TRANSITION WATCH

GREEN JOBS: After spending most of the last 12 years in the political wilderness, environmental groups are dreaming of a forest-green Clinton Administration. . . . A favorite to head the Environmental Protection Agency is well-positioned: Carol Browner, 36, Florida’s secretary of environmental regulation, a former Senate aide to Vice President-elect Al Gore and now his transition chief. . . . Another prime candidate: Madeleine M. Kunin, who gained President-elect Bill Clinton’s respect when she governed Vermont and helped him choose Gore as his running mate. . . . Environmentalists have mixed feelings on retiring Sen. Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colo.), a prospect to head the Energy or Interior departments. They like his support of alternative energy sources but some wince at his pro-nuclear stance. Gore reportedly has urged Wirth to go for energy--but Wirth is said to be dubious about tackling such non-winners as nuclear waste disposal. . . . Other greenies in the running for top jobs: James Gustave Speth, president of the World Resources Institute; Jessica Tuchman Mathews, WRI’s No. 2; Fred Krupp, chairman of the Environmental Defense Fund.

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LOBBYING SWITCH: With Democrats taking over the White House, special interest groups are scrambling to retool lobbying strategies. . . . The National Abortion Rights Action League, which got nowhere with the Bush Administration, fired off a “comprehensive pro-choice agenda” to the Clinton transition team, urging 18 actions.

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BUM SCOOP: Journalists aren’t supposed to ask favors of news sources. But when times are tough, principles wither. An aide to Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) says he has heard from “six or eight” reporters seeking Bradley’s help in securing jobs with the Clinton Administration.

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NEW LAUGHS: Political humorists are down about the pending exile of their favorite target, Vice President Dan Quayle. But they are relishing some last swipes at President Bush--and some practice swings at Clinton. . . . The Capitol Steps, a Washington group of past and present congressional aides that does song parodies, has a new ditty disclosing Bush’s retirement plans. To the tune of “I Did It My Way,” a Bush look-alike laments that “that worm” (Clinton):

Cost me a term

He’s made me squirm

In that . . . Saddam way.

I’ll rise again

But until then

I’ll work for . . . Amway.

Ever bipartisan, Capitol Steps lyricist Bill Strauss has Clinton singing about New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, to the strains of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Modern Major General”:

I’ll put Cuomo on the court

Once I’ve fixed the economy.

But meanwhile, go tell Mario

Be patient, don’t get on-a-me.

If Cuomo don’t stop actin’

Like an Earl Warren wanna-be,

I’ll make him secretary of alternative agronomy.