The Democrats: Measuring the Drapes

By NANCY TRAVER WASHINGTON

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME BETWEEN DRINKS, BUT THE DEMOcrats are lining up at the bar. "Every Democrat between the ages of 25 and 50 in this city is sketching out new career scenarios," says a senior Senate aide. "People who have been shut out since Jimmy Carter desperately want back in."

The scramble for the new Administration's 3,000 appointed jobs has already reached a fever pitch -- as has the inevitable speculation about candidates for the plum posts. For Defense Secretary, there is talk of a three-way race between House Armed Services Committee chairman Les Aspin, Oklahoma Congressman Dave McCurdy and Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sam Nunn. Retiring Colorado Senator Tim Wirth has been dubbed a possible Secretary of the Interior or Energy. Among the dozen or so names mentioned for Secretary of State, the leading candidate seems to be Warren Christopher, deputy secretary in the Carter Administration.

As the Democrats prepare to move into the power centers, Washington-area businesses are hoping for a trickle-down effect. "I just want to get my hands on Hillary's roots," gushes Robin Weir, Nancy Reagan's former hairdresser. To boost his chances, he sent his salon manager to California this week to have her hair done by Hillary Clinton's favorite stylist, Cristophe. Says Weir: "We want to get across to him that we know this town."

Local realtors are trumpeting the same message. "I have pinned on my office wall an article from the Washington Post, which has some of the possible candidates for jobs in a Clinton Administration," says Terri Robinson, one of many area brokers who have been contacted by potential Democratic home buyers. The town houses of Georgetown and Cleveland Park are getting a look-over, says Robinson, although many frugal Democrats may end up settling in the less pricey suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. One upscale piece of D.C. real estate that has already crossed party lines: the $2.2 million Tracy Place town house that was the scene of parties hosted by socialite Georgette Mosbacher, wife of former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, has been sold to Democratic hostess Esther Coopersmith.

Bill Clinton may not have measured the Oval Office drapes yet, but his own office in Little Rock, Arkansas, is all but spoken for. Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker, who would become Governor if Clinton is elected, had already $ polished off his 1993 state budget and received visiting agency heads at the state capitol last week. Says Tucker, sounding like many veteran Washington Democrats: "It would be foolish to not be prepared."