The Week

■ Outgoing, and if that isn’t proof of God, what is? Rep. Pat Schroeder (D., Colo.) instructed Sen. Al D’Amato (R., N.Y.) to stop the “witch hunt” against Hillary Clinton. Ahhh . . . le mot juste.

■ The Republican loss of Bob Packwood’s Oregon Senate seat shouldn’t come as a shock, even though conservative businessman Gordon Smith had a good chance to pull off a long-shot victory there. Instead, Rep. Ron Wyden, the Portland liberal who in his 15 years in Congress has famously managed to avoid learning Bosnia’s location or the name of the Canadian prime minister, squeaked through by a paper-thin 1 per cent margin. If Wyden’s win is hardly a harbinger of a liberal revival, it does point to some Republican weaknesses, especially on the environment. Wyden made crucial inroads among suburban women with the issue, which Republicans have consistently mishandled over the last year (they have yet to find a convincing way to defend free-market environmental reforms). Meanwhile, liberal coalition groups demonstrated that they still have some weight to throw around, dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into ads that made a mockery of Wyden’s “100 per cent positive” campaign. The Teamsters ran a shameful radio spot accusing Smith of, in effect, being responsible for the death of a 14-year-old at one of his companies. Smith, a top-notch candidate, almost overcame it all, even prevailing among older voters, according to one exit poll, despite the usual Democratic Mediscare campaign. The GOP should take heart: if a conservative message almost takes in ecotopian Oregon, it can sell anywhere.

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■ Outgoing, and if that isn’t proof of God, what is? Rep. Pat Schroeder (D., Colo.) instructed Sen. Al D’Amato (R., N.Y.) to stop the “witch hunt” against Hillary Clinton. Ahhh . . . le mot juste.

■ The Republican loss of Bob Packwood’s Oregon Senate seat shouldn’t come as a shock, even though conservative businessman Gordon Smith had a good chance to pull off a long-shot victory there. Instead, Rep. Ron Wyden, the Portland liberal who in his 15 years in Congress has famously managed to avoid learning Bosnia’s location or the name of the Canadian prime minister, squeaked through by a paper-thin 1 per cent margin. If Wyden’s win is hardly a harbinger of a liberal revival, it does point to some Republican weaknesses, especially on the environment. Wyden made crucial inroads among suburban women with the issue, which Republicans have consistently mishandled over the last year (they have yet to find a convincing way to defend free-market environmental reforms). Meanwhile, liberal coalition groups demonstrated that they still have some weight to throw around, dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into ads that made a mockery of Wyden’s “100 per cent positive” campaign. The Teamsters ran a shameful radio spot accusing Smith of, in effect, being responsible for the death of a 14-year-old at one of his companies. Smith, a top-notch candidate, almost overcame it all, even prevailing among older voters, according to one exit poll, despite the usual Democratic Mediscare campaign. The GOP should take heart: if a conservative message almost takes in ecotopian Oregon, it can sell anywhere.