STAY, PAT, STAY
A major attraction of running for president on the Reform ticket for Pat Buchanan has to be the chance he will get to debate George W. Bush. If that's what he wants, maybe Bush should give him what he wants: He could offer to debate Buchanan in order to keep him in the party. Bush can't relish the prospect of debating Buchanan, but if Buchanan bolts he'll have to do it anyway. Even if Buchanan declines the offer, Bush would look magnanimous--even as he subtly suggests that Buchanan is leaving the GOP for egotistical reasons. Heck, Bush could even afford to give Buchanan the $12 million the Reform Party would have provided him.

TEXAS TWO-STEP
Texas Attorney General John Cornyn may be the most popular Republican in college faculty lounges around his state, now that he has rescinded his predecessor's legal interpretation of the Hopwood decision. According to Cornyn, Democrat Dan Morales overreached when he blocked state universities from using racial preferences for admissions, financial aid, and recruitment. The effect of his ruling is not immediately clear, because Cornyn also advised Texas schools not to change their current policies, even those adopted after Hopwood, for fear of sparking new lawsuits.

But he inexplicably suggested that because the Supreme Court hasn't settled the question of the constitutionality of racial preferences once and for all, his state isn't obligated to follow a decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals: "We caution that the law concerning the consideration of race in higher education programs is in flux and is likely to remain so in the near future," said Cornyn in a written statement. "Only the United States Supreme Court can resolve these sensitive issues with any degree of certainty."

This is peculiar. Circuit courts of appeals are not normally treated as advisory panels for the states and their jurisdiction, their recommendations to be accepted or rejected as local politicians please. States are typically considered to be bound by their rulings, even if they conflict with decisions made by other circuits affecting other states. And while we all wait for the Supreme Court to issue more statements on racial preferences--something that might have happened last year if liberal civil-rights groups hadn't offered go-away money to the Piscataway plaintiff--its rulings, especially in the Podberesky case, deeply informed the Hopwood decision.

Presidential candidate George W. Bush so far has dodged requests to describe, in detail, his views on racial preferences. Some conservatives would actually prefer that he continue to do so. But thanks to Cornyn, this is now an issue he can no longer ignore.

So, Governor, did your Attorney General do the right thing?

PROFILE IN COURAGE
Vice President Gore, on whether President Clinton's clemency offer to Puerto Rican terrorists is a good idea: "The proper course of action is to wait to review the analysis now underway that will be presented to the White House later this week and I'll defer judgment until that time."

IRONY, ANYONE?
The Associated Press reports that Clinton, after hearing about the new Waco revelations, is "deeply concerned that the Attorney General appears to have been misled and may have been lied to."