College Course of the Controversial Clinton

And now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine:

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School Is In
Bill Clinton was a Velcro president -- a man who attracted and could not shake controversy -- or so says Margaret Scranton, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Scranton is teaching the state's first college course devoted to the ex-president Clinton. Studies commenced last night at the university's administrative offices, and Scranton says, "All of us know that Clinton is a controversial president...People have strong feelings. We often saw this with president Nixon." A slide presentation ended with a photo of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Scranton says, "I selected this photo to make clear we're not going to ignore the controversies and investigations. We have to confront the various controversies."

Spelling Will Not Count
Apparently spelling isn't a high priority for several local candidates in Charleston, W.Va. On official city filing forms, four Democrats misspelled their party name -- either as "Democart" or "Democrate." Meanwhile GOP hopefuls boasted of their membership the "Repbulican" and "Repucican" Parties. Democrat Dana Griffith blamed the faux pas on tight deadlines and carelessness. Republican challenger Al Carey said, "I was kind of rushed."

Pushing It Through
And finally, voters in Washington State for years have been approving anti-tax initiatives sponsored by local politician Tim Eyman. But Eyman fell from favor last year when he used more than $200,000 in contributions as salary for himself. So now comes the revenge. Seattle computer programmer David Goldstein has submitted for the pleasure of state voters an initiative that reads, and I quote: "The citizens of the state of Washington do hereby proclaim that Tim Eyman is a horse's ass." Eyman calls the idea hilarious. Goldstein tells the Associated Press, "It's stupid and there is no reason in the world why people should be able to put an initiative like this on the ballot. My goal is to promote change...to make people aware of how easy it is to abuse. Any schmoe can go to Olympia and pay $5 and file an initiative. I'm the schmoe who did it this week."