for middle-income and lower-income Americans. I am deeply concerned about a kind of class...

VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS (OF POLITICS).
January 15, 2000... Closely contested congressional races have been few and far between in Virginia in recent years. In 1998, three of the 11 House members ran unopposed, and no member won with less than 61 percent of the vote. This year, however, is shaping up to...

Hotline Extra.
January 15, 2000... Vote If You Love Jesus The Des Moines Register reports that Republican presidential candidates find a "receptive audience" in Iowa "when they talk about their Christian faith." The paper's poll shows that Republican respondents approve of...

WILL DISTORTIONS WIN FOR AL?(Brief Article)
January 15, 2000... DES MOINES, Iowa--If Bill Bradley is to defy the odds in Iowa's Jan. 24 precinct caucuses, he has to stand taller than A1 Gore, who seems to be solidifying his position by a nonstop assault on Bradley's past views on agriculture, health care,...

AND THEY'RE BETTER THAN MANY NBA GAMES.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2000... There's something radically different about this year's presidential campaign. And it's not just the front-loading of primaries. Think about it this way: What's driving the news coverage of the 2000 campaign? Ads? No. Debates. The primary...

THE CONFEDERATE FLAG AND THE COST OF PANDERING.
January 22, 2000... The pandering by George W. Bush and John McCain to Republican reactionaries who want to keep the Confederate battle flag atop South Carolina's Statehouse is especially disheartening for those of us who hope for the emergence of more-creditable...

IN AFRICA, THE VIRUS IS AIDS. THE DISEASE IS POVERTY.
January 22, 2000... To this day, a whiff of death lingers about a song that generations of children have sung: Ring around the rosie, A pocketful ofposie, Ashes, ashes, all fall down! The ring was a circle of people around the rosie, who was...

Congress Returns.(includes related article on Congressional legislation during 2000)
January 22, 2000... PLENTY OF POLITICAL POSTURING, AND MAYBE EVEN A FEW LEGISLATIVE DEALS, ARE AHEAD THIS SESSION. Members of Congress have a dual strategy for impressing the voters back home this election year: They are laying plans for some titanic...

LEADERS WANT FAST RESULTS ON BUDGET, TAX CUTS.
January 22, 2000... From spending priorities to tax cuts, expect this year's budget debate to be dominated by one thing: the November elections. With the Democrats nipping at the Republicans' heels for congressional control, the GOP's game plan is to try to...

EARLY SENATE ACTION AHEAD ON BANKRUPTCY BILL.(Brief Article)
January 22, 2000... Advocates of reforming the nation's bankruptcy laws may find themselves in the legislative equivalent of a sprint once Congress reconvenes next week. Various versions of bankruptcy reform legislation have been making the rounds on Capitol Hill...

ERGONOMICS PROPOSAL PAINS REPUBLICANS.
January 22, 2000... Members of Congress--accused by critics of avoiding ally heavy lifting themselves--are planning to take a hard look at proposed federal rules that are intended to ward off disabling injuries among workers, from typists to poultry-pluckers. But...

BOTH PARTIES TO BOOST MILITARY HEALTH CARE.
January 22, 2000... President Clinton will ask Congress for more than $300 billion for defense in his fiscal 2001 budget, enabling him to declare in this election year that he wants $13 billion more than the Republican-controlled Congress provided last year,...

PARTY DIVISIONS MAY DEEPEN OVER SCHOOL REFORM.
January 22, 2000... The philosophical tug-of-war over the federal role in school reform Mil probably intensify during this election year, with bills to overhaul aid programs for elementary and secondary schools dominating the congressional education agenda and...

FULLY CHARGED ELECTRICITY DEBATE EXPECTED.
January 22, 2000... It almost sounds like the answer to every congressman's election-year prayers: A legislative package that might, in one vote, save the typical American family $200 a year, improve the environment, and modernize the sootiest, most monopolized...

1996 FREEDOM TO FARM BILL COULD BE REOPENED.
January 22, 2000... Farmers hurt by continued low commodity prices will bring intense pressure on Congress in this election year to pass yet another emergency farm aid package and perhaps to rewrite the 1996 farm bill. The 1996 "Freedom to Farm" legislation...

GLOBAL ISSUES WILL AGAIN BE ON THE FRONT BURNER.
January 22, 2000... From Kosovo to East Timor, foreign policy issues forcefully elbowed their way to the forefront of the congressional agenda last year, and this year's events and politics will conspire to keep them there, despite the efforts of isolationist...

SHOOT-OUT ON GUN LAWS COULD END IN STANDOFF.
January 22, 2000... Forces pushing for gun controls are looking mighty gloomy as they face the new congressional session. They expect that, barring a catastrophic shooting spree that could change the political dynamics, this year will probably end much as it is...

DEMS READY TO POUNCE OVER PATIENTS' RIGHTS.(Democratic Party)
January 22, 2000... Congressional health care policy debates have a certain predictable rhythm. Democrats see a problem and come up with a proposed solution requiring government regulation or new programs. Republicans object that the solution is worse than the...

ANTI-GREEN MEASURES ARE RIDERS IN THE STORM.
January 22, 2000... An eye-opening report last year by a major environmental organization listed the number of notable legislative initiatives in the form of standalone bills winding through congressional committees: a dozen. The same report listed the...

LOTS OF TALK, LITTLE ACTION, ON ENTITLEMENTS.
January 22, 2000... Social Security may be the prime political buzzword of this election year, with politicians from both parties paying homage to the retirement program for the elderly, earnestly promising to protect it, and doing nothing about it. The...

GOP UNDER PRESSURE TO ACT ON TOXIC WASTES.
January 22, 2000... Without Sen. John H. Chafee, the moderate Rhode Island Republican who died last year at age 77, some environmental causes may wither in the Senate. But others certainly will find new life in the Senator's untimely death. One of those is the...