Gov. Schwarzenegger: Republican Al Gore?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Taking on 'The Terminator'

Michigan Republican Congressman Joe Knollenberg is taking on "The Terminator" over auto emissions. Knollenberg is upset with California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and others who are advocating stricter emission standards.

Knollenberg has placed a billboard along a Detroit interstate that reads: "Arnold to Michigan: Drop Dead!" Knollenberg says requiring vehicles to burn cleaner would cost Detroit's Big Three automakers $85 billion and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

Why pick on Schwarzenegger? The congressman says "because he's a perfect symbol of a bully and because he has become the Republican Al Gore."

Polar Bears Thriving

A new study suggests predictions by some scientists that global warming and the melting of ice caps will doom the polar bear to extinction are way off base.

A survey of the bears in Canada's eastern Arctic reveals they are thriving, not declining. Biologists say the polar bear population in the 54,000 square-mile Davis Strait has more than doubled, from 850 in the mid-1980s to 2,100 today. That backs claims by Indian hunters who say the bear population is growing.

Some bear experts though insist this says nothing about global warming, that it only shows that conservation is working.

Travel Tug of War

An embarrassing mistake in the new House ethics rules appears to prohibit members of Congress from flying their own planes. The snafu has ignited what's being called a "tug of war" over ethics rules between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner.

At issue is a new rule designed to keep members from traveling on corporate jets. But the language barring travel on non-governmental planes that are not licensed to charge fees — meaning anything other than commercial flights — has instead grounded a bipartisan group of about a dozen lawmakers who fly their own small planes or hitch rides with friends.

The Hill newspaper reports Democrats wanted to just fix the mistake by unanimous consent, but Boehner wants some other changes in the rules as well and is refusing to go along. Those members with their own planes are not happy about the whole situation.

Naughty Newt

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he was carrying on an extramarital affair while he was leading the charge against President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. But Gingrich told religious broadcaster James Dobson there was nothing hypocritical about it, that his criticism of Mr. Clinton was over the former president lying to a federal judge, not his extramarital relationship with Lewinsky.

Gingrich did say his conduct fell short of his own standards and says he asked God for forgiveness.

—FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.