National Journal articles from November 2000

National Journal archives from November 2000

CORRECTIONS.(corrections to Oct. 28 issue, p. 3402, and to Oct. 21 issue, p. 3338)(Correction Notice)
November 4, 2000... A recent article on whom a President Gore would pick for key Administration jobs (10/28/00, p. 3402) incorrectly identified retired Lockheed Martin Chairman Norman R. Augustine as Army undersecretary during the Carter Administration. In fact,...

THE VIRTUAL VOTING BOOTH.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... Next week, voters from Maine to Oregon will elect the 43rd President of the United States in much the same way they have for 200 years--by casting a ballot at their local polling place. But with the emergence of the Internet, the process for...

HIGH PIES, TRADE TERRIERS, AND INTERNET CREATIONS.
November 4, 2000... In 1945, the talent in Major League Baseball was so depleted by the war that one Chicago sportswriter, surveying the respective rosters of the teams in the World Series, quipped that neither was good enough to win. There's no war on now,...

DUMB AND DUMBER: COURTS AND EPA REGULATORS.
November 4, 2000... On Election Day the SupremeCourt will hear arguments in one of its biggest cases in years. It's arcane and complex. But you might want to know something about it anyway, because it could affect your respiratory system, your risk of getting skin...

THE AGONY OF CHOOSING BETWEEN BUSH AND GORE.
November 4, 2000... Who to vote for? I mean, whom. I hate whom. When I'm President, first thing I do, I abolish whom. Three whom's and you're out. Then I abolish the necktie. That's my platform. But I don't seem to be on the ballot. Hmm. George W. Bush or Al...

Voting by Default.
November 4, 2000... ON ELECTION EVE IN THE BELLWETHER TOWN OF LIBERTY, MO., THE EMOTIONS ARE UNEXCEPTIONAL, THE ISSUES UNREMARKABLE, THE CANDIDATES UNSATISFYING. AND THE FUTRE LOOKS A LITTLE SCARY. LIBERTY, Mo.--"It makes a lot of difference who gets...

Over a Barrel.(Saddam Hussein's influence on petroleum prices)
November 4, 2000... OIL PRICES ARE HIGH, THE MIDDLE EAST IS AGAIN UNSTABLE, THE STOCK MARKET IS FALLING, AND ONE MOVE BY A NOT-VERY-NICE MAN COULD TRIGGER THE END OF THE BOOM YEARS. In the next few months, there is one man, more than any other, who will...

A LAME ENDING.(conflict between Pres Bill Clinton and Congress)
November 4, 2000... The 106th Congress began in January 1999 amid the impeachment crisis and is winding down much the same way: Angry Republicans are charging to the floors and the press galleries, blasting President Clinton for lying and arguing that he is not to...

Hill People.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... Senate After getting a brief taste of legislation American style, L. Brennan Van Dyke is leaving Capitol Hill to return to her first love: international environmental work. She is the new director of the regional office for North America...

TRYING TO ROLL BACK THE REGULATORS.
November 4, 2000... On Nov. 7, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on two lawsuits that attorneys from industry, public-interest groups, and the government all agree could roll back the executive branch's ability to regulate U.S. industry. The lawsuits...

UNBOTTLING THE .08 PERCENT SOLUTION.
November 4, 2000... Two years ago, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the 20-year-old group's congressional allies attempted to establish a national drunken-driving standard based on a blood alcohol content of .08 percent. They thought they had an unbeatable...

Wanted: Right-Thinking Justices.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... A multimillion-dollar corporate drive to get more pro-business justices elected to state Supreme Courts is garnering lots of business and conservative backing. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has committed at least $7 million to the effort this...

FROM THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE.
November 4, 2000... On the desk of Alan Levitt, the man who heads the national advertising campaign to get kids to stop using drugs, sits a glass bowl with a plastic fish inside. Levitt likes to hold it up for visitors in order to make a point: He feels like the...

RICHES: NO EMBARRASSMENT.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... Watch for the hair shirts. If all goes according to script, seconds after the votes are counted, media people will turn their gazes from a story' that interests them mildly--Bush vs. Gore--to a story that interests them passionately:...

FORGET THE GOLDFISH.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... TOKYO--Recently, Singapore officials arriving for consultations with Japanese officials before launching negotiations for a Japan-Singapore flee-trade agreement, were delayed for an hour at Narita Airport by customs red tape. It was a fitting...

D-DAY NEARS FOR POLITICAL CONSULTANTS.
November 4, 2000... The most striking change in the profile of the political consulting industry this year is the absence in statewide races of Squier Knapp Dunn of Washington, the biggest Democratic media consulting firm in Senate and gubernatorial races from the...

