Plus: A slogan for Lieberman.

Leiberwoman! Dick Morris vs. Hillary Clinton is sort of the truth-seeker's version of the Iran-Iraq war, but Morris does seem to have Hillary cornered  on the Judith Leiber handbag issue. ... 1:16 A.M.

Thursday, October 10 , 2002  

Memo to Carl Hulse: Welfare bill not quite dead yet, kf hears. ...5:59 P.M.

The Welfare Reform Angle to the Year of the Switcheroo: In an earlier item, I suggested that Sen. Max Baucus of Montana was vulnerable to attack as weak on welfare reform. Apparently, Baucus'  GOP opponent, Mike Taylor, attempted to raise the issue earlier this year, and it didn't take. But now Taylor has pulled a Torch and quit the race (after the Democrats ran an ad with archival footage of "Taylor applying lotions to the face of a man siting in the barber chair ....wearing a tight-fitting, three piece suit, with a big-collared open shirt"). ... Perhaps former governer Marc Racicot  or Lt. Gov. Karl Ohs  -- the rumored Lautenbergs in this potential switcheroo -- will be able to more effectively use the historically potent welfare issue. ... Should Racicot or Ohs (or anyone of either party) want details on Baucus' welfare backsliding, kausfiles stands ready to provide guidance. The welfare bill written by Baucus as chair of the Senate Finance Committee was so riddled with anti-work loopholes it probably derailed the "reauthorization" of the 1996 welfare reform this year. ... He's to the left of Hillary Clinton on this issue. (Hillary signed on to the more centrist  New Democrat Bayh-Carper bill) ... I would guess that

 "BAUCUS -- GUTS WORK REQUIREMENTS FOR WELFARE RECIPIENTS"

over a nice grainy photo would work well. ... But what do I know. I thought the 1970's hairdresser look was back in. ... Hey, Montana! There's nothing hipper! (It worked for Warren Beatty in Shampoo!) ... Update: You can view the anti-Taylor ad here. It's a fabulous, highly-refined exercise in sleazy, leering innuendo, especially the final few nanoseconds in which Taylor's hand reaches down, down. .... 1:16 P.M.

ABC's "The Note" reports that Sen.Joe Lieberman will spend part of Monday at a "meet-and-greet with a local state senator." In Lieberman's home state of Connecticut? No, in New Hampshire. ... Let's see -- Lieberman sold out his principled skepticism about affirmative action in his craven "please don't end it" grovel at the Democratic convention in 2000. He's sold out the DLC's principled skepticism about un-reinvented big government by championing the ossified civil service system (on behalf of organized labor) in the current Homeland Security debate. All the while he's managed to maintain the grave, furrow-browed, ostenstatiously-anguished hauteur of someone who's just more morally serious than the rest of us. Which suggests a slogan for his 2004 presidential campaign (offered here gratis):

LIEBERMAN.  HE HAS SO MANY MORE PRINCIPLES TO SELL OUT.

11:41 A.M.

Be careful what you wish for: First New Jersey Republican Senate Candidate Douglas Forrester called on the doomed Robert Torricelli to quit. Now California Governor Gray Davis has called on his doomed GOP opponent, Bill Simon, to "drop out of the race." As Orrin Judd notes, that's not such a bad idea. Republicans would be crazy not to think about it. It's all the rage! ... Schwarzenegger probably wouldn't jump in as a write-in candidate. But what about popular moderate L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan? .. For any other Californian wanting to get two weeks of press attention and establish their name statewide by doing "better than expected," it's the political opportunity of a lifetime. ...You don't even have to be a Republican. You just have to not be Gray Davis. ... I might run myself if I didn't have the dry cleaning to pick up. ...Remember: Write-in candidates have until October 22 to file the necessary 100 signatures. No need to rush! ... [Link via Instapundit]  1:29 A.M.

All Your Base Are Staying Home: Just when it looked as if the election story was about to change from 'War Talk Helps GOP' to something more promising for the Democrats, WaPo's best self-hating Dem, Thomas Edsall, would point out that not only is the Iraq debate overshadowing the Democrats' pet economic issues (the ready-to-fade Conventional Wisdom) but Democratic support of Bush on the war is also alienating the activist base the party needs to get to the polls in a low-turnout mid-term election. Edsall reveals that "[d]irect-mail donations to the DNC took a nosedive in August and September."  Direct-mail results are a "barometer of activist support," he notes. ...1.11 A.M.