Beatty gave cautious, minimalist quotes in each case and has since gone silent. Privately, sources say, he is making and taking calls in a world of politics he actually knows very well; he’s been close to Democratic campaigns going back to Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. With no full-throated liberals in the race (and none with the star power of a Jesse Jackson), activists say they are telling Beatty to run. He’s planning to take the next month or so to decide. If he ran, it would be a low-budget, street-corner affair–theoretically low key, but in reality, mobbed by media and stargazers.

At first, friends say, Beatty worried about whether he would be taken seriously. But they say he has been pleasantly surprised by the early reaction. There were fewer jokes than expected. According to the sources, he’s confident that his first campaign speeches would stop the remaining smirks. Another concern is his family. At 62 and married to actress Annette Bening since 1992, Beatty is the father of three children, ages 7, 5 and 2i. But sources close to the actor tell NEWSWEEK that his wife is enthusiastic, and she, like her husband, has practiced for the role. He played the protest candidate and eponymous hero of the movie “Bulworth”; in “The American President” she fell in love with the commander in chief.

WATER… And Not a Drop to Drink

In drought-stricken Lynn Township, Pa., the corn has withered, the grass is brown and residents are using the bare minimum of water. Yet every day, tanker trucks from the Perrier Group of America pull away from Hoffman Spring, brimming with aqua that will become Deer Park Spring Water. Some residents are irate. “Perrier didn’t cause the drought, but to keep taking water now is unconscionable,” says Peggy Leahy, a local activist. Perrier says it takes less than 1 percent of local water and has cut back to half of what the state permits. Since June it has reduced its haul from 47 tanker loads a day to 24 and may go down to 15 if the drought continues. Activists aren’t soothed, but “the one with the most money wins,” admits Leahy.

CLINTONPardon Us?

When Bill Clinton commuted the sentences of 16 Puerto Rican nationalists last week, he ended a dance that had begun with his first year in office–and FBI officials are furious. For years the bureau successfully countered pressure from human-rights activists to release the FALN militants, who carried out 130 bombings from 1974 to 1983. Some agents grumble that what made this year different is Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate run. “There are more Puerto Ricans in New York than in San Juan,” says a senior FBI official. The White House denies any connection.

FRONT RUNNERSWhere Does Presidential Timber Grow Best?

PROPERTY Gore’s escape: Modest house on 80-acre hay farm in Elmwood, Tenn., for $80,000 in 1973 Bush’s escape: Former hog farm near Crawford, Texas. Reported price: $1.4 million for 1,200 acres.

ACTIVITIES Gore’s escape: Canoeing, jogging, water-skiing

Bush’s escape:Hunting; planned five-acre stocked lake

PESTS Gore’s escape: Mosquitoes Bush’s escape: Fire ants

MONIKER Gore’s escape: “Middle Country” Bush’s escape: “Jewel of the Texas Prairie”

HOT SPOTS Gore’s escape: B & B diner, Cordell Hull birthplace Bush’s escape: The Coffee Station, Branch Davidian site

SAFETYInvest in This

The eggparka, a new device from the Japanese firm Mugen Denko, lets you hit the ground running. A hidden CO2 cartridge rapidly inflates the vest in a motorcycle accident. Available next year to the prudent U.S. hogster.

POLITICSPredictions: If the Crown Fits…

If you thought fund-raising prowess would weed out the next ruler of the free world, think again. Pols have raised the art of election speculation to a science (sort of). A roundup of presidential predictors:

ROYALS RULE According to Burke’s Peerage, the encyclopedia of aristocracy, royal blood best predicts America’s next chief. Since Washington, publisher Harold Brooks-Baker swears, the best bloodlines have won without fail. So who will rule in 2000? George W. Bush. In fact, he’d be the most noble ever. “He’s so far ahead that it would be virtually impossible for his competition to catch up.”

PARTING COMPANY Some say male leaders who brush their locks from the left emphasize their left-brain strength of analysis. Jimmy Carter started on the right, but switched to the left too late. The only man in the lead who leans to the right? Al Gore.