CONSULTANT SCORECARD.
November 4, 2000... Here's the lineup of' polling firms and media consultants working for Senate and gubernatorial candidates this year. House candidates are not included in the compilation. In next week's issue, National Journal will tally the win-loss records of...

SMALL STATE, BIG BATTLE.
November 4, 2000... NEWARK, Del.--As the crowd filed into the University of Delaware's football stadium for the homecoming game on a recent glorious autumn day, Republican Sen. William V. Roth Jr. cheerfully participated in a campaign season ritual. ...

EDUCATION RECORDS AND MIXED MESSAGES.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... An Oct. 24 report by the nonpartisan RAND Corp. led to questions about Texas' education record--and an ad from the Democratic National Committee assailing Texas Gov. George W. Bush's performance on education. But advisers to both Bush and Al...

HERE'S A TIP SHEET FOR TUESDAY NIGHT.
November 4, 2000... For the first time since 1976, we should have a presidential election night with real drama. You may have a gut feeling about what will happen, but nobody knows for sure. Exit polls have taken some of the fun out of recent election nights. But...

LIGHTS OUT.(poll closing times)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... Here's a rundown of when the polls close on Election Day. All times are Eastern Standard: 6 p.m. Indiana Kentucky(*) 7 p.m. Florida Georgia Kentucky(*) New Hampshire([dagger]) South Carolina Vermont Virginia ...

Media Watch.(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... According to a recent analysis of political television advertising, Vice President Al Gore, who is being outspent by Gov. George W. Bush in the ad arena, is staying competitive thanks to heavy spending from outside interest groups. Leading...

SPOT CHECK: AD OF THE WEEK.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... Blocking the Nader Vote People for the American Way Produced by Laguens Hamburger Stone 30-second ad People for the American Way, a liberal group that lobbies on civil liberties issues, has launched its second television ad...

Hotline Extra.
November 4, 2000... Better Late Than Nader With just days to go in the presidential campaign, "liberals and left-leaners who thought they could protest politics as usual and still end up" with a Democrat in the White House had to reconsider. And anger at...

AS THE MIDWEST GOES ...(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... EAST LANSING, Mich.--From Ohio west through Minnesota and down to Missouri, the eight states of the Midwest offer 41.5 percent of the electoral votes that Al Gore and George W. Bush need to prevail on Tuesday. On the eve of the election,...

Poll Track.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 4, 2000... * Signs and Portents IS IT STILL THE ECONOMY? In recent weeks, there have been some unsettling indications that the economy may be slowing down. Are we headed for a recession? And, with decision time almost here, which presidential...

People.
November 4, 2000... Corporate lawyer turned do-gooder Anne Kim said she's finally doing what she has wanted to do since receiving her law degree: helping people in need overcome poverty. As the new director of the Working Families Project at the Progressive Policy...

GIVE ME AN `E' ...(Brief Article)
November 4, 2000... America's Electoral College is the source of much confusion. Let's try to set things straight. True or false? The electoral vote follows the polls. Answer: true. If the national polls show a shift toward, say, Al Gore, then Gore will start...

FIGHT OR CONCEDE? WHAT WOULD MARTIN SHEEN DO?
November 11, 2000... All year, Al Gore pledged on the campaign trail to "fight" for his followers. The fighting-for-you line played well to hard-core Democratic audiences, but there was a tacit understanding that this promise would either continue in the Oval...

HOW LAWYERS AND POLS CAN GET US OUT OF THIS MESS.
November 11, 2000... The inescapable fact is that no matter how many recounts or lawsuits we have, we will never know who would have won this election if it had been run perfectly. There are irregularities all over the place, by the thousands, in every national...

HOW THE WINNER CAN AVOID AN ECONOMIC BUST.
November 11, 2000... Just what part the economic legacy of the Clinton Administration played in dividing the electorate almost exactly in half, causing this excruciating electoral deadlock, is going to be argued about for years. On paper, the economy ought to have...

No Easy Exit.
November 11, 2000... BUSH AND GORE ARE FACING A LEADERSHIP TEST OF PRESIDENTIAL PROPORTIONS. HOW ARE THEY BALANCING POLITICAL ASPIRATION WITH LOVE OF A NATION? As they dashed to the Nov. 7 finish line, Al Gore and George W. Bush dismissed any suggestion that...

AN ORIENTATION TO THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2000... The Electoral College might not help clear up the winner of the presidential election. In fact, the institution's peculiar rules and two-century history fail to answer many potentially relevant questions in the vote-counting showdown between Al...

