Bill on the Ballot?

And now the most captivating two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine:

Bill on the Ballot?

Now that John Kerry is the presumptive Democratic candidate, a piece in the New York Times is pushing Kerry to pick Bill Clinton as his running mate, insisting --"Mr. Clinton's strengths would compensate for Mr. Kerry's weaknesses almost perfectly."

The piece, written by NYU law professor Stephen Gillers, says that while the 22nd Amendment says -- "No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice," that's not an issue because Mr. Clinton would be running for vice president, not president.

But the Times piece never mentions the 12th Amendment, which says -- "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States."

Facade of Self-Righteous Certainty?

Eminent former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite is condemning what he calls -- "the Bush administration's facade of self-righteous certainty," specifically calling President Bush's opposition to gay marriage -- "obnoxious."

But Cronkite, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, says that one of the reasons his marriage to wife Betsy has been successful for 63 years is that -- "we were of different sexes. ... That doesn't mean I wouldn't have been happy to be married to several friends I had of the same sex. It just never came up in our particular relations."

Jumped the Gun?

Gun advocacy groups yesterday got a taste of the dangers associated with sending out press releases too early. The Americans for Gun Safety, in a press release, said it -- "wanted to heartily applaud the U.S. Senate for "approving yesterday an amendment to renew the Assault Weapons Ban and an amendment to require background checks on certain firearms sales.

The press release insisted -- "the success of these two amendments proves that the gun debate has changed. ... Republicans and Democrats have rejected the divisive gun politics of the past." But shortly after the press release was distributed, the Senate held a final vote, and batted down the amendments by a 90-to-8 margin.

Chess Charges

A Louisiana chess player is trying to permanently change the game, insisting the age-old rule that the white side moves first is racist and -- "states that white is better than black."

Specifically, Bill Ware says, the rule compels blacks to always take a defensive stand. Instead, Ware tells Southern University's newspaper, chess pieces should either be all the same color or all different colors, and the first move of the game should be determined by his own algebraic formula.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report