Who's Who.

• Author: THREADGILL, SUSAN

Did you know that Monica Lewinsky and her pals used code names? She and Betty Currie used the name "Kay" when leaving pager messages for each other. Linda Tripp's code name for Lewinsky was "Mary." Michael Isikoff was "Harvey" to Linda Tripp and "Spikey" to her literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, according to Alicia Shepard's profile of Isikoff in last December's issue of American Journalism Review.

What's George Stephanopoulos going to reveal in his forthcoming book? We got a hint in Little, Brown's spring '99 catalogue: "George clung to the vision of what a Clinton presidency could be, even as he began to see the hidden, dark compartments in the man." And guess "whose combative instincts were, sadly, behind many of her husband's missteps"?

Alexander Butterfield, who Watergate aficionados will recall as the man who blew the whistle on Richard Nixon's taping system, recently revealed another White House secret. The 50,000 telegrams and 30,000 letters that seemed to represent overwhelming public support of Nixon's "silent majority" speech in 1969 were in fact the product of a campaign Butterfield, then a White House staffer, had helped arrange. He solicited what the Associated Press describes as "accolades to be sent after the speech by members of labor unions, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, and by Air Force retirees, governors, and state Republican chairmen."

Sen. John Breaux, the president of the Alfalfa Club, a once-a-year Washington gathering of really big biggies, told this story to the group's most recent conclave in January: "The pope asked Clinton to help him out and say something positive about religion. So Clinton went out, had a press conference, and endorsed the Nine Commandments."

Sen. John McCain is back again this year with his bill to add more flights to Washington's overcrowded Reagan National Airport including--cynics suspect this is the legislation's main purpose--twenty-four that could go beyond the 1,250 mile limit that now prevents the senator from catching a non-stop flight to Arizona from National, which is only 15 minutes from his Senate office. We can't help wondering if this means that the senator is not entirely confident that he will be flying home on Air Force One which is housed at Andrews Air Force Base, only five minutes by helicopter from the White House lawn.

If conservatives control the Republican nomination, McCain is wise not to count on having Air Force One at his disposal. His name...