Howard Baker

Instead of running for President, Howard Baker has decided to be the President. AUGUSTUS SHACKELFORD Redondo Beach

Trying to prevent a repeat of the 1990s standoff over healthcare, four former Senate leaders are preparing a plan that combines ideas from both political parties to guarantee coverage for all. Democrats Tom Daschle and George Mitchell are set to join Republicans Bob Dole and Howard Baker today to reveal a $1.2-trillion proposal that would be paid for with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.

President Bush named former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. to be ambassador to Japan, saying he was proud to tap "a true statesman" for the important diplomatic post. Baker would replace former House Speaker Thomas S. Foley. "Howard Baker will represent our country with honor and distinction," Bush said in a statement. Baker, 75, made an unsuccessful run for the White House in 1980.

President Bush named former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. to be ambassador to Japan, saying he was proud to tap "a true statesman" for the important diplomatic post. Baker would replace former House Speaker Thomas S. Foley. "Howard Baker will represent our country with honor and distinction," Bush said in a statement. Baker, 75, made an unsuccessful run for the White House in 1980. He served 18 years in the Senate, four of them as majority leader, and became chief of staff to former President Reagan in 1987.

For the man who asked the pointed question during the Senate Watergate hearings--"What did the president know and when did he know it?"--could his focus on romance be any less laser-like? After all, when you are former Tennessee Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. interested in dating outgoing Kansas Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, you don't just take a deep breath, dial her up and hope she'll go out with you.

Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.) confirmed Friday that she will marry former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. Kassebaum said she will wait until after the Nov. 5 election to announce the wedding date. Kassebaum, 64, did not seek reelection this year and will complete her third six-year term in January. Baker, 70, also served 18 years in the Senate as a Republican from Tennessee, ending as Senate majority leader in 1985, and was briefly White House chief of staff for Ronald Reagan.

Howard Wilson Baker, a California-oriented poet known for his elaborate stanza forms and frequent use of Greek imagery, has died in Porterville, Calif. His wife and collaborator, Virginia Baker, said he was 85 when he died of cancer Wednesday at Sierra View District Hospital in Porterville.

An angry Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said a new book on Robert H. Bork's ill-fated Supreme Court nomination incorrectly states Rehnquist broke a promise to keep Justice Lewis F. Powell's impending retirement a secret. In the book, "Battle for Justice," author Ethan Bronner says Powell told Rehnquist on June 25, 1987, that he would announce his retirement the following day and asked for "a solemn promise" to keep it a secret overnight.

Former White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. and Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. ended talks on Baker taking a senior position at the investment firm, apparently after Drexel's enthusiasm for the idea had cooled. The possibility of Baker taking the chairmanship or some other high-level position at Drexel ended Tuesday after the former U.S. senator had a 45-minute meeting in Washington with Frederick H. Joseph, Drexel's chief executive, one source said.

The embattled Wall Street firm Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. has been negotiating with former White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker Jr. about becoming its chairman, a move some of the firm's officials see as a way of avoiding criminal charges, sources said Monday. Baker and Drexel declined to comment directly on the status of their discussions.

As a traditional, hard-line Democrat I find it ironic that I would be moved to speak on behalf of a Republican, but I feel I must. In recent weeks, I have been shaken by the intense criticism being leveled by the extreme right at Reagan's chief of staff, Howard Baker. Unlike most of Reagan's men, Baker chose to put aside his personal interest in order to help the Administration out of its self-inflicted quagmire. In sacrificing a possible presidential bid, Baker displayed a loyalty to his country and his party; a precarious balancing act which most of his predecessors were unable, or unwilling to maintain.