THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140485
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 103 lines
Holy cow, it's the president in enemy territory!
There he is, standing amid an entourage with his hoarse drawl, feathered gray hair, bulbous nose and blue eyes.
But . . . isn't Bill Clinton taller? And why are all those Republicans having their picture taken with him?
The guy in the presidential-looking navy blue suit is really Tim Watters, a dead ringer for Clinton. He's pretty convincing. Secret Service agents and the president's wife have done double-takes, Watters says with pride.
When he strode into the Hyatt Regency hotel on Monday to crash a Newt Gingrich breakfast, a tired AP reporter rushed up to him, tape recorder whirring, and began asking serious questions.
Then she suddenly realized the prank and turned crimson. ``Oh, you had me going,'' she moaned. ``I'm so embarrassed.'' The all-time, GOP-loving, Clinton-bashing hyphen award
Perhaps it's just a demonstration event this time around. But we're betting Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's speech Tuesday would take the gold in the hyphen event without breaking a sweat. Quick - try saying this three times:
``America, it's time to wake up to President Clinton and his high-taxing, free-spending, promise-breaking, social security-taxing, health care-socializing, drug-coddling, power-grabbing, business-busting, lawsuit-loving, U.N.-following, FBI-abusing, IRS-increasing, $200 hair-cutting, gas-taxing, over-regulating, bureaucracy-trusting, class-baiting, privacy-violating, values-crushing, truth-dodging, Medicare-forsaking, property rights-taking, job-destroying friends.'' The guv with the gift of gab
So what does a governor such as George F. Allen do at the convention after he's been passed over for the vice presidential nomination and not offered a chance to speak from the podium?
Two words: Talk radio.
On Monday, Allen ventured to ``radio row'' at the convention hall to do a talk show segment. What started as a 15-minute excursion turned into a three-hour adventure for the governor.
Ollie North grabbed him. So did Mary Matalin. And then there was Seattle, Sacramento, KCNN from somewhere, WKIB from somewhere else.
Allen's not finished. Today, you can even check him out from 2-4 p.m. here on WHRV public radio's ``Talk of the Nation.''
Ken Stroupe, the governor's press secretary, reports that Allen talked about the usual things: welfare reform, abolishing parole and Bob Dole.
``We were up there and everyone just kind of glommed on,'' Stroupe said. They're elevating the abortion debate
For days, pro-choice advocates have been chanting ``Yank the Plank'' to protest the anti-abortion section of the Republican Party platform. But anti-abortion forces have elevated the war of slogans by hiring a plane to carry a long banner over the convention hall.
It reads: ``Hey Pro-Choice, Yank This!'' Think Dole will win, eh? Wanna bet?<
``Bet on Bob.''
That's the ad in Tuesday's edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
You can, too. Just take a short hike across the border to Tijuana, Mexico. There, Bob Dole supporters can legally ``put a little dinero where your mouth is.'' Caliente Race and Sports Books is taking bets on the outcome of the race. The latest odds (as of Aug. 1):
Bob Dole 3-1
Bill Clinton 1-8
Ross Perot 50-1 America, where the press is free . . . to pig out
Officials at the downtown Marriott Hotel, where the world's news organizations are headquartered, have been keeping track - who knows why? - of the eating and drinking habits of their 1,500 guests, the majority of whom are members of the media.
In the 36-hour period from noon Sunday to midnight Monday, the following were (in hotel lingo) ``consumed by sale:'' 7,500 cookies, 15,000 brownies and blondies, 7,250 beers, 450 bottles of wine, 625 pizzas, more than 2,500 hot dogs and an equal number of hamburgers. The favorite beverage: draft beer. The favorite lunch: hot dogs. Average wake-up call: 6 a.m.
All of which tends to show that reporters drink heavily, eat badly and still manage to get up early. Love me, love my dog . . . and diss the GOP
From ``Why Dogs Are Better Than Republicans,'' a whimsical paperback book by Jennifer Berman that is being passed out at the convention:
``When a dog's done with a tree, it's still standing;''
``Bad dogs are not put on stamps,'' (a slap at Nixon), and;
``Dogs are not responsible for electing Jesse Helms.'' MEMO: Compiled from reports by staff writers Robert Little and Warren
Fiske and by the wire service. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia delegate Irene Hurst shields her eyes with a Dole campaign
sign on the convention floor during speeches late Monday night.
Associated Press photo
KEYWORDS: REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION by CNB