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RISING MOON FOR BUSH
    The Washington Times offers a gushing endorsement of George W, arguing the GOPO candidate's better because Al Gore's a man of big government. The nod came as the Times was trying to inspire wider coverage of a story in which the paper, owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, claimed Al Gore withheld important information about Russia's arms sales to Iran. The story's considered legitimate by some reporters, but they've been put off by the paper's overplaying the reactions of Senate Repubs to the revelations. Meanwhile, The Washington Post buries the story as deeply as possible -- and quotes earlier exclusive reports in The New York Times in its tiny updates

GOP TO SPRING ITS 'OCTOBER SURPRISE' ON TAXES

The Republican Capitol Hill leadership this week will make President Clinton an offer he can't refuse - an end-of-session package to provide about $260 billion in tax relief over the next decade to middle class voters, including expanded individual retirement accounts. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and House Speaker Dennis Hastert say the package will be one of the last major pieces of legislation to be acted on before members of Congress go home to campaign. By the time we leave this place, we will have cut taxes for the American people, claimed Hastert, R-Ill. To force Clinton's hand, the GOPers will tie the package to raising the $5.15 hourly minimum wage by a dollar, with Lott saying, We won't have minimum wage unless small business tax relief is attached to it. The legislation will include raising the annual contribution limit for IRAs from $2,000 to $5,000 and for 401(k) plans from $10,500 to $15,000. A special IRA catch-up cap of $7,500 would apply to people over 50, and there would be tax credits to encourage more businesses to offer pensions. Another section will link small business tax measures to the minimum wage increase. They include a 100 percent deduction for health insurance costs for people who pay at least half their own premiums and an increase from $19,000 to $35,000 a year in the amount of equipment a business can write off through expensing rules. During this two-year session of Congress, Clinton has vetoed more than $1 trillion in GOP tax cuts, including a bill repealing estate taxes and a measure reducing the marriage penalty on two-income couples.

STANDING PAT: CULTURE WARRIOR HITS THE AIRWAVES

With George W. abandoning any hard-right stands to appeal to middle class voters, Pat Buchanan's taken up the slack with an ad on prayer in school and defending the Boy Scouts. Reform Party candidate Buchanan's ads will run in 24 states and 209 TV markets. The commercial opens with a teacher forcing apart the hands of a schoolgirl who is praying at her desk. They've taken God and the Bible out of our schools, a narrator intones. Pictures of Boy Scouts then flash on the screen. Now they're after the Boy Scouts, calling them a hate group because they won't let homosexual men be scout leaders, the narrator continues. It's time to take our country back from those who are tearing it down. George W. Bush and Al Gore will do nothing. One candidate isn't afraid to fight back: Pat Buchanan. The ad is the second in a $10 million media effort by Buchanan's campaign, but national polls report his support is fairly constant at 1 percent.

POLITICS 101?

' SPLITTING HAIRS ' In what's admittedly the most unscientific political measurement of the year, some puckish old-time GOP press operatives have established their own Gore hair watch. Inspired by the Veep's frequent coiffure changes, the Repubs claim they've developed a barometer of how he'll behave. If Gore's locks are fluffy in front to give more lift to the comb-over of the bald spot in back, the Veep's in full attack mode. But if Gore's forelocks are flat, providing less volume for the comb-over, he's in his laid back, kid-around-with-Regis mode. The operatives make zero claims for accuracy, and cheerfully confess the system was first inspired by copious amounts of gin guzzled during the first debate ' SAINT PUTS NECK ON LINE ON LINE FOR POLS ' There's mixed news for pols in the Vatican's latest choice of a saint. First, Pope John Paul II has named the first patron saint for politicians. However, he's Sir Thomas More, who defied King Henry VIII over the king's divorce - and the cranky monarch had Sir Thomas beheaded.

AL OF TROY? THE PARTIAL CHANGE

US News and World Report is reporting that abortion foes are issuing a warning to Catholic voters: Vice President Al Gore's newly fuzzed-up position on partial-birth abortion is a Trojan horse. Up to now, the veep has opposed legislation to ban the procedure and pledged to copy President Clinton's veto of any such law. His campaign home page mentions no exceptions. But to Catholic News Service, he backed a narrowly tailored ban that includes protections for the life and health of the mother. Says Gore: Common ground can be found. A simple reinvention? No, say abortion foes. It is a big lie designed to hide his extremist view on abortion, says Rep. Chris Smith, head of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.

