WASHINTON INSIGHT

CHECKERS REDUX? Republicans on the Senate committee investigating campaign finance abuses would love nothing more than to get embattled Vice President Al Gore to testify voluntarily. But why would Gore submit himself to tough partisan questioning under the bright glare of national television? Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) says Gore’s plummeting poll ratings may be the answer. Specter went so far in an interview as to recall Richard Nixon’s 1952 “Checkers” speech, when the then-vice presidential candidate went on TV to deny that he had used a “secret fund” to pay for travel and other expenses--but acknowledged receiving a pet dog from a Texas admirer. “Thanks, Sen. Specter,” responded a Gore spokeswoman, who reiterated that “there is absolutely no plan” for the current vice president to testify.

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TYING ONE ON: In the say-it-with-a-ribbon fashion of political statement, red signifies concern about AIDS and purple stands for breast cancer. In Washington this week, orange means “Free Loretta.” That’s orange as in Orange County, and Loretta as in Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), whose surprising and slim 1996 victory over Republican Robert K. Dornan is being investigated. “We’ve got to set this lady free somehow,” said Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who, along with Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), has distributed hundreds of the orange ribbons. They now adorn the lapels of some Congress members and many Latinos in town for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

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SURE THINGS: Legislative aides to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), long the public enemy No. 1 of campaign finance reform, are dreading the coming Senate showdown on the reform proposal sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) and supported by President Clinton. McConnell’s aides are resigned to the inevitability of a floor debate, perhaps as early as next week. A senior McConnell aide begins a recent memo to other GOP staffers with a dig at the loquacious and liberal Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.): “A season without campaign finance reform is like a day without a Wellstone speech--desirable but unlikely.”

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THAI SCORE: President Clinton may have just introduced his fast-track trade legislation, but the White House has been laying the groundwork for some time. Its protectiveness of the proposal--which would enable the president to negotiate trade accords without fear that Congress would later unravel them--played a role in the administration’s decision not to contribute to a $20-billion international rescue package to bolster Thailand’s beleaguered currency, the baht. Top Treasury Department strategists argued that Congress would move to block any U.S. involvement--as it did in 1995 when Clinton proposed a $50-billion bailout for Mexico--and that such a backlash would strengthen fast-track opponents, who are using the Mexican peso crisis and the North American Free Trade Agreement as bogeymen in the trade debate. To be sure, the administration had other reasons for not going to baht for the Thai currency; that Thailand is not on the fast track may have tipped the scales.

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RUBIN’ IT IN? Mirror, mirror on the wall, which member of Clinton’s Cabinet is still not leaving after all? Answer: Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin. Although Washington was abuzz with rumors this week that the architect of the administration’s latest economic policies was returning to Wall Street, senior officials insist it isn’t so. One possible sign: Rubin, who has made no secret of his distaste for travel, has scheduled several trips in early and mid-1998. So far, all of them involve round-trip tickets.