I'm Rob Reiner, and I Approve this Message

The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org has already proved to be a force in the campaign to defeat President Bush, but it is about to get a big infusion of help from Hollywood. MoveOn's Political Action Committee, MoveOnPac, last week announced that documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War) will produce a series of campaign ads. The group is also about to announce that it has enlisted an all-star roster of directors, writers and Hollywood actors to make ads for the group. One is directed by Rob Reiner and written by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. Another is directed by indie-film veteran Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging) from a script by radio lefty Al Franken. Comedian Margaret Cho wrote and directed an ad, another stars Danny Glover, and an animated spot features the voices of Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), Kevin Bacon and Ed Asner. Two more ads are in production, one written and directed by Woody Harrelson and the other starring Alicia Silverstone.

The ads will be tested on focus groups before MoveOn decides when and where to air them on TV. They're the brainchild of Laura Dawn, a singer who often appears with techno-rock star Moby (who wrote the music for one of the spots). Dawn, 34, who works from her apartment in New York City's East Village, last year came up with the "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest, in which average Americans were asked to submit anti-Bush ads. "The idea was that if we did really well with the contest, we could do this afterward," says Dawn. Hollywood responded; now will the voters?