BENTSEN VS. LADUKE ON THE UNDERCARD
On his continuing ride down the spiral of lefty public opinion, RALPH NADER just slid past MICHAEL DUKAKIS. It started on election night when Dukakis, not previously known as a scorching comet of unrestrained passion, told the Washington Post that if Nader cost Al Gore the election, "I'll strangle the guy with my bare hands." Nader demanded an apology, saying Dukakis was "reckless" and "out of control." "I was trying to be funny," Dukakis told the Boston Globe. "You have to have a sense of humor in this business." Responded Nader: "I have done Saturday Night Live four times. Who says I don't have a sense of humor?" Dukakis tried to end things, noting, "Needless to say, I do not intend to do physical harm to brother Nader." Ralph? "The issue is that he said it, and it coarsened the dialogue." And that Dukakis-Nader ticket looked so promising.
Singin' like a Bird
Sometimes names are changed to protect the innocent, and sometimes names are changed just enough to ensure you know exactly who the "innocent" are. Following the rich tradition that flows from Charles Foster Kane to Layla, RUSSELL CROWE, in his guise as rock star, has written a song that may say everything, or nothing, about his relationship with Proof of Life co-star Meg Ryan. Wendy, written for Crowe's band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, contains the lyrics, "Wendy's got a little boy/Someone to keep in mind for the future/She's got no husband who cares," and "Now don't you put her down/She tried to do it right/Sometimes things don't come out/Quite, quite, quite the way we plan them." Not sold? Last year Crowe wrote a Grunts' song called Other Ways of Speaking, which, he told an Aussie TV station, was about a woman he could "easily fall in love with," but she "plays for a different team." Now, who was it that he broke up with?
IS HE THE RUNNING MAN?
Californians could face a choice come November 2002. Do they want a guy named Gray Davis to juice those turbines, or would they prefer to see the Terminator cracking skulls down at the regulatory commission? Inspired by the recent power drain, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER is again flirting with a possible run for Governor of California. Citing a need for aggressive leadership, Schwarzenegger told the Los Angeles Times, "The bottom line is, if Davis goes on the way he is, then eventually there will be a vacuum in a year, and I could...I just leave it open." To give him a preview of the current political landscape, a fortuitously timed Premiere magazine article hits newsstands next week, alleging that Schwarzenegger has cheated on wife Maria Shriver, undergone a procedure to have pig valves installed in his heart and generally treated his help poorly. Schwarzenegger refused to comment on the story, though his rep says the actor has no plans to sue.
TEMPTATION ISLAND? TOTALLY LEGIT