Tinseltown Back-And-Forth

It's punch and counter-punch in the race for the White House over this year's favorite political punching bag - Hollywood.

Democrat Al Gore and his running mate, Joe Lieberman, are warning the entertainment industry to "clean up its act" in marketing violent and sexual material to kids - or else face possible sanctions.

Response from Republican George W. Bush's team: Gore is a hypocrite.

Lynne Cheney, wife of Bush's running mate Dick Cheney, slammed Gore for attending and collecting campaign dollars at a star-studded fund-raiser last week at Radio City Music Hall in New York. That event was organized by Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, whose company has released such violent movies as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

"For more than a decade, Al Gore has been trying to make the moms and dads of this country think he is on their side when it comes to Hollywood producing the stuff that really does poison our culture," Cheney told CBS News' Face The Nation on Sunday. "And this recent event was just one more example of what he's been doing for well over a decade."

Cheney, a conservative intellectual and former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, added Gore and Lieberman are "not taken seriously by the entertainment industry, no matter what they say."

"They know that you cannot enact legislation or regulation to take care of this matter without running afoul of the First Amendment. They know that," she said.

"This is wallpaper. This is a spin. This is blur, to make people think that they're on the side of parents in this country. In fact, what you can do is very limited and I think the most powerful thing is to shame people."

Also on Face The Nation on Sunday, Gore campaign chairman William Daley said the vice president has challenged the industry repeatedly, even at the Radio City fund-raiser.

"He has done what few politicians do - take on people who support you," said Daley, the former Commerce secretary. "He went to them with strong statements and ... at the gala fund-raiser, made a strong statement once again (that) they've got to clean up their act. And the real response has to come from parents."

As for First Amendment concerns, Daley added Gore realizes government regulation has limits and that the Democratic ticket is only pressing Tinseltown to police itself more - and soon.

"But that doesn't mean we should just throw up our hands, walk away and say, 'That's the way it goes, we shouldn't have the government talking about this.'" said Daley. "As the leader, President Al Gore will take the steps with the bully pulpit of the White House to make sure that people understand that this is a problem and a serious problem for the young people of America."
Sen. John McCain said Sunday he's leery of Gore's proposal.

"Before we embark on censorship," said McCain, who's leding congressional hearings on the issue, "we'd better make very sure where this all leads."

McCain chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, which heard testimony last week on a Federal Trade Commission report alleging the entertainment industry has been peddling adult material to underage audiences. The Arizona Republican has pledged follow-up hearings.

"Frankly I don't know the answer," said McCain on ABC's This Week. "I'm reluctant right now to say I'm ready to pass some kind of law that imposes some sort of censorship on the industry."

Artemis Records president Danny Goldberg, appearing on the same show, said, "The American way is to let each family make their own decision about what they want in their house, not people in Washington media or in Congress."

Weekend poll numbers show Gore either widening his lead or maintaining a slim edge over Bush.

In a poll released on Saturday, Gore opened up a 13 percentage point lead over Bush among registered voters in a two-way presidential race, according to the latest Newsweek
Survey. Gore led the Texas governor 54 percent to 41 percent with a four percent margin of error. The week before, Gore led Bush by nine points in that same poll.

In a four-way race, Newsweek's poll of likely voters puts Gore at 50 percent and Bush at 38 percent, while Green Party candidate Ralph Nader gets 3 percent and Reform Party hopeful Pat Buchanan nabs 2 percent. Margin of error for this poll was 5 percent.

But the CNN/USA Today-Gallup poll released on Sunday saw little change from the week before - 49 percent of likely voters supported Gore versus Bush with 41 percent. Margin of error was four percent. Also on Sunday, Bush's campaign released a 16-page booklet called "Blueprint for the Middle Class" outlining the governor's plans - a response to Gore's nearly 200-page blueprint.

Hoping to improve his numbers, Bush was embarking a six-day campaign blitz beginning Monday through prime battleground states: Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida.