Nestled along the Anacostia waterfront, the House that Bud Built has proven once and for all that while you can take baseball out of the Beltway, you can’t take the Beltway out of baseball.

In hindsight, no one should have been surprised that the glory days of the stadium negotiations – when a "baseball cap" was legislative strategy and not game day attire – were only the beginning of the mesmerizing interplay between the national pastime and the nation’s politicians.

On the heels of the D.C. Council’s fabulous flip-flop vote, Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) secretly convinced her colleagues that the District government should buy the naming rights ("Taxation Without Representation Field") for the new stadium. Peggy Cooper Cafritz and the school board insisted on leading the search for the Superintendent of Grounds while philanthropist Betty Casey announced that she would fund living quarters at the stadium that could serve as the mayor’s official residence. (Local political analysts thought it was a bit much when Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) finally unveiled architectural drawings of the stadium that prominently featured a black door sporting a gold "Number 10" leading to the residence.)

Everyone had been worried about how Williams and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) would get along after Barry led the council rebellion against the stadium. But in true "Things Shift" sprit, the mayor past and the mayor present reached an accommodation by merging the baseball stadium budget and Barry’s beloved youth summer jobs program. It’s really quite something to see the teenaged stadium workers wearing their game day uniforms of bow ties and denim shorts cut too short.

Then, the feds got into the game. Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) slipped a provision into the omnibus transportation bill extending the Senate subway along South Capitol Street to the stadium. The Maryland and Virginia congressional delegations introduced bills restricting parking in the underground garage to cars with out-of-state license plates. (Linda Cropp protested loudly, insisting she needed two parking spaces: one for her Cadillac and one for her Buick.) And Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) led an inspired but ultimately futile filibuster in an attempt to prohibit the assisted suicide squeeze play.

President George W. Bush signed a secret executive order permitting the National Security Agency to monitor the amount of "chatter" in the infield in between innings. The Agriculture Department unveiled a campaign to promote the Nationals’ farm system while the Food and Drug Administration announced plans to regulate pine tar levels in baseball. Behind the scenes, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff worked doggedly to persuade Metro not to rename the Navy Yard and Stadium-Armory stations in order "to confuse the terrorists" about the new stadium’s location. Vice President Dick Cheney later explained to Brit Hume, "If a member of al Qaeda shows up at the Armory and doesn’t have a ticket to the circus, we’ll get ‘em."

With the uncertainty over the team’s status finally resolved, the newly anointed owners threw themselves into fashioning the ne plus ultra of stadium experiences, cost overruns be damned. Overnight, the impasse over retro red brick versus gleaming limestone and steel became moot as the architects received a new design brief: create a modern day monument that celebrated the perfect match of inside baseball and insider politics. Oh, my, how they delivered.

The stadium’s sightlines are spectacular, although those with nosebleed seats have been known to bring signs reading "I Could See Better Sitting in Loudon County!" But if you don’t like your seats or the gentlemen sitting across the aisle, don’t worry. The team has promised to reapportion the seats every ten years based on the results of the U.S. Census. (Statistical sampling not permitted, of course.)

With a nod to Fenway Park’s famed Green Monster, there is the Out-of-Left-Field Wall of Terror, an oversized video wall featuring an ever-changing cornucopia of color that flickers from yellow to orange and back at random. In center, there’s the K Street Project, where fans can track the number of strikeouts ("K’s") thrown by Nationals pitchers. In between the right field bleachers stands the out-of-town scoreboard, which is fully adjustable in case any major league teams spontaneously "contract." And instead of permanent fireworks launchers along the stadium rim, the Army Corps of Engineers buried World War I munitions in the outfield just as it did decades ago in Northwest D.C.’s Spring Valley.

Inside the stadium concourse, overhead green traffic signs helpfully pointing the way to Interstate 495 are interspersed among directions to the nearest restroom. As you make your way along the stadium perimeter, you’ll pass the vaunted Hall of Delegates where the proud flags of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa join the District’s flapping in the wind. And no visit is complete without a pilgrimage to the AFLAC Gallery of Lame Ducks, honoring former legislators like Harold Brazil (D-At Large), Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7) and Sandy Allen (D-Ward 8) for their courage in voting against their constituents after their constituents voted them out of office.

