THE POWER OF THE PEN.

• Author: DICONSIGLIO, JOHN
• Position: Political cartoonists

YOU MAY WANT TO DRAW AND QUARTER THEM, BUT THE BEST CARTOONISTS CAN MAKE YOU LAUGH AND THINK

Take it from political cartoonists: A picture is worth more than a thousand words. It may add up to a few thousand votes, a political sea change, or just the opening up of a mind or two.

Political cartoons aren't printed on the editorial page just to make you laugh. Most cartoonists like it when their work inspires disagreement or even outrage. These artists want people to respond to the opinions they express in their work.

"I like to be an agitator, and to draw people into the democratic process," says Michael Ramirez, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times. "The bottom line is getting readers thinking and involved."

Political cartoonists have a long history of stirring the pot to create and illuminate controversy (see page 13). And, as you'll see this year, nothing gets their creative juices flowing like the colorful personalities and hot issues Of a presidential election campaign.

We asked four prominent cartoonists how they view the 2000 campaign so far, and what evidence they have that the pen really can be mightier than the sword.

Mike Smith

Mike Smith has advice for kids who want to cartoon for a living.

"Be a geek," says Smith, who draws for the Las Vegas Sun. "I think all political cartoonists started out as doodlers and geeks. We were in band, not football. I played the trumpet. It could have been worse. I could have played the clarinet."

Smith considers himself "an equal-opportunity offender. There's so much blame going around that if I'm criticizing just one end of the spectrum, I feel like I'm only doing 50 percent of my job."

That means Democrat Bill Bradley ("The way I draw him, he looks like a zucchini," Smith says) gets as much criticism as former Republican candidate Steve Forbes ("He looks like a vampire, like he just stepped in from the set of The Lost Boys. ")

Like most cartoonists, Smith reads mountains of newspapers and stays glued to the TV in search of ideas. Once he has a theme, he draws his picture around it.

Smith often hears from readers who think his work is cruel, but he says he doesn't mean to hurt anyone. Besides, he says, cartoonists cannot censor themselves to please others. "I never say that something is too mean to draw or some idea is too controversial to attack," he says. "Hey, a political cartoonist pushes the envelope. He affects everybody differently--which is fine, as long as you're...