RUST COMMENTARY: GOOD SALES ADVICE: IF YOUR PHONE ISN'T RINGING, RING SOMEONE ELSE'S

A one-sentence sales seminar: Henry and his family started a community paper in the mid-1970s. They didn't have a lot of cash at the time. And they didn't have the backing of a huge publishing conglomerate. But they did have a dream. And they were determined to work hard.

Henry remembers taking their first want ad over the phone while lying on the floor of his garage. They hadn't yet bought furniture.

Today, their offices are located in a building which was custom-designed to house their printing press. Business is booming. In addition to their own paper, they print approximately 80 other publications.

I once asked Henry if he had a secret of success. Without hesitation, he said, "If my phone's not ringing, I ring somebody else's."

I have spent years working in advertising, a business which revolves around persuasive communication. I have heard a boatload of experts share their sales techniques. And I have waded through countless how-to-sell books.

But I have never encountered anything as profound as Henry's simple philosophy. He knows that all the sales techniques in the world won't do anybody any good unless they are willing to work.

Years ago, American philosopher Elbert Hubbard wrote, "Don't sit down in the meadow and wait for the cow to back up to be milked. Go after the cow." Henry would agree 100 percent. I don't think he has ever waited for anything to come to him.

In the world of sports, it's called hustle.

Pete Rose played the game of baseball with such energy that he was known as "Charlie Hustle." His Cincinnati teammate, Joe Morgan, once said, "I have never seen anyone come to the park with his enthusiasm. It's like every day is opening day."

When he was in his 40s, Rose played like he did as a 10-year-old, sliding headfirst in a cloud of dust. "The big difference," he said, "is that now my mother doesn't have to wash the uniform."

Lazy athletes don't get much respect. Recently, a highly ranked college team played a preseason exhibition basketball game against a foreign national team. After the collegians won by 63 points, their coach commented on the foreign team's lack of effort. "They didn't hustle," he said. "We'd have been better off practicing. It was a wasted afternoon for us."

How do you approach your workday? Are you the Charlie Hustle of your (sales) advertising department? Or are you like a member of that foreign basketball team, trying to go through the motions without breaking a sweat?

If you feel like you're in a rut, maybe it's time to look at things from a different perspective. Ask yourself what Henry would do in your situation. How would he look at your client list? What kind of potential would he see in the non-advertisers who are located in your sales territory?

I don't know what he would find, but one thing's for sure: Somebody's phone would be ringing off the hook. -- John Foust of John Foust Advertising Seminars

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Now that Mike McCurry has left the White House payroll, he's free to speak his mind. And boy, is he speaking it. He told a college crowd this week that Bill Clinton "will always have to live with the enormity of the wrong he has done. This stain on his presidency is not going to be dry-cleaned out." Asked what Clinton will be doing in 20 years, McCurry quipped, "Whatever Hillary wants him to do".

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Dan Rather: Hillary should be nominee for president in 2000: On Thursday night, CBS news anchor Dan Rather told hot cameras at CNN's "Larry King Live" that he believes First Lady Hillary Clinton is a hot choice for president of the United States in 2000.

"I would not be astonished to see Hillary Clinton be the Democratic nominee in 2000," Rather told King.

"Listen, I agree that Al Gore is the odds-on favorite. But, you know, you and I know, having covered politics for a lifetime, overnight's a long time in politics, a week is forever. ... You know, you add it all up, and you can make a case that Hillary Clinton might, might -- mark the word -- be the strongest candidate for the Democrats."

Rather went on to recommend that Hillary Rodham Clinton should be awarded Time magazines's Person of the Year.

(The Drudge Report revealed earlier this week that Time magazine editors have put the Clintons in the running with Fed chair Alan Greenspan for the prize.)

"Hillary Clinton, as far as I'm concerned, she's the Person of the Year. If Time magazine doesn't put her on the cover, they may put Mark McGwire, or Alan Greenspan, or somebody, but Hillary Clinton is the Person of the Year in that, you talk about a comeback kid -- she makes her husband look like Ned in knee pants in terms of comeback from where she was early in the Clinton administration."

If Hillary does not make the nomination for president, Rather suggests that she might be the right choice for chief justice of the United States.

Rather: "If you're Al Gore ... I think that maybe I would say, `You know, we want the goals of the Clinton administration to be achieved and to go forward. I need your help, First Lady, friend of mine, Hillary Clinton, and if I'm elected president, I will make you the next chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.' That's what I'd do, but Al Gore is a better man than I am, and I doubt that he'd do it."

On March 27, 1998, at the height of the Clinton-Lewinsky cover-up, the Associated Press' Ron Fournier reported that far from shrinking from the allegations of sexual misconduct against President Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton became a driving force behind her husband's political and legal strategy.

Hillary Clinton, according to the report, was a strong proponent of asserting executive privilege in the Lewinsky nightmare. "She helped persuade Clinton to overrule political advisers who fear the legal maneuver looks like stonewalling. ... One of her advisers predicted the executive-privilege issue would be settled by the court about the time Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit goes to trial "when we have the most momentum, hopefully."

Does Dan Rather really believe that someone who used executive privilege to manipulate a federal investigation should become chief justice?

"Mrs. Clinton fought to release Kathleen Willey's letters to the media," Fournier also revealed.

"Many aides opposed the idea, either out of fear that it would backfire or out of a desire to keep the notes as an ace in the hold for when the controversy worsened. Mrs. Clinton didn't think it could get any worse, with Mrs. Willey about to appear on CBS' "60 Minutes" to accuse the president of making a sexual advance. An aide close to Mrs. Clinton, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the first lady didn't prevail at first but then `worked through back channels to get word out to the press that there were Willey letters.' That left the White House with no other choice: Clinton lawyers released the letters a day after the 60 Minutes interview, a move that undermined Mrs. Willey's credibility."

Hillary Clinton a hot choice for president of the United States in 2000? Only in America! -- Excerpt from the Drudge Report

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Jesse Jackson, to Hillary Clinton, quoted in The New York Times: "There is something about your style, your grace, about your strength, about your motherness, about your wifeness, about your maturity, about your patriotism, about your strength of reasoning. Hillary, you've walked through the rain, and you're not wet. You've walked through the fire, and there's not a singe on your clothing."

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The courage to speak out: ABC's "20/20" featured a story Dec. 2 on U.S. companies suspected of compromising American national security by giving China access to secrets of our rocket technology. In the story, Lt. Col. Al Coates, a top government agent for guarding this information, accuses Hughes Electronics of putting American security at risk for the sake of profits. Coates witnessed serious security lapses --sensitive papers left in the open, insecure American industrial buildings in China, and meetings where inappropriate details were revealed. Coates recently resigned in frustration after 29 years in the Air Force.

After aerospace executives gave large contributions to the Democrats, the Clinton administration appointed the head of Hughes to be in charge of his export advisory council. According to Henry Sokolski, a Defense Department official under President Bush, American secrets have helped Chinese missiles become more reliable, sophisticated, and accurate. This is a devastating scandal, and Congress must intensify its review of the implications.

The In the Spirit publication which is edited by our advertising director, Pat Zellmer, is always a wonderful and touching read.

Yesterday's issue was especially worth your time. Amongst the many excellent testimonials and stories of faith ... I especially encourage you to read the interview shared by PAM SPRADLING entitled "This community prayed for a miracle" about her son, BERT's, experience with cancer. It will bring tears to your eyes and a perspective to the CHRISTMAS season.

~Gary Rust is president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.