A good week for professional politicians, thanks to Donald Trump. The real-estate magnate announced a loony plan for erasing the national debt — and made everyone yearn for presidential candidates who at least have a passing familiarity with public policy. He proposes a "one-time wealth tax" of 14.25 percent on the richest one percent of Americans. Trump apparently believes that his wealthy peers also have a one-percent share of the nation's intelligence and will stand still while the government confiscates $5.7 trillion of their assets. Of course, the proposal could enjoy the enthusiastic support of Reform Party members whose founder was another rich guy peddling populist poppycock.

Not all professional politicians fared equally well this week, of course. Two challengers enjoyed "gaining momentum" stories--Forbes in Iowa and McCain in New Hampshire, although the frontrunner Bush maintains his commanding lead in national polls. The CBS/New York Times poll showed McCain actually slipping further behind Bush since last month, from 14 percent in the polls to just 8.

But, in unwelcome news for Gov. Bush, his failure on the foreign-leaders pop quiz had legs, featured all week in the late-night standup routines. Leno, Letterman, and company are pegging the governor as a lightweight who doesn't much care to know much of anything. More thoughtful observers, like the Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby, worried about Bush's confrontational manner when confronted with the gotcha questions. Jacoby thinks Gov. Bush appeared contemptuous and disdainful during the questioning. He recommends that Bush wipe "the smirk off his face," and start taking questions seriously. Good advice.

Meanwhile, Vice President Gore, already straining under the weight of Clinton baggage, picked up another piece of it this week with the revelation that it may have been his election prospects that prompted the President's decision to grant clemency to the FALN terrorists. The White House's concern with "the VP's Puerto Rican position" was disclosed in a memorandum sent to the Hill in response to a request for documents from Dan Burton. While the First Lady initially supported the clemency offer and then opposed it, the memorandum might explain the VP's reluctance to express any opinion on the matter — he is worried about appearing ungrateful. He's probably not feeling very thankful now.