Gourmands flock to Bugel’s BBQ Pit on South South Eutaw Street, where finely smoked meats are piled high on trademarked DirtBaguettes. (The entry in the Zagat guide notes: "Prepare to queue up in ‘offensive’ lines for the savory Home Rule Plate: Blue Ribbon Panel on Baseball Economics pale ale with a Pulled Pork Barrel sandwich and Kenesaw Mountain Landis coleslaw.") Other prized selections include the Red Tape tapioca pudding and D.C. Water and Sewer Authority bottled water – available in both regular and leaded flavors. And when you buy a hot dog from a vendor, a portion of your change is automatically redistributed to Alaska and Montana. (The Stevens-Murkowski-Young skybridge from the parking garages to Juneau was particularly expensive.) Another slice of the purchase price funds the on-site USDA inspectors, who helpfully make sure that none of the hot dogs have been independently tested for mad cow disease.

As part of the team’s community outreach, ballrooms and meeting space were added to the stadium complex. The American Society of Association Executives kicked off the event season with a mammoth convention and job fair – Treasury Secretary John W. Snow seemed particularly interested about possible openings as he wandered the booths – followed shortly by the famed white tie and tails Gridiron Club dinner. The Singing Senators reunited for a special Beltway-and-baseball themed Simon & Garfunkel medley ("Where have you gone, Joe DiGenova? / A nation turns its lonely eyes to you") which former Attorney General John Ashcroft later quipped was an "extraordinary rendition." Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was persuaded to give a dramatic reading of the classic baseball poem "Planned Parenthood v. Casey at the Bat." But the night belonged to White House batterymates Bush and Cheney, who wowed the crowd with their Abbott and Costello inspired routine "Who’s on (Sen.) Frist?"

When the stadium opened to the public, game days were no less entertaining. In a nod to the Expos’ three decades in Quebec, the team lured Celine Dion away from Las Vegas to perform the Canadian national anthem and the love theme from "Titanic" 200 nights a year. Convincing the Newseum to relocate to the stadium site was a real coup ("We were years away from reopening on Pennsylvania Avenue, so why not?" admitted Newseum founder Al Neuharth) and the state-of-the-art broadcast center keeps fans occupied whenever air quality warnings force play to be suspended. Celebrities like Al Franken even do live radio broadcasts from the stadium every day, although no one has had the heart to tell him that Air America has been off the air for years.

Nationals games quickly developed touches unique to D.C. and its traditions. Fans arrive at the ballpark early to watch batting practice and to speculate about which fake signatures would be submitted in the manager’s lineup cards. (Designated hitter Tony Blair and left fielder Kofi Annan slipped past the umpires on a recent afternoon.) Washington is certainly the only city in the major leagues where the seventh-inning stretch begins with the declaration "All rise. Oyez, oyez, oyez!" booming over the loudspeakers and ends with actual stretching led by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. And visiting players always look confused on Non-Profit Night when the last stanza of the national anthem is played and the crowd belts out, "N-G-O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave."

Perhaps it was inevitable that the off-the-field mania that gripped the city would eventually spill over into the games themselves. The umpires tried to eject Antonin Scalia from a game for orally arguing balls and strikes from the stands, and a bench-clearing brawl ensued. (The Federalist Society promptly filed briefs calling for a strict constructionist interpretation of the strike zone.) Whenever a pitcher looks shaky or defensive adjustments need to be made, House and Senate conferees join the infielders and coaches on the mound to discuss the appropriate course of action. And D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey has taken to personally manning stadium radar guns to crack down on opposing players who steal bases too quickly.

Amid all the hoopla, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos continued to press his quest for compensation from his fellow owners. More terrifying than Ty Cobb sliding into base spikes-first or a chin-high Roger Clemens fastball or standing within spitting distance of Roberto Alomar, the litigious Angelos turned Major League Baseball into his personal piñata. Commissioner Bud Selig’s version of Solomon’s Compromise – in this case a 90 percent stake in the creatio ex nihilo Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and a $365 million guaranteed franchise resale value – proved to be only the initial ante.

