Who's Who.

• Author: THREADGILL, SUSAN
• Position: Prospective vice presidential running mates - Brief Article

According to The Hill's "Open Secrets" column, Sen. Bob Graham removed himself from Al Gore's vice presidential list when he accused Bill Clinton of lying by promising Graham that the feds would not use a night-time raid to snatch Elian Gonzalez. (For other Democratic vice-presidential possibilities, see page 8 of this issue.) On the Republican side, Sen. Fred Thompson is said to have hurt his vice-presidential chances when his name was linked romantically to that of Margaret Carlson. The Time columnist and "Capital Gang" regular is reportedly too liberal for George W. Bush. Thompson's standing was not enhanced when gossips said he was simultaneously involved with another woman.

Dick Cheney, who served as secretary of defense under Daddy Bush and White House chief of staff under Gerald Ford, is leading W.'s vice-presidential search. Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher is playing the same role for Al Gore. Christopher did it for Bill Clinton in 1992, offering the job first to another senator and then, when he turned it down, to Gore.

We may have done George W. Bush an injustice when we suggested (see "Who's Who," April 2000) that he was attracted to the Gin and Tonic society at Yale because of his proclivity for partying. A Yalie of that era tells us that Gin and Tonic was one of a number of alternative societies formed in rebellion against the elite networking that Skull and Bones and other traditional secret societies represented. The name, he explains, was intended as a parody, as was that of another alternative society called Crotch and Armpit.

Al Gore is an exercise freak. "He travels with a set of dumbbells that are so heavy a 6-foot-7-inch advance man has trouble lugging the canvas bag they are packed in," reports Bob Davis of the Wall Street Journal. "The Secret Service sometimes cordons off a hotel's gym so Gore can work out alone. Other times the vice president asks that his hotel room have a treadmill and a weight bench?' All of this and his tight clothes, Republicans say, is to appeal to female voters. "The biggest swing vote is women," GOP strategist Scott Reed told the Journal. "If Gore has to wear t-shirts, he'll do it." Some in the Gore camp say that their candidate is just a "regular guy who is clueless about his appearance," but one aide compares him to Teddy Roosevelt, "who posed barrel-chested in photos to project virility and vitality."

Steve Largent, the former pro football star who is now a Republican...