WASHINGTON INSIGHT

THINKING WEST: President Clinton’s favorite think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute, is opening a Western branch in Los Angeles to keep an eye on the nation’s cutting edge. “Whatever happens in California will happen in the rest of the country in 5 or 10 years,” explained Al From, head of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group of Clintonites that runs the institute. From says the new satellite wants to follow California’s changing economy, high-tech developments centered in Silicon Valley, urban programs stemming from the Los Angeles riots and the Western perspective on the Pacific Rim. Negotiations are under way for author David Friedman to head the unit.