Don't Assume Gridlock.
November 11, 2000... BEYOND THE BITTERNESS OF FLORIDA MAY AWAIT MORE UNPLEASANTNESS IN WASHINGTON. BUT DON'T BET ON IT. BOTH MEN HAVE A CHANCE, HOWEVER SMALL, TO GET A FEW THINGS DONE. It is eerie how evenly divided the electorate was on Nov. 7, and not only...

A House Divided.(Polling Data)
November 11, 2000... REPUBLICANS HAVE A SMALLER HOUSE MAJORITY--AND BIG HEADACHES. Having survived a costly and grueling fight to stay in power, House Republicans can perhaps afford to gloat. After all, this is the moment that GOP congressional leaders have...

A Split Senate.(Polling Data)
November 11, 2000... THINGS COULD GET EVEN WORSE NEXT YEAR IN THE ALREADY-STALEMATED CHAMBER. Senatorial work stoppages were so frequent this year that congressional reporters, those for this publication included, groped for ways to describe them. The Senate...

Biographies.
November 11, 2000... After an election dominated by such issues as prescription drug coverage and patients' rights, one would expect a plethora of physicians to be entering Congress. But the 107th Congress will have no new doctors, except for a veterinarian elected...

Meanwhile, Back in the States.
November 11, 2000... On a day of unsurpassed political drama, the races to control state legislatures and governorships were probably the most predictable--and the least exciting--part of Election Day. But the framework these state elections laid will become...

THE 50 STATES AT A GLANCE.
November 11, 2000... This table shows current partisan control of the governor's offices and legislatures in the 50 states, followed by which party will control those offices next year. Next, the table lists the composition of the state's U.S. House delegation and...

The GOP's Shifting Terrain.
November 11, 2000... The results of the presidential election are excruciatingly close and will not produce the kind of electoral mandate that George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress would like to have if Bush wins the presidency. But it could also be a huge...

Fees, Fives, Foes, Shrum.
November 11, 2000... The Washington media firm of Shrum, Devine & Donilon earns the title of political consultant of the year not for its work on behalf of Vice President Al Gore, but for its work with six high-profile Democratic Senate candidates, five of whom...

AMENDING THE MEDIA CONSTITUTION.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2000... As we lurch our way through the political crisis, thoughtful commentators say they hope we'll learn something from this disaster, maybe even change the system. Funny, isn't it, how you can bumble along for years with a really outdated idea (the...

NO TO VOUCHERS, YES TO GUN CONTROL.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2000... Appropriately for this closely divided political year, voters voiced mixed sentiments on ballot measures. Liberals may cheer victories on public school issues, gun control, and abortion, but many will sulk about major losses on environmental...

THE HOUSE IN THE 107TH CONGRESS.
November 11, 2000... ALABAMA PERCENT 1. Sonny Callahan, R 91 2. R. Terry Everett, R 68 3. Bob Riley, R 88...

THE SENATE: RESULTS BY STATE.
November 11, 2000... Here are the unofficial results of the 34 Senate races on Nov. 7. No winner had been declared in Washington state as of press time. ARIZONA PERCENT William Toel (Independent)(*) 8% Jon Kyl, R ...

THE SENATE IN THE 107TH CONGRESS.
November 11, 2000... FIRST ELECTED OR APPOINTED Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii 1990 Wayne Allard, R-Colo. 1996 George Allen, R-Va. ...

THE GOVERNORS: RESULTS BY STATE.
November 11, 2000... Here are the unofficial results of the 11 elections for governor on Nov. 7. DELAWARE PERCENT Ruth Ann Minner, D 59 John Burris, R 40 INDIANA Frank O'Bannon, D 56 David McIntosh, R...

GOVERNORS OF THE 50 STATES.
November 11, 2000... Based on the unofficial results of the Nov. 7 election, 29 governors are Republicans, 19 are Democrats, and two are independents. GOVERNOR PARTY Alabama Don Siegelman D Alaska ...

PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS.
November 11, 2000... 1996 CLINTON DOLE PEROT % ELECTORAL % ELECTORAL % ELECTORAL Ala. 43.2 -- 50.1 9 6.0...

Hotline Extra.
November 11, 2000... Jean's Day What some people might forget amid the bedlam of the presidential election is that other contests were also decided on Nov. 7. Among them was the election of a deceased governor to the U.S. Senate. Republican Sen. John Ashcroft...

