WASHINGTON INSIGHT

JUDGE NOT-QUITE-YET: President Clinton has come under fire from critics who claim his laggardness in sending judicial nominations to the Senate is one reason for the glut in vacancies on the federal bench. But one of Clinton’s adversaries in the struggle for control of the courts is also having trouble finding the right jurist for the right spot. Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, leader of the GOP charge to impeach “judicial activists”--the term conservatives use to describe judges who allegedly overstep their authority--has been naming names. DeLay recently cited Missouri District Judge Russell Clark, who ordered a tax increase to overhaul a local school district, and California District Judge Thelton Henderson, who overturned the Golden State’s anti-affirmative action initiative, as examples of judges who disregarded the Constitution. Was DeLay ready to impeach Clark, Henderson or anyone else? Not yet. “I’m still accepting nominations,” he said, explaining that he wants to make sure he picks the strongest case.

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BELTWAY BIAS: The between-the-lines read of last week’s “PunditSpeak” column in The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, was far more revealing than the official-speak. Of four journalists asked to pontificate on the question of “who benefits most” from the balanced-budget deal, only one had anything to say about non-elected people living outside Washington--the other three answered in terms of Republicans versus Democrats versus the president. And even Bonnie Erbe, host of PBS’ “To the Contrary,” mentioned the public in the context of politics. The public’s first benefit, she said, is in “not having to live through another ceaselessly boring confrontation between Democrats and Republicans, or another government shutdown.”

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REMEMBERING THE MAINE: When the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor in 1898, killing 260 people, Americans blamed the deed on the Spanish rulers of Cuba and promptly went to war behind the cry of “Remember the Maine.” The U.S. whipped Spain, freed Cuba and launched an empire in Asia. But for all these years, the actual cause of the battleship’s destruction has remained unknown. Now the National Geographic Society has retained a marine forensics firm to probe the century-old mystery. It is using computers to analyze data from past inquiries to decide once and for all whether the Maine was destroyed by a Spanish mine, as some U.S. investigators concluded, or by an accident aboard the ship, as the Spanish claimed. If all goes well, by the time the centennial of the momentous blast arrives in February, Americans will have something more to remember about the Maine.

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REALITY 101: Like many ivory tower political scientists, professor Paul Wellstone had a distorted picture of what life is really like in Washington, especially the Senate. Now that he has been a member of one of the country’s most exclusive clubs for more than six years, Sen. Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat, says this lesson has been driven home. Wellstone didn’t want to get too specific about his misconceptions, but he laughs when asked what surprises he has encountered in the Senate. His former students at Carleton College, he says simply, deserve a partial refund.

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ROLE-PLAYING: Among those getting into the spirit last week at a goodbye party for Sally Aman, departing press secretary for Second Lady Tipper Gore, was the vice president. Like everyone else, Al Gore sportingly donned gag press credentials. Perhaps he was remembering his pre-politics days as a reporter for the Nashville Tennessean, or maybe he would like to be asking--rather than answering--questions.