September 20, 2000
TAKE TWO: MAJOR CANDIDATES TO APPEAR ON FALL SERIES
Bold Gambit Puts Hollywood Under Klieg lights
By R.W. SNAPPLE
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 20 — Forgoing the F. Scott Fitzgerald maxim that there are no second acts in life, the major party candidates plan to follow their television talk show appearances this week with an unprecedented plan to appear on fall television series.
At an appearance at NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif., today, Albert Gore Jr., the Democratic nominee, plans to announce that he will appear on four episodes of the network's "E.R." this fall in which he will play a recurring role as a doctor who blends enthusiasm for high-tech treatments with an old-fashioned bedside manner. "He'll be a urologist with a heart of gold," says one leading Democrat.
Wasting no time in the new pop culture wars, George W. Bush's campaign announced that the Texas governor and Republican nominee would appear on a special two-part edition of "Touched by an Angel," CBS's number one–rated drama. "It's been greenlighted," said Bush campaign spokeswoman Karen Hughes. "Once the folks at CAA sign off, it's done." According to sources at both CBS and inside the Bush campaign, the governor will play himself in the 1980s as he wrestles with his long-acknowledged problem with excessive drinking.
The Hollywood gambits represent both opportunities and perils for the candidates. While "E.R." and "Touched by an Angel" reach nearly 78 million viewers — many of them in key battleground states such as Michigan and Ohio — never before has a presidential candidate taken time out from traditional campaigning to appear in a television drama. Political insiders uphold the decision. "It's like Willie Sutton said about robbin' banks, 'That's where the money is.' This is where the voters are, yessir," said James Carville, the colorful Cajun Democrat.
Aides to third-party candidates Ralph Nader, the Green party nominee, and Patrick J. Buchanan, the Reform party nominee, acknowledged that the two are in "development deals" with the major studios. Nader, a vehement opponent of tort reform, was said to be eyeing a cameo appearance on "The Practice," while Buchanan aides thought their man would likely break from the pack and narrate a nonfiction documentary on The History Channel or A&E. "There's a special on the invasion of Poland that would be perfect for Pat," said his campaign chair and sister Bay Buchanan.
Some scholars, though, cautioned that the move demonstrated an unprecedented degree of hubris. "It blurs an already fuzzy line between entertainment and elections," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School of Communication. "Voters may like Al Gore with a stethoscope, but a lot of them — especially women who are the key swing group — may find it a big turnoff."
The move to prime-time drama may be the logical extension of this year's "pop culture primary." In recent weeks, Gore and Bush have blitzed the television variety shows, including CBS's "The Late Show With David Letterman" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." Recently, Joe Lieberman, the vice-presidential nominee, appeared on NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" and sang "My Way," the ballad made famous by Frank Sinatra.
So far the vice-presidential candidates have eschewed what former FCC commissioner Newton Minnow once derided as "the vast wasteland," but few political insiders or Hollywood moguls expect them to stay out of the klieg lights much longer. "I could really see a solid and formidable figure like Dick Cheney doing a cameo on 'West Wing' as the former defense secretary brought in to deal with Saddam Hussein," says David Gergen of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and an aide to four U.S. presidents. "Joe Lieberman's known as a solid, thoughtful centrist but he's also a great comedic talent. Maybe he'd do best on the WB."