THE BRIEFING

What Are the Odds?:

Virtues Czar Bill Bennett, who ran into a spot of bother last year
over his multimillion-dollar gambling habit, slammed Pete Rose's
gambling during a speaking trip to New Hampshire last week.

"I think it's an open question whether any adult should gamble,"
Bennett told me. "It's an absolutely closed question whether a
baseball player should gamble on baseball."

Bennett, the former drug czar who remains a staunch opponent of
legalizing recreational substances, was the victim of a practical joke
during a speech to college students in Manchester.

Members of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy passed out plastic
cups and invited people to send Bennett urine samples. And one, Brian
Gralnik, got Bennett to autograph the inside cover of a book titled
"Winning Casino Blackjack for the Non-Counter."

Ex-gambler Bennett - whose preferred Las Vegas pastimes were video
poker and the slot machines - said he signed several books on the way
out of the auditorium and didn't look at the titles.