At a summit meeting at Wye River Plantation mediated by former president Bill Clinton, Angelos wrung concession after concession from his panicked compatriots, notably a presidential pardon for signing outfielder Albert Belle to a ridiculous five-year $65 million contract in 1999, the exclusive rights to operate slot machines in D.C., and National Park Service permission to cut down 130 trees on Daniel Synder’s Potomac estate.

Both sides say publicly that they hope to have a final "final agreement" in place by season’s end. But don’t count on it.

As with everything else in the strange saga of the Washington Nationals and their stadium, it’s just another ballpark estimate.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act extends new protections to an estimated 25 million Americans in so-called "job lock," a situation in which employees don’t switch jobs for fear of losing coverage due to pre-existing medical conditions.

The legislation includes a phased-in 80% tax deduction for health-insurance premiums for the self-employed by 2006, up from the current 30%. It also allows for the creation of 750,000 medical savings accounts that, much like individual retirement accounts or 401(k) savings plans, would enable individuals to set aside tax-free contributions toward routine medical expenses. Most of the bill’s provisions will take effect July 1, 1997.

The legislation was jointly sponsored by Sens. Nancy Kassebaum (R., Kan.) and Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) and enjoyed widespread support, passing the Senate unanimously and the House 421-2 earlier this month, and both parties sought to claim credit for it Wednesday.

"Today we declare a victory for millions of Americans and their families," President Clinton said. "No longer will you live in fear of losing your health insurance because of the state of your health."

"The American people should ask why it took President Clinton more than three years to support these common-sense reforms, which he previously threatened to veto," Republican presidential nominee Robert Dole said in a statement.

As the parties quibble over the credit, Democrats have done their utmost to reclaim the spotlight during this week’s convention interlude, using the White House as a backdrop to stage several elaborate ceremonies. For Mr. Clinton, this week’s bill signings for a higher minimum wage, health-insurance and welfare reforms and business tax breaks provide a high-profile way for him to seize attention and credit in the wake of the Republicans’ national convention, and in the buildup to his own party gathering next week in Chicago.

En route to the Democratic convention by train next week, the president will seek to keep the spotlight with daily announcements of new initiatives. He’s also expected to clear new restrictions on tobacco marketing Friday.

In particular, Mr. Clinton will propose a still-evolving initiative to help welfare recipients find work through a combination of tax and wage subsidies for employers who hire them. The aid would be coordinated with local governments, aides say.

In addition, the president is expected to pull one long-pending proposal from the White House shelf to permit homeowners to avoid capital-gains taxes on the sale of a primary residence. Under current law, capital-gains tax relief goes to those age 55 and over. In practice, removing the age limit wouldn’t have a major impact since many younger taxpayers sell a home then use the proceeds to buy a more expensive one, avoiding capital-gains taxes in that way.

The White House zeal to pitch new ideas, if minor ones, reflects the competition with Robert Dole now that the Republican presidential candidate has put forth an ambitious tax-cut program. Mr. Clinton’s political advisers would like bolder strokes, but his economic advisers for now have prevailed in limiting initiatives to ideas that have relatively little if any federal cost.

Since then, he has spent more than $500 on books about Libertarianism. He cleared his summer to work on a 21-chapter book about Christianity and Libertarianism. He joined the party and planned to drive nearly 26 hours to attend its presidential nominating convention that began July 4 in Washington.

"I’ve never met another Libertarian in my life," says Mr. Hobbs. "This convention will be the first time."

Young Mr. Hobbs is exactly the kind of person the "LP," as the political party refers to itself, is looking for. With its membership aging, the party is mounting its first concerted effort to recruit younger members.

For the first time since the LP was founded 25 years ago, the party’s presidential nominating convention is being held in July instead of over Labor Day, in part so college students can attend. The convention will feature a session entitled "Listen Up Generation X" and two days of special workshops on campus-organizing techniques for the first time as well. The party also has launched an innovative effort to use the Internet and talk radio to get its message out.

