Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Kerry's $3.95 Book a $500 Hit
2. Dean Down, Sharpton's Next
3. A Salute to Clinton the 'Conservative'?
4. Republicans Root for Dean
5. U.N. a Gold Mine for Blix

1. Kerry's $3.95 Book a $500 Hit

In the unlikely event that you snapped up copies of John "F." Kerry's book "The New Soldier" in 1971, you could make a huge profit today.

NewsMax's investigative report about Sen. Kerry's unusual past sparked a huge response from readers this week. Although we already had posted one, many sent pictures of the hard-to-find book, which features a cover photo of anti-war protesters desecrating the U.S. flag. Kerry tried to suppress copies of the book when he ran for the U.S. House in 1972.

Many readers also told of auction sites selling the embarrassing volume (cover price: $3.95) for hundreds of dollars. As of Friday afternoon, we found that eBay had one copy going for $255 and one signed by the esteemed author for $500.

Amazon lists the book but not the price. A reviewer from Boston gave it one star out of five and wrote: "The upside down flag on the cover of the book symbolizes the Left's feelings for America and the Constitution of the United States. This book reveals a different side of John Kerry, a side everyone should know before they go to the polls.

"However, the book is good to read if you would like to get into the early mind of the New Left, and contemporary radicals, who are disgusted by 'the Bush Doctrine.'"

Amazon notes: "Customers who bought titles by John Kerry also bought titles by these authors: Wesley K. Clark, Stephen E. Lambert, Douglas Brinkley, Howard Dean, Richard Gephardt."

Amazon's sales ranking of the tome: 1,513,725. The company offers a helpful link to publishers and authors on how to "improve your sales," but even though Kerry had to mortgage his mansion to finance his campaign, we doubt he'll take this advice.

2. Dean Down, Sharpton's Next

NewsMax's moles (yes, we have a few) in Beltway Democratic circles tell us that the same DNC hit machine that has apparently wounded Howard Dean's presidential effort will now be turned on the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Sharpton is not well liked by Terry McAuliffe and the DNC clique now backing Wesley Clark. While they know Sharpton has no prayer of winning the Democratic nomination, they fear his growing stature, especially among African-Americans.

Sharpton is barely registering in the New Hampshire polls, but the African-American population there is small.

By Feb. 2, however, Sharpton could be a player in South Carolina's primary. One poll has him with a solid 15 percent of the vote.

And then there are other primaries Sharpie may pick up some significant support: Michigan, Virginia, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland and so on.

Jesse Jackson used his 1988 run for president to catapult him into the No. 1 spot among African-American leaders. But unlike Jackson, who is a Democratic team player, Sharpton is not.

He has already complained about how poorly African-Americans have been treated by the Democratic establishment. In New York, Sharpton cleverly and sometimes secretly made alliances with Republicans like Alfonse D'Amato and even the current mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

With Mosley-Braun out of the race, Sharpton is slated to pick up almost all of the African-American chips on the table.

We hear that such a thought scares the hell out of the Beltway gang. Sources tell us to expect Sharpton to be on the receiving end of some nasty attacks in the coming weeks.

3. A Salute to Clinton the 'Conservative'?

We certainly don't want anyone to think that NewsMax picks on Democrats, so we'll offer a hearty hosanna to William Jefferson Clinton.

Seriously.

Corruption may have been rampant during the Clinton days, but the mammoth spending sprees of President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have some wondering if Clinton may turn out to be a fiscal conservative - who cut the federal employment rolls and left a budget surplus.

For sure, that was not Clinton's intention when he came to office. He wanted to nationalize health care and spend heavily on social programs.

But a Republican Congress in 1994 offered the appropriate restraint. Also, a little advice from Dick Morris about how to win re-election turned Clinton into a Reaganite on budgetary matters.

We don't buy that national security and the war on terrorism should take all the blame for today's black hole of deficits. Spending on everything from America's failed government school monopolies to foreigners' AIDS has mushroomed. And now the U.S. is supposed to go to Mars? On whose credit card, our great-great-great grandchildren's?

Yes, the president is a genial guy who wants to "triangulate" and steal some of the Democrats' issues. He and his advisers also believe in Keynesian economics - that massive federal spending can prime the pump and recover the economy.

