Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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We're In The Doldrums, Captain Aubrey

Monday, June 12, 2000

Sum-mer-time; And the campaigns are sleazy. (To the tune of "Summertime" from the Gershwin and Heyward opera, "Porgy & Bess")

Click here or a really cool image of the title page of the Porgy & Bess manuscript, go here:

Al "I-Will-Never-Allow-the-Use-of-Soft-Money-for-Attack-Ads" Gore, last week stood idly by as the Democratic National Committee began a series of - guess what? Attack ads using soft money.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Gore campaign is reneging on its promise, it is also mildly interesting that the issue of soft-money continues to be a problem for the Gore-istas. Here's why:
         -- The Vice President needs to keep saying that he is opposed to soft money to try and inherit the McCain mantle of "reformer"; BUT
         -- After a fundraiser a couple of weeks ago at which the top ticket was a cool half-million, the Democratic National Committee has all this soft money to spend; AND,
         -- The only legitimate reason Attorney General Janet Reno had to refuse the appointment of a special prosecutor in the Forty-Fund-Raising-Phone-Calls-From-The-White-House case (which is alliterative if not illiterate) was because she ruled that raising soft money was not illegal - only raising hard money would have been illegal.

Soft money's flowin'; And there's ad time to buy.

The Republican National Committee, not to be outdone, immediately returned fire with an ad of its own on the Social Security issue. The RNC was bolstered by a poll reported in USA Today that 65 percent of likely voters favor Bush's plan of letting people put a portion of their Social Security taxes into investment accounts while only 30 percent oppose Bush's plan.

In more poll stuff, AP's Ron Fournier points out in a summary piece: "National polls show the race is tight, after Bush held slight leads in recent weeks. Bush remains ahead in the more important state-by-state battle, however, with leads in enough states to give him more than two-thirds of the 270 electoral votes required to win the White House. Gore is ahead in enough states to give him fewer than half the votes he needs."

On the New York Times' web page, yesterday morning here were the three AP headlines in the breaking news column - the ONLY three headlines: "Clinton Touts Higher Education;" "Clinton Plans Paid Leave Guidelines;" and, "Hillary Clinton Takes the Stage." If Al Gore wants to break into the New York Times, he may need to buy a crowbar.

The DEMs are rich; GOP is good look-in'.

Another excellent summertime headline for Gore, this time from the Christian Science Monitor: "Gore's summer chore: Inspire the party faithful: From environmentalists to unions, dedicated Democrats seem ho-hum about the vice president." Here is the lead from Alexandra Marks' piece:
"From union workers to environmentalists to women, some of the most crucial Democratic constituencies, Mr. Gore is struggling to ignite the kind of passionate loyalty that propels activists to not only get out and vote, but to motivate others as well.
"They're the ones that provide critical support on election day, manning phone banks, driving car pools, and passing out leaflets at precincts. Without them, the Democrats could be in real trouble come November."

Dick Polman, the Philadelphia Inquirer's senior national political reporter, provides still more beach reading for the Gore campaign:
"He is 66, and his clout in the capital has waned in this era of special-interest lucre. He roams the land sleeping in people's homes. He currently lacks the cash for TV ads. And his rival for the Green Party presidential nomination is a former punk rocker who played with the Dead Kennedys.
"All the same, Ralph Nader may prove to be Al Gore's worst nightmare."

"Don't Break Your Arm Patting Yourself on the Back" Dept.: Mullings was recognized as the "Site of the Month" in the June edition of "Campaigns and Elections" magazine under the heading "Partisan Commentary. An excerpt from the article:
"Galen's daily Mullings are a compilation of his thoughts, usually on news subjects and always topical. He manages to say what other Republican partisans are thinking, giving everyone talking points for that night's dinner party."

Thanks, in advance, to Editor-in-Chief Ron Faucheux, Managing Editor Pete Wendel, and Associate Editor Mary Clare Jalonick for not firing the person whose idea this was. Thanks, too, to Mike Azinger GOP candidate for Congress from Southeastern Ohio for pointing it out.

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