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" Daschle denies hugging Michael Moore." We just can't resist passing along that headline from last week's Rapid City Journal in South Dakota. (A shame; we would have loved to see a picture.) The hubbub started after a Time magazine cover story said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle met the controversial filmmaker at "Fahrenheit 9/11's" Washington premiere. Moore's quote: "He gave me a hug and said he felt bad and that we were all gonna fight [Bush] from now on. I thanked him for being a good sport." Nuh-uh, says Daschle. "I know we senators all tend to look alike. But I arrived late, and I had to leave early for Senate votes. I didn't meet Mr. Moore," he told South Dakota reporters in a conference call. Moore's reps said he stands by his comment.

• At least one Northern Virginia moviegoer walked out in a huff after watching just a half-hour of "Fahrenheit," and she wants our readers to know about it. Loyal Republican Lenora Tomalin, 81, called us to report that she left her relatives in their seats at the Regal theater in Sterling and headed for the lobby during the scene when Moore, in a voiceover, suggests thoughts President Bush might have had in a Florida classroom the morning of Sept. 11. "I was enraged . . . I thought it was very sophomoric," she says. "There was laughter and I would just cringe." Tomalin, who happens to be the mother of activist/actress Susan Sarandon, got a refund and promptly gave it to a charity supported by Regal. To cool down, she paced for a while, then waited patiently on a chair provided by the manager.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47817-2004Jul13.html