Jackson Jesse

Short, bespectacled and a bit jug-eared, Democratic Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois is quick to admit that he scarcely fits the ideal of presidential appearance. Unkind critics even jeer that Simon, with his bow ties, resembles television comic Peewee Herman.

Short, bespectacled and a bit jug-eared, Democratic Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois is quick to admit that he scarcely fits the ideal of presidential appearance. Unkind critics even jeer that Simon, with his bow ties, resembles television comic Peewee Herman.

Vice President George Bush is accustomed to being upstaged by President Reagan. Even on the campaign trail, he jokes self-deprecatingly, he is often upstaged by his better-known supporters, such as former Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams. But on Thursday, Bush came in second in the charisma sweepstakes to a group of Washington preschoolers. The vice president traveled to the U.S. Labor Department's day-care center as part of the "Week of the Young Child."

Jackson's Latest: Jesse Jackson's new public affairs show, "Both Sides With Jesse Jackson," will premiere Saturday at 6 p.m. on CNN. Each Saturday, the program will focus on one social or domestic issue. A panel of guests representing different sides of the issue will participate; Jackson will take part on the panel, as well as host the show. Jackson hosted the syndicated "Jesse Jackson" show in 1990. The topic and the guests for Saturday's debut have not been announced.

A former mail carrier was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison for failing to deliver all the mail on his route for about a year and a half. Prosecutors in Jackson said Jesse Reynolds kept mail at his home because he wanted to speed up his delivery time and impress his supervisors. Reynolds told investigators he also dropped mail into collection boxes to be delivered by other postal workers.

Former Texas congresswoman Barbara Jordan, campaigning for Michael S. Dukakis after a near-fatal swimming accident, today accused George Bush of having a "chaotic . . . untidy mind" and said Jesse Jackson should work harder for the Democratic ticket.

Hunter S. Thompson is predicting that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts will join the field of Democratic presidential candidates "as late as possible" and snap up the 1988 nomination. On the Republican side, he believes Vice President George Bush will fade in favor of Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, who will be nominated "unless Richard Nixon gets into it." "Just for sport, I would say Teddy Kennedy will be the next President," he says.

"Tuck Everlasting," a sweeping romantic fable about love and mortality, targets an audience of girls in their early teens, but has been made with such skill and sensitivity that its appeal spans generations. It surrounds two talented and ingratiating young newcomers to the big screen, Alexis Bledel and Jonathan Jackson, with veteran actors Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, Ben Kingsley, Amy Irving and Victor Garber, all of whom excel in crucial roles.

Inside an elementary school auditorium, in a run-down part of town that tourists never see, Mayor Marion Barry is lecturing 400 youngsters on the evils of drugs and the importance of staying clean. As mayor of one of the nation's most drug-plagued cities, Barry visits three or four schools a week with his message. It is his way, he says, of helping motivate the children. His style is relaxed, warm, captivating. "How many y'all know somebody in your family using drugs?" he asks gently.

The boys of "The Big Bang Theory" are slowly but stalwartly taking down the Death Star. The CBS sitcom, now in its fifth season, knocked off Fox's long-dominant "American Idol" for the second week in a row Thursday night among viewers in the 18-to-49 age range that many advertisers target. The geek comedy also pulled in more viewers overall, according to early figures from Nielsen, drawing 15.96 million viewers in the 8-8:30 slot compared with "Idol's" 15.46 million. "Idol" did better in its second half hour and wound up averaging nearly 17 million viewers for the broadcast — still good, but down markedly from a year ago. —Yvonne Villarreal ABBA reissue has new track Mamma Mia, here they go again.

If all he cares about is votes, Vice President George Bush has nothing to fear when Orange County's top executives enter the voting booth in November. The Republican nominee-apparent got the nod from 58% of the local business leaders asked to identify their 1988 White House favorite in The Times executive outlook poll. However, the voices behind those votes tell a somewhat different story. Follow-up interviews discerned little fervor for the man who would be Presdient.