WASHINGTON INSIGHT

STARRY EYED: According to the unerring “bright lights, big chance” index, Capitol Hill insiders believe the splashiest show in the next Congress will come from televised hearings on Democratic Party fund-raising improprieties. Senators and staff members have jostled for a chance to join the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which will conduct hearings expected to begin in late winter. A principal reason: In the TV age, high-profile hearings can bring instant fame. Just ask Joseph Welch, the special counsel for the Army in the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings who asked Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” Or ask the senator who will chair the upcoming hearings, Tennessee Republican Fred Thompson--the lawyer-actor-lawmaker whose career soared after he served as chief minority counsel in the Watergate hearings. As Thompson observed in his 1975 book: “Now and then when we emerged from our Watergate cocoon, we discovered, to our amazement, that all of us were becoming nationally known personalities.” Thompson’s office logged in more than 300 resumes from Hill hopefuls seeking posts. The maneuvering among senators ended with the selections of veterans Don Nickles (R-Okla.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and incoming freshmen Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.) and Max Cleland (D-Ga.) to fill open seats on the panel.

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STILL FUNNY: One thing has become clear since last month’s presidential election: Bob Dole’s famous sense of humor certainly survived the campaign. Shedding any signs of his snippy side, Dole has joked about his loss on CBS-TV’s “Late Night with David Letterman” and NBC-TV’s “Saturday Night Live.” He has appeared in humorous print advertisements for Air France urging people with free time to fly off to Paris for the weekend. And now he’s sent out holiday greetings to the press corps he bashed so much. “Living out of a suitcase, and spending days and weeks away from family and friends can be difficult; nonetheless, I trust that there were some pleasant experiences along the way,” Dole wrote to some of the reporters who traveled with him on his Leader’s Ship campaign plane. And he even made a wry reference to a notorious campaign flub. “Perhaps our paths will cross in the future, but, in any event, please let me know if I can ever be of assistance--maybe get you tickets to a Brooklyn Dodgers game.”

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EARLY NOTICE: Loretta Sanchez, the newly elected Democratic congresswoman from Orange County, has not only ended Robert K. Dornan’s reign in Congress, but also has caught the eye of the nation’s leading Democrat. President Clinton, who felt the sting of Dornan zingers for years, has said privately that he was impressed by Sanchez when he campaigned with her in Santa Ana. The president recalled that Sanchez introduced her family as a Mexican American Brady Bunch and noted that Orange County demographics have changed so much that it is now good politics to give campaign speeches there in Spanish, as Sanchez did. After the rally, Clinton wrapped his arm around the candidate’s father, Ignacio Sanchez, and said: “I tell you, if you win this one, it will be a shock heard around the world.”

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FOR SALE: All the world’s a billboard, or so it seems. But even in this era of self-promotion, a recent statement by former Reagan administration Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger was unusual. Like dozens of foreign policy figures, Weinberger shared his thoughts last week about Clinton’s nomination of Sen. William S. Cohen as Pentagon chief. But unlike the faxed statements of others, Weinberger’s went on to pitch his new book “The Next War,” which the publisher graciously offered to provide.