On The Grapevine

Reach out and touch someone. Jesse Jackson's tendency to work the telephones at odd hours could have an effect on the nomination, especially if his support is crucial in a bartered process. So far, Al Gore has done the best job of keeping the lines open. Jackson and Gore talked twice last Tuesday night. About what? "Things personal, things political," says Jackson. He also talked to Paul Simon, but never connected with Dick Gephardt, who tried to reach him Tuesday night. The previous weekend Jackson spoke with Mario Cuomo. Did he ask for an endorsement? "Jesse said he'd rather have Matilda," joked the Governor, referring to his wife. The one candidate who seems not to care about stroking Jackson is Michael Dukakis. It has been weeks since they talked at length, and Jackson has not formed the same bond with the cool Yankee Governor as he has with Gore.

Scenes from a marriage. There was another, unspoken factor in Bob Dole's doubts about continuing his campaign: a growing tension with his wife. According to an aide, Dole felt totally rejected after last week's devastating primary results, and has vented some of his anger on his wife. Says the aide: "He's been an s.o.b. with her." Liddy Dole, in turn, has been disillusioned over her husband's inability to control his hostility toward George Bush. "Bob just won't pay any attention to me," she lamented to a friend.

Frequent fryer. During a closed-door meeting of campaign managers, Democratic Chairman Paul Kirk said the eventual nominee's plane must be equipped with the most advanced computers and communications equipment. Gerald Austin, Jesse Jackson's campaign manager, presented an unusual demand: "the ability to fry catfish on this plane." When Kirk asked Austin why a high-tech fryer should be aboard, he replied, "Because we're going to be the nominee."

Busting loose. While waiting to do a satellite interview, George Bush asked a reporter if he had seen a Johnny Carson sketch that parodied Bush's tense interview with Dan Rather. The V.P. repeated the piece, in which a man confronts his wife over the question of his breakfast cereal. "Where are my Charms?" he asks. "I traded them for sausages," replied Bush, now playing the wife. "You traded Charms for sausages? How could you?" demands the husband. "I wouldn't want my entire career as a housewife judged on that one trade. You wouldn't want your entire career as a husband judged on those seven minutes in the bedroom last night, would you?" said Bush, delivering the punch line in falsetto.

Help not wanted. As opponents collapse, Bush's campaign has been besieged by job seekers. One aspirant: former Reagan Political Director Ed Rollins, who started with Bush, then moved to Paul Laxalt and finally Jack Kemp. One top Bush aide suggested that Rollins should work for Dole "for a week or two, since that's the only one he hasn't worked on yet."