DRIVING : A Consensus on Driving American

If we are what we drive, it follows that well-informed voters should know their presidential candidates’ vehicles of choice.

Whether we would buy a used car from any of them is not the point. Nor may we presume that in their hearts they lust for Porsches and Infinitis.

In a recent Associated Press survey, candidates remained politically correct, voted straight tickets and predictably said they would Buy American.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown said his perfect commuter--presumably in the car-pool lane--would be “a non-polluting, energy-efficient American-made car.”

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton said he recently purchased his long-held ideal: a 1966 Ford Mustang convertible.

Next to victory in any primary, ex-candidate Paul Tsongas wanted a Jeep Cherokee.

Pat Buchanan would like a “1930s Gatsby-style convertible.”

And David Duke wants a Chevrolet Corvette.

President Bush, doubtless aware of the impression he has already left in the lap of Japanese officials, declined to state a preference.

But a Bush campaign adviser obviously had a premonition when slapping Buchanan’s tastes: “The fact that he calls for ‘America First’ but drives a Mercedes probably won’t be lost on the good people of Michigan.”

Apparently, it wasn’t.