THE SUSPICION lingers that William Donald Schaefer, far from having lost his marbles, knows exactly what he is about -- and that he is about to run for president.

Note that the governor is getting national publicity these days, and it's publicity so sweet that Schaefer and his handlers couldn't buy it at any price. The latest is a two-page spread in Insight, the national news magazine published by the Washington Times. Under the headline "Governor Builds a Reputation as Pee-wee Herman of Politics," there's a picture of a smiling Schaefer, arms outstretched as though parting the Red Sea.

"He may be kidding" about running for president, says the article by Bill Whalen. "He may not be. For no one knows what goes on inside the mind of one of America's most colorful and puzzling heads of state."

The article does a fine job of summarizing the antics of the man whom Playboy magazine lumped together with Morton Downey Jr. and Pee-wee Herman in an article titled "Mondo Weirdo," a man who just might be crazy enough to run for president.