Al Gore, who still blames the Monica Lewinsky affair for his loss of the 2000 election, has never forgiven Bill Clinton. Bill, who does not nurse grudges, thinks Gore defeated himself and then got lucky with his timing, in getting into the driver's seat of the global warming bandwagon, making the film, and then winning an Oscar and now a Nobel. Both Clintons now see climate change as a useful bandwagon to ride. That is why Bill Clinton's Global Initiative meeting in New York did not initially invite Gore to attend. Gore, in turn, told chums that he would never show up to lend credence to Clinton's belated bid to grab part of the franchise Gore reckons he built. So how come Al and Bill staged a fond reunion at the meeting, where Bill led the cheers for his former vice-president's speech?
It was all because of billionaire activist George Soros. Global warming was far too big an issue to be muddied by politicians' egos, Soros insisted. No Gore at the Clinton event, no money from Soros. But Soros first had to forgive Gore for not calling him for a year, even though Soros had helped bankroll Gore's lecture tour that became the movie. Soros and other activists, including the massive Hewlett Foundation, have decided that politicians' promises cannot be trusted, so they have put together a $50m fighting fund to run ads and pressure the next Democratic president to live up to the green pledges made in the campaign.
Edwards and sub-prime mortgages
The growing expectation that the next president will be a Democrat is fuelled by the sub-prime mortgage crisis. John Edwards is arguing that the disaster was caused by fat cat Republican greed, and the Democratic National Committee is preparing ads for three key states. They expect to win two of them—Florida and Nevada—from the Republicans on this issue alone. In Miami and its suburbs, Florida has three of the ten worst-hit regions in the country, with 240,000 sub-prime mortgages and a total bill of $40bn. In Nevada, the Las Vegas suburbs have 150,000 sub-primes worth $25bn. And Republican hopes of winning back marginal Michigan are likely to founder on the 112,000 high-interest mortgages in the Detroit suburbs, total debt $10bn.
Yet this may not work out as the Democrats hope, at least in the case of Edwards. His financial disclosure form notes that his main employment last year was as an adviser to Fortress Investment, a hedge fund that paid him $479,512. Between them, Edwards and his wife own $1m-$5m of Fortress stock. But Fortress owns Nationstar Mortgage, which describes itself as "one of the nation's leading mortgage lenders offering nonprime mortgages and home-equity loans."
The French rush in
Now that Gordon Brown has placed a brisk Scots chill on the special relationship, the French are rushing to fill the gap. Their last ambassador to the US, Jean-David Levitte, has been summoned home by President Sarkozy to launch a French version of that classic American institution, the National Security Council. His replacement is Pierre Vimont, former chief of staff at the foreign ministry and ambassador to the EU before that. Vimont was brought up in Washington as the son of a diplomat, and speaks perfect American English. His plush home in the diplomatic enclave of Kalorama is being done up for a year of parties celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Lafayette, the French general who joined George Washington to throw out the British. One of Vimont's assets is Levitte's invention of the French caucus in congress, a step he took after the congressional dining room renamed French fries as "liberty fries." The Democratic members include Nancy Pelosi, senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Lieberman and Diane Feinstein, along with veteran Republican senators like Ted Stevens, Chuck Hegel, Lindsey Graham and John Warner.
Fred Thompson falters
Fred Thompson assumed that he would sail through to the Republican nomination as the new Ronald Reagan. But flat in debates and not raising much cash, he is now getting hits from beyond the grave. Thompson got his first break in politics when he became the Republican investigator in the Watergate hearings. "Oh, shit. That kid? He's dumb as hell," said the late Richard Nixon when told the news. The White House tape recordings are the gift that keeps on giving. "He isn't very smart, is he?" Nixon asked his personal lawyer, Fred Buzhardt, who agreed.
Thompson does not get much more support from living insiders. Dan Bartlett, who recently resigned as White House counsellor and Bush's communications director, called Thompson "the biggest dud." Still, he can always go back to his real job. According to his disclosure to the federal election commission, he has made over $12.1m since January last year from "entertainment-related" work. To put that into perspective, his rival for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney, has already lent $17.4m of his own money to his campaign, which is less than the interest and dividends he made last year from his $250m estate.
