Capital briefs

* BROWN lN? Rumors have been swirling that President Bush will soon nominate California Supreme Court Justice Janice Brown, an African-American, to the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia. The San Jose Mercury News reported last week that the FBI is now interviewing people who know Brown as part of the routine background check given federal judicial nominees.

Appointment to the D.C. appeals court, where Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas both served, would appear to put Brown on the fast track for a Supreme Court nomination. But it could also put her on track to become a political football a la Miguel Estrada: Democrats could filibuster her confirmation, and the Republicans, rather than fight to get her through, could make her a 2004 campaign issue. Known for her sharp dissent from a 1997 decision that overturned a California parental notification law on abortion, Brown has been called by one admiring California conservative, "Clarence Thomas in a skirt."

* DEAN'S DOLLARS: Reports released July 15 show that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) are leading the Democratic presidential pack in fundraising. Dean, who has mobilized a left-wing Internet army, led all the other Democrats by raising $7.6 million in the second quarter. He now has $6.4 million cash on hand. Kerry raised $5.9 million, and has $10.9 million cash on hand. Meanwhile, President Bush has $32.6 million cash on hand.

* KUCINICH IN KNOTS: On July 15, MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews confronted formerly pro-life Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D.-Ohio.) with a statement Kucinich made in a speech to the Human Rights Campaign, a pro-gay political group: "I would nominate any gay to the Supreme Court, or lesbian or bisexual or transgendered person to the Supreme Court, as long as they were ready to uphold Roe v. Wade" Said Matthews: "In other words, you will only accept judges on the Supreme Court who totally disagreed with you your entire life until recently when you decided to run for President.... It looks like pandering and it looks like, I don't know what. Hypocrisy of the worst kind. But go ahead. Explain it." Kucinich couldn't.

* NO MONEY FOR UNFPA: Pro-life champion Rep. Chris Smith (R.-N.J.) succeeded in keeping funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) out of the State Department reauthorization bill (HR 1950), when the House voted 216 to 211 on July 15 to reject an amendment that would have restored the funding. President Bush has refused to disburse U.S. funds to UNFPA, but the amendment would have removed that decision from his discretion.

* COLORBLIND IN COLORADO: Not only does conservative Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R.) oppose last month's Supreme Court ruling approving the use of race as a factor in admitting students to state colleges and universities, but he's also willing to fight it. Owens said July 7 he would consider signing a bill to restrict or eliminate the use of race in admissions to Colorado public colleges and universities. Colorado State Sen. Jim Dyer (R.) plans to introduce a bill to that effect when the Colorado legislature meets in January.

* BAGHDAD BOYS: Some familiar conservative names are now in Iraq helping to oversee post-war reconstruction. Bob Reilly, formerly head of the Voice of America, is working to establish a free media presence in the country. James K. Haveman, longtime head of Michigan's health department under Republican Gov. John Engler, has been tapped to advise the health ministry.

* AU REVOIR, ARI: On his final day as White House press secretary last week, Ari Fleischer was pelted with questions on Iraq. Mark Knoller of CBS inquired whether "today's briefing reinforce[s] your decision to leave." Fleischer shot back that the tense final day in the pressroom reinforced his decision "to write a book."

Serving cake to reporters, Fleischer singled out HUMAN EVENTS' John Gizzi, whom, he told the guests, "I have known longer than any other reporter except one other." Gizzi and Fleischer met in 1984, when Gizzi wrote about some of the candidates Fleischer worked for that year. The only White House reporter Fleischer has known longer, he said, is Adam Nagourney of the New York Times. Nagourney covered the first race Fleischer worked on: Republican Jon Fossel's 1982 challenge to then-Rep. Dick Ottinger (D.-N.Y).

* IRAQ BACK IN 1998: On July 16, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan brought up some interesting quotes from Senate Armed Services Ranking Member Carl Levin (D.-Mich.) and Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and the danger they posed to America. "And you do have to raise the question about certain members of Congress now who are trying to rewrite history, they're trying to revise history. The last thing anyone should do is politicize this issue by rewriting history," said McClellan. "In a letter to President Clinton, one member of Congress ... urged the President to, quote, 'take necessary actions to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction program. By its refusal to abandon its quest for weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them, Iraq is directly defiant in challenging the international community and directly violating the terms of the cease-fire between itself and the United States-led coalition.' That was Senator Levin back in 1998."