FAIRY TALES, WANNABES AND TOADS

US N&WP also notes in its latest issue that Texas Gov. George W. Bush sounded like a danged environmentalist at the second presidential debate when he boasted about his plan to expand a federal conservation fund. Problem is Texas is just one of three states that haven't applied for their share of that same Land and Water Conservation Fund. A state official blamed paperwork woes but pledged to get the money. One use: protecting an endangered Houston toad.

NEEL IN LINE FOR TOP WHITE HOUSE JOB

Old pal Roy Neel's in line to be to Al Gore's chief of staff if the Veep wins, say sources in the telecom industry. Neel started with Gore in 1977, rose through the ranks with his boss, and then left several years ago to head the big-bucks telecom lobby for the Baby Bells. He's been on an unpaid leave from the phone barons since September, but can rejoin them after the election. Going back into government would cost Neel a bundle, but it would be hard to resist if Gore offers the top slot, industry sources add.

BRING ON THE PROZAC

The best jokes from late night TV this week included: After the first debate, they said Al Gore was too aggressive. And then they said for the second debate, he was too passive. But for the third debate, they got the medication just right. Also: Al Gore compared his performance in the debates to the porridge in `Goldilocks and the Three Bears.' The first was too hot. The second was too cool. The third one was just right. To which George W. Bush responded: 'I just started reading that book. Thanks for giving away the ending!'

HOLY MOSES! HESTON CALLS FOR JIHAD OVER GUNS

National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston's targeting the faithful to vote for George W. Bush by calling the presidential campaign a holy war to keep constitutional rights for gun owners. Flanked by Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Tom Ridge and the NRA's top staff, the actor famous for playing biblical heroes compared NRA members to the patriots who won independence from Great Britain. They won our freedom with bullets. But we can defend our freedom with ballots. That is the holy war, and it is a war, never doubt that, Heston told 700 people in Hershey, Pa. It is our duty to be blinded to everything else. The NRA's support is a key element in the GOP's strategy for carrying Pennsylvania, the fifth-largest state in terms in electoral votes. Earlier, statewide polls showed Gore with leads ranging into the double digits, but the race has tightened, although Gore's still ahead. The Dems have a 500,000-vote registration edge in the Keystone State -- but an estimated 1.2 million gun owners live there.

FOCUS ON WRONG WOMAN: CHRISTIAN OFFICIAL ADMITS AFFAIR, QUITS

A top official and radio announcer for the conservative Focus on the Family group that's criticized George W. Bush for not emphasizing family values has resigned because he had an extramarital affair. Mike Trout has abruptly quit the Christian group, and in an interview with The Gazette of Colorado Springs, he admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a woman other than his wife, and said he had no choice but to resign from a ministry that stresses the sanctity of marriage. Trout, 53, is best known as the on-air partner of the founder and leader of the ministry, James Dobson. Dobson is a key figure in the conservative Christian movement and earlier this year criticized Bush, claiming the candidate was sacrificing conservative values to appeal to a broader base. The ministry won't talk about the factors behind Trout's resignation, citing legal and privacy concerns. Trout, married for 31 years, declined to discuss details of the extramarital relationship, but said that the woman was not a Focus on the Family employee and that the relationship was over. The $116-million-a-year evangelical group relies almost entirely on donations from supporters.

RUDY'S ESTRANGED WIFE STARS IN 'VAGINA MONOLOGUES'

The estranged wife of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has been drawing cheers when she simulates the sounds of women having sex during her performance in the off-Broadway hit, The Vagina Monologues. Donna Hanover, an actress and television personality, delivers passages on lesbianism, orgasms, and the rape of Bosnian women during the 90-minute show, which also features actress Robin Givens. The Vagina Monologues is based on discussions with girls and women about their feelings for their anatomy. Hanover's three-week run had been scheduled begin May 30, but she postponed her appearance after the mayor announced he had prostate cancer. The couple announced plans to separate earlier this year, but continue to live at Gracie Mansion with their two children. Meanwhile, Giuliani has acknowledged having a close relationship with a pharmaceutical saleswoman, Judith Nathan. Hanover is a former television anchorwoman and has appeared in films and on television soap operas.

