Notebook: Dec. 14, 1998

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[MOVIE] THE PRINCE OF EGYPT [ANIMATORS] 75 [WEIRDEST CASTING] Val Kilmer as Moses [FAST-FOOD TIE-INS] None. Said publicist: "What are we going to do, the Moses Big Mac?" [PROTESTS SPARKED] Muslims object to the depiction of prophets [GROWNUPS' BONUS] Exodus is a children's story?

UNDEFEATED

CONCESSION STAND It's hard to be a good loser. It's much more dignified to blame voter fraud. Dennis Vacco waited until last week, then his lawyer conceded defeat for him in the New York Attorney General's race. Notable holdouts on the give-it-up front:

Dennis Vacco 11/98, N.Y. State Attorney General 1 month

Michael Huffington 11/94 Senate 3 months

Louis Jenkins 11/96 Senate 24 months so far

Robert Dornan 11/96 House 24 months so far

FOREIGN SPENDING JUST DON'T BRING BACK A T SHIRT FOR HILLARY

Next week Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting U.S. President ever to visit the Gaza Strip. This means he has an unprecedented opportunity to acquire unusual holiday gifts. The local equivalent of Martha's Vineyard's Black Dog store is reputedly the Tariq Brothers' shop on Al-Wehda Street in Gaza City. Stocking stuffers offered there and nearby:

For Chelsea: Arafat posters (the only ones available)

For Betty Currie: A chador, or "intern smuggler," the cloak that covers a woman from head to toe

For spiritual advisers: An alarm clock that chimes Allahu Akbar ("God is great"), the Muslim call to prayer

For Al Gore: A symbol of premature hopes: a flag--banned until the Oslo accords--emblazoned with the word Palestine

For Benjamin Netanyahu: Mother-of-pearl carvings of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aksa mosque in Jerusalem, Islamic holy sites and symbols of the Palestinian aspiration to control East Jerusalem

For Harold Ickes: A chain of plastic prayer beads

NUMBERS

$100 million Amount Bill Gates and wife Melinda donated to child-immunization programs in developing countries

48 Number of hours it will take Gates to earn the money back

$250 million Amount Microsoft paid to acquire LinkExchange Inc., an Internet advertising firm, last month

$1.26 billion Amount spent in 1997 by all Washington lobbyists (excluding campaign contributions)

$35,000 Value of gifts former Clinton Cabinet member Mike Espy was accused of receiving from lobbyists

$17 million Cost of independent counsel Smaltz's investigation of Espy

77,732 Total number of anticipated layoffs announced last week at Boeing, Exxon-Mobil, ITT, Kellogg, Johnson & Johnson, Smurfit-Stone, Courtaulds, United Dominion, Volvo, Deutsche Bank and Amway

2.6 Average search time for a new job, in months

15 Job-hunting days until Christmas

Sources: Forbes, New York Times, Center for Responsive Politics, Washington Post, MSNBC News Service, USA Today

SUCKER.COM

MAIL THAT AGAIN? Netizens, it seems, are no less gullible than the rest of us. This week the Justice Department was forced to debunk a widely circulated e-mail suggesting African Americans would lose the right to vote in 2007. A brief study of rumor and effect in cyberspace: