In October 1997, George W. Bush placed a call to his friend Tom Ridge , the Republican governor of Pennsylvania, to vouch for Enron Corp., the giant Houston energy and trading company that, at the time, was battling to sell electricity in Pennsylvania. Despite protests from civil rights and Latino advocacy groups, George W. Bush refused to grant a stay of execution in a death penalty case laced with charges of racial bias. The nation's teachers give both presidential candidates low marks for their proposals to fix the nation's most troubled public schools. Only half agree with Al Gore that underperforming schools should be shut down and reopened under a new principal, compared to about seven in ten voters nationally. Teachers are even more firmly opposed, by a 2-1 ratio, to George W. Bush' s plan to give children in failing schools vouchers to help them move to a private or religous school.
Voters overall are evenly divided on vouchers.
In a casting notice sent to talent agents this week, a company representing the campaign said it was looking for ''a wide range of assorted, real-looking people'' to appear in spots for George W. Bush that are to be filmed in July. The notice was a surprise to officials of the Screen Actors Guild, which is on strike against the advertising industry. But if Gore is to be taken at his word, he's under the same time constraints as Bush. He told reporters in late April that his choice wouldn't be dictated by Bush's choice and that he expected to make his selection by the time the Republicans convene at the end of July, even though the Democratic convention is two weeks later. Keating's name surfaced in Internet reports as the current favorite, albeit with caveats saying everything could change.