For the Record

■ How will accusations of infidelity and draft dodging hinder performance of front-runner Bill Clinton? Unfavorable rating in South has risen since (Jennifer Flowers’s allegations of 12- year affair, reports Washington Post’s Thomas B. Edsall. Edsall, however, sees Clinton as only Democrat who has successfully convinced southerners that he’s able “to heal past wounds and go back onto the presidential battlefield.” Georgia Gov. Zell Miller argues: “If [Clinton] does well in New Hampshire, that puts him over the threshold”—i.e., he’s considered electable by southern leaders. And with Georgia (March 3), South Carolina (March 7), and Super Tuesday (March 10: Missouri, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas) in near future, a lead going into home territory could seal nomination. . . . Second 15 minutes of fame? John Doggett, who thrust himself into Clarence Thomas hearings, and who is Yale Law classmate of Clinton, has come out in support of Arkansas governor following Flowers flap. . . . Paul Tsongas seems beneficiary of Clinton troubles, but Richard Nixon comments: “Tsongas is too responsible to be nominated by the Democrats.” . . . Ralph Nader is available and hoping for a write-in endorsement as Democratic nominee. Criticizing Republicans and Democrats, Nader insists he is “trying to get the campaign out of the rut, get the press out of the rut, of covering the rut”—something he thinks he’s succeeding at, since “we’ve had the biggest crowds of any candidate by far.” . . . Observers note that a majority of polling places now have voting machines, making write-in votes more difficult—supporters of Mario Cuomo take note. . . . Meanwhile Pat Buchanan stormed through the state like “the pit bull of the Right,” according to political columnist Martin Nolan, and the Bush campaign “has responded by emptying its kennel of Rottweiler surrogates,” meaning Newt Gingrich and William Bennett, who spoke in New Hampshire. . . . Buchanan has now finalized national-campaign team on strength of support in New Hampshire. Chairman is sister Bay Buchanan, veteran treasurer of Reagan campaigns, and youngest U.S. Treasurer ever. Scott MacKenzie, president of Washington consulting firm, is campaign treasurer; L. Brent Bozell III, head of Media Research Center, finance chairman; Paul Erickson, national political director. Erickson is a 12-year veteran of past GOP campaigns.

■ London Sunday Telegraph reports odd contrast between Clinton—Flowers and its own Paddy Ashdown (leader of Liberal Democrats) and Patricia Howard, who, unlike America’s Flowers, urged Ashdown to button up regarding the couple’s brief extramarital fling five years ago. Surprise: Ashdown’s poll figures rose after public learned of affair. Nicholas Farrell laments blow to British pride: “their Bill Clinton gets the raunchy cabaret artiste, our Paddy Ashdown the modest grandmother.” … In Commonwealth of Independent States, Russian President Boris Yeltsin unilaterally proposed major arms cuts, and Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, armed- forces chief, said this was quite all right because the need for arms hardly existed any more. “As for potential enemies,” he declared, “we simply do not have them.” . . . Also putting conflict, including the collapse of the worldwide but locally based BCCI, behind him, the Sultan of Abu Dhabi plans to build a Persian Gulf Disneyland at cost of $2.5 billion on coastal island named “Lulu,” which means pearl. It will be the Gulfs biggest entertainment complex. … In Rome, medical student Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the dictator, is running for parliament in April. Alessandra, member of the neo-Fascist MSI, says that “there is now a reassessment of how much grandpa Benito did for Italy.” . . . “Sorry ladies,” 62-year-old PLO leader Yasir Arafat wed 28- year-old secretary, comments Saturday Night Live’s Kevin Nealon. . . . Author Jack Koehler presented Ronald Reagan with pleasant birthday surprise: ninety-page Stasi top-secret file of KGB and Cuban intelligence reports on Reagan. 1988 files paint former President as “firm and unbending politician for whom words and deeds are the same” and as man who will regain U.S. power internationally, which, files say, were lost during Carter years.