HILLARY LIED, COUNSEL FINDS; BUT SHE'S NOT HEADED FOR THE SLAMMER

Independent Counsel Robert Ray said yesterday that First Lady Hillary Clinton gave factually inaccurate testimony about her role in the White House travel office firings - but he won't prosecute Mrs. Clinton for perjury. Ray wrote in his final report released just three weeks before election day that the evidence established beyond a reasonable doubt that Mrs. Clinton played a role in the 1993 firings of seven White House travel office workers in the scandal dubbed Travelgate. But Ray also said he decided not to bring criminal charges against Mrs. Clinton because she may not have understood her conversations with White House aides back in 1993 were interpreted as orders to fire the workers. Mrs. Clinton flatly denies having a role in the firings, carried out in 1993 by then-White House administration chief David Watkins. The independent counsel concludes that Mrs. Clinton's sworn testimony that she had no input into Watkins' decision or role in the travel office firings is factually inaccurate, the prosecutor wrote. Mrs. Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, objected to Ray's conclusion as highly unfair and misleading, according to news service accounts. The suggestion that Mrs. Clinton's testimony was 'factually inaccurate' as to her role in this matter is contradicted by the final report itself, which recognizes she may not have even been aware of any influence she may have had on the firing decision, Kendall wrote in reply. The White House travel office workers who were bounced served at the pleasure of the president and could have been terminated without any reason. But a White House lawyer who worked for then-deputy White House counsel Vince Foster contacted the FBI to pass along rumors of financial improprieties before the workers were fired, Ray noted.

DEMS' CHANCES TO RETAKE SENATE FADE WITH CARNAHAN'S DEATH

The death of Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan almost certainly means the reelection of a Republican senator - and a major blow to the Democrats' bid to win back the Senate, which the Republicans control 54-46. Carnahan, 66, had been running even with Republican incumbent Sen. John Ashcroft, whose seat was one of those that Democratic strategists had considered vulnerable. The race was dead even for weeks; a recent poll taken for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave Ashcroft 45 percent and Carnahan 43 percent, or within the 4-point margin of error. But despite his death, Carnahan's name will remain on the ballot as the Democratic candidate because the deadline for changes has passed and ballots were being printed. That means any candidate chosen by the Democrats must run as write-in - an almost impossible task. Concerning who will control the Senate, a Carnahan victory was crucial for his party, according to CNN political analyst Bill Schneider. Democrats need a gain of five Senate seats to win a majority. Those gains are likely to come in eight states where Republicans are defending vulnerable Senate seats. One of those is Missouri. Meanwhile, news services quote senior aides to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as speculating that it will be almost impossible now for Democrats to gain the five seats. At the same time, the presidential race is also tight in Missouri, and Carnahan's untimely death could adversely affect the turnout of Democratic voters on November 7, hurting Al Gore's chances.

HI-TECH CROWD ENDORSES GORE, BUT GIVE BUCKS TO BUSH

Vinton Cerf, known as a bona fide ''Father of the Internet,'' has endorsed the presidential bid of a self-proclaimed inventor of it -- Al Gore. Gore's campaign said yesterday that Cerf is one of more than 420 hi-tech industry players who've decided to back the Veep's bid. Cerf played a key role in developing the Internet and related technologies while working for the Department of Defense. He's now a senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Technology for WorldCom. Inc. In addition to Cerf, other high-tech leaders endorsing Gore were: Xerox CEO Paul Allaire; Apple CEO Steve Jobs; Netscape founder Marc Andreesen; Rob Glaser, CEO and founder of Real Networks; Donna Dubinsky, CEO and co-founder of Handspring; John Doerr, a leading venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Leo Hindery, CEO of Global Center, Inc. Although Gore's backed by those big names, George W. Bush has pocketed a lot more of the industry's loot. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, as of Sept. 1, Bush collected $972,199 in contributions from the industry, nearly twice as much as Gore, who pocketed only $448,554.

