Kansan

Mayor Street has come up with a snazzier name for his New Economy Development Alliance. Try Innovation Philadelphia. And along with the snappy new name, Street has appointed a Kansan to run it. He's Richard A. Bendis, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. He's not a total stranger to the city. At one time he studied at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. As executive director, Bendis, 55, will direct the daily operations of Innovation Philadelphia, which was formed in February under the clumsy old name to oversee the city's economic development initiatives geared toward attracting both high-tech and knowledge-based business to the city and region.

Congress is back in session, but there is little hope it will accomplish much before returning to the campaign trail. The main reason for pessimism is the naysayers who control all but a handful of the Republican members in both houses and who use procedural maneuvers - including an unprecedented number of threatened filibusters - to endow a minority with the power to impose gridlock. One reason I feel this way may be that I am a liberal Democrat. But there is a relentless negativism, even nastiness, about the Republican leadership that I believe offends people of good will, regardless of ideology.

One last mission. That's Bob Dole's shorthand for the 1996 presidential campaign. His speeches and ads resonate with references to World War II service and the shell fragment in Italy that nearly killed him. Pat Buchanan was in ROTC while an English major at Georgetown University. Arthritis in his knees kept him out of the military. Military service is only one of many ways in which the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination present a mirror image of each other - a reflection with its parts or attributes reversely arranged in relation to the other object.

Amid traditional pomp with a talk-show twist, the Republican Party last night handed Bob Dole the prize that has eluded him twice before, nominating him to be president of the United States. The plainspoken Kansan, who speaks to the convention tonight, will almost surely be the final presidential contender from a generation that has dominated American politics for nearly half a century. Calling Dole a "quiet hero," Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) placed the name of the former Senate majority leader in formal nomination, asking Dole to "answer his country's call again" for the sake of the nation.

What's with Bob Dole? After playing Darth Vader for much of Bill Clinton's presidency, the Kansan is going statesmanlike in his second go-round as Senate majority leader. Dole is toning down his acting out against the Democrats, raising his differences with conservative Republicans, and even subtly criticizing his successor in the black helmet, House Speaker Newt Gingrich. As political columnist Mark Shields remarked at a congressional dinner Wednesday, "You know the winds of change have blown through Washington when the Republicans are playing good cop, bad cop - and Bob Dole is the good cop. " Is Dole, 71, positioning himself for his third bid for the White House or simply trying to lead the GOP into the politics of the possible?

Mark Helprin's novels tell tales about a magical flying horse, an eccentric entrepreneur who blames the world's ills on coffee and Paul Bunyanesque heroes who swallow adversity like vitamin pills. Nothing he has written has captured the imagination - or had the impact - of the 844 words he helped put in Bob Dole's mouth May 15, when the Kansan resigned from the U.S. Senate. "The amplification process for politics is so tremendous," Helprin said when asked about this bittersweet irony for a celebrated, if rarefied author.

Recollecting in tranquility the delights of politics in 1800, a retired congressman said, "It was a pleasure to live in those good old days, when a Federalist could knock a Republican down in the streets and not be questioned about it. " In 1996, Republicans knock Republicans down. Bob Dole, who talks about leadership, should show some by knocking enough heads to restore order in the ranks. Newt Gingrich and Pat Buchanan have been called liabilities by Al D'Amato - talk about being called ugly by a frog - and some conservatives suspect that Govs.

Out of the classroom and into the sound bite - Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas wants to make history a campaign issue. Dole blames elitist academic historians - such as those who prepared the voluntary national history standards - for emphasizing "some of our worst moments" as a society to the exclusion of the triumphs in our national history. In a recent speech, the Republican presidential front-runner asked: "Do we embrace ideas that unite us, regardless of our sex, color or religion?

I knew we were in the right place from the first words out of the salesguy's mouth: "How y'all doing? Can I get you a beer?" We'd been in the city for all of a day and a half, and already we'd heard that greeting a couple of times. But the other times we'd been at meals. This time, we were in a shoe store. My associates and I - three young professionals in Dallas on business - had set aside part of our precious free time to do something that men never admit to doing, especially together - i.e., shop.

A funny thing happened here yesterday in the final Republican presidential debate before the voting starts: Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole, not Vice President Bush, became the center of attention. Flashing the feisty personality he has kept under wraps in previous debates, Dole took on all comers, doing battle with front-runner Bush on financial disclosure, with New York Rep. Jack F. Kemp on taxes and with former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont on Social Security. The format of the forum, held on the campus of Dartmouth College, encouraged spirited exchanges and, at times, allowed the dialogue to degenerate into a free-for-all.

