Occasional morsels from Campaign 2000

Girl power

Barbie, the tippy-toed blonde, has a rival in her playful bid to be the first doll in the White House--and this one can stand on her own two feet.

Vanessa, an African American doll whose makers say has more on her mind than fun and fashion, entered the 2000 presidential doll race Thursday armed with flat feet, a manifesto, a college degree and a Cabinet made up of Asian, Latina and all-American beauties.

“What kind of presidential campaign is Barbie going to have--more shoes in the White House? Our focus is more on learning and adventure than fashion,” said Jennifer Baker, founder of fledgling Get Set Club Inc., the makers of Vanessa dolls.

The Barbie for President doll, launched in May, is backed by the nonprofit White House Project that promotes female political candidates. She comes with an ice-blue suit, a slinky red evening gown and an agenda urging girls to pursue leadership roles in schools and communities. She also comes in African American and Latina models.

Vanessa, a community activist, banker and scientist, has a manifesto declaring “children have the right to express their inner selves” and that “play is political.” Apparently so. In a slap at her opponent, the manifesto adds: “We are against providing pink prefabricated prescriptions for play.”

Barbie, who at 41 is no baby doll, hardly batted an eyelid at the challenge, believing that experience will triumph over youth. “Her depth of experience in 75 careers ranging from sports to space makes Barbie uniquely qualified to represent all girls,” said Barbie’s campaign manager, Julia Jensen.

What’s in a name?

In statements on foreign policy from the Office of the Vice President, there lurks a subliminal message unflattering to the VP.

Gore’s spokesman on foreign policy is Matt Gobush.

Split it up. Sound it out. Go Bush.

“For whatever reason, people don’t pick up on it right away,” said Gore’s speech writer and spokesman on all things foreign, who gets flak around the office for his surname.

“It’s safe to say that I’m not a big supporter of [Texas Gov. George W. Bush],” Gobush said.

According to Gobush family legend, the name lost a few syllables when it arrived in the United States from Lithuania.

“Whoever greeted my grandfather at Ellis Island couldn’t pronounce the original,” Gobush said, “which I couldn’t pronounce either.”

Dumb and Dumbo

In the name-dropping contest to be Mr. Prosperity, Al Gore has associated himself with former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin.

But Dumbo?

The vice president, speaking to a White House conference last week on “community empowerment,” recalled referencing the Walt Disney story--”very important to me when I was real little”--during an empowerment-zone policy meeting with Rubin, who’s often chided for a shaky command of popular culture.

“I was trying to make the point that if the community just did it on its own, it could happen,” Gore said. Just like “Dumbo, the elephant, who had a magic feather and could fly with that magic feather.

“It took a crisis before Dumbo figured out that he didn’t really need the magic feather; he could fly without it,” Gore continued.

“And Bob Rubin looked up at me and said, ‘Who’s Dumbo?’ ”

Political misfire

A congressional candidate in Oklahoma who had planned to give away guns as prizes at a campaign fund-raiser decided instead to call off the banquet.

Mark Detro, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the House seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Tom A. Coburn, said the Oklahoma Republican Party had recommended several times that Detro abandon the plan.

“The 2nd Amendment is still a big issue with my campaign, but I didn’t want to alienate myself from the Republican Party,” Detro said. “I didn’t want to put myself in that predicament.”

The attorney general’s office had also said the plan was illegal.

By the numbers

$135 million--Amount donated to political campaigns by women during the 1997-1998 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

$442 million--Amount donated by men during that period.

Quote file

“If you don’t go up to the plate and swing, you can’t hit it out of the park.”

--Howard Phillips, presidential candidate for the Constitution Party, on his longshot campaign. He will be on 31 states’ ballots.

“If George Bush senior could anoint Mr. Quayle vice president and still get elected in 1988, then his son could appoint a plasticine chicken in 2000 and not be harmed.”

--From The Economist magazine’s June 24 “Lexington” column

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Compiled by Massie Ritsch from Times staff and wire reports