Still, the spending sprees have not made him many friends. No matter how many billions he spends on wasteful social programs, the likes of Tom Daschle and Teddy Kennedy attack him, so why bother trying to please them?

The budget deficit this year is projected to approach a record $500 billion. The Christian Science Monitor reported Friday, "Deficits are expected to reach or exceed $5 trillion over the next decade, according to new studies by groups ranging from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to Goldman Sachs."

Even maverick Republicans such as Sen. John McCain are attacking the spend-crazed prez. If you saw self-described Bush supporter McCain mocking him with Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" the other night, it was painful.

GOP conservatives have been hammering Bush so much on his big-spending ways that he'll propose an increase of less than 1 percent in fiscal 2005 for federal programs not related to defense or homeland security, the Washington Times reported Friday. The newspaper described this increase as a "freeze."

It would be embarrassing that if Howard Dean somehow manages to get the Democrats' presidential nomination, he'll be the one to run as a budget balancer and fiscal conservative.

Bush should not allow the Democrats to steal Republican issues that sit well with the American people: fiscal prudence and limited social spending.

Even Bill Clinton, we discovered, agreed with that.

4. Republicans Root for Dean

Here's another kind word for Democrats: Republicans are hoping Howard Dean stops his hemorrhaging and enjoys a speedy recovery after his meltdown in Iowa.

"I wish that Howard Dean had had his blowup several months from now rather than this week," Colin Hanna, a former Chester County commissioner in Pennsylvania, said Friday at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee in Virginia. "He showed a poor sense of timing."

Talk show host Tom Morgan of Oneonta, N.Y., told the Associated Press, "He would have been a dream candidate for Bush."

Martha Beck of Karns City, Pa., said: "Wesley Clark scares me a little; he seems like a real loose cannon. He's said he's never run for political office. I don't know why you'd want to start at the top and work your way down."

Several participants praised the platform of Sen. Joe Lieberman and wished he had a shot at being the nominee.

Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman touted a strategy to use against any nominee: "We don't know the name or our opponent in November 2004, but we do know the author of his tax plan - Walter Mondale."

5. U.N. a Gold Mine for Blix

NewsMax.com's U.N. correspondent, Stewart Stogel, has learned that former chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was under a special salary agreement that made him second only to Secretary-General Kofi Annan in take-home pay.

Documents shown to NewsMax detailed Blix's unusual "salary arrangement" with the United Nations.

The former chief arms inspector netted more than $15,500 a month during his three years at the United Nations. That gave him a gross annual salary of $224,816.

Only Annan, who is reported to have grossed $227,253, made more during the same period.

None of the salary figures included "expenses." Most American taxpayers have to use their paychecks to fund their cost of living, but further examination revealed that Blix received living expenses of more than $112,475 each year.

Sources close to the former arms inspector claim that actual expenses while in New York City were about $65,000 annually.

In 2000, Bill Clinton's reported gross was $225,000 as the 42nd president of the United States.

David Kay, who is heading the United States' Iraq inspection effort, is said to have been paid more than $500,000 by the CIA for his effort. Kay, who took the position only last July, announced that he would retire in the next several weeks.

Though Blix's salary was among the highest of all U.N. officials, his Department, UNMOVIC (U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission), was one of the smallest.

At its height in February 2003, UNMOVIC had slightly more than 300 employees.

Blix's predecessor, Australian diplomat Richard Butler, is reported to have made $60,000 a year less while holding the very same position.

Butler, who had angered several U.N. Security Council members because of his repeated confrontations with Saddam Hussein, was forced out of the U.N. post in July 1999.

Blix, who was recruited by the council for the arms inspection position in February and March 2000, retired in July 2003, though the U.N. had asked him to remain for an additional year.

The U.N. arms chief, who saw his relationship with Washington rapidly deteriorate after the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, felt the U.N.'s efforts in Iraq had become "marginalized" by the White House and opted to bow out last July.

Blix returned to his native Sweden, where he is completing work on a book that will detail his time at the U.N. looking for secret Iraqi weapons.

Blix has told NewsMax that the book will be an election-year surprise for President Bush.

Since Blix left the UN, the position has been temporarily filled by his chief deputy Dimitri Perricos. Though Perricos will not disclose his salary, it is believed to be "substantially" less than that of Blix.

Today, UNMOVIC has fewer than 50 staffers, with a future yet to be decided by the Security Council.