TRANSITION WATCH

GUV POWER: In 12 years as governor of Arkansas, President-elect Bill Clinton turned the National Governors’ Assn. into an unprecedented power base, heading task forces, spewing white papers--and building a swarm of contacts. . . . Now, as the multitudes jockey for plum posts in a Clinton Administration, gubernatorial Cronies of Bill (C.O.B.) are shaping up as worthy rivals to the many Friends of Bill (F.O.B.) who stretch back to Clinton’s Rhodes scholar days. . . . Former South Carolina Gov. Richard W. Riley is the best-positioned C.O.B., serving as personnel director of Clinton’s transition team. He is expected to keep that job in the White House through the summer before possibly taking over another senior post. . . . Also pressing for a Cabinet post is former Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard, who is said to be interested in either transportation or labor. . . . Former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt interviewed with Clinton for a Cabinet job, possibly Interior, and former Ohio Gov. Richard F. Celeste could head Clinton’s proposed National Service Corps. . . . Two former governors not on the hot-prospect list: Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. of California and Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts.

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MUZZLERS: For decades, California’s two senators have given reporters unfettered access to their 50-plus staff members, who often can provide useful information on a wide range of subjects. But the state’s two new Democratic senators--Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who campaigned to open Senate doors--have clamped muzzles on their aides. All news media calls have to go through the senators’ press secretaries. And in Boxer’s case, reporters have “to commit” to the rule, presumably as a condition for cooperation. . . . “No, this is not to keep the message straight--it’s just to be orderly and efficient,” says Boxer, who laid down her rule after a reporter snagged her for a chat without making an appointment. “This is not a gag rule,” says Feinstein press secretary Bill Chandler. “It’s an office procedure.”

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TRADE TRAUMA: A hidden aspect of the Clinton transition: It’s making lawyers rich, keeping housing prices up and fouling U.S.-Canada trade relations. At least on one issue: softwood lumber, which is what policy wonks think of when you say the word “stud.” . . . Two international panels are deciding whether the United States is slapping an unfair duty on lumber shipped from Canada. Recently, the decisions were delayed for months by the recent departure of panel members Barry Carter and Paula Stern, whose candidacies for U.S. trade representative posed conflict problems. . . . “The new panelists will have to learn the whole case. Housing prices will stay up as long as the duty stays on,” says a lawyer for the Canadians. Carter, a former Georgetown law professor, heads Clinton’s transition team on trade. Stern is former chairwoman of the International Trade Commission.

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DEJA VU: Madeline Albright, national security coordinator for Clinton’s transition team, returned to the White House last week for the first time since Jan. 20, 1981, when Jimmy Carter left office. She had served on his national security staff. . . . A guard who was examining her driver’s license said: “I know you. Didn’t you work here before?” “Yes,” Albright said, a touch exuberantly, “and we’re back.”