DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711140643

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   72 lines

HUFFINGTON LISTS 12 STEPS TO NATION'S REBIRTH

``I love unruly women,'' Arianna Huffington said Thursday night, leaving little doubt that she considers herself one.

The conservative commentator burst onto the American political scene in 1994 with a prominent role in her millionaire husband's unsuccessful campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in California.

Michael Huffington lost to Sen. Dianne Feinstein despite spending $28 million of his own money in the most expensive self-financed campaign in history. The campaign was dogged by controversy over his wife's activities, including her reputed past connections to a messianic cult.

Now she has a 12-step program for the nation. She laid out her ``12 Steps to American Renewal'' for an audience of 500 at Old Dominion University as part of ODU's President's Lecture Series.

Along the way she displayed the iconoclastic streak that has earned her the enmity of many Republican leaders since the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress.

During a question-and-answer period, Huffington was asked whom she considers the leading presidential contenders for the 2000 election. It's easier to identify who shouldn't be nominated, she replied, listing three men widely considered leading Republican contenders: Dan Quayle, Jack Kemp and Lamar Alexander.

But she didn't limit her disdain to the GOP. Bucking the conventional wisdom, she said flatly: ``I'm convinced Al Gore will not be president.''

Why not? ``The great thing Al Gore had going for him was that he was Mr. Clean. He wasn't exciting, he wasn't charismatic, he wasn't funny, but he was clean. Now he's not even clean! So why put up with all the boredom?''

And what of Hillary Clinton, someone wanted to know. Has she finally found her niche?

``I kind of preferred her before,'' Huffington replied tartly. ``I prefer women who are who they are, and I think she's making an enormous effort not to be who she is. She's making an enormous effort to - be nice.

``And she should absolutely, 100 percent, stop wearing pink.

``Some consultant must have told her, `Wear pink, smile a lot, let your hair grow, be nice, don't say anything about policy,' and she's become a little bit like the Stepford Wife.''

Huffington, Greek-born and Cambridge-educated, is now a syndicated columnist, an author and a semi-regular on TV's ``Politically Incorrect.''

These are her 12 steps for renewing the nation:

1. ``Acknowledge that there is something terribly wrong'' when fewer than half of eligible Americans vote and there are essentially two Americas: one benefiting from a strong economy and the other left behind.

2. ``Pray for leadership to emerge.''

3. ``Hang up on pollsters'' so politicians will stop relying on them. ``There is never a consensus for great reform.''

4. Identify and encourage leaders who will run for office because they are more passionate about changing America than about getting elected.

5. Break up the ``pack mentality'' that produces an unspoken consensus in the media about what is and is not news.

6. Expose politicians relentlessly when they lie.

7. Boycott Jerry Springer, Sally Jessy Raphael and other tabloid-TV hosts who traffic in the ``trivialization of human tragedy.''

8. Restore trust in the political process by enacting campaign finance reform.

9. Reconnect with what Huffington calls our ``fourth instinct'' - the urge to submerge self-interest in the pursuit of a higher purpose.

10. Conquer self-centeredness and narcissism.

11. Encourage families to do volunteer work together.

12. ``Remember death; it brings balance and perspective to life. Don't worry about un-precious things.'' ILLUSTRATION: IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Speaking to an audience of 500 Thursday at Old Dominion University

as part of ODU's President's Lecture Series, Arianna Huffington

displayed her streak of iconoclasm that has made her unpopular in

some camps.

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