Trail Mix

Occasional morsels from Campaign 2000

Who’s counting? Everybody

It’s not quite tit for tat--rather, it’s tally for tally.

The Bush and Gore presidential campaigns are crunching some serious numbers as each scolds the other for ducking separate issues.

It has been 57 days since Democrat Al Gore held a news conference, according to counts by the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee, which issues daily “Reporters Held Hostage” updates.

The vice president avoided facing reporters while campaigning in North Carolina on Thursday because he didn’t want to answer questions about the case of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez, the Gore campaign acknowledged.

Not to be outdone, Gore aides have released their own statement showing off some math as well. A to-the-second clock on Gore’s Web site says Republican George W. Bush has “managed to bob and weave away” from debating his opponent for 33 days, referring to Gore’s challenge to debate.

The campaigns failed to mention the most important number: 204.

That’s how many days until Nov. 7--election day.

Rock the vote

OK, you rock ‘n’ rollers: It’s all right to vote for Al Gore.

That’s the word from none other than Twisted Sister, the 1980s heavy metal band cited by then-Sen. Gore and his wife, Tipper, as Exhibit A of what was wrong with popular music.

Despite the well-documented animosity between the Gores and the band, most of it generated by a 1985 Senate hearing on whether recordings should carry labels warning of graphic content, leaders of the glam-rock quintet say they plan to vote for Gore for president.

“I’m sort of supporting Al Gore, which is bizarre,” said lead singer Dee Snider, who testified at the hearing along with Frank Zappa. “I don’t trust the guy as far as I can throw him. He’s a conservative liberal, but I think he’s going to chew up George W. [Bush] and spit him out. He’s an old-school, dirty-fighting politician.”

Also, the vice president gets high marks on two major issues: the environment and abortion rights.

“He’s a big environmentalist,” Snider said. “He’s stood up for environmental issues in the face of a lot of hostility.”

Snider, with his straggly bleached-blond hair, antagonized Gore during the 1985 Senate hearing by daring the somewhat stiff then-senator from Tennessee to admit he was a Twisted Sister fan.

Gore curtly replied he was not.

By the numbers

$81 million--Amount raised by the campaign of George W. Bush, who is not accepting federal matching funds.

$40.5 million--Cap on Al Gore’s pre-convention spending, since he is accepting federal matching funds.

Quote file

“Unless I’m golfing or something.”

--Retiree John Lavelle of Franklin, Pa., when asked if he planned to vote

Compiled by Massie Ritsch from Times staff and wire reports