And You Thought Politics Isn’t Sexy

Talk about a potent fund-raising arena! The Web site of Democratic Assembly candidate Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills lists “Viagra’s Restaurant” as the locale of one of her Sacramento campaign events. Actually, the name is Virga’s.

SPEAKING OF NAME SNAFUS: A Wall Street Journal profile describes L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan as a generally effective leader but a bumbling speaker who has referred to actress Tyne Daly as Tiny Daley, computer mogul Michael Dell as Michael Bell and traffic reporter Jim Thornton as Jim Thompson.

Of course, Riordan’s name has been the object of confusion as well. Time magazine once called him Robert Riordan, comic Jay Leno introduced him as “mayor of New York” (it didn’t appear to be a joke) and the Star tabloid published a picture of Riordan and identified him as astronaut Alan Shepard.

A LITTLE ‘TWILIGHT ZONE’ MUSIC, PLEASE: Dan Hartmann of Fullerton sent along a seemingly puzzling sign left in an office by some Bell & Howell service personnel (see accompanying). Hartmann explained that the workers had repainted an invisible track used by mail delivery robots. It can be seen only under ultraviolet light.

NO FAT CATS HERE: Dan Fink of L.A. came upon a questionnaire from the Democratic Party that seemed interested in voters’ physiques (see accompanying).

THIS ONE ISN’T SO EASY TO EXPLAIN: Barbara Palmer of Northridge writes that “my 80-year-old, handsome, active husband wonders if the store was trying to tell him something” when he bought some gin (see accompanying). Let’s give the clerk the benefit of the doubt. Maybe 99 was the age of the gin.

L.A. INSULT OF THE DAY: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote of the traffic congestion here: “Rush hour in L.A. is 22 hours long. And sometimes it starts early. The speediest driver in Los Angeles is Al Cowlings.”

GET ME TO THE TENNIS MATCH ON TIME: Funny how often there’s a side story to items mentioned here.

I recently wrote of a June 1991 incident in which visiting President George Bush raced out of the Four Seasons Hotel in L.A. to make a tennis date. In his haste, he left behind the military aide assigned to accompany him with the top secret codes needed to launch a nuclear attack.

“We were at the hotel, getting married that day,” Jon Merritt wrote of himself and his bride, Marian. “We were a little put out by all the inconvenience of sharing the facility with the president (Secret Service everywhere, parking garage locked down for security checks, lots of uninvited but nicely dressed men in the garden during our ceremony). . . .”

But not for long.

“During the reception,” Merritt continued, “my 91-year old grandmother became overwhelmed with excitement and fainted. When the call went out--’Is there a doctor in the house?-- Bush’s medical team rushed to our aid. Fortunately, it was nothing more than over-excitement. But we’ll always remember sharing the Four Seasons with a special guest on that day.”

miscelLAny:

Any time you’re the host city of a national political convention, you open yourself up to swipes from commentators.

Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” comic strip described a well-known Southern California city as one “of long shots, of mothballed dreams.”

Yup, he was referring to Long Beach, proud host of the rowdy Reform Party. Actually, it will be interesting to see if Pat Buchanan is finally mothballed. Or at least has his name garbled by Riordan.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.