In interview with Michael Lewis of New York Times Magazine, Harold Ickes is skeptical of campaign-finance reform: “Money is like water. If there is a crack, water will find it. Same way with political money.” . . . U.S. News & World Report says that Rick Kaplan, Friend of Bill and new president of CNN, has told staffers to limit their use of word “scandal” in reporting on campaign-finance scandal. . . . In one news story, former Gingrich press secretary Tony Blankley finds “four not-for-attribution leaks by people close to Gore-not defending Gore, . . . but pointing their finger at other staffers. We saw that kind of activity in the Dole campaign in late September. That’s when senior staffers start being suspicious about whether their boss has got viability.” . . . L.A. Councilman Michael Woo (who lost 1993 mayoral race to Richard Riordan) plays ethnic politics: “Asian-Americans are facing the most profound crisis we have seen since the internment of Japanese-Americans over fifty years ago.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D., Tex.), while visiting Mars Pathfinder Mission Control Center, asked whether the Pathfinder had taken pictures of the American flag planted by Neil Armstrong in 1969. . . . Rep. Bill Paxon (R., N.Y.), in first major policy foray since resignation from House leadership, urges abolition of tax code by end of 2000. But in CBS anchor debut, Mrs. Paxon, former Rep. Susan Molinari (R., N.Y.), declares her support for women in combat. . . . Rep. John Boehner (R., Ohio) calls for returning any federal budget surplus to taxpayers. . . . Gov. Tommy Thompson (R., Wisc.): “For the last year and a half, I haven’t heard anyone from Washington-Disneyland East-talk about devolution of authority and giving power back to the states.” … ABC’s Peter Jennings lets Christopher Hitchens attack Mother Teresa during her funeral Mass.
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