■ For agreeing to sign welfare-reform bill, Bill Clinton gets thrashed by Washington Post, New york Times, and (of course) Mary McGrory. Says National Urban League Pres. Hugh Price: “It appears that Congress has wearied of the war on poverty and decided to wage war against poor people, instead.” . . . Appearing at fund-raiser celebrating Clinton’s 50th birthday: Whoopi Goldberg, Leslie Nielsen, Kenny Rogers, Carly Simon, Tony Bennett, Tim Conway, Maya Angelou, Aretha Franklin, Jon Bon Jovi. . . . After Dole critics speculate on/urge his withdrawal from presidential race, respected political analyst Stuart Rothenberg writes that their criticism is “nothing new, and nothing that deserves much notice. Someone needs to remind [them] that Dole won the nomination.” Rothenberg is particularly scornful of Arianna Huffington, “who for some incomprehensible reason thinks she has become a specialist in campaign organization and strategy.” But Rothenberg admits, “I find it increasingly difficult to imagine that Dole can come back to overtake Clinton—particularly in a three-way race.” . . . Good news for Dole: 84 per cent of an “insiders’ panel of members of the political media and consultants from both parties” surveyed by HOTLINE predict a Clinton win. A plurality also named Christine Todd Whitman as Dole’s smartest Veep pick. . . . RNC newsletter for veterans trumpets fact that Do Muoi, Communist Party Secretary General of Vietnam, told U.S. National Security Advisor Anthony Lake he hopes Bill Clinton wins re-election. . . . Coming up fast on the outside: Talkers magazine reports Harry Browne, Libertarian Party candidate for President, has become fifth-most-talked-about man in America on talk radio, after fellow candidates Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Ross Perot, and Richard Lamm.
■ House Chief Administrative Officer Scot Faulkner informs congressmen of “delays in the processing of the recent postcards on the Partial Birth Ban Act. . . . Since House Postal operations has been able to track measurable amounts, [starting] on July 3, the House as a whole has received in excess of one million postcards.” (Letter was quoted in Roll Call.) … At a Vermont Democratic fund-raiser, George Stephanopoulos said Rep. “Bernie Sanders has done a great job helping to battle the extreme politics of the right wing.” Sanders is a self-declared Socialist. . . . At rally featuring Louis Farrakhan, Rep. Barbara-Rose Collins (D., Mich.) says, “I have come under some of the most vicious and racist and vile attacks ever seen upon an African-American woman since Harriet Tubman. . . . [It’s] called persecution. Just like they crucified Jesus Christ, murdered Malcolm X, assassinated Martin Luther King. . . they come after me and anybody else who will join hands with you. But why? Why? Because you’re the have-nots.” . . . ACORN, left-wing group trying to increase minimum wage in cities and states around the country, files suit in California to exempt itself from state’s $4.25 minimum wage, arguing that “the more ACORN must pay each individual outreach worker . . . the fewer outreach workers it will be able to hire.” . . . One more hurdle for California Civil Rights Initiative: Sacramento County Superior Court Judge James T. Ford orders Attorney General Dan Lungren to rewrite ballot initiative to replace phrase “special preferences or quotas” with “affirmative action.” . . . But a gain for school choice: Franklin County (Ohio) Judge Lisa L. Sadler rules that students may use public money to pay for private and religious schooling.
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