For the Record - News Briefs - Brief Article

President Clinton, at fundraiser for Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.): "I'm not running for office, but I kind of wish I were." . . . Clinton criticizes GOP budget strategy: "If we were being attacked by space aliens, we wouldn't be playing these kinds of games." . . . Clinton, on whether he hurts Gore: "I think a lot of people who may not like me may hold it against him, but I don't think mature people hold one person responsible for another person's conduct." . . . Clinton, at fundraiser for First Lady: "The best gift I can give the American people now is to do my best to make sure that they know the person I love most in the world is without any doubt the ablest, most passionate, most committed, most visionary public servant I have ever known." . . . On night her favorite American League team wins World Series in New York, Hillary Clinton attends fundraiser 700 miles away in her native Chicago. . . . Next evening, on David Letterman's Late Show, Yankee players and coaches read "Top Ten Things the Yankees Have Always Wanted To Say." Pinch hitter Jim Leyritz: "Take off the Yankee hat, Hillary."

--Bill Bradley, during Oct. 27 town-hall meeting with Gore: "If I'm president of the United States, when it comes to urban public education, we're going to try this, we're going to try that, we're going to experiment here, experiment there." . . . Bradley on Sept. 9: "I decided to support vouchers on an experimental basis in several urban areas, in part to test the hypothesis of school-choice people, which is that it will improve public schools. Now we have [standardized] tests going on and I don't think those experiments are necessary." . . . In Iowa, Bradley says, "I remember the exact moment that I became a Democrat. . . . It was Democrats that stepped forward that evening in the Senate and cast their vote [for the 1964 Civil Rights Act] that washed away the stain of segregation in this country." Yet 82 percent of Senate Republicans (27 of 33) voted for the act, compared with 69 percent of Democrats (46 of 67). One prominent Democratic opponent: Sen. Albert Gore Sr. . . . Boston Globe quotes Gore mistakenly referring to late Sen. Barry Goldwater (R., Ariz.) as if he were alive: "I agree with him more and more as he moves to the center these days." . . . Asked which Republicans "could conceivably build bridges for you," Gore mentions Sens. Ted Stevens (Alaska) and John Warner (Va.). . . . Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, on Fox News: "Bradley versus Gore is like shopping for groceries in a Soviet supermarket. What's the choice?"

--In Zogby poll, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) leads Gore, 42 percent to 40 percent. . . . Self-financing of presidential bid forces Steve Forbes to sell control of his publishing company's voting stock. . . . California conservative Bruce Herschensohn endorses Forbes. . . . In New Hampshire, campaign headquarters of Gore, Gary Bauer, and Alan Keyes all housed in same building. . . . Sen. Bob Smith (R., N.H.) drops presidential bid, rejoins GOP. . . . U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to raise $5 million for 2000 elections. . . . In NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 4 percent are more inclined to support candidates who favor campaign-finance reform, 1 percent are less inclined, and 95 percent don't care.

--How Washington Post quoted Douglas Johnson of National Right to Life Committee describing partial-birth abortion: "pulling most of a living baby feet-first outside the womb." How the New York Times quoted Johnson, more fully: "pulling most of a living baby feet-first outside the womb, puncturing her skull, and removing her brain." . . . In Maine, two TV stations refuse to run ad supporting partial-birth-abortion ban because it is "inappropriate for younger viewers." . . . Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.) sponsors bill to override state laws so as to secure voting rights for felons on parole and probation. . . . "You have always respected the truth and have never engaged in any misleading or evasive conduct or practice," says FBI director Louis Freeh in note to Kenneth Starr, according to Newsweek. "Your objective has always been the promotion of justice and the safeguarding of the judicial process." . . . GAO predicts decline in first-class-mail usage starting in 2003. . . . Veronica Anderson, director of Florida's minority-business office, resigns after using state employees, tax dollars, and public property to combat anti- racial-preferences ballot initiative. . . . Defense Advisory Council on Women in the Services recommends submarines be refitted to accommodate female crew members. . . . Kosovo operations have cost $5 billion, says Pentagon.

--In poll, 20 percent of East Germans say they wish Berlin Wall were still standing. . . . House of Lords votes to revoke 800-year-old right of hereditary peers to sit in British Parliament. . . . Romanian parliament votes to compensate anti-Communist guerrillas in addition to political prisoners held by Communist regime. . . . Taiwan earthquake disrupts motherboard production, causing computer prices to rise internationally. . . . U.S. Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy on EU countries: "They've committed a tremendous amount of confidence, a tremendous amount of power . . . I think too much, to the judiciary." . . . British mercenaries say Syria is hiring, as President Hafez al-Assad and younger brother Rifaat al-Assad engage in power struggle. . . . Greek officials announce plan to rebuild Colossus of Rhodes, one of seven wonders of ancient world.