It looked like a scene out of college fraternity rush. Cable viewers of Fred Thompson's campaign-finance hearings saw columnist Al Hunt of the Wall Street Journal warmly greet Harold Ickes as the former Clinton White House aide was about to take his seat and testify. The air of mirth and good humor and utter familiarity between Hunt and Ickes was palpable, Hunt acting like the glad-handing fraternity president and Ickes the prize freshman rushee. This was unusual, even by the standards of the Washington press corps: a public display of bonhomie between a journalist and a central figure in a still-unravelins scandal. In his column the next day, Hunt scarcely menationed Ickes, except to say that his appearance before Thompson "lent credence" to the notion that the Thompson hearings are going nowhere (a notion Hunt disputed, by the way). There was no mention of the dozens of times Ickes was conveniently forgetful about his days at the White House.