Political Watch

By Val Castronovo, Tamala M. Edwards, Tam M. Gray, Daniel S. Levy and Alain L. Sanders

CELEBRITIES ON THE STUMP: HOW THEY FARED

Sure, they're ordinary citizens like us, just average folks participating in government. On the other hand, they are the kind of people who can tell the candidate they're endorsing, "Just a sec, babe, Spielberg has me on call waiting." Here are some of the celebrities who endorsed candidates this year, and how their endorsees fared.

CELEBRITY WON LOST

ALEC BALDWIN 1 0 JUDY COLLINS 1 0 ROBERT REDFORD 16 5 CHARLTON HESTON 8 4 BARBRA STREISAND 2 2 GLENN CLOSE 0 1 HEATHER LOCKLEAR 0 1

Source: Hotline

STOP THE PRESSES!

It's not exactly a repetition of DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN, but the European edition of USA Today did seem to suggest an election outcome that was at some divergence with how things actually played out. Unless this was one of those gag newspapers that somebody printed to razz Newt Gingrich.

PAID FOR BY CITIZENS FOR...

BEST ADS OF '98 Republican Mark Neumann ridicules Senator Russ Feingold's (D) support of methane testing by showing a fuddy-duddy scientist running around a field trying to catch cow farts in jars. Neumann lost, but this hilarious ad is a winner.

An ad for Jim Bunning (R) featured black-and-white mute shots of a screaming Scotty Baesler (D). The ad sparked controversy, with wags saying the images made Baesler look Hitleresque and would backfire. But Bunning is going to the Senate.

In South Carolina, Governor David Beasley (R) didn't have worse enemies than his former friends. Victorious challenger Jim Hodges (D) used testimonials of state Republican officials refusing to vote for Beasley, calling him unscrupulous and a liar. Brutal.

Jeb Bush (R) became Florida Governor with ads chiding Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay (D) for his position on taxes. Teachers, cops and the elderly declare, "He's not my Buddy!" The one kind word? A crook thanks MacKay for increasing taxes on burglar alarms.