*HOUSE FOR OUSTING SADDAM: The House of Representatives voted 296 to 133 on October 10 for a resolution authorizing President Bush to go to war, if necessary, to disarm Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power. Among the dissenters was an interesting group of six Republicans. Three-James Leach (Iowa), Connie Morella (Md.) and Amo Houghton (N.Y.)-are the "usual suspects" one sees dissenting from the initiatives of a President of their own party. Three others, however, were more conservative members known for their independent streaks: Ron Paul (Tex.), John Hostettler (Ind.) and John (Jimmy) Duncan (Tenn.).
At press time the Senate, likely to pass the resolution by an even-more-lopsided majority, was expected to vote either late Thursday night or Friday. Next week’s HUMAN EVENTS will carry the complete House and Senate rollcalls.
*SMITH DEMURS: With polls showing Rep. John Sununu, the Republican Senate candidate in New Hampshire, running even with or slightly behind Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, state Republicans are concerned that Sen. Bob Smith (R.-N.H.) has not lifted a finger to help Sununu. Since his concession speech after losing to Sununu in the September 10 Senate primary, Smith has not spoken a word in public to support the GOP congressman. Worried Republicans also note that Smith refuses to denounce a "write-in Bob Smith" campaign that they say can only help elect Shaheen. He even went so far as to decline a White House invitation to accompany President Bush to a fundraiser for Sununu in New Hampshire on October 5.
Asked last Thursday by HUMAN EVENTS if Smith has helped Sununu at all since making his concession speech, a Smith staffer just sent another copy of that speech and no statement repudiating the write-in effort. Staunch conservative Sen. James Inhofe (R.-Okla.) on October 4 tried to convince Smith to help Sununu, but to no avail. "Sen. Inhofe urged him to do something about this write-in campaign for the good of the cause, but Sen. Smith argued the other way, saying that’s not what he was going to do right now," Inhofe Press Secretary Gary Hoitsma said.
*MISS AMERICA SPEAKS OUT: In "American Scene" in last week’s HUMAN EVENTS (page 20), Lisa De Pasquale described how officials for the Miss America pageant were trying to muzzle their new queen, Erika Harold of Illinois, by preventing her from promoting sexual abstinence among teens. A story in the Washington Times last Wednesday made the same charge. Pageant officials finally backed off. "If I don’t speak about it now as Miss America, I will be disappointing the thousands of young people throughout Illinois who need assurance that waiting until marriage for sex is the right thing to do," Harold told reporters at a coronation ceremony for her successor as Miss Illinois.
*TAX CUTS: Badgered by Republican members looking for some relief for investors, the House Ways and Means Committee last week approved two tax relief bills that were scheduled to be voted on this week. One (HR 1619) increases the amount of capital losses investors can deduct against earnings to $8,250 from the current $3,000. The other (HR 5558) hikes the tax-free contributions workers can make to their IRAs from $3,000 to $5,000 in 2003, replacing the gradual increases in last year’s tax bill. (To the disappointment of many GOP members, however, Ways and Means did not approve any tax abatement for dividends-an idea endorsed by President Bush in August but subsequently not proposed as legislation by the White House.) Even if, as expected, the two committee-approved bills pass the House, there is little chance the Senate will take them up before leaving.
*SIMON SELF-DESTRUCTS? California Republicans are almost inconsolable following a blunder by GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon that will surely live in campaign infamy. Simon last week repeatedly, and falsely, accused Democratic Gov. Gray Davis of illegally accepting a campaign contribution four years ago in his lieutenant governor’s office. The controversy arose from their debate October 7, during which Simon asked Davis if he had ever accepted a contribution in a state office. Davis denied it. At news conference after the debate, Simon said he had "evidence" Davis had done it.
The next day, Simon claimed he had "proof" Davis had illegally accepted a contribution from the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs in his state office. It turned out, however, that this "proof" was a photograph taken not in a state office, but in the Santa Barbara home of Democratic fundraiser Bruce Karatz. Simon finally retracted the allegation, and Davis responded by calling on Simon to withdraw from the race. In a brutal assessment, University of California politics Prof. Bruce Cain told the San Francisco Chronicle, "This is now just a case of a corpse kicking himself."
