WASHINGTON INSIGHT

CHAIR CRISIS: The White House has been scrambling to work itself out of a pickle. It was allocated seven prized podium seats for the presidential inauguration in South Africa, but three were scooped up by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper. That left only four for others, including African Americans already furious at the White House for its Haitian refugee policy. Figuring how to divvy up the remaining seats has been a major headache, a senior official said. . . . Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), the co-chairwoman of Clinton’s presidential campaign in California two years ago, was asked by the vice president to go and is going. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a key ally of President Clinton, “is seeking to be on the delegation, but a lot of people want to go and there are very few spots,” an aide said. Presumably, the Rev. Jesse Jackson is on the list. But prominent attorney Vernon E. Jordan Jr., a Clinton confidant, had to turn down an invitation because he will be out of the country on business. . . . White House spokesman Calvin Mitchell is saying little about the dilemma, but he noted that those who fail to get one of the seven seats on the podium will still have a shot at 40 seats set aside for the White House in the audience.

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BUDGET-BUSTER ALERT: Deficit hawks are alarmed by the House’s overwhelming approval of a bill to save 25,000 Veterans Health Administration jobs from a government-wide chop of 272,900 recently backed by Congress. Budget Director Leon E. Panetta urged congressional leaders to fight an expected tidal wave of bills to preserve jobs at “countless other agencies.”

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NAME GAME: Bitter election defeats can spawn odd alliances. Namely, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura). . . . Lagomarsino is still smarting from his 1992 primary loss to Michael Huffington (R-Santa Barbara), the multimillionaire now seeking the GOP nomination to oppose Feinstein this fall. He’s so peeved that he’s turned over to Feinstein files of materials on Huffington. Meanwhile, Feinstein is sponsoring a bill to name a visitors center at the Channel Islands National Park after Lagomarsino, who was instrumental in its creation. Feinstein’s campaign manager, Kam Kuwata, doesn’t shrink from undercutting Huffington with the bill. “He’s never done anything to help the Channel Islands, so there should be nothing named after him. And I’m sure there are things in Texas named after Michael Huffington”--a gibe suggesting that Texas-native Huffington is a carpetbagger. . . . Huffington eventually co-sponsored the Lagomarsino-naming measure in the House after initially declining to do so but said he philosophically opposes the self-serving notion of emblazoning lawmakers’ names on structures. Of Feinstein, he said: “She’s part of the good ol’ network. She believes in that kind of stuff.”

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THE TWINKIE FILES: If this story gets around, the nutrition watchdogs that claim Chinese food and movie popcorn are bad for you could see its souffle of respectability blown to crumbs. According to a sweet-toothed Deep Throat, certain employees at the Center for Science in the Public Interest have secretly stashed away in a file drawer . . . junk food! While others obey rules on healthful eating--munching apples and sunflower seeds--the renegades surreptitiously enjoy cookies and potato chips.