The American Spectator

p> ALL QUIET ON THE CLINTON FRONT br> The boos and catcalls continue to rain down on Bill Clinton and his wife in inopportune moments. Much was made of the jeering he and Hillary endured during the large fundraisers they attended after 9/11, particularly in Madison Square Garden, where fire and police personnel nearly jeered them off the stage. Mr. Clinton was embarrassed again on Super Bowl Sunday, which he spent in New York. In town for the Davos confab, he and his staff organized a Super Bowl party at his Harlem digs to coincide with the former prez’s big screen participation in the special patriotic segment shown on Fox before the game. But party revelers who paused to hear Clinton’s utterances also heard loud boos from the Louisiana Superdome that overwhelmed any cheering from the crowd. According to a Clinton staffer who attended the party, the sound on three television sets inside the Harlem offices was briefly turned down to prevent further potential embarrassment. /p> p> HEARING WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR br> After Majority Leader Tom Daschle went before the cameras yesterday to announce he was pulling the plug on the Bush stimulus package in the Senate (and withdrawing a Democratic alternative), the White House thought he was doing so in order to jump-start negotiations on a compromise. Says a White House aide who tracks Capitol Hill legislation, “Daschle needs some good news for his party.” /p>

But according to several Democratic leadership sources, Daschle wants nothing to do with a stimulus package. “He has polling data that is telling him Americans don’t want tax cuts or credits,” one of the leadership people says. “This is all about positioning for 2002 and beyond. Daschle is in full election year mode.”

The data Daschle is using comes from an extensive poll commissioned by the DNC. The poll surveyed more than 1,000 respondents in 22 congressional districts that are considered “up for grabs” this year. The survey showed a majority of uncommitted voters didn’t support tax cuts, even if those cuts might be a help to them directly. “We paid a lot for that survey and it’s going to be our blueprint for the next year,” says another Democratic leadership aide. “It has to be. We have nothing else to hold on to.”

p>