ISLAND HOPPER
Bill Bradley adopted what ought to be the Republican position on Puerto Rican statehood during a visit to the island on Monday: "As long as the people of Puerto Rico select commonwealth status, I will respect that commonwealth status and work with the people of Puerto Rico and Congress to even obtain more autonomy." He aligned himself with local politicians who oppose statehood, in contrast to Vice President Gore, who is closely tied to pro-statehood Gov. Pedro Rossello.

Many establishment Republicans have urged Puerto Ricans to seek statehood, even though voters there routinely reject the idea in referenda and the island would almost certainly elect a congressional delegation dominated by Democrats.

NR called the campaign offices of both George W. Bush and Steve Forbes to learn where the candidates stand on the matter of Puerto Rican statehood, but neither had responded by press time.

SCHOOL'S OUT
Michigan governor John Engler recently said he has "never supported [school] vouchers" during his nine years in office, adding that he won't sign a petition to help put an initiative on the November 2000 ballot. "This is a proposal ... that may or may not be the right answer" for improving education, he told the Detroit Free Press. The initiative would amend the state constitution to permit indirect aid to private schools, which is currently prohibited, and give vouchers worth about $3,100 to children in school districts with dropout rates higher than 33 percent.

Engler aides tell NR that the governor does not have a philosophical opposition to vouchers, but believes the political timing of the initiative couldn't be worse. The polls are not favorable, they say, and Sen. Spencer Abraham, seeking re-election against a strong challenger, won't be helped if he shares the ballot with a school- choice initiative.

"We want nothing out there to energize Democrats in 2000," says one Engler official. Republicans currently control both chambers of the Michigan legislature, but their lead in the House is narrow--and losing control jeopardizes their post-census reapportionment strategy. National politics also play a role in Engler's opposition: "If we don't elect a president who can appoint sympathetic Supreme Court justices, the school-choice movement will die anyway," says the aide.