MINOR MEMOS

'A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY ' Both presidential candidates can still fish for lots of undecided voters in the last weeks of the campaign, The Gallup Organization reports. Regardless of which candidate they're voting for, a third of likely voters who indicated a choice for president say they support their candidate only moderately, rather than strongly. These results, when added to those who are undecided, suggest that four in ten voters overall are not strongly committed to a candidate, the pollsters explain. That means the potential for major changes during the remaining three weeks appears quite significant, Gallup projects ' CHINESE DON'T LIKE BUSH 'China's afraid that George W. Bush would upset the ties between Beijing and Washington if he's elected, according to an official Chinese government magazine. In a commentary, the weekly Beijing Review said Bush views China as an adversary and was likely to deepen U.S. ties with Taiwan and also push ahead with anti-missile shield development. The most dangerous aspect of Bush Jr.'s position on U.S.-China policy lies in its destructive role in the tense relations between Taiwan and the mainland, said the journal, published by the State Council, China's cabinet. The article said ``war would be inevitable'' if the U.S. intervened on Taiwan's side in any military conflict that broke out if Taipei declared independence and prompted an attack by China. Republicans have been pushing for closer relations with Taipei, angering Beijing and causing concern about stoking tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Bush also favors pushing ahead with the National Missile Defense (NMD) and Theater Missile Defense (TMD), two programs bitterly opposed by China.

CLINTON LACKS MISSILES FOR NEXT 'WAG THE DOG'

GOP strategists who've been waiting for President Clinton to find another wag the dog moment before the election hope the lack of top-of-the-line cruise missiles will prevent a major October Surprise. Those operatives have assumed through the campaign that Clinton would discover a reason to launch a major, pre-election attack against terrorists, and last week's attack on a U.S. destroyer certainly set the stage. Clinton reaches for cruise missiles because they can attack sites protected by surface-to-air missiles without putting pilots at risk. For example, he used them three times during crucial moments in the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the resulting impeachment actions on Capitol Hill, raising suspicions that the military operations were merely diversions. First fired in anger during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the weapons have been used eight times since. But the heavy bombing in Kosovo last year depleted the Pentagon's stocks of the Tomahawks, according to several authoritative military publications. In 1999, the Navy contracted with Raytheon Co. to upgrade 624 Tomahawks so they'll be more effective, but that work won't be complete until October 2002. Of course, Clinton still has enough of the weapons for a relatively small-scale attack, but he lacks enough for the heavy bombardment that could best rally voters to Al Gore.

MILLER SEEN LEADING IN CRUCIAL GEORGIA RACE

Happy Dems appear likely to grab a seat in Georgia in their bid to take control of the Senate. The Dems have united behind Zell Miller, 68, a popular former two-term governor who was appointed in July to fill the vacancy left when Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell died of a stroke. Miller faces Mack Mattingly, a former senator elected on the conservative wave of 1980, but who was defeated in his 1986 reelection bid. Now, Mattingly is a decided underdog to Miller, who left the governor's office with an approval rating near 85 percent. Miller held a 59 percent to 31 percent lead over Mattingly in a recent poll -- and more than half of those surveyed said they didn't know enough about Mattingly to form an opinion.

PUBLIC DIVIDED ON HANDLING MIDEAST

Voters are deeply split on their attitudes towards dealing with violence in the Middle East, The Gallup Organization reports. In a recent poll, more than three-quarters of Americans said that the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli situation in the Middle East should be an important foreign policy goal of the United States. And in a Gallup poll conducted in 1998 for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, almost seven in 10 Americans (or 69 percent) identified Israel as an area of the world where the United States has a vital interest. However, in a poll released over the weekend, Gallup also found 74 percent said the U.S. should not take sides in the Middle East, while 16 percent favoring taking Israel's side and only 1 percent favoring taking the side of the Palestinians. Forty-one percent said they favored Israel in the conflict while only 14 percent sided with the Palestinians.

