WASHINGTON INSIGHT

LOOSE NET: The moral may be: Look before you Internet-leap. As GOP presidential candidates launched into cyberspace via the Internet--a worldwide, unregulated computer network open to virtually any user--some found the connections a bit too close for “family values” comfort. Until recently, Texas Sen. Phil Gramm’s “home page,” which provides access to information about the campaign, also offered an easy path to a guide for X-rated pornography. The computer company involved, and not the campaign, had inadvertently created the link. It exists no more. Lamar Alexander’s campaign recently put a disclaimer on its home page saying the campaign was not affiliated with “questionable material” found lurking nearby, such as a phone sex ad. To compound the coincidence, the phone sex advertiser’s electronic address--typically a one-line series of letters and numbers--read in part: “...//www.lamar.com/...” The Alexander campaign’s address also included the candidate’s first name.

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SONNY’S SHOT: Rep. Sonny Bono (R-La Quinta) jumped aboard Sen. Bob Dole’s presidential bandwagon last spring, but remains true to his roots when reflecting on the Kansas Republican’s attack on the entertainment industry as overly indulgent of sex and violence. “I was not pleased when Bob popped off,” Bono recently told his hometown paper. “I thought to say the industry commits these injustices, if you will, and not have a solution was a problem. He should at least offer some solutions.” Dole campaign press secretary Nelson Warfield said the Senate majority leader would be “happy” to discuss the matter with the pop singer-turned-politician, but remains strongly opposed to any form of official censorship. Rather, Dole hopes the very method that sparked Bono’s objection--using the public “bully pulpit” to point with alarm--will lead to self-regulation.

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GIMME SHELTER: House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s backers are crediting congressional hearings into the Waco siege with dominating enough news out of Washington to distract the media from a House panel’s probe into allegations of unethical conduct by the Georgia Republican, reports Bill Shipp, a veteran Atlanta political analyst. And, says Shipp, they are delighted that Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), an Ethics Committee member whose district adjoins Gingrich’s, “is keeping the pot boiling and providing cover.”

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SPY MASTER: At CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., rank-and-file spies are awaiting word of who will head up the agency’s clandestine operations. CIA Director John M. Deutch is to announce as early as Monday his selection for the critical job of CIA deputy director of operations. Deutch is also expected to announce his choices for other crucial positions, but public attention will focus on the new “DDO.” Deutch established a commission to make recommendations for the DDO slot, and reportedly mulled over a short list of candidates during an oversees trip this week. Speculation is running rampant on just who will be tapped, and the current guessing is that Deutch’s choice will be David Cohen, who has spent much of his career in the CIA intelligence directorate. Cohen is now acting deputy director for intelligence, and sources confirm he is one of the finalists.

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LIGHTING UP: House lawmakers may be eager to cut federal spending, but they apparently don’t mind shelling out princely amounts of their own cash for one of life’s simple--if occasionally obnoxious--pleasures. The price of the top cigar in the Members’ Dining Room is now $7.50. And at $5, even the cheapest stogie is higher than the hourly minimum wage.