Notebook, Feb. 19, 1996

KERREY'S MILLIONAIRES

Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is recruiting millionaires who can self-finance their runs for the Senate. This has stirred controversy in North Carolina, where Republican war horse Jesse Helms looks vulnerable and Helms' 1990 foe, Harvey Gantt, wants to make another run at him. Gantt has edged ahead of Helms in recent polls, yet Kerrey has encouraged Charlie Sanders, a former Glaxo chief executive, to run. Insiders say Kerrey touted Sanders to big Democratic contributors at a recent retreat in Aspen, Colorado. Officially, a Kerrey spokesman says both Gantt and Sanders would be fine candidates, although he acknowledges that Kerrey's praise for Sanders "confuses people." Gantt's backers plan a bloody primary, which ultimately would probably help re-elect Helms.

Other millionaire candidates encouraged by Kerrey include:

TOM BRUGGERE of Oregon, founder of Mentor Graphics Corp.

JAMES SEARS BRYANT of Oklahoma, legal counsel for N.F.L. and N.B.A. players associations

ELLIOTT SPRINGS CLOSE of South Carolina, CEO of Island Harbor Development Corp.

WALTER MINNICK of Idaho, former CEO of TJ International Inc.

GOVERNOR BEN NELSON of Nebraska, former insurance executive and attorney with Kennedy, Holland, DeLacy & Svoboda

MARK WARNER of Virginia, founder of Columbia Capital Corp.

ANONYMOUS REVEALED! (NO, NOT THAT ONE)

The victim wasn't flashy: the Health Insurance Reform Act of 1995. Still, persons unknown had attempted to murder it with the "hold"--a secretive but deadly senatorial weapon. Technically, the hold is a Senator's request to be notified before a bill comes up for a vote--but the requester has the right to remain anonymous. Increasingly, holds are used to stall legislation or nominations that otherwise would easily pass. And in the Senate, delay can be fatal. The insurance bill, which seeks to reform allegedly unfair industry practices, boasted an almost evenly bipartisan list of 44 co-sponsors. But when chief sponsors Republican Nancy Kassebaum and Democrat Ted Kennedy started making inquiries last September about scheduling a floor vote, majority leader Bob Dole informed them that someone had placed a hold on the bill.

For the next five months, Kennedy and Kassebaum tracked down a number of conservative suspects, among them Oklahoma's Don Nickles, Arizona's John Kyl, North Carolina's Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth, and majority whip Trent Lott. But each potential culprit denied he was the one standing in the way of the bill--at that moment, at least. The hold, it seems, was rolling from requester to anonymous requester. Behind it all, Kennedy and Kassebaum believed, was the Health Insurance Association of America, which has argued that the bill will be far more expensive than advertised. The association also fears that the bill could get the whole health-reform movement rolling again. The H.I.A.A., however, sharply denies it played any part in holding up the measure.