The other major contenders for the Democratic nomination have done much better in Hollywood. Kerry and Gephardt are known quantities among industry Democrats, many of whom have contributed to their congressional campaigns over the years. As a presidential candidate, Kerry has brought in about $411,000 from the entertainment industry, including contributions from Uma Thurman, Jerry Seinfeld, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis and Disney chief Michael Eisner. Although that put him second to Dean -- at least before Clark's late surge -- Kerry has dropped off the Hollywood radar a bit in recent weeks as his campaign has foundered through staff firings and what is seen -- fairly or not -- as flip-flopping on Iraq.

Gephardt has collected nearly $300,000 from the entertainment industry, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Chevy Chase, Morgan Fairchild and Harvey Weinstein have contributed to Gephardt's campaign, as have spread-the-wealth donors like Streisand and Larry David. Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing," is hosting a fundraiser for him later this month. Gephardt is particularly popular with labor-friendly Democrats in the industry, although that selling point may be diminished in the wake of Dean's recent endorsements from two large unions.

And while the political advisors for several stars note that Gephardt's Hollywood take has been modest -- at least compared to Dean's and Kerry's -- they said that Hollywood could become more fertile ground for Gephardt, despite his initial support for the Iraq war, if he holds off Dean in Iowa and begins to look like the most promising non-Dean candidate. "People who are looking toward electability and who [have traditionally focused on issues of] race, poverty and class feel a real affinity for him," explained one political consultant.

If money is any gauge, few in Hollywood feel such closeness for the minor Democratic candidates. According to the Center for Responsive Politics analysis, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio had collected just under $40,000 from the entertainment industry by the end of September -- less than a tenth of what Dean or Kerry drew. Al Sharpton had received about $27,000, while Carol Moseley Braun had collected just $4,000 -- half as much as convicted felon Lyndon Larouche, who has been running for president in every campaign since 1976.

Bush has pulled in about $515,000 from Hollywood thus far. His contributors this time around include Chuck Norris and "Driving Miss Daisy" producers Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck, and reliably Republican celebrities like Tom Selleck, Kelsey Grammer and Bo Derek will likely lend their financial support to the Bush-Cheney campaign before November. Bush's $515,000 take is more than what any one Democratic candidate has collected but only about a third as much as all the Democrats taken together.

"At the moment, we've got nine candidates splitting the pot on our side," said Bergthold. Still, the Republicans have made some gains in Hollywood in recent years, particularly among younger donors on the business side of the industry and larger donors who play it safe by giving to both parties. "Everyone thinks of Hollywood as the relatively liberal set of actors we always talk about," Weiss said. "But you've also got studio executives and other business folks who probably spread their money around like other businesses do."

Still, no one doubts that Hollywood will come through big for the whichever candidate emerges from the Democratic primaries. And at that point, it won't be just the $2,000 individual contributions allowed under the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance-reform law. McCain-Feingold prohibits "soft money" -- the unrestricted cash that once flowed by the billions into the political parties -- but no one thinks for a minute that those kinds of contributions are simply going to disappear. Loyalists aligned with both parties have begun to launch so-called 527 organizations -- named for the applicable provision of the tax code -- that can receive huge donations from corporations, unions and major donors because they're not directly connected to the political parties themselves.

Hollywood money is already beginning to trickle into the 527s. Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Laurie David, "Seinfeld's" Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The Fabulous Baker Boys" producer Julie Bergman and a number of other politically active individuals from the entertainment industry will host a meeting to introduce -- and solicit contributions for -- two such groups, America Coming Together and the Media Fund, which are working together to get out the vote and buy anti-Bush advertising. The meeting -- which Matt Drudge has hyped as a "Hate Bush" event -- is a step in educating former "soft money" contributors about the opportunities presented by 527s, said an advisor to one of the celebrities involved in hosting the event.

While the 527s are not yet awash in Hollywood money, political advisors in the industry predict that the floodgates will open as soon as the Democrats have a nominee. "McCain-Feingold changed the rules a little bit, but it doesn't take the money out of politics," said Chad Griffin, a political advisor who works with Reiner. "The money just gets there in a different way. The only thing it did was we all got a lot of requests to meet with people with thoughts about why their 527 was the best one. You'll still see a lot of support, and the people who supported the [Democratic] Party with those kinds of dollars will continue to support Democratic politics that way."

It's too early to tell whether the 527s will be able to match the prohibited "soft money" contributions dollar for dollar, just as it's too early to tell whether the entertainment industry will eventually support the Democratic candidate with the same intensity of effort it threw behind Clinton or the dollars it threw at Gore. But talk to political activists and advisors in the industry, and you'll hear again and again of one overarching goal: Beat Bush in 2004.

"Last time around, there was a lot more hoopla about the primaries," said one advisor. "This time, people who have differences [of opinion about candidates] are prepared to set them aside and say, 'We've got to beat Bush.' That's the overwhelming feeling rather than 'Our guy has got to get the nomination.'"

And the key to beating Bush, Griffin and other political advisors said, is for Hollywood to unite behind the Democratic nominee as soon as his identity becomes clear. Spahn, the Dreamworks advisor, said he talked with Bill Clinton about this very point recently. "He said, 'Andy, do you know what the difference is between Democrats and Republicans?' He said: 'Democrats always want to fall in love with a candidate, and Republicans just want to fall in line. We've got to fall in line with whoever our nominee is.'"

That message is echoing throughout Democratic Hollywood, where few are interested in risking a repeat of 2000, when Ralph Nader carried enough votes in Florida to deny Gore a decisive victory there. "I've been telling my Democratic friends, 'Whoever our nominee is, we don't complain, we love our nominee,'" Reiner said. "Whoever it is, we'd rather have him in the White House than George Bush."

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