INSIDE REPORT

ROBERT NOVAK GORE AGAIN?

WASHINGTON - Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's decision to withdraw from consideration for the 2008 presidential nomination has produced speculation at high levels of the Democratic Party that former Vice President Al Gore may run again.

Warner was to challenge front-running Sen. Hillary Clinton from the right, while Gore is on her left. Nevertheless, Gore succeeds Warner as the most likely "non- Hillary" to battle her for the nomination.

A footnote: Warner's withdrawal, after nearly two years of pursuing national support, puzzles Democrats. Only a month ago, he was asking prominent members of the party to back him. Even after getting out, he still told friends he believes he could have won the nomination.

RESCUING REYNOLDS

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has intervened with an independent expenditure trying to save Rep. Tom Reynolds, the national House Republican campaign chairman, from defeat in his upstate New York district resulting from the Mark Foley scandal.

The RNC is running an ad, which cannot be coordinated with Reynolds's campaign under federal law, on Buffalo and Rochester television stations. It attacks industrialist Jack Davis, the self-financed Democratic candidate, on his protectionist policies. "Jack Davis wants tariffs on many of the products you buy," says the ad. "It would be like adding a tax on them. Higher prices may not matter to millionaire Jack Davis, but everyone else would feel the pain."

Independent polls showed Reynolds down by double digits in a supposedly safe Republican district after it was revealed he had urged Foley to run for re-election. That gap has been lowered, and Reynolds is not now listed in private Democratic calculations as a sure loser Nov. 7.

MRS. JUSTICE'S CHOICE

Martha-Ann Alito, wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, was listed on top of the host committee for an Oct. 11 fund-raiser in East Brunswick, N.J., helping State Sen. Tom Kean Jr., the Republican Senate candidate in New Jersey.

It is unusual for a Supreme Court justice's spouse to get involved in partisan politics, and pro-life activists were astounded that Alito's wife would back a pro-choice candidate. The Kean event was run by "It's My Party Too," the political action committee that raises money for pro-choice Republicans.

Kean's incumbent Democratic opponent, Sen. Robert Menendez, voted against Alito's confirmation to the high court. Kean has announced he would have voted for Alito.

COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.