BUCKING TROUBLE: November’s Republican landslide isn’t helping...

BUCKING TROUBLE: November’s Republican landslide isn’t helping Santa Clarita Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon. . . . McKeon’s Republican colleagues want spending cuts in exchange for an additional $4.8 billion in Northridge earthquake aid. But Tuesday, the Clinton Administration said no. McKeon wants a compromise to get that money for his constituents. “But with 73 Republican freshmen,” McKeon spokesman Armando Azarloza said, “it makes it a little more difficult.”

SALES SECRETS: She’s only 10, but Burbank’s Sara Larquier could teach those used car peddlers lessons in salesmanship. Last year, she moved 1,273 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, tops in the Valley. Secrets of the cookie-hustling princess (B1).

DYNAMIC DUO: Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta, above, are glad that they stopped in Studio City. . . . Tuesday’s Academy Award nominations (F1) netted Jackson a best supporting actor nod while Travolta snagged a best actor nomination, both for work in best picture nominee “Pulp Fiction.” The scene above was shot at a rented Studio City house.

SOUND OFF: Key candidates for the Los Angeles City Council’s 5th District seat will face their first major Valley forum at 8 tonight at Union Federal Bank, 13300 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Expected speakers include prosecutor Lea Purwin D’Agostino, businessman Jeff Brain and Barbara Yaroslavsky, wife of Zev Yaroslavsky, who vacated the seat for the County Board of Supervisors. . . . Forum coordinator Richard Close says, “There is a slugfest under way because, for the first time in 20 years, there is not an incumbent.”

POINTED DEBATE: More than 1,000 soft-tip dart throwers converged in Burbank recently for a two-state competition (C6). Soft-tip darts have steadily gained popularity in the Valley. . . . Said North Hills resident Tom Romandi: “For a sport that is primarily held in bars, there are very few problems.”