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Presidential Election

■ How will accusations of infidelity and draft dodging hinder performance of front-runner Bill Clinton? Unfavorable rating in South has risen since (Jennifer Flowers’s allegations of 12- year affair, reports Washington Post’s Thomas B. Edsall. Edsall, however, sees Clinton as only Democrat who has successfully convinced southerners that he’s able “to heal past wounds and go back onto the presidential battlefield.” Georgia Gov. Zell Miller argues: “If [Clinton] does well in New Hampshire, that puts him over the threshold”—i.e., he’s considered electable by southern leaders. And with Georgia (March 3), South Carolina (March 7), and Super Tuesday (March 10: Missouri, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas) in near future, a lead going into home territory could seal nomination. . . . Second 15 minutes of fame? John Doggett, who thrust himself into Clarence Thomas hearings, and who is Yale Law classmate of Clinton, has come out in support of Arkansas governor following Flowers flap. . . . Paul Tsongas seems beneficiary of Clinton troubles, but Richard Nixon comments: “Tsongas is too responsible to be nominated by the Democrats.” . . . Ralph Nader is available and hoping for a write-in endorsement as Democratic nominee. Criticizing Republicans and Democrats, Nader insists he is “trying to get the campaign out of the rut, get the press out of the rut, of covering the rut”—something he thinks he’s succeeding at, since “we’ve had the biggest crowds of any candidate by far.” . . . Observers note that a majority of polling places now have voting machines, making write-in votes more difficult—supporters of Mario Cuomo take note. . . . Meanwhile Pat Buchanan stormed through the state like “the pit bull of the Right,” according to political columnist Martin Nolan, and the Bush campaign “has responded by emptying its kennel of Rottweiler surrogates,” meaning Newt Gingrich and William Bennett, who spoke in New Hampshire. . . . Buchanan has now finalized national-campaign team on strength of support in New Hampshire. Chairman is sister Bay Buchanan, veteran treasurer of Reagan campaigns, and youngest U.S. Treasurer ever. Scott MacKenzie, president of Washington consulting firm, is campaign treasurer; L. Brent Bozell III, head of Media Research Center, finance chairman; Paul Erickson, national political director. Erickson is a 12-year veteran of past GOP campaigns.

■ London Sunday Telegraph reports odd contrast between Clinton—Flowers and its own Paddy Ashdown (leader of Liberal Democrats) and Patricia Howard, who, unlike America’s Flowers, urged Ashdown to button up regarding the couple’s brief extramarital fling five years ago. Surprise: Ashdown’s poll figures rose after public learned of affair. Nicholas Farrell laments blow to British pride: “their Bill Clinton gets the raunchy cabaret artiste, our Paddy Ashdown the modest grandmother.” … In Commonwealth of Independent States, Russian President Boris Yeltsin unilaterally proposed major arms cuts, and Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, armed- forces chief, said this was quite all right because the need for arms hardly existed any more. “As for potential enemies,” he declared, “we simply do not have them.” . . . Also putting conflict, including the collapse of the worldwide but locally based BCCI, behind him, the Sultan of Abu Dhabi plans to build a Persian Gulf Disneyland at cost of $2.5 billion on coastal island named “Lulu,” which means pearl. It will be the Gulfs biggest entertainment complex. … In Rome, medical student Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the dictator, is running for parliament in April. Alessandra, member of the neo-Fascist MSI, says that “there is now a reassessment of how much grandpa Benito did for Italy.” . . . “Sorry ladies,” 62-year-old PLO leader Yasir Arafat wed 28- year-old secretary, comments Saturday Night Live’s Kevin Nealon. . . . Author Jack Koehler presented Ronald Reagan with pleasant birthday surprise: ninety-page Stasi top-secret file of KGB and Cuban intelligence reports on Reagan. 1988 files paint former President as “firm and unbending politician for whom words and deeds are the same” and as man who will regain U.S. power internationally, which, files say, were lost during Carter years.