The campaign of Harry Browne, an investment adviser who is the likely LP presidential nominee, also has relied heavily on the Internet. Early on in his campaign, he set up a web site (http://www.rahul.net/browne/) that features his position papers and a chatty campaign diary. If he gets the nomination Saturday, he plans further efforts specifically aimed at young voters: "We’ll do everything we can to get onto MTV."

The Libertarian Party, founded on a platform of dismantling government functions not specifically authorized in the Constitution, currently has 15,600 dues-paying members and 125,000 registered voters. The party’s platform includes calls for repealing the income tax and ending government interference with gun control, drugs and abortion. The party expects to be on the presidential ballot in all 50 states for the third time and will field candidates in a majority of U.S. House races, which no third party has done since 1920. But while libertarian ideas seem to be increasingly popular, the party itself isn’t a major political force.

Unlike the two major parties, which have long relied upon campus organizations of Young Republicans and Young Democrats as sources for volunteer labor and organizing activities, the Libertarians have had trouble establishing permanent presences on college campuses. "You get a good vibrant group going and then the firecracker graduates," says Rick Tompkins, a former Arizona state party chairman who also is a candidate for the LP presidential nomination.

Libertarians say their emphasis on reducing the size of government debt that will fall to the next generation — and reducing the size of government in general — should appeal to young people. And the best avenue for reaching those people these days is the Internet. "Both the Democrats and Republicans are still caught up in building organizations and hierarchies on campus," LP National Chairman Steve Dasbach says. "The Internet provides a real means of linking college students together without having these hierarchical organizations on campus."

Since college students generally have free Internet access and high-speed connections, the Internet has already emerged as a key organizing tool on campus, students say.

"Through the Internet, I get to meet other young Libertarians," says Ed Hertzog, a 21-year-old political science major at Penn State University. "I’d put the Internet at the top of the list [of organizing tools.] Communication is the key in organizing a party."

"We have a very high percentage of Libertarians on the Internet. Recruiting on the Internet has been very successful for us," says David Fry, a 21-year-old business management major at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., who was scheduled to attend the convention as a delegate.

That’s exactly how Mr. Hobbs discovered the LP last September while researching presidential candidates on the Internet.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s shutdown of ValuJet Airlines — less than six weeks after FAA officials had insisted that the airline was safe — has raised questions about the agency’s ability to ensure the safety of the U.S. airline industry. Those concerns led Tuesday to a major personnel shakeup at the agency, a tightening of inspection rules and a plea by Transportation Secretary Federico Pena for Congress to rewrite the agency’s historic mandate that requires it to promote as well as police the aviation industry.

"There should never be another question about the top priority of the FAA," Mr. Pena said at a news conference called to deflect criticism of the agency. His comments made it seem likely that the fallout from the crash of ValuJet Flight 592 into the Florida Everglades on May 11, killing all 110 people on board, could lead to a radical change in the way the FAA regulates the airline industry.

Mr. Pena and FAA Administrator David Hinson conceded that the agency failed to heed earlier indications of potential safety problems at the upstart, low-fare airline. Mr. Hinson acknowledged that the FAA didn’t adequately gauge ValuJet’s airworthiness, saying, "We bear some responsibilities in this case."

For one thing, Mr. Pena said that the agency didn’t adequately monitor the growing industry trend of having maintenance work done by independent contractors, known as outsourcing. FAA investigations concluded that the practice led to a litany of safety concerns at ValuJet. As a result, Mr. Hinson said the agency would boost its inspections of airlines that use outside contractors to conduct their maintenance operations.

The turmoil at the FAA also led to a high-level personnel shakeup. The agency’s top inspection official, Anthony J. Broderick, long-time FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification, submitted a letter to Mr. Hinson taking early retirement. In his letter, Mr. Broderick said the agency needed to repair its public image and he believed his departure could help accomplish that.

"The events of the past weeks mandate that you make major visible changes to improve the public confidence in the safety of our air transportation system and the quality of FAA oversight of the airlines. My leaving will provide you with the maximum amount of flexibility to make those changes," he wrote.