Winners and Losers--and Fighting to a Draw.
November 11, 2000... The race for the White House turned into a nail-biting cliff-hanger. But some clear winners and losers emerged long before end of the Florida recount, and some mixed results could allow a few losers to claim partial victories and force some...

At the Races.
November 11, 2000... A weekly of Campaign 2000 ADS OF THE YEAR * Most Infamous `PRIORITY' REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE Perhaps the most publicized ad of this campaign cycle was the Aug. 28 RNC spot criticizing the Clinton-Gore record on...

A DIVIDED ELECTORATE AND FEW TRENDS.
November 11, 2000... We could all live to be Strom Thurmond's age and never see an election such as Tuesday's again. The drama in Theodore H. White's classic book The Making of the President, 1960 had nothing on what happened this past week. But what's the...

THE BLAME GAMES.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2000... Now, after one of the most bizarre presidential elections in American history--with no clear winner in sight--comes the blame game. Vice President Al Gore's failure to sail to a clear victory over Texas Gov. George W. Bush during an era of...

IT WASN'T THE EXIT POLLING THAT BLEW IT.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2000... One of the ironies of the television networks' erroneous calls on Election Night is that if they had stuck with what their exit polling alone told them about the presidential vote in Florida, they wouldn't have gone wrong in the first place. It...

IT WAS ALL ABOUT SEX.
November 11, 2000... It was an election that can only be described as stupefying. A narrow Republican majority in the House got narrower. As did a narrow Republican majority in the Senate, with the possibility of a 50-50 tie when all the votes are counted. As...

VALUING DIVERSITY.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... This year, an incredible 800,000 skilled technology jobs in the United States will go unfilled because there are not enough qualified people to fill them. This shortage is expected to worsen over the next few years as the demand for information...

LOSING THE ELECTION SHOULDN'T MAKE YOU A LOSER.(Presidential elections)
November 18, 2000... As week two of the Re-Campaign of 2000 ground its way through the Florida courts, county canvassing boards, and the glare of mind-numbing 24-hour cable news coverage, the American people--who, it must be said, tended throughout this ordeal to...

IT'S ABOUT MORE THAN WHICH JUDGE HAS THE LAST WORD.(presidential elections)
November 18, 2000... "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought," wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., one of our greatest judges. A Kennedy Administration lawyer offered that quote a long time ago to square the language of...

Pondering a Popular Vote.(presidential campaigns)(Statistical Data Included)
November 18, 2000... While all eyes remain on Florida, the great Close Call that is the 2000 presidential election has, predictably, reignited the passions of those who want to do away with the Electoral College. It is time, its detractors declare, to select U.S....

Can It Be Done?(abolishing the Electoral College)
November 18, 2000... CONGRESS SEEMS RELUCTANT TO TRY TO ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, AND SMALL STATES PROBABLY WOULDN'T GO ALONG ANYWAY. STILL, SOME HOLD OUT HOPE FOR A PUBLIC GROUNDSWELL. For Congress, junking the Electoral College appears to be an idea...

What Were They Thinking?
November 18, 2000... FOR THE FRAMERS, THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WAS ABOUT BALANCE--BETWEEN REGIONS AND BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT. One late-summer morning in 1787, in sweltering Philadelphia, John Dickinson of Delaware strode tardily into the Library Room upstairs in...

EMPTY TRANSITION OFFICES.(Presidential transition planning)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 18, 2000... Two floors of publicly funded office space in downtown Washington sit empty. There is no President-elect, so the General Services Administration is holding on to the office keys, plus more than $5 million appropriated for transition expenses....

White House 2000.(public opinion of election results)(Brief Article)(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
November 18, 2000... WAITING FOR THE END OF THE ELECTION Americans for the most part did not seem terribly unnerved by the cliffhanger vote on Nov. 7, the prolonged squabbling in Florida, or the lack of a clear winner. WHICH OF THESE STATEMENTS DO YOU...

The Electoral College.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 18, 2000... TIME TO GRADUATE? The majority of Americans favor abolishing the Electoral College and choosing the President by popular vote, according to several national polls conducted after the Nov. 7 election. WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER: AMENDING...

Looking Ahead.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 18, 2000... How EFFECTIVE A PRESIDENT? Most people expressed confidence that no matter who eventually wins the presidency, the President-elect will be able to do his job effectively, according to the Newsweek poll. Sixty-nine percent said that if...

Second Thoughts.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 18, 2000... NONVOTERS' REGRETS Several polling organizations wanted to know if nonvoters were experiencing any postelection pangs. ARE YOU SORRY THAT YOU DID NOT VOTE? YES... 66% NO... 33 No OPINION... 1 ...

