Caught in the Web

More than a week after Donald Trump said he would not run for president, his exploratory committee’s Web site continues to solicit donations, telling people they might persuade the billionaire to enter the race by giving him money. Roger Stone, Trump’s spokesman, said Thursday he did not know the site was still active. He said he told the site’s Webmaster more than a week ago to take it down.

The pitch for money is “clearly not a current request,” he said. “Anything on the Web site is passe.”

Two dead Republican campaigns--those of Steve Forbes and Gary Bauer--also are still asking for money, trying to pay bills from months of politicking. Bauer’s site doesn’t mention his dropping out. Trump never declared a formal candidacy for the Reform Party nomination.

Mudslinging

Former Navy pilot John McCain said Thursday he was tempted to “grab the controls” of his campaign plane to wrestle it out of the mud at an airport in Washington state.

McCain, stepping into his Straight Talk Express campaign bus after a fairly miserable evening, said he only had two hours of sleep in his hotel room after being delayed when his plane was stuck in the mud.

“I enjoyed both of them immensely,” he said of his brief sleep. “I can’t think of which one I enjoyed more than the other.”

McCain’s Boeing 727 campaign jet was taxiing at the airport in Bremerton, Wash., on Wednesday night when its left wheels ran off the tarmac and into a rain-soaked, grassy island, plunging about a foot into mud.

It took about five hours for the wheel to be extracted and the plane properly serviced for the 90-minute flight to Sacramento.

Airwaves

Bill Bradley sat down for several satellite TV interviews Tuesday, but technical glitches threw him off his stride.

During the third interview, the satellite with a Portland, Ore., station went down--”Just when I was reaching my crescendo,” Bradley complained.

Next came San Francisco. They lost the satellite again.

“So we lost two out of the four?” Bradley asked.

Aide Kent Samuel told the candidate he lost “the bird” to a basketball game.

Later, Samuel said he didn’t really know if it was a basketball game that knocked Bradley off the air. “It always seems to make him feel better if I say it’s basketball.”

Lawsuit

An independent voter who supports Arizona Sen. McCain is suing for the right to vote in New York’s closed GOP presidential primary March 7. A federal judge is expected to hear arguments Tuesday.

About 2.2 million independent voters would be able to participate in New York’s Democratic and Republican primaries if Wendy Van Wie of Columbiaville wins her lawsuit.

By the numbers

1.7 million--TV viewers who watched Monday’s Democratic debate from Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, according to Nielsen Media Research.

2 million--Viewers who normally tune into “It’s Showtime at the Apollo,” a syndicated variety show that usually airs on late-night TV.

Quote file

“The test of any good and disciplined campaign is to be able to ride that roller coaster.”

--Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer

Compiled by Massie Ritsch from Times staff and wire reports