Washington Calling: More presidential candidates; sweet potatoes; buckle up

WASHINGTON -- First came TV talk-show sleaze king Jerry Springer sticking his toe in the Ohio gubernatorial waters.

Now, America might be the host to the electoral aspirations of Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly, each of whom may seriously consider a run for political office.

Perhaps spurred by the running feud the two have loudly waged for months, comedian-political commentator-Democrat Franken is thinking about returning to his home state of Minnesota for a 2008 challenge of Sen. Norm Coleman, the Republican who won the seat after uber-liberal Sen. Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash.

And Fox TV mouth O'Reilly recently told the New York Newsday newspaper that he "may take a look" at running for president. He said he would run as an independent, but acknowledged the U.S. public might not yet be ready for a non-aligned candidate.

If you're annoyed by a flood of unwanted e-mails you are going to be perfectly miserable if the Senate version of a new "Can Spam" bill becomes law, according to eight state attorneys general.

The Senate bill would allow spammers to escape prosecution if they claim their e-mail missives aren't advertising. It also excuses spammers for deluging consumers with unwanted messages if there are "technical reasons" why they can't give recipients a way to opt out of spam. The House has yet to act on its measure.

Shopping forecasts show we'll be digging deeper in our wallets this year for holiday spending. The National Retail Federation estimates holiday sales will register $217.4 billion, an almost 6 percent jump from last year. Families are expected to spend about $672 -- up from $649 last year.

"High-end" holiday sales led by Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and other gold-plated stores are expected to lead the way, thanks in part to the Bush administration tax cuts, according to A.G. Edwards analysts. Wal-Mart and Target are warning of a slow fourth quarter.

If you haven't reached your 13.8 pounds of turkey this year -- the average annual amount for each American -- take a second helping on Thanksgiving. The Census Bureau also informs us that, each year, America produces 583 million pounds of cranberries, 1.3 billion pounds of sweet potatoes and 791 million pounds of pumpkins for pies. Pass the Pepto, please.

Buckle up as you go over the river and through the woods -- 12,000 law enforcement agencies across the country are cracking down this month on motorists not wearing seat belts. Studies show about 60 percent of those dying in traffic crashes were not belted in.

Ponder this: on Nov. 22, the 40th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy: 58 percent of Americans can't remember where they were that day because they weren't born yet, according to Census Bureau data.

Other dates to note:

-- Nov. 19 is National Ammo Day, when Americans are urged to go out and buy shells and bullets to fight back against the closing of shooting ranges across the country. Suburban sprawl and legal liability fears are apparently shutting many. "The right to keep and bear arms means little if you have nowhere to discharge firearms," ammo day proponent and author Alan Korwin says.

-- Nov. 22 is National Adoption Day, when more than 3,100 adoptions of children in foster care will be finalized in courthouses in 120 communities across the nation. Another 126,000 are eligible for adoption, but have not yet found anyone to take them.

The possibility that former Florida Secretary of State and current GOP Rep. Katherine Harris might run for the newly open Senate seat has Democrats already scrambling to fend off the Queen of Chads, who they say earned their eternal enmity by essentially giving Florida -- and thus the White House -- to George Bush in 2000.

In a fundraising call-to-arms, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee rated defeating Harris "our No. 1 priority."

Apparently quite a few Americans are embarrassed to admit they don't recycle. That's the conclusion of an expert who notes that 70 percent of those asked if they recycle their aluminum cans say they do so "always" or "often." Martha Brooks, president of recycling firm Alcan Rolled Products, which underwrote the poll, says that just 50 percent of the cans used in America are actually being recycled.

News that the moon has little or no water at its poles made waves in some long-range planning for NASA and other space agencies around Earth. If it had held significant amounts of water, the moon would have been a far more attractive spot for a permanent colony and way station for further space exploration. Still, European and perhaps Chinese missions -- manned or not -- are planned for the next several years.

The family values crowd is angry with Bush for sending a congratulatory letter to the Metropolitan Community Church on the 35th anniversary of its founding in Los Angeles. Formed by Rev. Troy Perry, a gay activist, the church has congregations across the country where it regularly performs same-sex marriages.

Conservatives are upset because Bush's Oct. 14 letter came right after he issued a proclamation declaring "Marriage Protection Week" in support of traditional man-woman unions. They say Bush is trying to appease both sides of the politically volatile issue as he gears up for re-election.

Ever since Iraqi insurgents began bedeviling U.S. troops, the majority of those attacks have occurred in a central swath of Iraq. The area, which is populated mostly by Sunni Islam followers and Baath Party believers, has come to be known as the "Sunni Triangle." The White House now is nixing that nickname, believing it to be offensive to some Sunni Muslims. "Baathist Triangle," named for ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's political machine, is now the preferred nomenclature for the dangerous zone.

Chicken huggers have a bone to pick with animal shelters in New Hampshire. United Poultry Concerns, which regularly clucks about the horrid conditions chickens endure on commercial poultry farms, is mad at the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for not serving vegetarian meals at its fundraisers.

After four miserable years, farmers have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasting a whopping $60 billion of farm income this year. Consumers already are getting slapped by skyrocketing beef prices, largely a result of the Mad Cow scare that closed the U.S.-Canada border to the beef trade.

An unknown U.S. Senate challenger from Colorado wants to refuse to be interviewed by any national media unless journalists donate to his campaign.

Jerry Eller, a soldier currently stationed with the Army in Hawaii, asked a reporter for $1, saying he thinks its wrongs that media outlets make money out of unpaid appearances by better-known candidates. Given immovable ethical bars to journalists either taking money from interviewees, or anyone else, or to engaging in political activity, we'll wager Eller remains unknown.

QUOTABLE:

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."

"A person who cannot be named for legal reasons has secretly denied participating in an alleged act that cannot be described for legal reasons. But you know who we mean."