Who's Who.

• Author: THREADGILL, SUSAN
• Position: Stories of various personalities, including George W. Bush, his advisers, and the fact the he made it a point to stop in Missouri to visit Rush Limbaugh and his mother - Brief Article

The big wheels in the George W. Bush campaign are Karl Rove, Joe Allbaugh, and Karen Hughes. Rove is described as "the real genius of the operation" and also as "a control freak." "[O]n a personal basis Hughes is probably closest to the governor of the three," writes Dan Balz of The Washington Post, "and they say Bush always seems more confident and relaxed when she is around" Veteran observers note that her relationship with Bush reminds them of Margaret Tutwiler's with James Baker when they both worked for Ronald Reagan and George W.'s father at the State Department and White House. Allbaugh is said to be "the calming force between Rove and Hughes" The three were powerful enough to quickly dispose of David Beckwith, the former Dan Quayle aide who threatened Hughes' power as press spokesperson.

Joan Braden, who died last month, was a Washington legend. Not only was she the mother of the "Eight is Enough" family described by her husband Tom in his book and subsequent television series, she was also a public official (director of consumer affairs at the State Department), a famed Washington hostess, and perhaps the most successful extra-marital virgin of the modern era. By her own account, she innocently shared a shower with Nelson Rockefeller, a bed with Robert Kennedy, and various hotel rooms with Robert McNamara. She also described herself as an immaculate intimate of Henry Kissinger, the man who gave her the government job.

Speaking of George W., he recently made a pilgrimage to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Not a customary stop on the campaign trail, you say. The explanation is that Rush Limbaugh's mother lives there and Rush was in town to visit her.

And speaking of Dan Quayle, when he was recently asked about former staffer and now Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol's comment that the Quayle campaign was about to call it quits, the former vice president replied, "If he was still working for me, he would not make any kind of statements like that"

Fourteen years ago in these pages Steven Waldman described Norman Ornstein as the king of quotes, a tribute to the journalistic professions reliance on Ornstein's observations about matters political. Since then some rivals have come along to threaten Ornstein's supremacy, according to The Hill's Albert Eisele. They include Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, Stephen Hess of Brookings, and his colleague Thomas Mann, who appears to be the new king.

You probably heard the bad news for Al...