Pols Name Their Top Tunes

(AP)  You never know what you might get asked on the campaign trail. It could be geography - a tricky area for Gerald Ford many years ago - or questions about underwear preferences - a strange moment for Bill Clinton years ago - long before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.

Candidates with their ambitions trained firmly on the White House will usually either answer quickly, or, dodge with finesse and possibly humor.

Democrats gathered in Baltimore Tuesday for the latest debate between presidential hopefuls chose the former course of action, as they were asked to name their favorite songs.

Here are the tunes they named, along with a few lines from each song:

Rep. Dick Gephardt - "Born in the USA," Bruce Springsteen.

"Born down in a dead man's town

The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.

You end up like a dog that's been beat too much

'Til you spend half your life just covering up."

Rev. Al Sharpton - "Talking Loud, Saying Nothing," James Brown. (He called it "James Brown's song about the Republican Party.")

"Huh!

Like a dull knife, it just ain't cuttin

Just talkin loud then sayin nothing."

Sen. John Edwards - "Small Town," John Mellencamp.

"All my friends are so small town

My parents live in the same small town

My job is so small town

Provides little opportunity."

Sen. John Kerry - "No Surrender," Bruce Springsteen.

"Now young faces grow sad and old and hearts of the fire grow cold

We swore blood brothers against the wind

I'm ready to grow young again."

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean - "Jaspora," by hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean. Lyrics in Creole.

Sen. Joe Lieberman picked two songs: the theme of the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign, "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" by Fleetwood Mac, and "My Way," as sung by Frank Sinatra.

"Don't Stop"

"Why not think about times to come

And not about the things that you've done

If your life was bad to you

Just think what tomorrow will do."


"My Way"

"What is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has naught.

To say the things he truly feels;

And not the words of one who kneels.

The record shows I took the blows -

And did it my way!"

Rep. Dennis Kucinich - "Imagine," John Lennon.

"Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too."

Sen. Bob Graham - "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," by fellow Floridian Jimmy Buffett.

"Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum

And we wound up drinkin' all night."

Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun - "You Gotta Be," Des'ree.

"Listen as your day unfolds

Challenge what the future holds

Try and keep your head up to the sky

Lovers, they may cause you tears

Go ahead release your fears."