Activist and presidential candidate Gary Bauer, R, has launched his campaign Web site at www.Bauer2k.com. Vice President Al Gore, D-TN, is also up at www.algore2000.com.

    Sen. Bob Torricelli, D-NJ, who runs the Democratic effort to retake the Senate, said Wednesday that his party has "a better quality of candidates" to challenge Sen. Slade Gorton, R-WA, than it has lined up against any other GOP senator. State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn, D, has entered the race, and State Attorney General Christine Gregoire, D, may also get in. Torricelli, who helped raise nearly $300,000 at a Washington State fund-raiser on March 30, listed Gorton as one of just eight Republican senators targeted for defeat by the Democrats next year. In a memo last week, Gorton Chief of Staff Tony Williams acknowledged that Gorton is not a sure bet for re-election, writing, "Any politico worth his or her salt would never make such a statement about any politician running in a swing state like ours."

    Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA, who chairs the Science Committee Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, will work with the aerospace industry to help overcome State Department slowdowns in the approval of satellite exports to friendly countries. In a March 23 speech, Rohrabacher said that "up until last year our national security was being compromised so a few companies could profit. Now the pendulum is swinging back madly in the other direction. As a result, this year our commercial space industry may be needlessly sacrificed out of national security-based fears about normal, everyday international business relationships. If we let this happen, it will be a tragedy in itself."

    Science Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, recently sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management Director Janice Lachance requesting information about the Energy Department's consideration of shifting a political appointee to the career position of Director of the Office of Planning and Analysis. "I am writing to inform you of this potential appointment because of my deep concerns about the integrity of the merit system and my concern that this particular appointment, if consummated, could imperil the Department of Energy's capacity to monitor the nation’s scientific research," Sensenbrenner wrote.

    Infoseek Chairman Steve Kirsch will offer dinner with himself and astronaut Buzz Aldrin as a fundraiser for The Mars Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to generating enthusiasm and funding for a manned mission to Mars. The price tag? $100,000 per plate. "[Aldrin is] one of the few people who's walked on the moon. Billionaires are like a dime a dozen, these days," said Kirsch.

    NeoMagic Chairman Kamran Elahian's charity Schools Online will continue its work toward its goal of connecting schools around the world to the Internet through Internet auctions, according to press reports. To raise money, Schools Online is auctioning half-hour consultations with various Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Said a spokesman, "We saw a Furby go for $9,000. We hope we can compete with a Furby."

    The Web site of radio host Art Bell, the man who made Roswell and Area 51 into national obsessions, was not hacked by Serb cyberterrorists after all. The "attack" on Bell's site was an April Fools' Day joke, but one that angered some Serb groups. The fake "hacked pages" claimed that certain Serb organizations had hacked into Bell's site, which was reported in the press, despite their actual innocence.

    CNET reporter Dan Goodin has won a First Amendment victory in his dispute with Microsoft. Microsoft wanted Goodin to name his sources after he broke a story last fall about Sun Microsystems' lawsuit against Microsoft, but U.S. District Court Magistrate Patricia Trumbull has ruled that Goodin could have obtained the documents from any number of sources without necessarily violating a court-ordered seal of certain documents, thereby killing Microsoft's subpoena. Microsoft is not expected to appeal, according to press reports.

    Washington Post Chairwoman Katherine Graham criticized the Internet news media in a dinner speech, according to press reports. Online news degrades the authority, accuracy, and standards of traditional newspapers, Graham charged. When Industry Standard Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Weber took the floor to tell Graham that some Internet newsrooms uphold the standards of traditional journalism, Graham tersely replied, "OK."

    Mike Homer was senior vice president for Netcenter at Netscape, but is now just executive vice president for Netcenter under the AOL regime, and, according to press reports, he isn't happy about the new title, a demotion in name if not in fact.

    Robert W. Mendenhall has been appointed president of Western Governors University, the online university maintained by several western states. "Bob Mendenhall brings to WGU a unique combination of successful entrepreneur, a seasoned operating executive and a committed educator," WGU Board of Trustees co-chairmen Govs. Michael Leavitt, R-UT, and Gary Locke, D-WA, said in a joint statement. "We believe he is the right person to build on our existing momentum, and to lead WGU to the next level in providing high quality education to our students."

    White House Y2K point man John Koskinen outlined four key priorities federal agencies will be pursuing now that the government-wide Y2K preparation deadline has passed: