Who's Who.

• Author: THREADGILL, SUSAN
• Position: Political figures and happenings in America - Brief Article

"[Al Gore] tries too hard to be perfect," writes Gail Sheehy in a recent New York Times op-ed. Apparently, his mother, Pauline, once feared he would not try hard enough. Speaking of Donna Armistead, who became Gore's Carthage girlfriend when he was 13 and she was 16, and whom the family doctor remembers as a "good-looking girl running around the house," Mrs. Gore once exclaimed, "Ohmigod, she's going to get pregnant, I know it," reveals Melinda Henneberger in another Times article.

Only one member of Ronald Reagan's cabinet served the entire eight years of his administration. The last president before Reagan to serve two full terms was Dwight Eisenhower, and only one member of his cabinet stuck it out. By contrast, four of Bill Clinton's cabinet are on track to make it to January 20: Bruce Babbitt, Janet Reno, Richard Riley, and Donna Shalala.

A few years ago, Rick Lazio's "looks got him named most attractive House member by a group of gay congressional staff," according to The Washington Post's John F. Harris and Juliet Eilperin.

Lest anyone think Lazio coveted this honor, we hasten to add this explanation of why Lazio was one of the first men to enter formerly all-female Vassar, given by a high school friend to Greg Sargent and Josh Benson of the New York Observer: "It was all women. This guy was always a step ahead."

Tom Ridge, the Roman Catholic governor of Pennsylvania who favors abortion rights, ranks high on George W. Bush's list of potential vice presidents, according to many informed observers. He is a former union member--he joined the hod-carriers when he worked in construction during college--and he is a combat veteran of Vietnam. "In two elections, Mr. Ridge has shown considerable crossover attraction among Democratic voters," writes Frances X. Clines of The New York Times. "He has the power to garner up to 30 percent of them, according to polls." The knock on him, according to Pennsylvania Democrats, is that his recent tax cut "favored big business at the expense of needy families."

But a bigger knock in W.'s eyes may be the fact that Ridge is bigger. At a powerfully built 6'3" he would dwarf Bush on the platform. Just the mental picture of Michael Dukakis standing next to Lloyd Bentsen may be enough to doom Ridge's chances.

Have you heard what Rep. J. C. Watts once said when he introduced George W. Bush? "You don't have to be smart to be president."

But there's good news for W. in a recent observation by the New York Post's...