Serious Issue: Dan Quayle briefly considered running...

Serious Issue: Dan Quayle briefly considered running for President in 1988. In an interview in the Baltimore Sun, Quayle said: “I think Marilyn and I had a one-minute conversation one time whether I would even perhaps, maybe, sometime run myself in 1988. And in this one-minute conversation, I just dismissed it, said no, not this time. George Bush is there; we’d have to take two years away from the family.”

Right Reception: Sen. Ted Kennedy showed up Tuesday night at the Heritage Foundation, that bunker of conservatism, but it wasn’t anything sinister, and Kennedy wasn’t bolting his party. He attended a reception for conservative columnist Cal Thomas’ new book, “Uncommon Sense.” Kennedy once signed one of Thomas’ books, “Cal Thomas usually says the far right thing instead of the right thing, but I like reading him anyway.”

Big Stick: Syndicated columnist Jack Anderson is now seen about town, especially near his offices downtown, carrying a walking stick. It isn’t an affectation or meant to help him walk. Anderson was mugged last month and robbed of $100 in the mid-afternoon near his office; the cane, with a heavy brass handle, is his equalizer.

Driven to Expand: Gourmet stores will no longer be the only place to get Chrysler Corp. chief Lee Iacocca’s olive oil. Villa Nicola oil, made from olives from the Iacocca family estate in the Tuscany section of Italy, will be mass distributed later this month. “What started out as a hobby, a labor of love . . . quickly grew into a project that requires the efforts of the entire family,” said a company spokesman.