Nation: Potomac Plums

They float like flakes of giant confetti across desks, and cascade from the shopping carts used by desperate mail clerks to handle the haul. Every day, applications flood in—an estimated 30,000 so far—for jobs with the imminent Reagan Administration. Many of the suitors are trying for one of the 2,700 jobs in the federal bureaucracy that can be filled by political appointment and that range from Secretary of State at $69,630 (although few unknowns apply) to chauffeurs at about $12,000. But a lot of the applicants are after anything that might be available, anything at all.

Although the job seekers include...

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