No Senate Run For Baldwin

Actor Alec Baldwin said Sunday that he won't be running for public office, despite his high visibility as a political activist and a fundraiser for the Democrats.

Baldwin has consistently shown his support for President Clinton, and has been a harsh critic of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Rumors had been circulating that Baldwin was planning on running against Giuliani for New York's Senate seat in 2000.

Of course, he's famous as the leading light in the Baldwin brothers acting dynasty. Stephen, William, and Daniel all have found varying degrees of movie fame. (And, oh yeah, they also have two sisters, who seem to have escaped the acting bug.)

But there was a time when Alec Baldwin had no plans to become an actor. Just out of high school, he enrolled at George Washington University as a political science major, with some idea of eventually going to law school.

As far back as the third grade, an especially prophetic teacher reported that little Alec would "become famous or the president of the United States."

But it looks like he's keeping the fame and turning his back on the political life, preferring instead to make movies and cultivate a family life with wife Kim Basinger and daughter Ireland, who was born in October 1995.

In addition to his affiliations with show business-related organizations, Baldwin is involved with such groups as The Creative Coalition (a New York-based public information group), People for the American Way, the Hudson Riverkeeper of Garrison, N.Y., and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).