WHICH Hall of Fame baseball hero cooperated with a best-selling biography only because the author promised to keep it secret that he is gay? The author kept her word, but big mouths at the publishing house can't keep from flapping. Page Six
And this from Liz Smith:
Sen. Hillary Clinton's being named to head the Democratic Steering Committee of the Senate, a post being vacated by Massachusetts' John Kerry, is a very big deal - coming, as it does, on the heels of the GOP's Trent Lott debacle. It's making waves because Sen. Clinton has been in the Senate for only two years and there are others with much more seniority. But after being unable to seem to do anything right for months on end, the Democrats aren't taking any chances. They believe Hillary's smarts, her savvy and her connections will stand them in good stead while the "steerers" set up a strategic organization role inside the Senate, deciding on policy, messages and strategy.
Minority Leader Tom Daschle wanted Hillary in this important spot and, of course, he got his way. (Many believe that by mid-January, Daschle will announce that he is going to run for president in 2004. He is said to be weary of working in the Senate.)
And here's Democratic inside stuff on Al Gore's decision to step out. They think he may well try again in 2008. They say he realized that people who go for the presidency twice in succession always lose and that he'll take a leaf from the book of Nixon who avoided that and lived to fight and win another day.
.... (T)he Cheneys are ready to more or less pack it in. Lynne, in particular, feels she is living in a nightmare. She has had it. And Dick Cheney can easily be named an Ambassador at Large by the president if the veep does not join the 2004 ticket.
So who will George W. Bush select? Many think he has already decided on Condoleeza Rice, the National Security Adviser, to be his running mate. "It would be a Karl Rove Special," says one observer, "to put Condi in this spot. Her profile right now is huge; she has just been on the cover of Newsweek and she is all over the Bob Woodward book at Rove's doing. She would go a long way toward changing African-American hard feelings exacerbated by Sen. Lott's foolishness. She would be the GOP's secret weapon for mending that racism fence for good. And, anyway, Mary Matalin's departure from Cheney's staff is a real good indication that the veep is going to step aside for 2004."
The only cavil I hear about Condi as veep comes from those who know her well and feel she isn't the type to campaign. She doesn't go out; she isn't social; she isn't political; she isn't married; she's enigmatic. Nevertheless, Karl Rove could use her judiciously in a low-key manner for African-American and feminist votes.
That and they know if they don't tow the line MacAwful won't give them any of that DNC money.
Also, Liz Smith as political pundit? ahahahaahaha!!