WASHINGTON INSIGHT

POSITIVE THINKING: Most presidential candidates shy away from “front-runner” designation lest they build expectations they can’t meet. But Kansas Sen. Bob Dole has no such compunctions. Heralding endorsements for Dole’s candidacy from Iowa’s Gov. Terry E. Bransted and senior Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Dole’s press staff put out a release dubbing him the “Republican presidential front-runner.” Rivals complain that the strategy is to convince voters that his nomination is all but inevitable, so there is no point in backing anyone else. Dole has also scotched the notion that he might run for only one term in the White House. “We’re not going to try to change the two-term limit,” the 71-year-old Dole quipped Wednesday, flashing a front-runner’s grin.

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SWEEPING COMPLAINTS: More than 30 House members are grumbling to Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) about newly unfettered C-SPAN cameras that zoom-lens lawmakers into living rooms across America while they laugh or yak with colleagues during floor action. Gingrich’s mastery of the stationary-camera C-SPAN of the past 15 years helped propel him to power, so it seemed only natural last month when he granted C-SPAN’s request to sweep the entire chamber. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of a task force reviewing the coverage, told Congressional Monitor he will survey members about the change. He adds, however, that he has heard from many viewers who prefer the free-ranging cameras. “I think the most relevant opinion is what we get from the American people.”

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FARM WELFARE: Democratic and Republican lawmakers are squabbling over a provision of the House welfare bill approved last week that aids growers by allowing foreigners brought to America as temporary “guest workers” to continue to receive federal benefits--even as the bill would make most legal immigrants ineligible for the same aid. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), who said he did not learn of the provision until too late to offer an amendment, argues that guest workers would be eligible for the major food stamp and income-support programs, but legislative analysts disagree. But they say it does grant the workers access to nutrition programs for pregnant women and children, subsidized legal assistance and dozens of other benefits denied by the bill to most legal immigrants. Republican staff members concede the provision was slipped into the measure to qualify guest workers for the major programs as well, but the language was so ambiguous that it fails to do so.

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BATTER UP: With conservatives ruling in Washington, the forces of organized labor have to search hard for heroes these days. They found their latest champion in the unlikely ranks of top management--Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who has refused to hire replacement players during the baseball strike. At a labor conference this week, Angelos was given the AFL-CIO’s coveted Lewis-Murray-Reuther Award, named for three icons of labor’s golden era: John L. Lewis, Phillip Murray and Walter Reuther. To the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” Angelos also was serenaded by about 300 labor leaders: “It’s root, root, root for Pete Angelos, for having the courage to fight.”

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PULP BOYCOTT: After keeping quiet before Oscar night, Gingrich has fessed up about his pick for best movie: “I can’t tell you how glad I am that ‘Forrest Gump’ won and that ‘Pulp Fiction’ lost. I’ve refused to go see ‘Pulp Fiction’ on the grounds that there’s a certain level of degeneration that shouldn’t be honored with your cash.”