Notebook

Bread And Butter Issues

By Megan Rutherford

TIME, April 28 -- Just four months ago, Governor William Weld signed legislation designating Boston cream pie as the official dessert of Massachusetts. But the state sweet tooth is not yet sated. Any day now, lawmakers may push forward on Senate Bill No. 1716, An Act Designating the Chocolate Chip Cookie as the Official Cookie of the Commonwealth. Then Weld will face the crunch of whether to sign or veto. (He is already on record as supporting the venerable Fig Newton.) Also on the menu: whether to make broccoli the official state vegetable.

Official foodstuffs of some other states:

Alabama	pecan
Georgia	Vidalia onion
Minnesota	morel mushroom
New Mexico	biscochito (an anise-flavored cookie)
New York	apple muffin
North Carolina	sweet potato
Ohio	tomato juice
Oklahoma	okra and chicken-fried steak

Pop Quiz:
What do Arkansas, Delaware, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin have in common?

Answer:
Milk is their official beverage

by James Carney, Janice M. Horowitz, Lina Iofaro, Emily Mitchell and Alain L. Sanders

Winners & Losers

The art of the deal

Winners

James McDougal
Bill's ex-buddy gets reduced pokey time for singing to Starr's Whitewater inquiry. Done deal

Jesse Helms
Gets overhaul of State Department, so allows vote on chemical-weapons treaty. Tough deal

& Losers

Robert Byrd
Bars aide's guide dog from Senate floor, but Lott wisely changes no-canines rule. Dumb deal

Benjamin Netanyahu
Police charges of trading influence is Israel's Bibigate and Labor's hope. Sweetheart deal?

The G.O.P. Campaign 2000 Tip Sheet

It's getting to be that time again. Even as Washington is paralyzed by campaign-finance reform, many Republican worthies are looking in the mirror and asking, "Why not me?" We haven't bothered with Jack Kemp and Lamar Alexander--they haven't stopped running--but everyone else is booking flights to New Hampshire and Iowa.

CANDIDATE JOHN ASHCROFT MISSOURI SENATOR SIGN OF RUNNING Talking the talk at New York media hot spots PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR As they say in Missouri, "You gotta show me" WANTS TO REMIND US OF: Thinking man's Pat Buchanan ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF: Pat Buchanan

[CANDIDATE] GEORGE W. BUSH TEXAS GOVERNOR [SIGN OF RUNNING] Has been interviewing top G.O.P. operatives [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] He's the only Republican with any swagger [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] Barbara Bush [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] George Bush

[CANDIDATE] ELIZABETH DOLE FORMER FIRST LADY CANDIDATE [SIGN OF RUNNING] Endorsed (again) last week at Harvard by husband Bob [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] Already has a good job [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] Maggie Thatcher [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] Anita Bryant

[CANDIDATE] ORRIN HATCH SENATE JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN [SIGN OF RUNNING] He's been whispering it himself--hoping someone will listen [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] Uh, oh, making friends with Ted Kennedy on health care [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] Honest Abe [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] Borin' Orrin

[CANDIDATE] JOHN KASICH HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN [SIGN OF RUNNING] He just got married [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] Has youth, energy but needs a decent haircut [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] Dennis the Menace

[CANDIDATE] JOHN MCCAIN ARIZONA SENATOR [SIGN OF RUNNING] Feeling out fund raisers [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] Time for a Republican Vietnam war hero [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] Sergeant York [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] The Bob Kerry of the G.O.P.

[CANDIDATE] COLIN POWELL FORMER CHAIRMAN OF JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF [SIGN OF RUNNING] No real ones, as usual [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] He's the colossus of the field--if he wants it [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] Colin Powell [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] Hamlet

[CANDIDATE] FRED THOMPSON TENNESSEE SENATOR [SIGN OF RUNNING] His $6.5 million request to investigate 1996 campaign abuses [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] No longer a jinx against movie stars in the White House [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] John Wayne [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] That guy in The Hunt for Red October

[CANDIDATE] CHRISTINE WHITMAN NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR [SIGN OF RUNNING] Her husband is telling everybody she is [PLAUSIBILITY FACTOR] She'll get the women's vote but not Ralph Reed's [WANTS TO REMIND US OF:] Princess Diana [ACTUALLY REMINDS US OF:] Princess Anne

Verbatim

"I wouldn't go to the bank on that."

--James McDougal, former Clinton business partner, sentenced to three years for fraud and conspiracy and now cooperating with Whitewater prosecutors, on whether the First Couple would be cleared of wrongdoing

"I am convinced that if most members of Congress did their own taxes, we would have had tax reform long ago."

--House Ways and Means chief Bill Archer, who favors a simpler, national sales tax

"A Cabinet job is a glamorous temp job...It's nothing more than that."

--Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on the Today show

"I was thinking of calling Senator Dole this afternoon. You know, Chelsea's about to go off to college."

--President Clinton, when asked at a White House press conference about Mr. Dole's $300,000 loan to Speaker Newt Gingrich