• My first batch of photos from Puerto Rico.

There are 11 photos, so if you are on dial-up, it may take a few minutes.

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• Gore says Lieberman should run if he wants.

Gore said his 2000 running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), should run for president if he wants to, regardless of Gore's eventual decision. Lieberman has pledged publicly not to run if Gore does. "He hasn't made that pledge to me," Gore told Walters. "If he wants to change that, that's . . . his prerogative."

Looks like there won't be a Gore/Lieberman ticket again. Throw the old bumperstickers out.

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• Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont calls Senator elect Saxby Chambliss a draft dodger.

"(Bush) supported a man, for example, in Georgia who was, well, the best way to put it, was a draft dodger who attacked Senator (Max) Cleland on his patriotism," Leahy said. "And the president joined in that."

Is Saxby thinking all the Senators who served in the military are going to jum at the chance of working with somebody who slandered a war hero?

I have yet to find a single mention of this in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You think another Senator calling their states Senator elect a draft dodger would merit some story.

• Two Georgia Senators who switched party being billed by Georgia Democratic Party.

Senators. Rooney Bowen of Cordele and Jack Hill of Reidsville are being billed by the Georgia Democratic Party for money spent on their re-election campaigns. Both of these Senators survived touch elections against Republicans.

"Since you have chosen to defraud the voters of your district by switching to the Republican Party less than a week after your election, we are asking that you pay each of the attached bills in full," states the letter from Jon Anderson, executive director of the state Democratic Party. "Your actions in recent days betray the trust of . . . donors and violate the contract that you agreed to when you qualified to run as a Democrat."

Some individual contributors are asking for refunds also. Lucy Draper, an Atlanta activist has asked Hill to return her $1000 contribution.

"I worked very hard for the Democratic Party," Draper said. "For these defections to occur in a week is deeply troubling. They have the right to switch parties, but I am deeply concerned they did it a week after the election."

Certainly these switchers did not think there wouldn't be any political fallout.

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