WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
Ticket to the top? -- People all over Washington are talking about the change in the décor in Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., Senate office. It seems that Edwards, a multi-millionaire trial lawyer and potential presidential candidate, recently hung pictures of former presidents Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk on the walls of his office. Implicit in the move is the idea that he is starting to think presidentially and is looking for some kind of inspiration from the three former chief executives, all of whom were born in his state: Johnson in Raleigh in 1808; Jackson in a backwoods settlement in 1767; and Polk in Mecklenburg County in 1795.
What Edwards may have overlooked, and what is causing some to titter, is that all three men made their political careers, not in North Carolina, but in Tennessee, the home state of former Vice President Al Gore, who has not ruled out another bid for the office he lost narrowly in 2000.
Maybe the senator just wants to overlook the Gore-y details. Gore-Edwards '04 anyone?
A Politically Incorrect rumor -- The hot news on the 'Net that Politically Incorrect, the edgy late night talk show hosted by comedian Bill Maher, has been cancelled are not true.
According to executive producer Marilyn Wilson, "The rumors of our demise are premature, as Mark Twain might have said. ABC has told us nothing. We have a contract until the end of December. We will continue to show up and do the best shows we can every day until someone tells us not to."
The show, which came under post-Sept. 11 fire from some quarters because some objected to remarks by Maher that were, well, politically incorrect, airs on the ABC television network after Nightline -- whose demise was also the subject of much speculation in recent says.
Wilson says she, Maher, and the rest of the PI staff remain focused on the production of quality shows that present an unusual mix of opinion. "Where else on television can you find a show with the likes of (former heavyweight boxer) Evander Holyfield and (sex therapist) Dr. Ruth Westheimer talking about Andrea Yates? We will have a home somewhere, whatever happens," she says.
It's not my fault -- Legal experts and economists alike have decried the recent trend toward government lawsuits against businesses that try to force them to compensate the state for the costs associated with the misuse of legal products. Momentum may be building in the House to address the issue or part of it at least.
A head of steam is building up under Rep. Cliff Stearns', R-Fla., bill to protect gun manufacturers and sellers acting in compliance with the federal Gun Control Act from restrictions based on criminal or unlawful use of their products by others. The bill has the bipartisan support of more than 100 congressional co-sponsors. "Reducing gun violence depends on enforcing current laws and imposing new penalties for using firearms in a crime -- not on using frivolous lawsuits to attack legal commercial activities and the rights of law-abiding gun owners," Stearns said last year when the bill was first dropped.
Gimee an "A" -- An announcement was made late Tuesday by the search committee charged with finding a new president for Texas A&M University. The search for a successor to retiring President Ray Bowen had been, up to now, a closely guarded and secretive effort. One name that kept popping up was that of retiring Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas. According to the San Antonio News-Express, the members of the search committee and the regents who govern the university "have not confirmed or denied rumors about potential candidates." Longtime Washingtonians know the A&M presidency is Gramm's dream job -- or at least the one he has a decent shot of getting before November 2008. Sadly for him, his name was not on the list released Tuesday.
They may get some flak over this one -- According to O'Dwyer's PR Daily, the Washington-based public relations firm of Cohen and Woods International "has a $200,000 contract from the Congo to keep U.S. policymakers informed about "aggressor countries" surrounding the war-torn central African nation. The firm's president, Amb. Herman J. Cohen, was assistant secretary of state for African affairs between 1989 and 1993.
According to O'Dwyer's, "C&W's contract calls for it to 'discourage U.S. and other external support or sympathy for so-called rebel groups,' and to 'encourage the United States" to maintain pressure on aggressor countries to fully remove their military forces and intelligence personnel from the Congo.' The firm also is to whip up U.S. 'outrage at the human rights atrocities' allegedly taking place in the eastern section of the Congo that is under rebel control."
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