AND THEN THERE WERE TEN

Arthur Fletcher said he will announce his plans to run for President "as the affirmative action candidate" for the GOP nomination. Fletcher, 70, was appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by three GOP Presidents in a row: Ford, Reagan and Bush. In a statement, a spokesman for Fletcher said that he hopes to "force the extreme social conservative, right wing of his party to cease and desist with their race-baiting and gender-bashing campaign rhetoric."