Mr. Pena’s call to rewrite the FAA’s basic mandate could bring even more changes. Since it was chartered in 1958, the agency, which is part of the Department of Transportation, has had the sometimes contradictory mission of ensuring safety as well as promoting air travel. Over the years, that dual mandate has prompted the FAA to oppose numerous safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board, concluding that the changes would be too costly for airlines and aircraft makers.

Critics say that conflict was illustrated vividly the day after the ValuJet crash when Messrs. Pena and Hinson stood before television cameras and attested to the airline’s safety. Mr. Pena said Tuesday he is urging Congress to change the FAA charter so that it has only one mission: regulating safety.

ValuJet said there was no evidence that maintenance was to blame for the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board suspects that oxygen canisters being carried illegally in the plane’s cargo hold may have caught fire minutes after takeoff from Miami International Airport. But its official report on the cause of the crash won’t be ready for months.

Meanwhile, the FAA appears to have been deeply divided over how tough to be on ValuJet. As late as last Thursday, FAA officials in Atlanta and three key investigators were negotiating with ValuJet chief executive Lewis Jordan to trim the airline’s fleet of aging aircraft so that the carrier could have better control over maintenance. At that point, there was no discussion of a shutdown, according to people involved with the talks.

Over the weekend, however, two officials from the FAA headquarters in Washington flew to Atlanta to review the inspection records. After a series of weekend meetings, the regulatory officials recommended that Mr. Hinson give ValuJet an ultimatum: Shut down voluntarily or be shut down.

At about 1:30 p.m. Monday, Messrs. Hinson and Pena met at the White House with Clinton administration officials, including chief of staff Leon Panetta and senior presidential adviser George Stephanopoulos, who had been sharply critical of their earlier public assurances that ValuJet was safe. A White House official said Clinton political advisers didn’t press the transportation officials to shut down the airline.

But about an hour after that meeting began, FAA officials in Atlanta presented the ultimatum to a stunned Mr. Jordan, according to people familiar with that meeting. ValuJet announced it would temporarily suspend flights but called the FAA’s action "grossly unfair" because it said it had been denied the opportunity to respond to the agency’s concerns.

The chain of events prompted a round of criticism of the FAA on Capitol Hill. Republican Sen. Larry Pressler of South Dakota, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, blasted the FAA for its oversight of ValuJet safety, particularly because a string of internal agency documents chronicled problems at the carrier long before the crash.

Jeff Nelligan, a spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees the FAA, said it was "absolutely brazen" for Mr. Pena to blame the agency’s problems on its dual mandate. "This is passing the buck," Mr. Nelligan said. "They are scrambling over there and it’s apparent to all."

The FAA admits that its oversight capabilities haven’t kept pace with the explosive growth of new airlines in recent years. Mr. Pena has trumpeted the rise of low-cost carriers, including ValuJet, as a major victory for the Clinton administration and a boon for the flying public. Asked at a briefing about President Clinton’s expressed concern about the quality of the FAA’s safety oversight, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said, "The President wants to make sure we do everything, redouble and recheck everything, that it is absolutely the safest system on Earth."

Republican Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Democratic Rep. John LaFalce of New York and the husband of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California each made at least $5,000 on hot IPOs since last year, sometimes by buying and selling the same day. The wives of two other Democratic congressmen — Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Peter Deutsch of Florida — invested in IPO stocks but still hold them.

All deny receiving special treatment from their brokers, who usually reserve IPO stocks for their best customers or other favored clients. The lawmakers reported the trades on annual financial disclosure statements released last week.

Initial public offerings are as close to a sure thing as the stock market offers for those who get in early on the right deals and sell on the same day because the price often rises sharply as soon as the stock begins trading. Several lawmakers in the past few years have sworn off such trades after news reports disclosed lawmakers" profits, including former Democratic House Speaker Thomas Foley and GOP Sen. Alfonse D’Amato of New York. They ceased trading in IPOs after critics suggested that their stock profits appeared to be, in effect, gifts from people with stakes in pending governmental matters who might want to curry their favor.

