New Book Chronicles Deteriorating Relationship Between the Clintons and Gores

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Separate Ways?

A new book about Bill and Hillary Clinton chronicles the deterioration of the relationship between the Clintons and the Gores.

An excerpt from the book by veteran reporter and biographer Sally Bedell Smith called "For Love of Politics" will be in the new Vanity Fair. Smith reports that conflicting agendas between Al Gore's presidential ambitions and Hillary Clinton's run for the Senate were detrimental to Gore's campaign and poisoned the couples' relationship. Smith writes that Gore and Mrs. Clinton competed from the start for influence with the president, a contest that eventually led to, "a nasty range war."

The author says Mr. Clinton jumped in to the 2000 campaign to help his wife win her New York Senate seat, partially as penance for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. And she writes that Mrs. Clinton's Senate effort actually upstaged Gore's presidential run and siphoned off crucial fundraising dollars to her own campaign.

Not Welcome?

Marines returning to their base in Hawaii from Iraq were prohibited from entering the Oakland airport last week and there is plenty of finger-pointing going around.

Marines aboard a military charter reportedly were kept about 400 yards from the terminal while the plane was refueling. But airports in New York and Germany reportedly had allowed the Marines to enter their terminals during the stopovers.

The story has hit the Internet and now some congressional aides are asking for answers. A spokeswoman for the airport tells Captain David Epstein of the Naval Reserve Association that the plane — which also had the Marines' weapons — had not been screened by the Transportation Security Administration. She says it was the charter company's responsibility to make arrangements with the airport.

Money for Nothing

The City of New York is paying about $40 million a year to Department of Education employees — for not working. The New York Post reports more than 750 employees so far this year have been assigned to what are called "rubber rooms," where they sit for seven hours a day and read, do crosswords, practice their putting — whatever they want.

The employees are accused of some kind of wrongdoing — from serious things like inappropriate touching to offenses such as buying a plant for the school against the principal's wishes. And while they wait for arbitration they are assigned to these holding rooms — at full pay.

Don't Look Up

Thanks to PETA, fans at Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium will have more than the New England Patriots to worry about Monday night. They'll have to dodge pigeon droppings that land on their heads, their clothes and in their food and drinks.

The pigeons roost in the beams and pipes above the stands. The owners of the stadium had been given approval by the city manager to shoot the pigeons with air rifles. But PETA protested, the mayor objected and now the stadium has withdrawn its request.

PETA says it will help with other possible solutions, such as netting, noisemakers and porcupine wire.

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