Dave "Doctor" Gonzo is hunkered down in a secluded hotel suite in the most appropriate city from which to cover election night -- Las Vegas. He has at his disposal six televisions, three phones, a rented cell phone, a fax, his lovely wife and political analyst Krysztyna, a case of Ommegang Ale flown in from Cooperstown, a case of Saranac Black and Tan, a case of Moritz Winter Brew, three cases of Poland Spring water, seven pounds of coffee from the Porto Rico Trading Company in New York, an espresso maker, three grocery bags of fresh fruit, seven grocery bags full of junk food, and the Powerbook of Love running MacOS8.5. His election dispatches will be issued daily until the Wednesday after election day.

"The Doc" is a former disgruntled senior executive of a large media company that went south when it was bought out by another large media company. He is now a high-priced consultant in the beer and communications industries. His political rants appear exclusively in American Politics Journal.

October 31, 1998 -- LAS VEGAS -- The Doc has hunkered down in his obscenely outfitted killer-deluxe hotel suite overlooking The Strip in Sin City. He is monitoring five of the half-dozen TVs, the 25-inchers, tuned to news spew -- CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC, CNBC, and C-SPAN 2. But the biggest screen -- a 40-something-incher rear projection behemoth -- is playing a DVD of "The X Files - Fight the Future," the feature film based on the Fox Network's best hard-news program, which my wife Krysztyna, my pal Stiggs, and his drop-dead gorgeous fiancee Tatiana are enjoying in all its paranoid glory.

For those of you not familiar with the cult TV series or the film, the storyline revolves around the exploits of Special Agent Mulder, investigator of mysterious "X File" cases, who believes that his sister was abducted two decades ago by aliens. Mulder is looking for the truth -- but is constantly stymied by a cabal of very powerful people with connections to the US military, advanced technology and big corporations.

Mulder is sort of the anti-Ken-Starr: Starr has submitted "sex files" to Congress, has been assisted by a conspiratorial group of high-powered right wing attorneys, journalists and activists, has ties to big tobacco corporations, and appears to have abducted the Paula Jones case for exploitation in his mission. He claims to be "looking for the truth" -- a ludicrous assertion in light of what looks to be his involvement in a "honey trap" to extort what Clinton's enemies call "perjury" from him during deposition testimony in a civil suit with respect to his private conduct.

Starr's "truth is out there," all right -- a bit too far out to the right for The Doc.

And The Doc can't help but laugh at the frazzled, adrenalized look in Mulder's eye right now -- he imagines Ken Starr is starting to look and feel that same way right about now.

Because Ken Starr is indeed in crisis, as The Doc and APJ have been saying all along. And now the public has 24 more reasons to know as of late yesterday.

Now, The Doc's pals at APJ were the among the first to tell you many months ago that Allegedly Independent Counsel Ex-Judge Starr and his whole operation smelled like a barrel of scrod left in the sun on a hot August afternoon. Come to think of it, The Doc had a few "kind" words for Br'er Ken some months back. A few intrepid press outlets -- Brill's Content, Salon, The Real News Page and The New York Observer come to mind -- have been following the slowly emerging case against Starr, including evidence of felonious activity within the Office of Independent Counsel.

But apparently the cow patties hit the blower unit last month, according to documents released to the press yesterday:

DATELINE: THE BELTWAY -- "Due to serious and repetitive prima facie violations" of grand jury secrecy rules as evidenced in the content of some 24 news stories on the Monica Lewinsky affair , a thorough review must be undertaken since "[t]he law in this circuit makes it perfectly clear that government attorneys may not reveal documentary evidence that is likely to be presented to the grand jury." Judge Norma Holloway Johnson cited previous DC Circuit Court of appeals rulings finding that the rules not only encompass "the direct revelation of grand jury transcripts" but also any disclosure by prosecutors of "the identities of witnesses or jurors, the substance of testimony, [or] the strategy or direction of the investigation" [emphasis in original -- hint, hint, Ken].

