– Don`t tell, because it`s supposed to be a secret, but Gov. Jim Thompson`s staff is hard at work ”casting” just the right individuals to make the guv`s Feb. 25 ”State of the State” address a dramatic success. The production`s working title seems to be ”The Guilt Trip.” The staff has been directed to find real live people to be in the audience and at the ready to testify to the travails they face because Big Jim can`t fund the programs that would serve them-without a tax increase, anyway. Look for them to trot out: a senior citizen denied in-home health care; a small town mayor who needs a new sewer; an unemployed worker who needs retraining; a prison guard who has to watch too many bad guys; and, of course, a child. The guv, natch, plays the White Knight ready to ride to the rescue-if only the legislature will give him the horse.
– INC. hears Mayor Gene Sawyer is planning his first tete-a-tete with state lawmakers at a Springfield reception on the eve of Thompson`s big speech.
(BE)LABORING THE POINT . . .
Consistent sensitivity? Ann Dore McLaughlin, President Reagan`s new Secretary of Labor, was in Chicago Thursday and scheduled to meet with The Tribune`s editorial board. But she canceled out when she learned about the paper`s lingering labor problems. Her spokesman said it would be
inappropriate-given her role as labor honcho-for McLaughlin to visit since the printers` strike was still unsettled. INC. respects her right to that choice, but we`re somewhat puzzled: How does Ms. McLaughlin cope with her nagging conscience while jetting about this great land of ours? You know, up in the skies kept safe (or not, depending on one`s view) by the ”scab” air traffic controllers who replaced the workers in the union that her boss-the President- brags about busting?
CAUCUS CORN . . .
– What does Sen. Paul Simon (D., Ill.) do in the final days before the Iowa caucuses to prove his campaign is more than just nostalgia? He`s scheduled a ”Bow-Tie Express Whistle Stop” train tour. And he has finally decided to ”go negative” on his leading rival, Rep. Richard Gephardt (D., Mo.), with radio ads.
– Simon`s on a train, but Vice President George Bush`s campaign has rented a van. Gov. Jim Thompson was scheduled for a Friday fly-around with the Veepster, but the Bush team grounded the plane and switched to wheels because they`re concerned about going over the $750,000 campaign spending limit in Iowa.
– Is Gephardt counting on his victory party too soon? His campaign put out an advisory for TV camera and still photographer ”positions” for their caucus night party and announced that ”a lottery will be held for camera positions on the risers.” Sounds like they`re expecting quite a crowd.
– The battle for coverage. Former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt is running out of front-runners to attack in order to make news. ”Next it will be Babbitt attacking Babbitt,” one of his aides said.
MUSIC NOTES . . .
No information yet on when tickets will go on sale for Bruce Springsteen`s March 16 and 17 shows (with the E Street Band and a five-piece horn section) at the Rosemont Horizon, but the system is being set up the way Bruce insists: so that scalpers are prevented from getting big blocks of tickets. . . . Wouldn`t April Fools` Day be a perfect date for David Lee Roth to play the Horizon? Don`t be surprised if he does.
FILM-FLAM . . .
– Folks who see a lot of scripts can`t help but notice that certain patterns emerge-like a glut of movies about Vietnam hitting the market following the success of ”Platoon.” The latest: several scripts about a guy who goes on his honeymoon alone after he and his fiance break up just before the wedding. The theme appeared just weeks after a story about just such a scenario in Playboy magazine. Another recurring theme has been about an anchor team whose members get along beautifully on the air but despise each other off-camera, but nobody knows where that`s being ripped off from.
– What goes up must come down: Wasn`t so long ago that Burt Reynolds in the cast was practically a guarantee that a movie would be a box office smash. But that`s not the case any longer. Hopes that ”Rent-A-Cop” might put him back in the running have been dashed, and he`s getting far from top billing in ads for ”Switching Channels,” scheduled for a March 4 release. He also reportedly is out of the picture on ”Rubyjean and Joe,” a movie about a young girl and her friendship with a rodeo cowboy.
INC.LINGS . . .
Watch for Whoopi Goldberg to show up as a Saturday morning cartoon character. . . . Friday birthdays: Martha Lorenz, 103; Red Buttons, 69; John Carradine, 82; Hank Aaron, 54; Roger Staubach, 46; Andrew Greeley, 60. . . . Saturday birthdays: Ronald Reagan, 77; Fabian Forte, 45; Rip Torn, 57;
Zsa Zsa Gabor, 69; Bonnie Koloc, 42; WLUP`s Dave Benson, 35. . . . Former Chicagoan Dave Spector, now one of the biggest TV stars in Japan, will be featured Saturday on a special segment of ”Bloopers and Practical Jokes” (9 p.m. Channel 5).
