HELP ME OBI WAN KENOBI, YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE :

Washington Whispers (Terence Samuel , 8/5/02, US News)

Recount redux

A plan born in the wake of the 2000 Florida election crisis, when the GOP sent a strike force to the state for George W. Bush, will be dusted off for the fall House elections. Republicans are working on a "72-hour strategy" of sending Hill aides, lawyers, and lobbyists to the 20 to 40 key House districts to get out the vote for GOP candidates. "It used to be," said one planner, "that the Republicans worked hard all week and kicked back with a martini on the weekends. But that's when the Democrats and unions go to work and we lose. This time, we're fighting back."

Gotta run

Hill leaders are considering putting government spending on cruise control and quitting in September to campaign. Insiders say the move is the result of panic about having to vote on controversial spending hikes just weeks before facing voters. Under the plan, few appropriation bills would go to the House or Senate floors before the election. Instead, members would keep spending at current levels. Then, after the election, a lame duck Congress would do the heavy lifting.

The dark force

Steve Cambone, a top aide to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is famous for knocking heads with the Pentagon brass over the pace of reform. So some uniforms were delighted when Cambone was reassigned from the front office. But their joy was short lived. Carbone's new job is to evaluate major weapons, like those Rummy wants axed. "It's like Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars," says one official. "You think he's dead, but he's only been made stronger."

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 30, 2002 8:45 AM