A recently released Securities and Exchange Commission report on Sen. D’Amato’s one-day $37,125 profit questioned the motives of his brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont Inc. of Lake Success, N.Y. Stratton at the time was the subject of a major SEC enforcement action.

Sen. Thompson had just opened his account with his Nashville broker at J.C. Bradford Co., when he took home a one-day profit of $7,700 on an investment of about $15,000 in IPO shares of Cybex Corp., a Huntsville, Ala., electronics maker.

Sen. Thompson’s press secretary, Alexandra Pratt, pointed out that the senator "had his share of gains and losses," including one trade in which he lost $3,000. The Tennessee Republican also authorized his broker, Paul "Buddy" Enoch, to discuss the matter on his behalf.

It was through Mr. Enoch that Sen. Thompson obtained the hot investment. The stock was "way oversubscribed," according to Cybex spokesman Stephen Thornton, meaning that most investors couldn’t buy shares before it went to market. Sen. Thompson didn’t report the profit on his financial disclosure form. When The Wall Street Journal questioned the apparent oversight last Friday, Mr. Thompson filed an amendment.

Mr. Enoch says he invested Mr. Thompson in another successful IPO this spring, Premier Technology. Sen. Thompson flipped 500 shares of that stock for a profit of about $3,300. Mr. Enoch says he gives many of his other clients access to initial public offerings. Sen. Thompson, he adds, happened to have a large sum of ready cash in his account when the two stocks went public.

Typically, hot IPOs go to wealthy investors. And despite his long and successful careers in law and acting, Sen. Thompson has relatively modest means. His federal financial disclosure form indicates that his net worth, excluding his home, is less than $615,000 and could be as low as $200,000. His brokerage account, which Mr. Enoch calls "medium size," appears to be worth considerably less than $100,000.

Mr. Enoch, however, said he spreads his IPO shares around to all of his clients. The senator "wasn’t treated differently than anyone else," he says. Mr. Enoch says Sen. Thompson came to him on someone else’s recommendation, but he doesn’t know whose.

Sen. Thompson has received campaign contributions from J.C. Bradford executives, including Mr. Enoch. In his 1994 campaign, 11 officials of the firm contributed a total of $6,100. Over the last two years, another $15,750 was given by Bradford officials. A Nashville-based lobbyist who counts the firm among his clients, Thomas Ingram, was a consultant to Sen. Thompson’s 1994 campaign.

The financial disclosures of the other members who traded in IPOs suggest fairly active and sophisticated trading. For example, Rep. Pelosi, one of Congress’s wealthier members, reported more trades in new stocks than any other member. All seven were listed in the name of her husband, San Francisco businessman Paul Pelosi. The trades included some of last year’s hottest IPOs, such as the Internet-related companies Netscape Communications Inc. and UUNet Technologies Inc.; both doubled in value within a day. Mr. Pelosi bought and sold between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of each within a day of the offering. He bought like amounts of stock in four other companies — Remedy Corp., Opal Inc., Legato Systems Inc. and Act Networks Inc. — right around the time of their initial offering and then sold within a month or two. He reported buying Vanguard Airlines stock around the time of its initial offering and still owned it at the end of the year.

Most if not all of Mr. Pelosi’s trades appear to have been profitable. Rep. Pelosi couldn’t be reached to comment.

Rep. LaFalce, the top Democrat on the House Small Business Committee, bought $15,000 worth of IPO stock in Healthplan Services Corp., which specializes in providing health-care administrative services to small companies. The company says there were five times as many orders for the stock as there were shares for sale. Rep. LaFalce reported making between $5,000 and $15,000 when he sold it three months later. Through a spokesman, the congressman says he is an active trader who was given access to the IPO through his broker, whom he declined to name.

The wives of Reps. Deutsch and Doggett invested at least $1,000 in Food Court Entertainment Networks Inc., and Schlotzksy’s Inc., respectively. Both say their brokers gave them access to the deals but treated them just as they do other clients.