SOUTHPAWS, BEWARE Of our 41 presidents, just five were left-handed. Fortunately for the front runners, all rely on their right hands to write.

LOOMING LARGE A candidate’s distance from head to toe often dictates his (or her) success. The tallest one usually wins, having a 3-1 advantage over the competition. At 6'5", Bill Bradley is a shoo-in.

SKIRT-CHASING Legend goes that when hemlines drop, the GOP wins big. The era of superminis served John F. Kennedy well, and Ally McBeal’s leggy look didn’t hurt Clinton, either. If Republicans have their way, though, a new age of innocence will usher in the millennium.

THAT WAS A GOOD YEAR A good vintage for Bordeaux augurs well for Democrats; if the stuff is swill, the GOP usually toasts its next leader. Clinton won in 1996, a year noted for its spicy, full-bodied fruit.

THE BUZZHot Enough for You?

Do recent droughts and heat waves have you thinking the greenhouse effect is to blame? Individual years don’t prove a thing. But the ’90s are indeed the hottest decade since records have been kept. The buzz on global warming:

Smog Is Good? One theory claims the pollution in smog reflects sunlight and cools the planet. A 2003 NASA mission will investigate.

Winter Nights Warming’s being channeled there, not into daytime highs. So spring comes sooner–great for farmers way up north, bad for some crops.

Heating Up Most think Earth will warm one degree Celsius by 2100. Many say it won’t matter, or will be good (longer growing season, higher yields). Others forecast drought, disease and violent storms.

You First Congress won’t pass the international Kyoto agreement that would limit emissions. Why? Kyoto won’t police China, the No. 2 emitter behind the United States.

Emissions Are Down … despite the booming economy. One deduction: regulating emissions won’t quash the boom. Another: we shouldn’t regulate, since things are improving on their own.

OLYMPICSUp and Away

Talk about a head rush. Part circus feat, part athletic wonder, the trampoline will join tumbling mats, balance beam and vault on the world Olympic stage in Sydney next summer. Men and women competing in the medal event perform 10 skills, like the dizzying triple-twisting flip, between bounces. But this springboard is no backyard tramp. With two spotters on each long side to protect jumpers from falls, it’s about as safe as jumping three stories high can get.

TECHNOLOGYI’m a Graphic!

London’s Avatarme Ltd. wants to populate the Web with people just like you. Step into AvatarMe’s new AvatarBooth, then follow the instructions as its cameras snap pics of you from various angles. Voila! A computer character based on your image appears on screen within moments. It’s got your face, build and clothes and can run, jump and interact with other avatars. AvatarMe unveiled the booth at last week’s Siggraph computer-graphics conference in Los Angeles. Conference-goers soon lined up to transform themselves into Web denizens. Possible applications: gaming, trying on e-clothes and eventually avatar business meetings and mail messages. It’s a virtual world.

TRANSITIONA Union Man

Lane Kirkland was president of the AFL-CIO from 1979 to 1995, an embattled time for American labor. Still, he returned large segments of the movement to the fold. Kirkland died last week at 77.

Chef Jennifer Paterson, 71, one of TV’s “Two Fat Ladies,” cooked with a raucous wit and political incorrectness. A gourmet to the end, before her death from lung cancer last week she asked friends for caviar, not flowers.

Anthony Radziwill, 40, won three Emmys as a TV journalist and producer. A nephew of President Kennedy, Radziwill battled cancer for 10 years. Sen. Ted Kennedy called him “an immensely engaging and decent human being.”

Conventional WisdomSPECIAL GOP CORNDOG EDITIONREAL

C.W. Bush + At 31 percent, not a Texas-sized victory–but a win is a win. Tip: Watch your language. Forbes + $ can’t buy love, but it can buy 2d place. Can you bus a whole country to the polls? Dole = Despite amateurish org., a respectable 3d. What if the Bobster had supported her? Bauer = “Pro-family” zealot noses out Buchanan to win Values crown. But in 1999, who cares? Alexander - ‘04 apparel: I made 80 visits to Iowa and all I got was this lousy T shirt. Quayle - Former veep bags exactly 916 votes. How do you spell “hasta la vista”?