For the Record

■ How long does Pat Buchanan plan to last? Until June anyway, and the California primary, despite Richard Nixon’s suggestion that he should pull out. (However, he did indicate willingness to consider his former boss’s advice to stop targeting George Bush and shift his sights to Bill Clinton.) . . . Right-wing economist Thomas Sowell says Buchanan has given Republicans a way of saying they’re fed up without voting for David Duke. “People are sick and tired of being betrayed by politicians, including the President.” . . . Buchanan’s Midwestern scores are equal to Jerry Brown’s and his stand on the economy is paying off. According to Washington Post, his criticism of Bush for breaking no-new-taxes promise “has resonated in every primary, with Buchanan voters much more likely than Bush voters to list taxes as a voting issue.” . . . Brown will take advantage of the “cantankerous” atmosphere of April 7 New York primary, according to Curtis Wilkie in the Boston Globe, for no strategy of Bill Clinton’s “can fully prepare for guerrilla strikes by Brown in the urban jungles of New York.” . . . However, Clinton has proved adept at pushing aside what Mario Cuomo calls “personal stuff,” like the attempt to avoid being drafted. When Dan Quayle ran into this problem in 1988, there were four times as many news stories about it as have been printed or aired about Clinton’s draft avoidance. . . . One reason, according to New Republic senior editor Hendrik Hertzberg, is that reporters like Clinton: “They think he would make a very good, perhaps a great President.” . . . The lack of funds—which Paul Tsongas blamed for his withdrawal—has affected all the candidates in vivid contrast to four years ago. Recession, and fact that an incumbent President is running, are blamed. By February 1988, $149 million had been raised for the field of candidates—five times as much as this year’s $32 billion. The same phenomenon is reflected in PAC contributions. In 1988 Automobile Dealers had raised $2.3 million; this year, $1.2 million.

■ House of Representatives’ check-kiting scandal was followed by cocaine deals in the House post office reported by the Washington Times, but the rest of the press wasn’t interested. As for the check scandal itself, liberal columnist Michael Kinsley pooh-poohed the whole thing. Forget it, he told his readers—“Get serious. Grow up.” . . . The withdrawal of Democratic Sen. Brock Adams following sexual-harassment charges has spared Washington-state Democrats considerable embarrassment; their choice to replace him is former Rep. Mike Lowry. The several Republicans who have announced for the seat include Rep. Rod Chandler and State Sen. Leo Thorsness, a Vietnam POW. . . . New Hampshire Gov. Judd Gregg is eyeing Senate seat of retiring two-termer Warren Rudman (R.). Gregg spent eight years in House before moving to statehouse in 1988, succeeding John Sununu. … United Nations Ambassador Thomas Pickering was fired by Secretary of State James Baker’s spokesman, Margaret Tutwiler, be-

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■ How long does Pat Buchanan plan to last? Until June anyway, and the California primary, despite Richard Nixon’s suggestion that he should pull out. (However, he did indicate willingness to consider his former boss’s advice to stop targeting George Bush and shift his sights to Bill Clinton.) . . . Right-wing economist Thomas Sowell says Buchanan has given Republicans a way of saying they’re fed up without voting for David Duke. “People are sick and tired of being betrayed by politicians, including the President.” . . . Buchanan’s Midwestern scores are equal to Jerry Brown’s and his stand on the economy is paying off. According to Washington Post, his criticism of Bush for breaking no-new-taxes promise “has resonated in every primary, with Buchanan voters much more likely than Bush voters to list taxes as a voting issue.” . . . Brown will take advantage of the “cantankerous” atmosphere of April 7 New York primary, according to Curtis Wilkie in the Boston Globe, for no strategy of Bill Clinton’s “can fully prepare for guerrilla strikes by Brown in the urban jungles of New York.” . . . However, Clinton has proved adept at pushing aside what Mario Cuomo calls “personal stuff,” like the attempt to avoid being drafted. When Dan Quayle ran into this problem in 1988, there were four times as many news stories about it as have been printed or aired about Clinton’s draft avoidance. . . . One reason, according to New Republic senior editor Hendrik Hertzberg, is that reporters like Clinton: “They think he would make a very good, perhaps a great President.” . . . The lack of funds—which Paul Tsongas blamed for his withdrawal—has affected all the candidates in vivid contrast to four years ago. Recession, and fact that an incumbent President is running, are blamed. By February 1988, $149 million had been raised for the field of candidates—five times as much as this year’s $32 billion. The same phenomenon is reflected in PAC contributions. In 1988 Automobile Dealers had raised $2.3 million; this year, $1.2 million.

■ House of Representatives’ check-kiting scandal was followed by cocaine deals in the House post office reported by the Washington Times, but the rest of the press wasn’t interested. As for the check scandal itself, liberal columnist Michael Kinsley pooh-poohed the whole thing. Forget it, he told his readers—“Get serious. Grow up.” . . . The withdrawal of Democratic Sen. Brock Adams following sexual-harassment charges has spared Washington-state Democrats considerable embarrassment; their choice to replace him is former Rep. Mike Lowry. The several Republicans who have announced for the seat include Rep. Rod Chandler and State Sen. Leo Thorsness, a Vietnam POW. . . . New Hampshire Gov. Judd Gregg is eyeing Senate seat of retiring two-termer Warren Rudman (R.). Gregg spent eight years in House before moving to statehouse in 1988, succeeding John Sununu. … United Nations Ambassador Thomas Pickering was fired by Secretary of State James Baker’s spokesman, Margaret Tutwiler, be-