Mayor Street has come up with a snazzier name for his New Economy Development Alliance. Try Innovation Philadelphia. And along with the snappy new name, Street has appointed a Kansan to run it. He's Richard A. Bendis, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. He's not a total stranger to the city. At one time he studied at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. As executive director, Bendis, 55, will direct the daily operations of Innovation Philadelphia, which was formed in February under the clumsy old name to oversee the city's economic development initiatives geared toward attracting both high-tech and knowledge-based business to the city and region.

On a nearly windless night in an Olympic stadium, a runner from America's heartland made history by shattering one of track and field's most hallowed marks. Maurice Greene, a 24-year-old from Kansas City, Kan., broke the 100-meter world record last night with a time of 9.79 seconds. He did it during an invitational race for the world's top sprinters at the stadium that will be used for the 2004 Olympics. "I expected it," Greene said. "This is only the beginning. " The previous record of 9.84 was set by Canada's Donovan Bailey at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Amid traditional pomp with a talk-show twist, the Republican Party last night handed Bob Dole the prize that has eluded him twice before, nominating him to be president of the United States. The plainspoken Kansan, who speaks to the convention tonight, will almost surely be the final presidential contender from a generation that has dominated American politics for nearly half a century. Calling Dole a "quiet hero," Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) placed the name of the former Senate majority leader in formal nomination, asking Dole to "answer his country's call again" for the sake of the nation.

Mark Helprin's novels tell tales about a magical flying horse, an eccentric entrepreneur who blames the world's ills on coffee and Paul Bunyanesque heroes who swallow adversity like vitamin pills. Nothing he has written has captured the imagination - or had the impact - of the 844 words he helped put in Bob Dole's mouth May 15, when the Kansan resigned from the U.S. Senate. "The amplification process for politics is so tremendous," Helprin said when asked about this bittersweet irony for a celebrated, if rarefied author.

Recollecting in tranquility the delights of politics in 1800, a retired congressman said, "It was a pleasure to live in those good old days, when a Federalist could knock a Republican down in the streets and not be questioned about it. " In 1996, Republicans knock Republicans down. Bob Dole, who talks about leadership, should show some by knocking enough heads to restore order in the ranks. Newt Gingrich and Pat Buchanan have been called liabilities by Al D'Amato - talk about being called ugly by a frog - and some conservatives suspect that Govs.

Meridy's, the only full-service restaurant in Bob Dole's hometown on the prairie, offers two sizes of burgers - regular and "bulk. " Just down the road, the Hays Daily News recently included a personal ad from an "attractive, overweight DF, 37" seeking romance. A pattern of disarming honesty? Or just a lack of couth? "Whatever," as Dole might say in his dismissive growl. A visit to this quiet, clean town of 5,000 souls helps solve the mystery of why the Republicans' presumptive nominee for president goes verbally crossways in today's Oprahfied, feel-your-pain, political discourse.

One last mission. That's Bob Dole's shorthand for the 1996 presidential campaign. His speeches and ads resonate with references to World War II service and the shell fragment in Italy that nearly killed him. Pat Buchanan was in ROTC while an English major at Georgetown University. Arthritis in his knees kept him out of the military. Military service is only one of many ways in which the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination present a mirror image of each other - a reflection with its parts or attributes reversely arranged in relation to the other object.

Sometimes, people surprise you. Seven months ago, former Kansas Gov. John Carlin was being savaged by historians and archivists, who were horrified that "a dairy farmer from Kansas" had been chosen to lead the great National Archives in Washington. Today, those same critics are impressed - and becoming hopeful that Carlin will succeed in reviving the demoralized and rudderless agency, dedicated to safeguarding American history by preserving official records. "I think he's doing very well so far," said Susan Fox of the Society of American Archivists, which fought Carlin's nomination.

Out of the classroom and into the sound bite - Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas wants to make history a campaign issue. Dole blames elitist academic historians - such as those who prepared the voluntary national history standards - for emphasizing "some of our worst moments" as a society to the exclusion of the triumphs in our national history. In a recent speech, the Republican presidential front-runner asked: "Do we embrace ideas that unite us, regardless of our sex, color or religion?

What's with Bob Dole? After playing Darth Vader for much of Bill Clinton's presidency, the Kansan is going statesmanlike in his second go-round as Senate majority leader. Dole is toning down his acting out against the Democrats, raising his differences with conservative Republicans, and even subtly criticizing his successor in the black helmet, House Speaker Newt Gingrich. As political columnist Mark Shields remarked at a congressional dinner Wednesday, "You know the winds of change have blown through Washington when the Republicans are playing good cop, bad cop - and Bob Dole is the good cop. " Is Dole, 71, positioning himself for his third bid for the White House or simply trying to lead the GOP into the politics of the possible?