ALL APOLOGIES

Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler today retracted statements that New York Gov.George Pataki, the rookie Republican who bested Mario Cuomoin November, was a "quasi-governor," or -- as Fowler then elaborated -- "half-assed." The apology for his remarks Tuesday came after New York's senior Democrat, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, took the Senate floor hours later to offer his own apology for Fowler's "inexcusable conduct." Fowler made the remarks while criticizing Pataki for his proposed "tax cuts to the rich."