BOOK . . . WHY CLINTON DID NOT RUN IN '88

A new biography of President Clinton claims that he decided against running for the office in 1988 for fear of stories about extramarital affairs. "First In His Class," by Washington Post staff writer David Maraniss, says Clinton dropped the idea of running that year after his then-top aide, Betsey Wright, listed the names of women with whom he had been rumored to be involved, and then advised him to forgo the race out of deference to his wife and daughter. Maraniss writes that Wright "was convinced that some state troopers were soliciting women for him and he for them." Wright said today that Maraniss had "misunderstood anything I told him about the troopers."