Grab your Dramamine--it's Silly Season, and the election handicappers are losing their shirts. Kudos to Rick Redfern for the first bombshell: His evidence that Quayle handlers conspired to silence a federal prisoner causes Dano to wail and editors to bail. Out on the campaign trail, Mark Slackmeyer tracks His Incumbency, causing a stir by serving up accurate--if incomprehensible--transcripts of primo Bushspeak. Meanwhile, over in aisle two of the Cosmic Supermarket, Jerry Brown, Insider, has doubled his shelf-life by repackaging himself as Jerry Brown, Outsider. And as Roland and Rick find themselves in the tank for the semi-flawed character from Arkansas ("Look out, Mt. Rushmore!"), the two Dukes, David and Uncle, conspire as only distant cousins can.
Of course, things are tough all over--as everyone but Poppy has noticed. Of the core Doonesbury cast in What Is It, Tink, Is Pan in Trouble? only one has a job that requires getting out of bed. As Mike enters his second year of full unemployment, and B.D. realizes he needs to get a post-Ground War life, ex-nanny Zonker finesses the recession by returning home to his terrified parents.
