POLITICAL BRIEFING

RECRUITMENT SNAG: National Republican Party leaders are scaling back plans to enlist Persian Gulf War personnel in their battle to retake control of Congress.

In the euphoric afterglow of victory over Iraq, Republicans talked of recruiting as many as 30 veterans of the conflict to run for the House and Senate. Now, with the war eclipsed by concern over the economy, the number of candidates drawn from Desert Storm is unlikely “to go over a dozen,” said one insider who is familiar with the recruitment process.

So far, the GOP has found only three veterans willing to enter the political wars. Connecticut State Rep. Christopher B. Burnham--a Marine reservist and one of the handful of elected officials who served in the Gulf--is seeking the Republican nomination to run against Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who opposed using force in the Gulf. In House races, Stephen E. Buyer, an Army reservist, is lined up to challenge Rep. Jim Jontz (D-Ind.), while Christopher Roosa, a Marine reservist, has his sights set on Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.). Both Jontz and Taylor also voted against the use of force in the Gulf.

“It’s an emotional gut issue down here,” Roosa said. “You can talk to people all across the district and they may not understand votes on the deficit, but they know whether you were for or against the President (on Iraq).”

Some GOP officials have said they doubt the war will be a pivotal issue next fall. “Twenty-four months is a lifetime in politics, and Saddam Hussein is still out there holding parades,” one said. “If I was running for Congress I don’t think I’d hang my campaign on that.”

PAT DUKES IT OUT: Although former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan have launched efforts to deny President Bush a second term, the GOP challengers have very different views on combining their efforts.

“I think Pat Buchanan is a fine candidate,” Duke said earlier this month as he announced his own candidacy. He said he would even consider throwing his delegate support at the Republican convention to Buchanan if Buchanan seemed to have a better chance than he of gaining the nomination.

When Buchanan opened his own primary campaign last week, however, he clearly distanced himself from Duke. “If I do well against George Bush (in New Hampshire), I would love to go South and have a real head-to-head shot against David Duke and see who is the real conservative leader and who is the impostor,” he said.

SHEET MUSIC: The clearest sign of a Bush Administration change in election-year footing is a circular designed to line up Cabinet officers with themes coming from the White House daily.

An updated “Today’s Agenda” is dispatched each afternoon from the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs to top deputies in each major department. One recent missive, for example, noted that Bush would emphasize his concern about the economy.

“Your principals may want to use this information as they refer to the President’s activities and remarks and in their own public appearances and speeches,” said one recent memorandum to “Cabinet contacts” from Gary Blumenthal, deputy assistant to the President.

The advice follows the pattern of a presidential campaign that seeks to keep attention focused on a single theme each day. A White House spokesman, Gary Foster, said the circulars were not part of Bush’s reelection “campaign apparatus,” but he added: “If it’s appropriate, we hope (the Cabinet officials) will pick up on what the President is saying and help us get the word out.”