The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> CHINAGATE REOPENS br> Back in the days of the Clinton administration, one of the biggest ongoing scandals was influence peddling and illegal campaign donation by agents of the People's Republic of China. In 2004 Democrats may have yet another round of such scandals if they don't pick their presidential or vice presidential candidate carefully, according to a senior Democratic staffer in the U.S. Senate. /p>

"There are several former Senate staffers who have done business in China or with Chinese-government backed corporations and they could expose their former boss to some embarrassing situations," says the staffer. "You'd think we'd learn. But maybe we need another hard lesson."

p> THIS OLD JOE br> Al Gore 's former running mate Joe Lieberman either believes that Gore isn't going to run in 2004 or doesn't care. Recall that Lieberman pledged not to run for president next time if Gore chose to run again. Gore has said that Lieberman isn't bound to that pledge, although Lieberman, being about as honorable as a Democrat is capable of, had said he'd abide by it. /p>

But that wasn't the vibe that 2002 campaign volunteers were getting earlier this month when Lieberman's PAC threw a thank you party for its and other Washington, D.C. area Democratic Party volunteers. The Connecticut senator thanked everyone for their hard work and told them to keep their options open when it came time to commit to working for a 2004 race.

"I got the feeling he was telling us something without coming out and saying it," says a reveler at the event.

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