TRAIL MIX

Absentee voter

An obituary for a 71-year-old Ohio man encouraged those who wanted to pay tribute to him to simply do what he cannot in November: Vote for Republican George W. Bush for president.

James E. Fete died Tuesday. The last line of his obituary in the aptly named Canton Repository read: “In lieu of flowers, vote Bush.”

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Taking a pass

Al Gore is a Tennessee Titans fan, so perhaps it’s understandable the Pittsburgh Steelers wouldn’t let him peek at their playbook when he stopped by their training center.

They did, however, let the Democratic presidential candidate take three long snaps on Friday from an All-Pro center, Dermontti Dawson.

Dawson snapped Gore the ball and running back Jerome Bettis caught the vice president’s pass. “Let’s do another one,” Gore said.

This time, however, the ball fell incomplete. He completed the next pass attempt to wide receiver Hines Ward.

“Thanks a lot, guys,” Gore said. “Now could I just get a look at the playbook?”

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Hero’s unwelcome

Bush running mate Dick Cheney took a Lancaster, Calif., stage last Wednesday with State Sen. Pete Knight (R-Palmdale), who was among a small group of former astronauts and fighter pilots the Republican vice presidential candidate praised, saying: “I can’t think of a finer group of Americans. . . . I’m proud to share the stage with them.”

Later, Cheney was asked about Knight’s controversial sponsorship of Proposition 22, the California ballot initiative that limits valid marriages to those between men and women. Cheney, the first major party candidate for the White House to have an openly gay child, said he first met Knight that day and wasn’t familiar with Proposition 22.

The measure, which passed last year by a wide margin, was derided by gay and lesbian activists as homophobic and divisive. Knight’s son David, 38, an openly gay furniture maker in Baltimore, called it “hateful” and “cruel.”

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Quote file

“We love Media.”

--George W. Bush, speaking into a clearly open microphone, in a Pennsylvania town with the unlikely name of Media.

Compiled from staff and wire reports by Times staff writer Scott Martelle.