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 "I'm Going Long in Kimberly-Clark"
* Toward the end of his life, there were stories about Howard Hughes’ aversion to contact with humans and the germs carried thereon – to the point where he wore Kleenex boxes on his feet instead of shoes, boots, slippers, sneakers or anything else.
* Now it comes to light that Donald Trump is also adverse to human contact, declining to shake hands for fear of getting some dread disease. If he wins the Presidency – if he even looks like he might get into the race seriously – I’m buying Kimberly-Clark stock. Or Becton Dickinson.
* A national Hotline poll shows that the infatuation with Bill Bradley v. George W was short lived. The new poll shows Bush beating Gore 54-33 and Bush beating Bradley 53-31.
* And the recent GOP unease about a potential third-party campaign? In three-way match-ups Bush is “held” to the following numbers depending upon who the third party candidate is: 57, 61, 61, 59, 58, 60, 62 and 54. Who “holds” Bush to 54 percent? John McCain.
* OK, class. Welcome to Politics 113: A primary election campaign is typically a subtractive effort. There are so relatively few people who are going to vote, a campaign peels the layers of the artichoke until you get to the heart which represents the identified voters who you then have to convince to vote for you. You don’t spend a great deal of time or money on the vast majority of people who are simply not going to vote in a primary.
* A general election campaign is additive. You throw as many people INTO the mix as possible and try to get slightly over 50 percent of them to vote for you.
* The Bush campaign is clearly pursuing a general election strategy – bringing as many people as possible into the process. Even if they only get three-out-of-five of those voters they get 60 percent of them. Look at the point above on the three-way race results. It appears to be working.
* The Republicans in Congress – who, by the way, are doing better than even they expected to be doing in the current appropriations process – will be happy to sail in George W’s wake if he is still showing this kind of strength 12 months hence.
* When the next Congress convenes President Bush might find himself with a numerical majority of 10-15 seats in the House, but with a WORKING majority of three or four times that number.
* Republican media maven Jim Innocenzi suggests that, despite the recent buzz, Elizabeth Dole will not soon leave the race. His take: Dole (and McCain) will wait to see if the expected Steve Forbes anti-Bush ads move the numbers.
* On the “Today” show this morning, Donald Trump Trump-eted a poll which said he could win the Presidency. The poll, according to Trump, was in the National Enquirer. The sample was made up of 1,000 likely voters … on Mars.
* He was on Larry King last night. Memo to political advisor Roger Stone: Do something with the man’s hair. Trump’s got a better ‘do than Hillary.
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