Who's Who.

Tom Daschle won a recent poll of congressional staffers as the Best Leader in the Senate. According to the Washingtonian, the magazine that conducted the poll, "Daschle pulled more than twice the votes GOP runner-up [Don] Nickles did--and a quarter of Daschle's votes came from Republicans."

Other winners were Barney Frank as both the Brainiest and Funniest member of the House, Tom DeLay and Barbara Mikulski as the meanest, and Trent Lott for "Weakest Spine" and John McCain for "Strongest Backbone" in the Senate. One winner that outsiders never would have guessed was Jesse Helms for "Just Plain Nice" But the only senators who drew votes from both sides of the aisle in this category were Thad Cochran and Joe Lieberman.

As preparations were underway for the presidential debates, the press was full of rumors that the George W. Bush camp was not eager to have their candidate debate with Al Gore on prime time. There was little hard evidence to :support the rumors, but the Wall Street Journal did report "The Republicans favor Sunday morning talk shows." Then came the actual Bush proposal which included two shows, each of which is shown on just one network, and one of which is-- surprise, surprise-- Tim Russert's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning.

To celebrate Bill Clinton's 54th birthday, the White House staff threw a party on the South Lawn. The entertainment was a lecture by Chief of Staff John Podesta, advising the president on how to prepare for life outside without White House chefs, limos, and Air Force One. Among the visual aids presented by Podesta were color charts showing how to order from a Chinese menu and a photograph of an airline boarding pass: "You actually need one of these to get on the airplane." He also explained about red lights. "Red means stop, yellow means slow down, actually green means go--except when driving in New York yellow means hit the gas."

By now everyone knows that Al Gore wrote his own acceptance speech. But who wrote George W. Bush's? The answer is a former U.S. News & World Report staffer, Mike Gerson.

Was there a connection between the Big Kiss and what many people think was the best speech of Al Gore's career? We can't be sure, but it does appear that Tipper played a role in an earlier high point in her husband's life, his NAFTA debate with Ross Perot. The story is told by David Gergen in his new book, Eyewitness to Power. Earlier in the evening, Gergen and Gore staffers Jack Quinn and Michael Shehan had been trying to help the vice president rehearse, but Gore appeared "frozen" and they came close to despair about his prospects. As they were ready to get in Gore's car to go to the debate, Quinn said to Gergen: "Don't get in the limo. You and I and Michael should all ride in the backup. Let Tipper get in there alone with him."

Gergen continues. "Now I don't know what happened in those next 20 minutes. But I can say that when Gore got out of that limo on the other end, he was transformed. Clark Kent had turned into Superman. He was ready to crush Perot."

We have to admit that we haven't had too many nice things to say about George W. Bush, but on one issue we're 100 percent with him. He hates cell phones. One of his staffers told Paul Bedard of U.S. News & World Report, "There's no more heinous offense" than having your cell phone ring in his presence, especially during a meeting.

On the other hand, "Al Gore loves to strap a cell phone on his belt and even answers others when they ring"

When David Dreier, a Republican congressman from California, attended a candidate's school in 1978, he ran into George W. Bush, who told him, "I've got the greatest idea of how to raise money for the campaign. Have your mother send a letter to your family's Christmas card list. I just did and I got $350,000!"

These pages have not been notable for their praise of Ken Starr, but the man does have a good side, A recent article in The Washington Post reveals that Starr has been showing up "at Anacostia High School every week for the 9 a.m. class in constitutional law." Anacostia is a largely black and largely underprivileged area and Start has teen volunteering his services.

Did this year's vice presidential nominees come as a surprise? To most of the media pundits they did--and to a lot of others as well. Al Kamen's "In the Loop" column in The Washington Post has a devoted following among this town's political junkies. Early this summer, he announced a contest to see who could select both vice presidential nominees. Not one guessed both candidates. Only ten picked Joe Lieberman. And just two predicted Dick Cheney. So much for the Washington wise guys!

If the Washington wise guys aren't so wise, how about the professors? We don't know who they picked for the vice presidency, but we do know--courtesy of Reuters--their predictions for the November election. All of them say Al Gore will win. Emory University's Alan Abramowitz says Gore will get 53.2 percent of the major party vote; Christopher Wiezien of the University of Houston and Columbia's Robert S. Erikson say 55 percent; James E. Campbell of Buffalo University gays 52.8 percent; and Thomas M. Holbrook of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee predicts a whopping 60.3. That would almost certainly produce a Democratic majority in Congress. Dick Gephardt must feel the speaker's gavel in his hand.

We think Hillary Clinton will make a dandy senator, but we have to concede that her political judgment is not all that it might be. Her speech at the Democratic convention hogged too much prime time in the opinion of everyone we've talked to. And David Gergen's new book confirms George Stephanopolous' view (outlined in our May 1999 issue) that she made the greatest political mistake of the Clinton administration--the decision to stonewall on Whitewater which led to the appointment of the independent counsel and the endless investigation that plagued the Clintons for the next five years. Gergen says: "She should have said yes [to the full disclosure of Whitewater documents] from the beginning, accepting short-term embarrassment in exchange for long-term protection for herself and her husband" Why didn't Bill Clinton--who had told Gergen "I believe we should turn over all the documents"--overrule his wife? Our best guess is that it was because just before the stonewall decision was made, The American Spectator and the Los Angeles Times published the Arkansas State Troopers' accounts of the president's sexual misconduct, and Bill Clinton was, like most husbands in similar hot water, in no position to argue with his wife.