STUMBLING INTO LUCK

GOP strategists who seemed feckless several weeks ago when they had Dick Cheney flog military preparedness issues look like seers after a U.S. destroyer is attacked by terrorists. But one honest GOP flack refused to take any credit. We had Cheney talk about military preparedness because that's all he's really good at doing. We got lucky, he confides. The day after the attack, Cheney was on a bus tour through battleground state Ohio whacking the Clinton Administration for allowing the military to get rusty.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST

It's not his first choice, especially since it leans left, but George W. Bush is considering a stepped-up effort in Washington State. The reason: Liberal Ralph Nader is eating deeply into Vice President Al Gore's base, possibly clearing the way for a Republican capture of Washington's 11 electoral votes. In fact, the Bush team is dispatching its volunteer-driven Marshals and Strike Force to get out the vote for Bush.

`MILLIONAIRE' FEUD SNARES GORE

U.S. News & World Report' upcoming issue notes that Vice President Al Gore's exaggerations have claimed a victim, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestant Joel Foss. The Marysville, Wash., contractor faced this $64,000 question last Thursday: Al Gore was the basis for the main male character in which of these bestselling novels? A Separate Peace, Primary Colors, The Secret History, and Love Story. Foss saw a trick. He recalled that Gore repeated an erroneous report that he and Tipper were the basis for Erich Segal's Love Story. He remembered Segal saying he used a dash of Gore, a pinch of actor Tommy Lee Jones, and imagination to create Oliver Barrett IV. So he rejected Love Story and guessed Primary Colors and lost. Was the question fair? ABC says Segal now insists he derived a great deal from Al Gore. That's the furthest he's gone on it, but how was Foss to know? ABC wouldn't release Segal's letter. We didn't say that Al Gore was the only basis for the character, whines ABC. Says Foss, In my opinion, when they say Al Gore was the basis for it, that's singular; they didn't say a basis. The result: He's filing a grievance and hopes to return.

NATIVE AMERICANS, GREENS, RAISE BUCKS TO TAKE GORTON OFF THE RESERVATION

Pumped up by Sen. Slade Gorton's lackluster primary results, Native American tribes plan to put $1 million into his opponent's campaign while green groups have mounted a grass roots effort to end the career of the 72-year-old senator who's busy pumping pork. Washington State Republican Gorton took only about 43 percent of the primary vote, former Democratic Rep. Maria Cantwell got her party's nomination with 37 percent, but 13 percent went to fellow Democrat Deborah Senn - not good numbers for Gorton, who plans to spend $8 million this fall. The wealthy Cantwell has a $10 million budget. Meanwhile, Native American tribes long opposed to Gorton for his efforts to curtail their fishing rights spent $150,000 in the primary to soften him up and hope to spend $1 million on Cantwell's behalf. A whole lot of tribes have been slow to bring contributions in. Now, this primary has brought a tremendous amount of excitement, said Ron Allen, the first vice president of the National Congress of American Indians. He's also counting on money from casino-owning tribes in California. Meanwhile, the Sierra Club has long campaigned against Gorton, a supporter of greater logging in national forests. We've just gone up with a $125,000 TV buy on major stations to boost Cantwell as a greenie, says Bill Arthur, Northwest representative of the national environmental group. The club plans to buy additional time on cable TV next month and to distribute 200,000 printed voter guides highlighting alleged anti-environmental votes by Gorton, who's fighting back by using his position as chairman of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. For example, he snapped up $8.6 million in federal money to buy up privately owned land in the Central Cascades Mountains to be turned into a nature preserve.

ADAM CLYMER: NOW IMMORTAL AS INTERNET ASS(!!@0**&^%)

Just when everyone thought New York Times reporter Adam Clymer had faded back into the woodwork, the man George W. called a major-league asshole gains immortality through the Internet. A couple of enterprising folks have started a Web site called The Adam Clymer Fan Club. The site ( www.adamclymerfanclub.org ) does poke fun at Clymer, but it primarily satirizes the media coverage of political campaigns and politics in general. The two operators say little about themselves except that Liz drank coffee and stuffed envelopes for George McGovern at the age of nine and Jason is a nimble programmer and an Advil-gobbling freak. They claim to be unaffiliated with presidential candidates, parties, Clymer, The New York Times, or the local bridge club. Their only guarantee: We use the word 'asshole' on every page or your money back.

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