ANNAPOLIS – No goblins. No ghosts. Not even a Clinton mask.
Don’t expect a treat-or-tricking costume for the syntactically challenged George W. Bush. And hopes that Al Gore will get into the spirit of the spooky season have been all but secured in an ironclad lockbox until Oct. 31, 2001.
The two major-party presidential candidates will spend Halloween on the stump clad in their usual political uniforms.
But staffers from other campaigns had suggestions for their rivals’ seasonal attire.
“I don’t think there’s any more frightening costume than `potential president’ for Gore,” said Ken Lisaius, Bush spokesman. As for Bush’s getup, another staffer expects their man – who traditionally does not don a Halloween outfit – to appear as a – ta-da – “candidate for president.”
Vice President Gore and wife Tipper – who annually host a Halloween bash at their home in Washington – routinely pull out all the stops for their tandem tailoring. As the Second Couple, they have appeared as cartoon characters Underdog and Polly Purebred, Beauty and the Beast, Frankenstein’s monster and his bride, and as werewolves and mummies.
No swanky party this year, said Gore spokesman Dag Vega.
No ghoulish gala to loosen up stick-straight Gore on the campaign trail? An on-the-road zombie jamboree, perhaps?
“It’s a possibility,” said Vega, who was doubtful his boss would dress up. “I haven’t heard any plans.”
The Gore camp’s suggestion for a Bush costume?
“I’ll play nice,” said Vega, politely declining.
Spokesmen for third-party candidates were happy to help the major party nominees.
“We think Gore does a good Ralph Nader act,” said Stacy Malkan, spokeswoman for the Green Party hopeful criticized by pundits as a potential spoiler for Gore in key states.
“(Bush and Gore) should dress as bandits because they will rob us all through taxation, if they have the chance,” suggested Jack Williams, spokesman for Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne.
Nader and Browne, along with the Reform Party’s Pat Buchanan, do not plan costumes for Halloween, according to spokesmen.
Among the voting class, plenty of people will attend trick-or-treat festivities hiding their faces behind masks of the two major-party candidates.
The Bush model is flying off shelves much faster than Gore’s mug, said T.J. Pekin, co-owner of Costumes Creative in Silver Spring.
“George W. has mask appeal,” he said.
Very punny.
Capital News Service writer David Abrams contributed to this report.