A daily dose of online news from beyond the Beltway.

By Ryan Thornburg
Washingtonpost.com Staff
Friday, July 16, 1999

Republican governors meeting in Las Vegas said Thursday that Congress should quit squabbling over health care and leave regulation to the states. Lawmakers in California and North Carolina are working on managed care measures this week in a final push before recessing.

From this point forward, I don't believe we ought to use food as a sanction for diplomatic means. We're too good of a people to use food as a sanction. – Texas Gov. George W. Bush, telling Iowa farmers that he wanted to open world markets for their products. (The Des Moines Register, July 16))

• GOP Governors: HMO Reform Should Be Left to the States (Las Vegas Review Journal, July 16)

Some See Ethics Problem in Florida Governor's Super Bowl Tickets
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) did not violate state law by accepting three $400 Super Bowl tickets, but the rules that Bush set for his own administration ban gifts of more than $25, with some exceptions. The Super Bowl is one of those exceptions, a Bush spokesman said.
• Super Bowl Tickets Put Bush in a Bind (The Miami Herald, July 16)
• Democrats Say Bush Violated His Own Ethics (St. Petersburg Times, July 16)

Bush, Clinton Focus on Iowa Farm Crisis
Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) told Iowans on Thursday that the federal government needed to help bail them out of an ongoing agricultural bust by opening world markets to the state's products. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is hosting a fund-raiser with President Clinton Friday evening, but he is also blaming the administration for dragging its feet on farm aid.
• Bush Says Farming Is in Disaster (The Des Moines Register, July 16)
• Bush: Federal Aid for Farmers, But Not for His own Campaign (Iowa Pulse, July 15)
• Columnist Kathie Obradovich: President Certain to Face Ag Criticism During Friday Iowa Visit (Iowa Pulse, July 15)

Ventura Job Rating Slips Slightly
Minnesota's Jesse Ventura has the second-lowest job approval rating of any first-year governor. The Reform Party's first statewide office-holder slipped a statistically minuscule point to 56 percent since April, according to a Mason-Dixon Polling & Research telephone survey conducted earlier this month for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, KARE-TV and Minnesota Public Radio. The number is down significantly from when he first took office. Only Nevada's Kenny Guinn (R) has a lower rating among newly elected governors.
• Ventura Job Approval Is High, But Negatives Are on the Rise (The Star-Tribune, Minneapolis, July 15)
• Governors Guide: Jesse Ventura (washingtonpost.com)

South Dakota Governor Cancer-Free After Surgery
South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow (R) told reporters Wednesday that his July 2 surgery to explore for pancreatic cancer found him free of disease.
• Janklow Says He's Cancer Free (Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D., July 15)
• Governors Guide: William Janklow (washingtonpost.com)

Texas Democrats Hire New Leader to Revitalize Party
The Texas Democratic Party, fresh off an election that left none of its members in statewide office, hired 28-year-old political strategist Sherry Boyles to run its daily operations.
• Democrats Select New State Director (Austin American-Statesman, July 15)

Ryan Thornburg can be reached at ryan.thornburg@washingtonpost.com