Going Soft?
Are Republican governors "pro-government"? That's the message they're apparently trying to convey in a fax recently distributed by the Republican Governors Association. It's a clip from the August 5th Washington Post headlined, "'Softer' Issues Aid GOP In Gubernatorial Races." The RGA press office helpfully underlines certain parts of the article, including a sentence touting the "pro-government" policies of Republican governors.

The RGA also flags this comment: "Much of the Republican strength reflects the ability of incumbents to 'go beyond taxes, attracting business, and bringing in jobs,' as Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson put it. 'You see a new breed of activism among us.'"

The fax highlights several other alleged accomplishments: Republicans are "boosting social spending" in Michigan, throwing money at schools in Pennsylvania, and buying health insurance for poor kids in Arkansas.

All too true. But Republican governors are also doing other things. Pollster Bill McInturff is quoted in the article as saying, "What [GOP governors have] done in common is the triad of cutting taxes, toughening crime standards, and moving people from welfare to work. That is what they ran on, and that is what they have done."

McInturff's quote is not underlined.

Healers of the Breach
Democrats involved in the census sampling dispute have, as long expected, started playing the race card against Republicans at every opportunity. "The Republicans know theirs is the wrong agenda for African Americans. They don't even want to count you in the census," Vice President Gore told the NAACP convention last month. On Monday, Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D., Ga.) made a similarly disgraceful assertion: "If the Republican Party has their way, they will return us to the days of Dred Scott, where poor people and people of color count as three-fifths of a person." This must be what Democrats mean when they say they want to bring us together.

Retro Fret
The 1970s may be a decade worth forgetting, but the Postal Service is currently trying to figure out how to remember them. As part of its program to issue stamps commemorating each decade of the 20th century, the Postal Service has issued several suggested subjects for its 1970s stamp. Popular voting at post offices and over the internet (www.usps.gov) will begin in September.

Here are a few of the political events that the Postal Service has chosen as potentially stamp-worthy: the women's rights movement (they already had the vote, so this can only mean abortion), Earth Day, the oil shortage, Watergate, the opening of China, and the U.S. bicentennial.

The only choice that's remotely appealing is the U.S. bicentennial, but that would mean a stamp commemorating a commemoration.

Any support out there for a "Charlie's Angels" stamp?

Literary Notes
David Kamp's generous verdict on Tom Wolfe in the September Vanity Fair: "A snob. Maybe even…a reactionary. But certainly not someone whose conservatism invalidates what he's done as a writer." Much the same could be said about Dostoevski.

Correction
Our Bulletin report last week that DCCC Chairman Martin Frost had conceded control of the next Congress was erroneous. The story originated in the Kentucky Post, but the House Race Hotline explains that a Post reporter had misread a DCCC press release.