Capital briefs

* AMERICANS WANT A TAX CUT: A Gallup Poll taken May 5-7 shows 52% of Americans think the $550 billion-tax-cut plan approved by the House and supported by President Bush is a good idea. Fifty-three percent approve of Bush's handling of the economy-his highest rating in that area in six months.

* A DEMOCRAT CONSTITUENCY: Exit polls indicate that homosexuals cast 4% of the votes in the 2000 presidential election, 70% of which went to Democrat Al Gore. That is apparently why the current crop of Democratic candidates for President are doing everything they can to one-up each other on gay issues.

Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.), a Vietnam veteran, recently announced his support for gays serving in the U.S. military. Rep. Dick Gephardt (D.-Mo.) is taking advantage of the fact that his daughter, Chrissy, is a lesbian and that she will be handling homosexual outreach for his campaign. "He has not mentioned Chrissy's sexual orientation in previous campaign appearances, and his aides have not drawn attention to the matter until now," wrote Dierdre Shesgreen of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* DEAN'S DIVIDEND: Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean started the Democrats' race for the homosexual vote because he has a leg up on his opponents thanks to the Vermont law he signed in 1999 allowing "civil unions" for homosexuals. The New York Observer reports that Dean's campaign has enrolled veteran homosexual activist Ethan Geto, who previously worked in the presidential campaigns of Walter Mondale and George McGovern. "Dean is the candidate that the gay community has been most excited about, even at this early stage in the contest," Geto told the Observer.

* EDWARDS ON ADOPTION: Sen. John Edwards (D.-N.C.), in Atlanta Saturday, May 10, declared his support for adoption by homosexuals. "In a world where far too many children are neglected or unwanted, we need to encourage responsible, loving adults to raise children," he said at a black-tie dinner. "I support the rights of gays and lesbians to adopt children."

* OUTFLANKING GERHARDT: Gephardt astounded many political analysts when he declared that if elected he would repeal the Bush tax cut and institute a nationalized health care plan as one of his first major initiatives as President. But Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) saw Gephardt's proposal as one of as merely an opening ante. Kucinich is proposing a federally run health care plan that will cost an astounding $2 trillion per year by 2013. In Iowa May 10, he said his plan would be funded in part by a new 7.7% tax on both private and public employers.

* LITMUS-TESTTEST: Kucinich, at one time a pro-lifer, last week endorsed Kerry's earlier call for a pro-Roe v. Wade litmus test for Supreme Court nominees, and challenged other Democrats to take a position on the question. "I agree with Sen. Kerry," the May 11 edition of the Des Moines Register quoted Kucinich as saying. "There's been a real effort to repeal Roe v. Wade, and the candidates should take a stand."

* HISSY FIT: Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), also running for President, has found his pro-war position a big drag with anti-war Democratic activists. A crowd of young Manhattanites May 13 hissed at Lieberman when he mentioned the war in a speech to a group called Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century. "I understand," Lieberman said at Manhattan's Coda nightclub. "That's not the first time I've been booed or heckled. But here's what I want to say-I didn't go shading it by saying, 'Yeah, I voted for it but, you know, I didn't really believe it.'" This was a jibe at Kerry, who voted for the war, then in a speech in San Francisco-just before the shooting started-said the conflict could have been avoided had President Bush been better at diplomacy.

* NEWTOP GUN: President Bush has nominated Air Force Secretary James Roche to be the new secretary of the Army, and Colin McMillan to be secretary of the Navy. McMillan, who served 15 years in the Marine Corps, also served as an assistant secretary of Defense under Dick Cheney in the first Bush Administration. A former Republican state legislator and U.S. Senate nominee from New Mexico, he gets high marks from conservatives and the defense community.

* SOONER OR LATER: In Texas, the ongoing battle over redistricting is even fiercer. If the newly elected all-Republican Texas legislature succeeds in drawing up a redistricting plan, Republicans could win as many as eight new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2004 elections. The current Texas delegation to the U.S. House includes 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans.

To prevent that from happening, 53 Democratic members of the state House last week actually fled across the Oklahoma state line to prevent a quorum from being called in Austin before Thursday, May 15-after which time Texas law does not allow the state legislature to entertain new legislation. As of press time, it was unclear whether the Democrats' short-term tactic would succeed, but commentators agreed that next November many of the Democratic refugees would likely suffer retribution in their own reelection bids.