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Clinton Thought Marriage WAS the Penalty
Friday, February 11, 2000
From Dallas, Texas
Russ Varney, former chairman of the Reform Party, said yesterday it was possible Ross Perot's party might look to Senator John McCain as its nominee if he loses his bid for the Republican nod. Varney was in the Dallas NBC studios when he suggested this possibility.
Jesse Ventura, the only major elected official of the Reform Party, has suggested he may leave the party at a press conference later today. This may have more to do with the new football league begin formed by the guys who run professional wrestling than it does any disagreements with Ross Perot.
Steve Forbes left the race yesterday. Who will get the votes of his supporters is a matter of some conjecture. Forbes' people believe most of his vote in South Carolina will go to McCain which would answer the question: Why did Forbes leave before the South Carolina primary? If Forbes thought staying in would have hurt George W he would have done that.
McCain held a series of fund raisers around the country last night including one at the Willard Hotel a block from the White House in Washington. That particular fund raiser was to allow Washington lobbyists who had previously lined up behind Bush to hedge their bets. In the words of one McCain staffer: "They are doubling down on McCain."
McCain's folks are very, very good at getting the best of both worlds. Buttons were to be handed out at the Willard Hotel event to lobbyists with the words: "John McCain Voted Against My Bill."
The Willard Hotel, interestingly enough, is the place in which the term "lobbyist" was coined. Because of its proximity to the White House, high ranking government officials often ate, drank, slept, and met there in the mid-1800's. People who were interested in influencing government decisions would hang around in the lobby and block-long hallway which bisects the hotel and collar government officials as they moved around the hotel. Lobby. Lobbyists. The more things change�
The McCain campaign, as we discussed the other day, wanted the campaign to focus on the ads both sides are tossing at each other. They wanted the matter of Bush's money to be the closing issue of the campaign. However, a Washington Post story by Dan Balz and Susan Glasser yesterday discussed the matter of how much money Bush's campaign has raised and spent which makes it difficult to sustain as an issue for nine days.
Reporters in South Carolina are telling Mullings that the McCain on-the-ground people are now beginning to say he only has to be close to Bush, not beat him on February 19th to claim success.
In Congress - remember Congress? - the House Republicans passed a bill to end what is known as the "marriage penalty" which causes many married couples to pay more in federal income taxes than they would if they were single and filing separately. (For a quick look at the House-passed bill go here).
Bill Clinton said he would veto it. It was not clear from the early reporting, yesterday, whether he was opposed to it because it gave tax breaks to more people than he wants it to; or, because there is a chance that in the near future Bill and Hillary might not qualify to take advantage of it.
Al Gore appeared on the Jay Leno show last night. No word on whether NBC demanded Leno have a complete physical prior to Gore's appearance.
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