Talk Show Host Jerry Springer To Decide on Senate Run

And now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine:

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Repercussions for Her Remarks
Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur accuses malevolent political hacks of misconstruing remarks in which she compared Usama bin Laden to America's founding fathers. The Toledo Blade published Kaptur's comments earlier in the week.  Not surprisingly, Republicans have leaped to criticize the very liberal Democrat. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay predicts Democrats will, when it comes to Kaptur's gaffe, "Don their earmuffs" and look the other way.  Republican Tom Reynolds of New York says it's "outrageous" that Kaptur would compare bin Laden to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. But Kaptur says she merely wanted to note a "rising revolution being felt across repressive regimes of the Arab and Islamic world…Not to recognize the magnitude of the fervor that is being turned against America, " she says, "is to ignore the real enemy."  "The American people," Kaptur continues, "understand the power of revolution"-- and that is the context, she says, for her reference to the American Revolution.

Seeking Senate Seat?
Talk show host Jerry Springer says he will decide this summer whether to run for the U.S. Senate from Ohio. The TV host and former politician, says if he were to become a senator, he'd address the needs of people "being snubbed by a government that doesn't pay any attention to them."  Springer says one thing hasn't changed since his stint as a Cincinnati councilman and mayor in the 1970s. He still considers himself a sentinel of ordinary  people -- like those on his show. "I get along with people like that every day," he says. "It's just that the people in the Senate dress better."

Fuel Isn't the Only Thing Affected
And finally, war jitters are affecting more than just gasoline prices. About 500 high school students in Canoga Park, Calif., were marching against U.S. policy toward Iraq this week. But the Los Angeles Daily News reports some of them broke off their march to loot a gas station convenience store and break its windows. The store's owner, Masood Behroozi, said, "I know they are kids and they are young, but if they really love peace, they should show that they at least believe what they say."