WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (AFP) - Notes from the campaign trail with 15 days to go until the November 2 US presidential election:
Al Gore preaches on Bush's right-wing faith and 'original sin'
WASHINGTON: Former vice president Al Gore, who lost to George W. Bush in the bitterly contested 2000 election, blamed his archrival's mistakes on the president's faith in right-wing ideology rather than his Christian piety.
"Most of the problems President Bush has caused for this country stem not from his belief in God, but from his belief in the infallibility of the right-wing Republican ideology that exalts the interests of the wealthy and of large corporations over and above the interests of the American people," Gore charged.
"It is love of power for its own sake that is the original sin of this presidency," he added. (AFP)
The funny guide to American democracy
NEW YORK: With two weeks to go in the US election, the best-selling book in America is a guide to democracy that has chapters with such titles as "The Media: Democracy's Valiant Vulgarians" and "The President: King of Democracy."
Comedian Jon Stewart and his team on the popular parody news show, "The Daily Show," which appears on the cable channel Comedy Central, have published a book titled "America (the Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction."
The book, a parody of grade-school civics textbooks, is best-selling book on The New York Times hardback non-fiction list. (AFP)
Coffee drinkers divided
WASHINGTON: Coffee drinkers who buy their cups at a US mini-market chain seem just as divided as the rest of the United States about who they will pick in the presidential election, although a majority appear indifferent about the vote.
The 7-Eleven chain has been selling cups of coffee with the words "Kerry" or "Bush." According to the company, 18 percent of customers have chosen President George W. Bush cups while 17 percent have picked Democratic rival John Kerry.
But some 65 percent preferred not wrapping their lips on a cup with either candidate's name. (AFP)