With his rapid rise in the polls, Steve Forbes has picked up first major endorsers, former Sens. Malcolm Wallop (R., Wyo.) and Gordon Humphrey (R., N.H.), both conservatives. Supplyside guru Jude Wanniski says, “All of the other candidates are budget balancers; Steve is not.” But after taking a pounding from Bob Dole and Phil Gramm for opposing the Balanced Budget Amendment, Forbes says he would support one with a supermajority requirement to raise taxes. Forbes moves toward pro-lifers; campaign manager Bill Dal Col says his position on abortion is “aligned with the Christian Coalition.” . . . In survey by Elaine Donnelly’s Center for Military Readiness, candidates Lamar Alexander, Pat Buchanan, Dole, Robert Dornan, Gramm, and Alan Keyes express opposition to Clinton Administration policies on women in combat, gender-norming, military affirmative action, missile defense, gays in uniform. . . . Pat Buchanan pledges to require voter approval for major Supreme Court decisions. . . . Meanwhile, liberal Americans for Democratic Action endorses Bill Clinton. Board member Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) says that “people on the liberal side are going to mobilize in ways they haven’t probably since Barry Goldwater.” Al Gore warns that “right-wing fringe” could take over the White House: “We simply cannot afford to take anything for granted, not now, and not for the rest of the year.” . . . Republican pollster Frank Luntz predicts a Democratic victory: “It angers me to say this, but Bill Clinton has to be given the edge. The [campaign] team is incredible, and I’m afraid that we won’t put our A-team out there against them.” . . . Not helping Administration’s cause: confidential audit report obtained by Los Angeles Times saying that Commerce Sec. Ron Brown, outstripping even Transportation Sec. Hazel O’Leary, has exceeded travel budget by 55 per cent; total Dept. travel bill for 1994: $68 million.
With retirement announcement of Sen. Bill Cohen (R., Me.), number of voluntarily departing senators (13) breaks previous record of 12 in 1896. U.S. Term Limits estimates that their taxpayer-funded pensions will total $27 million—plus $2.9 million for Bob Packwood. . . . In Oregon’s mail-in race to replace Packwood, Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Ron Wyden are running neck and neck. Also in Oregon, conservative Bill Witt runs for Senate seat of departing Mark Hatfield (R.). . . . In Massachusetts, Gov. William Weld (R.), positioning himself for challenge to Sen. John Kerry (D.), used his State of the State address to discuss the victims of corporate downsizing—to the applause of liberal Boston Globe. . . . Reversing earlier decision, House Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts will run to replace retiring Kansas Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum. . . . Iowa’s Sen. Charles Grassley and Gov. Terry Branstad, both Republicans, are thinking about running for each other’s jobs. Branstad, courting social conservatives, calls for tougher divorce laws in his State of the State address. . . . Damage control: Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle (S.D.) threatens to defund Senate Whitewater inquiry as waste of money. DNC chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.) charges investigators “are fully engaged in the presidential election battle.” . . . Newt Gingrich cancels fund-raising appearances with conservatives who voted against his proposal to re-open the government, prompting Sen. Larry Craig (Idaho) to call on him to apologize to Rep. Helen Chenoweth (Idaho) for doing “a tacky thing.” Dissenting Reps. Chenoweth, Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), John Hostettler (Ind.), and Mark Souder (Ind.) remain unrepentant. . . . Another perspective on the budget: Media Research Center calls attention to CBS reporter Scott Pelley beginning a Jan. 2 CBS Evening News story from the Oklahoma City Social Security office: “In April, terrorists tried to kill them. Today politicians stopped their paychecks.” ‘. . . Overlooked in budget battles: back in November, five major Republican pollsters wrote a joint letter explaining that “there is simply no way to overstate the importance of the middle-class tax cut . . . to our credibility as a political party.”
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