Party Line

A majority of Pennsylvanians want options other than the Republican and Democratic candidate when they vote for president next year. A survey of 365 registered voters found 59 percent favoring formation of a third political party and 62 percent looking for an independent candidate in the 1996 presidential contest. The poll's director, G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Millersville University, said the percentages were the highest he had seen in a state known as staunchly two party.

If you happened to be a teenaged maniac back in the '70s or early '80s, Margate was the place to be. In those days, the legal drinking age was 18. Innumerable college kids would descend upon Margate and rent houses as close to the Amherst or Washington Avenue party action as possible. Then they'd get down to the business of squandering precious brain cells at such dear, departed clubs as Gable's and the Nickelodeon, as well as the still-existing Memories, Maynard's, Maloney's, Red's and the rest.

Daniel Pinkwater's collision with what he calls the electronic "ministry of thought" began when he tried to send a note to other authors. Pinkwater sat down at his computer, which dialed up Prodigy - a service that links nearly one million computer users. He typed out a note and dispatched it to one of Prodigy's computer bulletin boards, a sort of electronic party line. But his rather innocuous posting was rejected by the Prodigy monitors who patrol the boards. Pinkwater thinks they misunderstood a word in his message.

It's the newest line of exclusive designer products, offering everything from golf shirts, sweat suits and suspenders to coffee mugs, pewter plates and crystal vases. And soon, the line will go big time, venturing into the lucrative mail order business a la L.L. Bean and Land's End. The latest in chichi does not bear the logo of an alligator or a polo player or a seal saying Members Only. But its mark is distinctive: It carries the sign of the donkey. As in Democrat.

Ever since Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut was elected to the Senate in 1988, he's been known as a political maverick who goes his own way and avoids spouting the party line. Now, as the Senate conducts hearings on questionable political fund-raising, he's living up to that reputation, posing tough questions and making it clear he doesn't much mind if the answers embarrass his own party or the White House. Lieberman created a stir earlier this week when he announced that he was convinced on the basis of a confidential FBI briefing that the Chinese government had developed a plan to influence the 1996 congressional elections.

The Philadelphia Bar Association has turned thumbs down on two candidates from each party who have been endorsed for judicial nominations in the May 20 primary election. PBA Chancellor Clifford Haines expressed "disappointment" that the four received party endorsements before the Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention issued its candidate ratings yesterday. Haines said he had received a commitment from Mayor Rendell to withhold support from any candidate classified "not recommended" by the bar. Rendell spokesman Kevin Feeley confirmed the mayor had given such a commitment.

Here's the conclusion from Bob Schieffer's new book, The Acting President: Ronald Reagan and the Supporting Players Who Helped Him Create the Illusion That Held America Spellbound. " . . . Ronald Reagan had little to do with his Administration and the issues that came before it. No matter whose name had been on the marquee, when the Reagan Administration was at its best it had been people like (James) Baker and (Richard) Darman who had kept the White House running. " This is the new party line in the capital city.

Democratic state Rep. Ralph Acosta must be getting dizzy. First he steps over the party line in August to endorse Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. Then he steps back and tells his party bosses yesterday that he's going to endorse Democratic candidate Lynn Yeakel. That followed the party's threats to shun him and cut off his flow of Election Day street money. And then he slips out the back door of Democratic City Committee headquarters on Walnut Street near Broad into an alley, ducking calls from reporters.

Though long the political underdogs in Republican Chester County, Democrats could always count on one thing - the phone number for their committee headquarters. It survived rancorous intraparty feuding. Years of scarce financial resources couldn't kill it. Even when the headquarters burned down in the West Chester Knights of Columbus fire a few years back, the phone number lived on. But callers to 610-692-5811 lately hear only a gloomy message that the number has been disconnected and no further information is available.

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Ronnie," and I have a very active and "different" sex life. I'm happy I have found someone who is so compatible, but it has also presented a problem for me when we're out with friends. Our bedroom activities occasionally include a third party - a female. I'm perfectly happy with this arrangement because I am the one who initiated it. However, I have a problem with Ronnie's recruiting practices. He seems to think that because I have one friend who has joined us, all of them are fair game.

