08/26/99 - NEWSWEEK [8/30] - Howard Fineman   DISPLAYING THE 'GIFT OF FAME' Warren Beatty admits he's a control freak, an actor, director and producer who weighs every detail of the movies he makes. Last week he was agonizing over the first draft of his newest script--the one about his possible real-life plunge into politics. In his Mediterranean villa atop Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, he worked on an op-ed piece about the evils of money in politics, the economic disparities in American life--and why he just might run for president to shine a flashlight on both. For each statistic he wanted backup: magazine articles weren't enough; he wanted to see the government studies. There's a way to come into a room and be invisible, he tells friends, and a way to come in and dominate it. He wanted to do the latter--but not by falling flat on his face. At first it seemed laughable: an actor who played Dick Tracy now posing as the James Madison of Mulholland Drive. But Beatty is a serious man, a lifelong liberal and campaign kibitzer. He knows that fame is the iron ore of the age of celebrity. Once you had to win a war--say the Civil War or World War II--to be famous in a politically potent way. Jesse Ventura proved that you just have to be famous. To advise Beatty on using what he calls his gift of fame, there is an eclectic cabinet of obstreperous sorts who think outside the usual political boxes. They include Bob Borosage and Steve Cobble, veterans of Jesse Jackson's campaigns; former senator Gary Hart and two former Hart advisers, Pat Caddell and William Bradley; columnist Arianna Huffington and campaign-finance reformer Ellen Miller. Beatty met last week, NEWSWEEK learned, with Bill Hillsman, the Minnesota media guru who engineered campaigns of Sen. Paul Wellstone--and Governor Ventura. If Beatty does run, friends say, he might do so in stages: first entering the Democratic race, then switching to the Reform Party. Beatty thinks neither Al Gore nor Bill Bradley speaks to the Democrats' liberal wing, but early polls give him little room. The left is pretty comfortable with the present candidates, says a top Democratic strategist in California. The Reform Party may be a better target. Ross Perot and Ventura are competing for control. Perot may want to lure Pat Buchanan out of the GOP to talk up an anti-free-trade platform. Ventura distrusts Buchanan's social conservatism, but doesn't want to run until 2004. He needs a stand-in now--one who can get enough votes to ensure federal funding for the Reform Party. Enter Beatty, a long shot from stage left? It seems unlikely, but he's worked on stranger sets, on stranger locations. 08/26/99 - SAN ANTONIO NEWS - AP - Katie Fairbank   BUSH PUSHES FREE TRADE IN REGION WORRIED ABOUT JOBS HEADING SOUTH Texas Gov. George W. Bush pitched open trade Wednesday to a part of the country where many feel stung by it, declaring, "We'll be prosperous if this nation does not retreat within its borders" ... Bush has been a strong advocate of the North American Free Trade Agreement pioneered by his father when he was president and put into effect in 1993 by President Clinton. Texas exports to Mexico have jumped by more than 16 percent in two years on the strength of NAFTA. But the results have been uneven by industry and region, with critics citing a particular toll on textile mills and other industries of the Carolinas.    "The fearful build walls," Bush told the Charleston Rotary Club in a wide-ranging stump speech that included his usual defense of liberalized trade...    "I say that free trade is healthy for our economy," he told reporters. "We want Mexico to succeed, not fail. After all, they are our friends." Later, Bush dropped the free trade segment when he spoke to a packed crowd at a local country club.    In North Carolina, announcements of major plant closures have been made three times just this year, eliminating jobs. Supporters say NAFTA has been a success, citing increased exports and improved relations with neighbors. Opponents say the deal has drained jobs from the United States by encouraging companies to relocate to Mexico, hire low-paid workers and ship the manufactured products back. Republican candidate Pat Buchanan calls for a stop to NAFTA when he campaigns in South Carolina, warning against the "deindustrialization of America." Most other candidates in both parties either support the deal or have not made it an issue. 08/26/99 - DALLAS MORNING NEWS - Sam Attlesey   BUSH REFUSES TO JOIN FRAY OVER SC FLAG George W. Bush, campaigning in the first Southern primary state, refused Wednesday to get involved in a South Carolina flag flap.   Asked whether the Confederate flag should continue to fly over the Capitol dome in Columbia, the Republican presidential front-runner said the issue should be decided locally...    The NAACP and other civil rights groups have called for a national boycott of vacation venues in the tourism-dependent state until the Rebel battle flag comes down. South Carolina is the only former Confederate state to fly the flag above its Capitol. It has been raised daily since 1962 to commemorate the centennial of the Civil War. Several attempts to remove it have failed.    GOP officials backing Mr. Bush said the Texas governor is doing the right thing by steering clear of the conflict... Mr. Bush refused to weigh in on another spirited issue in South Carolina: whether the state should have a lottery.   Mr. Bush said he has "mixed feelings" about the Texas lottery, although he conceded that it has been "a fairly steady source of revenue"... On trade, Mr. Bush said "it's very important for a president to remove barriers and tariffs everywhere."   He favors the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it has been good for Texas and for Mexico.   "We want Mexico to be a vibrant, strong economy. After all, they are our friends. And we want our friends to do well," he said... Republican rival Pat Buchanan calls for ending NAFTA when he campaigns in South Carolina, saying it has drained U.S. jobs by encouraging companies to relocate to Mexico. [WEBNOTE] - Read Pat Buchanan's columns: 02/21/97 NEW SKIRMISHES IN THE CULTURAL WAR 07/27/94 BATTLE OVER A FLAG 08/23/99 - NATIONAL JOURNAL HOTLINE   THE RACE TO BE MORE PRO-LIFE? Rep. Jim DeMint (R) "wants federal funding to faciliate adoption counseling in abortion clinics," but his primary foe, Frank Raddish (R), said DeMint's proposed appropiation "should be used to fund abstinence-based informational programs in the public schools."     DeMint "opposes abortion, except to save the life of the mother," while Raddish "says there should be no exceptions." The abortion issue also splits the two GOPers on the WH 2000 race. Raddish, who supports Pat Buchanan, said George W. Bush's "recent statement that opposition to abortion wouldn't be a litmus test for presepective federal judges if he is elected" and DeMint's "appearance of fighting abortion are incompatible." DeMint is supporting Bush for WH 2000 ("Palmetto Politics," Greenville News, 7/18). 08/20/99 - NATIONAL JOURNAL HOTLINE   THE OPPOSITION? Howard Phillips, founder of the U.S. Taxpayers Party, "says [Smith] may have passed on its nomination because of fears that Pat Buchanan could steal the show." Phillips: "I think one increasing concern the senator had was increasing talk of Pat Buchanan seeking the Reform Party nomination." Smith spokesperson Karen Hickey "denied that Buchanan had anything to do with Smith's decision" (Kim, AP, 8/19). USA Today's Squitieri reports that "members of the Taxpayers Party are scrambling to woo Buchanan" into becoming their candidate. Phillips said, "A great many admirers of Pat are within our party" (8/19). MORE FROM THE INTERNET BRIGADE NEWSWIRE...

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