TRANSITION WATCH

IRAQGATE, THE SEQUEL: Democrats got a lot of campaign mileage out of charges that President Bush helped arm Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein before the Persian Gulf War. Now, some conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill are gearing up to turn the Iraqgate scandal against a Silicon Valley mogul, if President-elect Bill Clinton picks him for secretary of commerce: John Young, president and chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. in Palo Alto. . . . Young’s firm sold computers and other equipment to Iraq before the war. . . . Even though the Hewlett-Packard sales were legal, an aide to a GOP senator says a key question would be pressed at any confirmation hearings for Young: Would he go overboard selling goods to foreign markets without regard to the potential for spreading dangerous arms?

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THE CHELSEA LINK: Credentials and connections are a potent twofer. Thus, a strong bet for White House science adviser is Mary Lowe Good, senior vice president for technology at Allied-Signal Inc., a large industrial, aerospace and engineering firm based in Morristown, N.J. . . . Good’s background fits in with Clinton’s aim to create jobs by applying technological know-how. Although she is an active Republican who sits on a Bush Administration advisory panel, Clinton has said that he wants a bipartisan team. . . . Moreover, Good is from Arkansas--and her sister is First Daughter-to-be Chelsea Clinton’s pediatrician.

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Y’ALL COME LEFT: Fretful that they will be shut out of the first Democratic presidency in 12 years, liberals are scrounging for ways to hitch themselves to Clinton, a self-styled “different kind of Democrat” who once headed the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. . . . One of the oldest liberal groups, Americans for Democratic Action, has whipped up a sly gambit to score points with the President-elect--and, not incidentally, to replenish ADA coffers. For its “Inaugural Gala” at a Capitol Hill hotel next week, the ADA is selling “Arkansas Traveler” tickets at $5,000 a head, “Bubbas” for $1,000, “Faux Bubbas” for $500 and “Yellow Dogs” for $250. “Flaming Liberal” holdouts need pay only $100. And in true liberal tradition, spending the big money does not get you anything in return--just a higher ranking on the donor honor roll.

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CATS & DOGS: Based on his steely gaze in recent photos, Socks, the First Feline-elect, is raring to run the Republican dogs (Millie and Ranger) out of the White House. On bloodlines alone, the mixed-breed cat of Chelsea Clinton is clearly a “different kind of Democat” from his long-ago predecessor, Misty Malarkey Ying Yang, the Siamese pet of Amy Carter, daughter of former President Jimmy Carter. . . . Robert Fleming, president of the Cat Fanciers’ Federation, says the Clintons’ decision to switch from a dog to a cat a few years ago is “indicative of today’s society, in which young, mobile couples find cats are far easier to keep.”