Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Senator Lazio

Monday, May 22, 2000

Before everyone writes off the open Senate seat in New York, lets take a quick peek at Rick Lazio's chances.

Lazio was first elected to Congress in 1992 defeating 18-year incumbent Tom Downey. 1992, remember, was not the best year Republicans ever had. And, Lazio beat Downey head-to-head on the Republican vs. Democratic lines.

Lazio has since won re-election with the following majorities: 68 percent in '94, 64 percent in '96 , and 66 percent in 1998.

We know that Members of Congress make very good Senate candidates. We need look no further backward than Chuck Schumer vs. Al D'Amato in New York.

Lazio is a member of the moderate wing of the House Republican Conference. Although Hillary will attempt to paint Rick as a card-carrying member of the VRWC, his voting record and his activities as a Member of Congress refute that tag.

Rick graduated from Vassar. Hillary graduated from Wellesley. You can lead a horse to Wellesley but you can't � well, never mind about that one.

The Zogby poll - taken Friday and Saturday, showed Hillary leading Rick 45.7 percent to 32.2 percent. Given the number of people outside the New York metropolitan area who had even HEARD of Rick Lazio, that 45.7 percent number may well represent the absolute ceiling of Hillary's support.

Put another, way, with Rudy Giuliani out of the race, Hillary gained only about one percentage point from the most recent poll which had been reported last Tuesday.

On the Presidential campaign front, the Hillary-Rudy-Rick deal has meant another week went by without anyone talking about Al Gore. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The U.S. astronauts aboard the shuttle Atlantis have docked with the International Space Station to do some repairs. Am I the only one concerned with the notion that the first contact with the orbiting station in a year is to do repairs? And it's not anywhere near ready for habitation? And it already has cost 60 billion dollars? (Although the New York Times chooses to put the cost as "eight dollars per year per American taxpayer).

It's safe to unlock the windows: With that 148 point loss on Friday, the NASDAQ composite index has lost about a third of its value from its high of 5132 this past March. However that index is still 45 percent ahead of where it stood last June.

Of all the standard sayings in sports ("going, going, gone;" "Let's get ready to rumble," and the like), none makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up like that guy who does the call of major horse races when he says "� and DOWN the stretch they come�!"

That fire in Los Alamos produced some interesting - and very nice stories. My friend, whose husband was overseas on business, was evacuated at about four AM and had time to take nothing but a laundry basket full of her three under-five-year-olds' clothes.

She found a room at one of the major hotels in Santa Fe which carries a rack rate of up to $220 per night. The cost? An evacuation rate of $25 per night. A policeman on duty carried the laundry basket from the car, helped her get the kids into the room, and made the children feel like it was a fun adventure.

Local radio stations were, in addition to broadcasting the status of the fire, had a constant stream of callers offering to take in families, household pets, and even horses. People out of the line of the fire also provided sustenance for the men and women fighting it. At one point a radio station put out a call for peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches as snacks for those on the line. 20 minutes later they called it off. Listeners had delivered over 600.

Her house is ok. She, the kids and her husband will be back home later this week.

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