Compromise, Hell!
November 18, 2000... HILARY B. ROSEN HAS BECOME KNOWN AROUND THE CAPITAL AS A TENACIOUS, TAKE-NO-PRISONERS ADVOCATE FOR AMERICA'S RECORDING INDUSTRY. AND AT TIMES, IT SEEMS HER ADVERSARIES COULD ALMOST FILL FEDEX FIELD Hilary B. Rosen, the president and CEO of...

CAN THEY ALL JUST GET ALONG?
November 18, 2000... "Gridlock or bipartisanship?" That question--along with "What's going on with the Florida recount?"--hung heavy in the halls of Congress as lawmakers returned to begin a lame-duck session and to plan for next year. After an election that...

GEPHARDT'S PRIVATE AGONY.(Richard A. Gephardt meets with J. Dennis Hastert)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... After an icy estrangement during the 106th Congress, House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., sat down over coffee with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., on Nov. 15 to sort through the aftermath of an election that left the...

K STREET GOES COURTING.
November 18, 2000... Election Day is barely behind us, but K Street firms--always on the lookout for insiders with contacts--have already begun their courtship rituals with departing members of Congress, top Hill aides, and even some Clinton Administration...

LOBBYING FOR `JUSTICE' IN STATE COURTS.
November 18, 2000... Unusually broad and well-financed efforts by business groups to boost their favored judicial candidates--and to counter the influence of trial lawyers in state Supreme Courts--largely paid off on Election Day. But these organizations also hit a...

AIDS BECOMES A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE.
November 18, 2000... When Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., went to southern Africa in 1990, the then-president of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, told the visiting lawmaker he didn't know what he would do when the population of AIDS orphans in the capital city of Lusaka...

WANTED! U.S. CITIZENS FOR HIGH-TECH JOBS.
November 18, 2000... High-tech companies in recent years have had an easy time of it in Congress whenever they've come begging for an increase in the immigration quotas for well-trained foreign workers. But the next time the industry comes calling, the cries from...

THE GREAT WHITE BOARD.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... ON THE MEDIA For a few days after Election Day, the detail everyone simply had to mention was Tim Russert's white board, the low-tech wipe-away surface on which NBC's irrepressible political boss scrawled the electoral tallies as they came...

GET A NEW COP FOR THE PENTAGON.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... Stand by for more incoming rounds on why the Pentagon waited 18 months before acting on CIA warnings that former Deputy Defense Secretary John M. Deutch may have compromised some of the military's deepest secrets. CBS is preparing a 60 Minutes...

WANTED: A PM WITH BACKBONE.
November 18, 2000... TOKYO--With the Japanese economy rebounding, however modestly, attention here is now focused on two pressing issues: how best to relieve the burden of the nation's crushing government debt and, looking ahead, finding the prime minister who...

The Star Report.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... Where were these people when the networks needed them? Just six days before the election, "San Diego astrologer Jim Shawvan" predicted on StarIQ.com that "it may look very much like a Bush victory, but uncertainty may develop as the count goes...

Marquette Research.(Marquette University)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... If nothing else, the 2000 election will be remembered tot bringing to light some glitches in the voting system. Case in point: An 18-year-old Marquette University student said he "was one of 174 students who told a campus newspaper they cast...

What About Bob?(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... Is there a price to pay, for leaving one's party? In New Hampshire, the "state where politics never rest," Campaign 2002 "is nearly at hand." In fact, for Republican Sen. Bob Smith "it is well under way." Smith, who left the Republican Party...

Milwaukee's Bust.(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... And you thought Florida was the only state with election scandals. In Wisconsin, Connie Milstein, a "Manhattan socialite and Al Gore supporter," may face bribery charges for her role in a Milwaukee "smokes-for-votes scandal." Milwaukee County...

Ventura Capital.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... Even before the recent election. "behind-the-scenes jockeying was picking up for what promises to be a supercharged" 2002 in Minnesota. The two biggest prizes in the state will be the governor's mansion and a U.S. Senate seat. One scenario has...

Poll Vault.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... One might argue that it's the surprises that hurt the most. Sen. William V. Roth Jr., R-Del., "has told friends and fellow" politicians that he was "shocked" by his 12-point loss to Gov. Thomas R. Carper because his campaign's polls showed him...

Quotables.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2000... "There are battalions of lawyers everywhere." --ABC's Peter Jennings (World News Tonight, 11/13) "We haven't heard this much about `Chads' since they stopped making surfer movies." --Fox News Channel's Tony Snow on electoral techie jargon...