Tipper Gore

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Addiction, like an albatross, accompanied Inez Reid from Dallas to North Carolina's capital city. Homelessness, not opportunity, was the familiar greeting awaiting Sean Anderson when he moved with his wife from Salem, Ore., to Raleigh. For the past few months, both Ms. Reid and Mr. Anderson have found some comfort and a little hope in the shelters of a region known for its high-tech jobs and educational institutions. Here, as in Baltimore and in too many other places in America, the unprecedented economic boom finds a shameful number worrying much more about where to get their next meals than about obtaining a faster modem.

If Martha Stewart advised the Al Gore presidential campaign:Dear Mr. Vice-President, I once held a dinner party for 80 at which each guest wore a silver party tiara or bowler crowned with real ostrich feathers, all personally hand-crafted by me, and enjoyed a sunny Provencal-style bouillabaisse flavored with saffron, tarragon and fennel, prepared by -- you guessed it! -- Chef Martha that morning.So I think I know a little bit about pressure and the pressure you, sir, must be feeling as the presidential race heats up.Alpha male, beta male -- these are terms with which I am unfamiliar.

CENTRALIA, Wash. -- Like a superstitious ballplayer who won't change his socks during a streak, President Clinton climbed back on a bus yesterday, despite a steady rain, a double-digit lead in the polls and little evidence that Bob Dole is even contesting him in the Pacific Northwest.Even with Clinton and Vice President Al Gore asserting that theirs was the team to lead the nation into the 21st century, an old-fashioned bus caravan has become their transportation of choice in the buoyant days since last month's Chicago convention.

Analysts rate Bill Clinton and Al Gore as almost too similar to be on the same ticket. Not so their wives. Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore offer a study in contrasts. Page 1F

Six Carroll County representatives from Heifer Project International attended a White House reception May 5 as part of a three-day InterAction Forum in Alexandria, Va.InterAction is a nonprofit association of 155 nongovernment and relief and development organizations.Heifer Project, based at Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, helps families become self-sufficient for food and income.Attending from the service center were: Mark Lancaster, chairman of the board for Heifer Project International; and John Dieterly, regional director.

Tipper Gore, if she had been at the Baltimore City Council meeting last night, would have been proud.The council overwhelmingly backed a bill to put pressure on local radio stations to quash offensive lyrics that demean women and glorify violence. Mrs. Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore, has led a tireless crusade against explicit song lyrics.The bill, introduced by 2nd District Councilman Carl Stokes, calls for a task force to study ways to get radio stations to agree voluntarily not to play songs with suggestive lyrics.

In the tradition of concerned photography pioneered by Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine and W. Eugene Smith, 13 American photographers set out to document the plight of the nation's homeless. Their work is the subject of "The Way Home: Ending Homelessness in America," an exhibition of 150 photographs at the Corcoran Gallery of Art that opens Saturday.Photographers who contributed to the show include Annie Leibovitz, Mary Ellen Mark and Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Albert Gore. The show was organized in cooperation with the National Alliance to End Homelessness and is intended not only to illustrate the personal predicament of homeless individuals but also to suggest national solutions.

WASHINGTON -- Rattled by a series of embarrassing demonstrations last week, members of Al Gore's campaign and White House staffs met with AIDS activists yesterday to try to persuade them that the vice president is trying to reduce the cost of AIDS drugs in Africa. But the activists emerged undaunted and unconvinced, pledging they would go forward with a planned series of protests, including an anti-Gore rally Monday night in Philadelphia. "It's full speed ahead," said Wayne Turner, a member of the AIDS group ACT-UP, who met with the Gore campaign's political director, Donna Brazile.

Oscar de la Renta, the international designer darling of the ladies who who do galas, will dress the first lady for inaugural festivities.Hillary Rodham Clinton and de la Renta started talking wardrobe soon after the November election, says Susan Seelbach, the designer's spokeswoman. The choices have been narrowed to a wool suit and matching melton coat for Monday's swearing-in ceremony. For the round of balls, it will be an embroidered tulle fTC gown with a matching satin cape. The designer and White House are mum about colors and particulars.

FRIENDSHIP HEIGHTS - With his wife, Tipper, at his side, Vice President Al Gore came to Maryland yesterday to tout her favorite cause - expanded care for mental illness - and, not coincidentally, to present himself as the one truly compassionate candidate in the presidential race. Gore's plan for mental care for children came amidst a flurry of new policy proposals that seem tailored to re-invent him, yet again, as a positive-minded candidate in touch with ordinary Americans. This week, Gore is also promising stepped-up efforts to protect the environment and fight cancer.