There is a specter haunting American political journalism -- the specter of desktop publishing. Once upon a time it took big bucks -- and even more nerve -- to set up shop as an independent political commentator. Now, thanks to the wonders of microcomputing, merge-mail software, and the dial-up democracy of computer databases, any man or woman can follow in the footsteps of Tom Paine, William Lloyd Garrison, I. F. Stone, and Deborah Werksman.

In case you were wondering, it was Deborah Werksman who, a mere four years ago, realized that what this country really needed was a political quarterly devoted to J. Danforth Quayle. As editor of The Quayle Quarterly, Werksman gathered gaffes, monitored misdeeds (and misspellings), and chronicled cloudy thinking right up until last November 4, when, like many of us, she awoke to the sobering realization that she would no longer have Dan Quayle to kick around.

What to do? Though appropriately alliterative, a Gore Gazette, following the policy wonk who filled Dan's loafers, didn't promise much in the way of amusement. Werksman is now editing Hysteria, a journal of "women, humor, and social change."

Others have picked up the Quarterly's fallen mantle. While leaving the current vice-president more or less untouched, these new publications range from the fawning (Stephanopouletter: The Official Newsletter of the George Stephanopoulos Fan Club) to the carping (The Clinton Chronicle, an Oklahoma-based monthly whose editor fulminates against such menaces to the American way of life as the United Nations -- "International Experts Will Parent Our Children" -- and gun control).

As an entrant in the increasingly popular genre of Clinton-bashing, The Clinton Chronicle has the disadvantage of competing not only against more mainstream publications -- the National Review, The American Spectator -- but also against Slick Times, perhaps the only quarterly in America with its own Willie Wants Your Wallet bumper sticker bound in. Offering a smorgasbord of parodies, cartoons, and mean-spirited reportage on the Clinton presidency, Slick Times is scabrous but sometimes funny. Editor and publisher Michael Dalton Johnson says he aims to make money, not policy, though back when Clinton was just an aspirant to the Oval Office Johnson did help bankroll newspaper attack ads with the tagline "He Smoked Dope. He Dodged the Draft. He Cheated on his Wife."

By far the classiest of the QQ's successors is The Perot Periodical. Clearly inspired by Werksman (who is listed on the masthead as a publishing consultant), editor Micah Sifry has actually managed to improve on the formula -- or perhaps it's just that Ross Perot is more interesting than Dan Quayle. The debut issue made front-page news with Robert Fitch's eye-opening analysis of Perot's portfolio. It turns out that America's number one deficit hawk has invested heavily in tax-exempt bonds, making his crusade -- ultimately successful -- to turn Clinton's $ 20 billion economic stimulus package into a $ 500 billion deficit-reduction package just a tad self-serving, since the interest-rate consequences of that policy were worth about $ 250 million to Boss Ross.

Sifry is a friend, and if he asked for advice I'd tell him to drop the humor pieces and stick to printing more of what makes the Periodical indispensable reading for politics junkies of any political persuasion: first-rate reporting by first-rate reporters. Craig Unger's survey of disenchanted Perotnistas, "From Grass Roots to Astroturf," painted a picture very different from the endless newspaper profiles of idealism denied:

Many of the most vocal dissidents were hardly the refugees from a Frank Capra movie they'd been made out to be. . . . Among the most passionate volunteers were rightwing extremists, racists, anti-Semites, political opportunists, and convicted criminals who were fighting for power in clashes that transcended even the bitter turf battles one commonly finds in grass roots politics.

Unger shows that Perot was probably right to purge his campaign organization, though it didn't help his man-of-the-people image. Elsewhere in the Periodical's first issue, James North delivers a sympathetic view of Perot's anti-NAFTA book, Save Your Job, Save Our Country. By taking the Texan seriously when more mainstream media are content to label him a loony billionaire, The Perot Periodical reminds us that there will always be a need (and, let's hope, a market) for independent analysis.

Meanwhile, as long as the powers that be remain male, pale, and hopelessly full of themselves, there will also be a place for The Getting It Gazette, a journal of feminist political commentary that was launched during the political conventions and continues to appear "when needed -- like a pain killer," according to rounding editor Jane O'Reilly. Like The Perot Periodical, the Gazette features the work of real journalists. Whether it's the freedom to strut their stuff in front of like-minded readers, or just the hot-pink paper, something about the Gazette seems to inspire its contributors, who include Anne Mollegen Smith, Grace Lichtenstein, and Susan Faludi. Away from their day jobs, these journalists produce a very entertaining newsletter.

The Hillary Clinton Quarterly, which welcomes "affectionate satire," is more fanzine than funzine. Still, the premier issue did offer Liza Featherstone's provocative analysis of why rumors about Hillary Rodham Clinton's sexuality have become mainstays of the right-wing talk circuit. [In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that Featherstone is one of CJR'S factcheckers.]

Finally, for everyone out there in medialand who's ever wanted to put a cork in commentator Rush Limbaugh and roll him to the nearest superfund site, Brian Keliher does the job in his Flush Rush Quarterly. And a dirty job it is:

Q: What is the difference between Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenburg?

A: One is a flaming Nazi gasbag, while the other is just a dirigible.

Thankless, too, judging from the numerous death threats Keliher says he has received from outraged dittoheads across the land. In addition to jokes, cartoons, and excerpts from his hate mail, Keliher fills every issue with a selection of Limbaugh's broadcast departures from fact, reason, or common sense.

Quayle Quarterly's Offspring:

The Clinton Chronicle P.O. Box 10446 Enid, OK 73706 Editor: Bob McCarty $ 19.95/year (monthly)

The Flush Rush Quarterly P.O. Box 270525 San Diego, CA 92198 Editor: Brian Keliher $ 13.95/year (quarterly)

The Getting It Gazette 451 West 24th Street New York, NY 10011 Editor: Collective $ 35.00/year (irregular)

The Hillary Clinton Quarterly 128C North State Street Concord, NH 03301 Editor: Frank Marafiote $ 15.00/year (4 issues)

Hysteria: Women, Humor, and Social Change Box 8581 Brewster Station Bridgeport, CT 06605 Editor: Deborah Werksman $ 18.00/year (4 issues)

The Perot Periodical P.O. Box 435 Riverdale, NY 10471 Editor: Micah L. Sifry $ 15.00/year (4 issues)

Slick Times P.O. Box 1710 Valley Center, CA 92082 Editor: Michael Dalton Johnson $ 17/year (4 issues)

Stephanopouletter P.O. Box 9804 Stanford, CA 94309 Editors: Polly Arenberg and Michael Melcher $ 15/year (4 issues)

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