For the Record.(political news)(Brief Article)

President Clinton analyzes election: "They thought the election was over, the Republicans did. By the time it was over, our candidate had won the popular vote, and the only way they could win the election was to stop the voting in Florida." . . . Attorney General Janet Reno, on what she learned from watching film on Hitler's rise to power: "We've seen how one vote can count. . . . We must realize that everyone must participate and speak up and not stand on the sidelines." . . . Bush, on what he's currently reading, in USA Today: "You're not going to believe this, but a biography of John Q. Adams. Ever since the old man called me 'Quincy,' I was trying to find out more about the man."

Rep. J. C. Watts (R., Okla.), on Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) accusing attorney-general nominee John Ashcroft of racism: "Anything that's Republican and white to Maxine Waters, they're going to be racist. Anything short of having Senator Ted Kennedy or Fidel Castro as attorney general is not going to be acceptable to some people. It is a sad commentary on our system that we try to paint people as racist who disagree with us." . . . In confirmation hearings, defense-secretary nominee Donald Rumsfeld calls 1972 ABM treaty "ancient history." . . . In Pew poll, 57 percent can't name any member of Bush cabinet.

In CNN/USA Today poll, 52 percent support Bush's tax-cut plan, but only 38 percent believe it will pass, and 45 percent support Bush's school-choice plan (versus 36 percent opposed), but 53 percent think it will fail. . . . ABC News anchor Carole Simpson, in online column: "If, during his tenure, President-elect Bush ends up making a couple of more appointments like Justice Thomas to the Supreme Court, I have heard many women and minorities say, 'God help us.'" . . . Jimmy Carter discusses Al Gore's chances in 2004, on Larry King Live: "I think it really depends to a large extent on what the Clinton family is going to do. With Hillary in the Senate, she and her husband maybe in the background could very well be the dominant factors in the Democratic party, which would kind of push Al to the side. I have a personal loyalty to Al Gore, because I feel like he didn't get a fair shake in this election. But it may very well be that somebody would come out of the distant horizons, like a very bright young governor [does Carter have some historical example in mind-from the '70s, say?], and prevail when the four years expires."

In Brill's Content interview, Clinton denies existence of liberal media: "There's a big conservative press unabashedly, and for the Democrats and even people to the left of the Democratic party, there's almost virtually no outlets that can compare with the vast array of conservative press that's out ...