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Millennial Capital
Clinton Quiet on Chechnya While D.C. Mayor Predicts a Good Day

By Josh Gerstein
ABCNEWS.com
W A S H I N G T O N, Dec. 31 — Some observations from millennium events in the nation’s capital:
     Never accuse District of Columbia Mayor Tony Williams of being bashful about his views.
     During the opening ceremonies for the capital’s millennium festivities, Williams offered both a political endorsement and what amounted to a bold prediction.
     The millennium celebration is an official government effort, co-chaired by politicians from both major political parties, but Williams declared the whole crowd to be in support of first lady Hillary Clinton’s bid for the U.S. Senate. “We are all going to be working hard to see that she gets a job up on Capitol Hill in the policy area and resides in this great city,” Williams said.
     He also said that those who suggested postponing millennium celebrations, like Washington’s, because of fears of terrorism had been “proven wrong.”
     Optimism is one thing, but when Williams spoke, before noon today, it seemed a bit early to declare victory over both the forces of evil and those who counseled people to stay home.

Unusual Gift
A man turned up at the kickoff of the Washington, D.C., millennium celebration today with eight vials of biological agents.
This would have been big news, of course, but the man was a doctor and he meant no harm. Dr. Robert Hilleman, a renowned expert in immunology, brought samples of eight vaccines, encased in Lucite, as a contribution to a National Millennium Time Capsule that was unveiled at the event.
The time capsule will eventually go on display at the National Archives.

Chelsea on Display
First daughter Chelsea Clinton was front and center at a couple of millennium-related happenings today.
     Members of the news media have been discouraged from reporting on Chelsea’s activities, but word apparently never reached those producing the events for the White House Millennium Council.
     When the 19-year-old Stanford junior arrived at the opening ceremonies just off Pennsylvania Avenue, producers put the shot of her up on a huge video screen on the stage.
     And much of the crowd stood up to get a better look at her. At another event later, she jogged up onto the stage to join her parents, shaking hands and posing for photos.
     And still later this evening, in another break from the usual protocol, she stood alongside her parents in a formal receiving line, greeting the more than 300 high-profile guests the Clintons had invited to a New Year’s Eve dinner at the White House.
     If Chelsea is going to take a more public role, the White House advance staff will have to pay a little more attention to arrangements for the first daughter. She looked uncomfortable today as several audience members, who had been seated for quite a while, were ejected from their front-row seats in order to make room for her and her friends.

Ataturk Counts
Legendary Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk may not have cut it for Time magazine, but he made President Clinton’s list of big names of the millennium. Fans of Ataturk mounted a major campaign to get Ataturk named as man of the century.
     Time’s editors received thousands of e-mails and letters singing Ataturk’s praises, but they ultimately gave the Turk the cold shoulder. The magazine selected Albert Einstein for its man of the century cover.
     President Clinton, who visited Turkey last month and laid a wreath at Ataturk’s grave, was more generous today. During a speech to a group of children from around the world, Clinton listed Ataturk among 15 people whose contributions stood out during the past millennium.
     Here, with stylistic apologies to Billy Joel, was the president’s list: “Leif Eriksson sailed, Gutenberg printed, Galileo dared, Shakespeare wrote, Elizabeth ruled, Mozart composed, Jefferson drafted, Bolivar liberated, Lincoln preserved, Einstein dreamed, Ataturk built, Roosevelt led, Gandhi preached, Mother Teresa healed, Mandela triumphed.”


		Guest List of White House Dinner

W E B L I N K

America’s Millennium on the Mall

OK, folks it’s right around the corner. Click here for ABCNEWS.com’s special look at what’s ahead in the new millennium. There’s something new every day.

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