On The Grapevine

Close encounter. Although George Bush had adamantly rejected Bob Dole's challenge to a series of debates in Illinois, both wound up at separate events at Knox College in Galesburg, site of a Lincoln-Douglas clash. Fearful of an ambush, Bush's men dispatched a staffer with a walkie-talkie to watch Dole. When Dole finished his event and headed toward where Bush was giving his dinner speech, the staffer frantically radioed, "He's on his way over!"

Bush was flashed a prearranged signal. Quickly wrapping up his remarks and shaking hands on the fly, he hurried into his limousine. Dole got lost on the way to the dinner and then was blocked by the Bush motorcade. In a scene that summed up his campaign, Dole was left wanly waving at the departing Bush.

Swapping numbers. Paul Simon and Bruce Babbitt have quietly struck a deal. In a maneuver arranged by a Babbitt aide, some Simon supporters who have reached the $1,000 donation ceiling are contributing to Babbitt's campaign on the condition that an equal number of Babbitt donors do the same for Simon. That helps both sides get around the $1,000 limit and increases the matching funds available to Simon.

Paper ties. Many natives wondered why the Chicago Tribune endorsed Al Gore, who was at the bottom of the paper's polls. But Editor Jim Squires is a close friend of Gore's and talks with him regularly. The relationship dates back to the early 1970s, when Gore worked for Squires as a cub reporter on the Nashville Tennessean. The top editors of the Atlanta Constitution and Orlando Sentinel also worked with Gore in Nashville, and both papers likewise endorsed him.

What's in a name? The Secret Service's secret code names for the candidates tend to be apt. Albert Gore is known as "Sawhorse," reflecting his stolid, down-home style, and George Bush is called "Timber Wolf," evoking his slightly frenetic doggedness. Jesse Jackson's moniker is a bit more mysterious: "Pontiac." Says an agent of his superiors: "It was probably just something they came up with one day over lunch." Or perhaps it has something to do with the ads that tout, "We build excitement."