Gov. Christie paced the Princetonian Diner on Route 1 in mid-October, imploring patrons to pick his Republican ally and friend Joseph Kyrillos over incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez. Just two weeks later, Sandy slammed into the East Coast, decimating the Jersey Shore, crippling mass transit, and cutting power to 8.5 million homes and businesses in 21 states. In an instant, Sandy also reshaped New Jersey politics. It prompted Christie to seek help from Menendez - who went on to win an 18 percentage-point victory over Kyrillos - and Democratic U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, whom the governor had called an "embarrassment to the state" during a two-year feud.

Picture this: A conservative Republican chief justice is called upon to decide the fate of one of the most partisan issues of our time, and, surprisingly comes down on the Democratic side. Health care and John Roberts? Actually, I was thinking of voter ID and Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ron Castille. There is a plausible scenario whereby he will cast the deciding vote regarding the controversial new law. And while his brethren might rule along party lines, Castille has a history of flexing his independence.

WASHINGTON - A divided House approved a $3.6 trillion Republican budget Thursday recasting Medicare and imposing sweeping cuts in domestic programs, capping a battle that gave both political parties a campaign-season stage to spotlight their warring deficit-cutting priorities. But the partisan divisions over the measure, which is dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate, also underscores how tough it will be for lawmakers to achieve the cooperation needed to contend with tax and spending decisions that will engulf Congress right after this fall's elections.

Retirement announcements by Sen. Olympia J. Snowe and other centrists are putting more Senate seats at stake than at any time since 1996 - and the result may be an even more polarized environment. Snowe, a three-term Maine Republican known for voting with Democrats on some high-profile issues, said her decision was driven by frustration over partisanship and a lack of compromise in the Senate. Other departing senators who seek consensus on such issues as debt reduction say they share her view.

Vick deserves a second chance Michael Vick has become once again an elite NFL quarterback and possibly this year's most valuable player after almost two years of incarceration for horrific animal cruelty ("Vick is sensational as Eagles shellac Redskins," Tuesday). There is widespread agreement that he's a changed man, which is the goal of our prison system. However, the most valuable result has been the major media's attention to animal rights as a result of Vick's high-profile arrest.

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Ronnie," and I have a very active and "different" sex life. I'm happy I have found someone who is so compatible, but it has also presented a problem for me when we're out with friends. Our bedroom activities occasionally include a third party - a female. I'm perfectly happy with this arrangement because I am the one who initiated it. However, I have a problem with Ronnie's recruiting practices. He seems to think that because I have one friend who has joined us, all of them are fair game.

In the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore, Sir Joseph, a former member of the British Parliament who has been appointed lord admiral of the queen's navy, recalls how he achieved such great success: "I always voted at my party's call," he sings, "and I never thought of thinking for myself at all. " Sir Joseph would fit in well in the United States' party-driven political system, in which loyalty to one's political club often seems to...

Almost every parent, at some point, wishes he or she could shield a child from negative outside influences until that boy or girl is old enough to know right from wrong. It's the same way in basketball with coaches and players. Because he is a relative newcomer to the sport, Lavoy Allen has rapidly become one of the most promising big men the Big Five has produced. In six short years, he went from an awkward, gangly ninth grader at Pennsbury High to a second-team all-conference forward at Temple.

BRITNEY SPEARS' father may be watching over her money, diet and sex life (she's to stay away from bad foods and bad boys) but E! Online says the famed pop tart is still thinking about her love life. She tells Glamour magazine, "In five years I would like to be married and have a father figure for my kids, someone who is a provider and can be really stable. " "It's hard doing it on your own," she adds. Take that, K-Fed. Britney says she's changed a lot from her wild days.

Philadelphia-area lawmakers voted largely along partisan lines on the $700 billion bailout plan, with only two local Republicans - Reps. James Saxton of New Jersey and Michael N. Castle of Delaware - supporting it and one Democrat, Rep. Tim Holden of Pennsylvania, opposing it. After the 228-205 defeat of the bill, the one thing legislators agreed on was a need to remain in Washington until a rescue plan was approved. "I do not understand why the administration demanded that we rush this bill into law. If we take our time and get this right, the markets will react positively," Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.)