She signed a ruling on September 24th appointing an unnamed "special master," empowered to subpoena not only testimony "from the OIC or any other relevant parties" but "documents such as telephone records, telephone logs, letters, facsimiles, notes, memoranda, appointment records, visitor logs, calendars, etc.", and to complete a final report of findings on the 24 possible instances of felony violations of grand jury secrecy rules, specifically 6(e), "preferably by the end of November 1998."

Ouch. Just in time for preliminary House Judiciary Committee hearings on possible impeachment to get under way.

And Johnson named names of reporters and correspondents in the 24 incidents cited -- a veritable Hall of Clinton-Bashing Infamy. Michael Isikoff, Howard Fineman, Jackie Judd, Jeff Gerth, David Bloom, Don van Natta Jr., Claire Shipman, Lisa Myers and Susan Schmidt are just a few of the journalists-turned-Starrnographers named.

And, of course, right wing blab tanks were on the story like white on rice.

Mark Levin, President of the ultra-right-wing Landmark Legal Foundation, was quoted as saying "It's remarkable to me that a judge would unseal this the Friday before a major election."

Meanwhile, a legal expert with ties to the world of reality contacted by The Doc this morning said "It's not terribly unusual. Levin should take a chill pill."

The Doc knows -- not exactly the kind of punditry one is likely to see in the Washington Post -- but you read it here first.

STIGGS'S BETTING LINE*: Even odds that at least two prosecutors in the OIC will be indicted by April 1, 1999. Even odds that at least one prosecutor loses his license to practice law by December 31, 2000. Two-to-one odds that Jackie Judd doesn't take off all the weight she gained in the last 18 months by the end of next year. Even odds that either Judd or David Bloom moves to Fox News by next July.

DATELINE: LAS VEGAS -- Attention "X Files" fans -- there is a CRUCIAL snippet of dialogue involving Mulder and one of his supposed nemeses that was NOT included in the theatrical release -- if you have not rented the video version, do it before the series resumes! No, this is NOT a commercial endorsement -- if anything, The Doc is furious that the producers would pull such an important "bait and switch" to get fans of the series to essentially have to plunk down their hard-earned bucks TWICE. Sort of like the GOP plan to "reform" Social Security with privatization -- you pay into the plan, then find that some of your hard-earned money has had to pay for "management" of the investments. Essentially, you end up paying extra for one thing, and get ripped off to boot.

But I digress...

DATELINE: WISCONSIN -- All eyes are on the senatorial race between incumbent Russ Feingold and conservative Republican challenger Rep. Mark Neumann.

The incumbent was co-sponsor of the McCain-Feingold legislation which would have radically reformed campaign finance laws governing federal elections. The bill was blocked in the Senate.

Feingold unilaterally put a limit on his campaign spending at $3.9 million, a pledge which Neumann refused to adopt. Neumann has vastly outspent Feingold and been running a blistering barrage of negative campaign ads on television.

Feingold also faces a secondary problem -- his decision to limit his campaign spending has pegged him in some circles as a "one-issue" candidate.

On the upside, Feingold's strong performance in pre-election debates -- which the Washington Post incompletely characterized as a victory for Feingold due to "Neumann suffered a misstep in one of two televised debates" -- has fired up his supporters and dispelled the "one-issue" label. And the sense of a stronger-than-expected backlash against Neumann's negative ads and the continuing Lewinsky flap are factors to consider in this race.

STIGGS'S BETTING LINE: Changed to even odds as of 9 AM Vegas Standard Time today. May change.

DATELINE: ALBANY, GEORGIA -- Check out this quote from Michael Powell's article in today's Washington Post:

"Anybody who underestimates Newt Gingrich or his talent is a fool," says a White House strategist. "I don't share any drop of the popular dismissive contempt for Gingrich. He can play junkyard dog or statesman. We lost 40 years of Democratic control of the House because of that man."