Sideshow

THE SIDESHOW VOTERS GUIDE: Today we present another installment of our occasional roundup of how entertainment and politics are melding in our world. Plan your voting, your invectives and your changes of affection accordingly.

THE CATS IN THE HATS: The Republican Party took its voter registration drive to New York City last week, and party chairman Ed Gillespie, right, got a spot on MTV with VJ Sway. The center of the action was the GOP's Reggie the Registration Rig, a 56-foot 18-wheeler with registration tables, a sound stage and a multimedia center. The two talked as the rig pumped out music by Britney Spears, the Darkness and Kayne West, among others, and they wrapped up their chat with Gillespie thanking the VJ for giving him a chance to "sway" voters.

HE'S SEEN FIRE, AND HE'S SEEN THE INANE: Besides shoulder surgery, the week of Democrat John Kerry, right, included a Tuesday fundraiser in Beverly Hills at which he introduced James Taylor, left, who sang in front of that big American flag. Also attending, IMDB.com says: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Aniston, Meg Ryan and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David. That night, Kerry appeared in a taped MTV special in which he answered questions from the network's Gideon Yago and viewers. Among them: "Sen. Kerry, were you cool in college, and are you cool now?" (Answer: "If I were cool, if I told you I was cool, I wouldn't be cool.")

PROMISES, PROMISES: George Clooney has been busy raising money for his father's congressional campaign in Kentucky.

During one weekend of fundraisers for Democrat Nick Clooney in the state last month, George helped raise more than $200,000, the Associated Press reported, including at a $250-a-head event at the Oriental Wok in Fort Mitchell.

Also last month, George raised about $200,000 at an invitation-only fundraiser at his home in Studio City, Calif. He got people to attend, and give, the New York Post said, by writing in the invites that for a minimum $500 donation, he would wash the givers' cars while wearing a toga "till it's paid off."

He was joking.

CYNICAL? HIM? Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has decided not to run for lieutenant governor in Washington. He still has a passion for election reform and increasing voter participation, he said in an Associated Press story, but "the whole thing about running a campaign and being a public servant isn't the way to do it."

WATCH OUT FOR . . .: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, pro wrestler turned person who gets roles in movies (not to be confused with an actor), tells AP Radio that "Possibly. ... Maybe one day. Absolutely" he might run for office. (He talks with St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall about other things in today's Floridian section.) ... Tom Brokaw brushed off a Wall Street Journal opinion piece suggesting that he be Kerry's vice presidential running mate by saying, "As I have said repeatedly, I have no intention of pursuing a political career." But Steve Capus, the executive producer of Brokaw's NBC Nightly News, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Brokaw's "media friends," including mogul Barry Diller and writer-director Nora Ephron, have pushed him to be a candidate of some kind.

- Sharon Fink can be reached at 727 893-8525 or fink@sptimes.com

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