Announcing he was quitting as Bob Dole’s South Carolina co-chairman to take same job with Sen. Phil Gramm’s presidential campaign, former congressman Arthur Ravenel cited as reason Dole’s chief of staff, Sheila Burke: “She’s a former liberal Democrat, and she’s still liberal, and it’s said she has a great deal of influence over Senator Dole.” Noting recent outbreak of articles about Burke’s influence on Dole— including John Fund’s in Wall Street Journal and Rich Lowry’s in NR— Washington Post ran story with headline “Dole’s Chief of Staff Is Magnet for Criticism.” Post also quoted conservative activist Paul Weyrich: “I was the one to fire the first salvo. Anything good we’ve gotten from Dole has been over her dead body.” . . . Dole, though, has picked up support from unexpected quarter: Arkansas chicken mogul and former Clinton buddy Don Tyson, whose spokesman says “Bill Clinton’s election is the worst thing that has ever happened to Tyson Foods and the state of Arkansas.” . . . Air of inevitability to entry of Newt Gingrich into presidential race? Gingrich’s recent emphasis to interviewers that Majority Leader Dick Armey runs House on day-to-day basis may be Speaker’s way of preparing colleagues. Newt will take the plunge, says columnist Cal Thomas, who notes he wagered $50 with Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner—a bet Feulner wanted to withdraw after hearing a Gingrich address. . . . Phyllis Schlafly, chairman of Republican National Coalition for Life, says five GOP presidential candidates have signed pledge to support Republican platform’s pro-life plank: Phil Gramm, Pat Buchanan, Rep. Bob Dornan (Calif.), Alan Keyes, and Sen. Richard Lugar (Ind.). . . . On Democratic side, New York Times clearly worried about third-party threat to Clinton—it ran front-page article with unusually negative quotes about potential Clinton rival Jesse Jackson. Sample: Deneen Winn said, “. . . he’s better at giving speeches than doing anything.” . . . Buckpac alert: Former Connecticut Senator and Governor Lowell Weicker told USA Today he knows it won’t be easy but he’s thinking about presidential race as independent and—seeking to stir more controversy?—asserted: “I’m no damn fool.”
Behind the scenes at special Senate committee investigating Whitewater: Serious consideration given to calling former Whitewater special counsel Bob Fiske as witness. Fiske said he found no evidence that White House aide Vincent Foster was worried about Whitewater when he committed suicide. In Foster’s handwritten notes which were available to Fiske, however, the committee found plenty. Fiske was initially recommended for counsel’s spot by ex-Clinton counsel Bernard Nussbaum, who has emerged in committee hearings as leader of efforts to block police from searching Foster’s office. In private practice, Nussbaum and Fiske were friends and gave each other client referrals. . . . Whitewater panel member Sen. Frank Murkowski (R., Alaska) hit front pages by holding up Foster’s briefcase to show Clinton aides couldn’t have missed suicide note inside. He also prompted first Watergate-style malapropism from defensive Democrats. Thrashing around with briefcase, indignant Clinton defender Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) announced—in a quote gleefully used by conservative journalists—“When you pull the files out, the briefcase closes essentially shut. You can’t see in it. I can’t see in it. Nobody could see in it.”
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