The Culture Vulture column in today's dead-tree Tribune gets political - hey, what isn't political when it's four weeks until we choose a president?

I interviewed Stefan Forbes, the director and writer of the new documentary "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story." If you don't know who Lee Atwater is, he was a hot young star in Republican circles in the 1980s - most notably as George H.W. Bush's campaign manager, turning a Yalie son of privilege into a Texas good-ol'-boy and turning a principled governor of Massachusetts into a tax-hiking, murderer-paroling weenie.

As Forbes describes Atwater (that's him standing next to Bush Sr. in the photo above): "He never ran for any office. He never passed a piece of legislation. But he single-handedly changed the landscape of American politics, changed the way the media covers our campaigns, and wrote the winning playbook that has been working for Republicans even after his death."

The movie opens Friday at the Tower, and Forbes will be in town for the opening. A screening Friday at 7 p.m. will be followed by a panel discussion about political campaigning, featuring: Jenny Wilson, Salt Lake County councilwoman; David Hansen, former campaign manager for Sen. Orrin Hatch; Patrick Shea, attorney for Utah and Washington D.C. (and former gubernatorial candidate); and pollster Dan Jones. Troy Williams, host on KRCL Radio Active, will be the moderator.

Labels: politics