The Great Pundit Scorecard

By DAVID ELLIS

Life is unpredictable for a talking head: you may have the nation's attention during one crisis, only to be forgotten when another hot spot flares up. But then, some seem to get the call no matter where the tanks are. A look at who's up and who's down in TV land:

IN: SOVIET SPECIALISTS

Condoleezza Rice. Former National Security Council staff member.

Robert Legvold. Director of the Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union at Columbia University.

Dimitri Simes. Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

OUT: GULF WAR WATCHERS

Anthony Cordesman. Professor of national-security studies at Georgetown University.

Fouad Ajami. Director of Middle East studies, Johns Hopkins University.

General Michael J. Dugan (ret.). Former Air Force Chief of Staff.

ALL-CRISIS UTILITY TEAM

Judith Kipper. Guest scholar, Brookings Institution.

Admiral William Crowe (ret.). Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Henry Kissinger. Former U.S. Secretary of State.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart