CARTOONGATE

By RICHARD CORLISS

Bill Clinton woos voters with the ardor of Pepe Le Pew. Bob Dole's cranky bombast suggests a gaunter Foghorn Leghorn. And Ross Perot? Yosemite Sam. Electoral politicking can get so cartoonish that the making of political-cartoon movies might seem redundant. But Cartoongate (Kino International Video), an hour-long melange of short film parodies compiled by animator Greg Ford, proves that the men who want your vote have long been a source for ripe, mean wit.

The formats range from traditional work (Popeye for President, 1956) to mixes of live action and animation. Ford includes his own nicely rancid vaudeville about Richard Nixon to the tune of No Substitute, the hilariously solemn Nixon-Lodge campaign song for 1960. Disney artists contributed to a crude, perky 1952 TV commercial for Eisenhower ("I like Ike, you like Ike, everybody likes Ike/ Let Ad-l-ai go the other way,/ We'll take Ike to Washington").

The great find is Hell-Bent for Election, a 13-minute cartoon sponsored by the United Auto Workers to promote Franklin Roosevelt's 1944 re-re-re-election. Joe, a burly blond workingman, must assure that the Win the War Special (a high-speed train with F.D.R.'s smiling profile on the engine) gets to Washington ahead of the G.O.P.'s 1929 Defeatist Limited. Directed by the immortal Chuck Jones, with music by Earl Robinson and E.Y. Harburg, Hell-Bent for Election is visually imaginative and giddily unfair (for a moment the Republican villain metamorphoses into Hitler). It anchors a smart package of satire and archival treasures. Vote Yes on Cartoongate. --By Richard Corliss