TRAIL MIX: Occasional morsels from Campaign 2000

Bauer Doesn’t Flip for McCain

Gary Bauer, whose ill-fated presidential campaign got little attention until he fell off a stage while trying to flip a pancake, was on the campaign trail Thursday with John McCain. Apparently Bauer’s endorsement of McCain has limits, though, as he hesitated to accompany the Arizona senator to a pancake breakfast at a Spartanburg, S.C., veterans’ post.

“I think you need to handle this pancake thing on your own,” Bauer told McCain.

But in an act of political courage, Bauer disembarked the Straight Talk Express and enjoyed a syrupy plate of flapjacks--pre-flipped, natch.

It’s Showtime

Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theatre hosts Monday’s debate between Bill Bradley and Al Gore, but the Democrats should be thankful that the theater’s famously tough audience won’t be there. Known to boo, hiss and heckle any amateur performer who disappoints, the Apollo house is “one of the most critical and brutally honest audiences in the world,” according to Apollo historian Billy Mitchell.

Monday’s crowd at the CNN/Time-sponsored debate will be different. “We don’t think it’s the type of audience that would come to Amateur Night,” Mitchell said. “That audience is coming out for fun. This type of debate is a serious matter.” Still, Mitchell said, “if they don’t get what they want, there’s a possibility they might” boo.

Just in case: Gore and Bradley might want to rub the Apollo’s good-luck charm, the Tree of Hope, before stepping out.

What’s a Metaphor?

Already plagued with a bad case of twisted syntax, George W. Bush struggled Thursday with a new metaphor for John McCain’s behavior on the campaign trail, colorful language to describe the fact that his rival is “a man who says one thing and does another.”

The first try: “So the senator has got to understand that he can’t have it both ways. He can’t take the high horse and then claim the low road.”

Another try, a little closer this time: “He says he’s going to take the high road . . . and then puts out stuff that’s factually untrue.”

Finally, perfection: “So I don’t accept this high-horse and low-road attitude of Sen. McCain.”

By the Numbers

3 million: Number of people who watched the Republican presidential debate Tuesday night on CNN.

23 million: Number of people who watched the Fox television special “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire” the same night.

Quote File

“Democrats are so scarce in South Carolina, we’ve got to start huntin’ ‘em with dogs.”

--Henry McMaster, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party

Compiled by Massie Ritsch from Times staff and wire reports

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Tracking South Carolina

All four day-by-day polls show George W. Bush narrowly ahead of John McCain going into Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary. Alan Keyes has single-digit support in all four polls, and undecided voters comprise about 12%.

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Source: National Journal