Fools' Day gags in D.C. both funny and bizarre

By John Tierney
The New York Times

	Arlen Specter
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WASHINGTON — You might think April Fools' Day would be a pleasant respite from Washington's official dreariness, but there were not a lot of happy faces Thursday.

Journalists frantically dispatched to the Capitol to cover Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's retirement were not amused to discover that the announcement was the fantasy of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

That news release at least had a few jokes in it, such as the supposed upcoming memoir titled "The Two Faces of Arlen Specter." But the Democratic National Committee's news release about the Bush and Kerry campaigns agreeing to a series of debates was utterly jokeless, and was reported — on "MarketWatch" on CBS before it was revealed as a hoax.

The Republican National Committee showed a lighter touch in its announcement that John Kerry's French cousin was supporting President Bush, and at least the news release was clearly labeled an April Fools' joke.

Planned Parenthood also clearly revealed that its version of the White House Web site was a spoof. It did not, however, reveal why "President Creates New Department of Wombland Security" and "Occupied Uterus Subject to Housing Code" were funny.

The best prank probably was Roll Call's front page Thursday, which fooled some stunned staff members on Capitol Hill with the scoop that Congress was addressing the federal deficit by cutting members' salaries by $20,000.

But the most surprising news of the day came on stationery with the letterhead of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. The news release, dated April 1, announced that a new chapter of the Optimist Club had just met in Baghdad. This seemed like a gruesome joke, coming the day after the killings and mob violence in Fallujah.

But a call to Laura Boyd at the St. Louis headquarters of Optimist International confirmed there indeed was a new chapter in Baghdad.

"The recent news doesn't seem to faze them over there," Boyd said. "They're very upbeat."

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