Drawing the Bottle Lines

While preparing for a debate earlier this month, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton heard that his Republican opponent, former Governor Frank White, was going to challenge him to take a drug test. Recognizing a hot issue, Clinton struck first: early in the debate he announced he had submitted his urine for testing and challenged White to do so. The Republican not only agreed but later said his wife would be tested too. Clinton's wife will also submit to a test, further escalating the political "jar wars."

While wags talk of elections turning into "pissing matches," drug testing has become a new campaign fad. In Kentucky, Republican Congressional Candidate Jim Polley challenged Incumbent Chris Perkins to meet him at a hospital for a urinating match. Perkins did not show up, but Polley gave his sample anyway. Perkins facetiously countered with a challenge to take lie-detector tests, AIDS tests and chest X rays. Other candidates publicly joining in include Republican Congressman Thomas Kindness of Ohio, who is running against Senator John Glenn, and Democratic Senator Alan Dixon of Illinois.

In a Democratic primary runoff in Atlanta earlier this month, John Lewis was the clear underdog. But in the midst of a debate with the front runner, Julian Bond, Lewis challenged his opponent to on-the-spot urinalysis. "We can go outside and go to the men's room and take the test right now," said he. Bond refused, as he had before, saying, "I think true leadership is to resist this demagoguery, this McCarthyism." Lewis won a narrow upset, and doubts about Bond's commitment to the antidrug crusade may have been a small factor.

The drug-testing call is also being heard in city government. Setting an example for public employees, San Antonio's Democratic mayor, Henry Cisneros, underwent urinalysis, prompting one suggestion for a new sign for hizzoner's desk: THE JAR STOPS HERE. While Cisneros tested negative, City Councilman Ed Harrington flunked his urinalysis: the test revealed caffeine overload, and Harrington subsequently confessed to a ten-cup-a-day coffee habit.

Some public officials are disturbed by the trend. Says Betty Smith, state chairman for Northern California: "The most appalling thing for me is that this is certainly not a solution to a serious drug problem." San Francisco Supervisor Bill Maher, author of a bill banning all drug testing within city limits except for uniformed civil servants, mocks the craze. "I think they ought to test the urine for brain cells instead of drugs," says he. "The political leadership of urinating into a test tube eludes me."