BEATTY MIRRORING BULWORTH; A WHITE HOUSE RUN COULD USE A LITTLE LIFE IMITATING ART.

Byline: Marla Matzer Staff Writer

You got presidential candidates

Gore, Bush and Bradley

but when they start to rappin',

they all do it badly

We need Beatty, Beatty as in Warren

to make the campaign fun

and not so borin'

OK, so we can't rap any better that Beatty's character Bulworth in the 1998 political satire of the same name, but if the Hollywood superstar is serious about running for president, he may just want to get down with it.

Ironically, in Beatty's closely watched speech at the Beverly Hilton on Wednesday, the 62-year-old actor sounded downright presidential. For a man who has played Dick Tracy, Clyde Barrow, John Reed, an L.A. Rams quarterback, a failed songwriter and a hairdresser, why not the role of chief executive? (Are entertainment and reality morphing into each other, or what?)

If Beatty really wants to shake up the 2000 campaign - like he has indicated - then he might take some lessons from his own critically acclaimed movie, which he wrote and directed. While ``Bulworth'' failed at the box office, adding some rhythm and shooting from the hip is what Beatty needs to do to be a hit as a politician.

On Wednesday, Beatty sounded ironically more like the politicians he tries to lampoon in his movie. ``I believe in the value of social programs,'' he told the audience.

``America is standing on the doorstep of a new millennium,'' California Sen. Jay Bulworth intones over and over in the film. It's the opening of his campaign speech, which Beatty wrote as a parody of every boring stump speech you've heard. (But don't be surprised if you hear it from some politico next year.)

And indeed Bulworth is bored by the system - so bored he wants to kill himself. So he hires a hitman to do it so that his daughter - the only person he cares about - can get the insurance money.

Free from the chains of running for re-election and raising money, Bulworth finds he's free to tell people the truth as he sees it. Suddenly he's like Howard Beal from ``Network,'' a mad prophet, and his honesty shocks the special-interest groups who've greased his campaign wheels. Even crazier, he takes up rapping (though he's got no rhythm) his message that the poor, particularly minorities, have been left out of the rest of the country's economic prosperity.

``They know the rich is gettin' richer and richer and richer

While the middle class is just gettin' more more

Just makin' billions and billions and billions

and billions and billions of bucks

Well, my friend, if you weren't already rich at the start

That situation sucks.''

Indeed, Beatty's contention that America's problems of health care, poverty, homelessness and the widening gulf between the rich and the poor cannot be solved until the political system is overhauled is central to the film. Only in ``Bulworth'' he's much more entertaining about it.

In addresssing the Southern California Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, Beatty said: ``We don't need a third party, we need a second party,'' and then accused Democrats of joining Republicans in a ``slow-motion coup d'etat of big-money interests over the public interests.''

In an interview with the Daily News about the film:``The truth is . . . the same people are pretty much funding both parties.''

In the movie, Bulworth tells it like it is: ``Republicans, Democrats - what's the difference? We're a club,''

If you're wondering why the Hollywood superstar - who already has plenty of money, fame and power - would even hint at the idea of running for president, the film offers another clue when a homeless man tells Bulworth, ``You got to be a spirit; you can't be a ghost.'' And it's clear that Beatty wants to be a ``spirit'' in next year's presidential campaign.

The idea of Beatty making a run for office is perfectly in character. For decades, he has been involved in liberal politics, from supporting the campaigns of Robert Kennedy and George McGovern to backing the ill-fated candidacy of Gary Hart.

He is known as smart, thoughtful - and yes, narcissistic and charming, which would seem ideal qualities for a politician today. And in these post-Reagan days, when publications such as George magazine blend politics and entertainment, when we have a former pro wrestler as governor of Minnesota and Arnold Schwarzenegger hinting he'll run for office - why not?

Some of the views Bulworth expresses - that we might assume Beatty shares - are a bit ironic given the actor's highly paid movie star status. In the movie, Bulworth tells three reporters, ``Our campaigns are being financed by the same guys that pay you guys,'' saying that big politics and big media are all part of the same machine today. But Beatty himself has taken advantage of the celebrity this system has afforded him.

Twentieth Century Fox, controlled by politically conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch, spent more than $30 million to produce ``Bulworth,'' which was a box office flop. And what exactly made the media hordes flock to Beatty's speech? He's a star, created and fed by the Big Entertainment machine.

In fact, some 150 reporters got in Wednesday night while more were turned away by fire marshals. Meanwhile, real presidential candidate Bill Bradley, who was in L.A. that afternoon, drew a tenth of the attention.

In the audience of 700-plus there were such disparate liberal types as Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt. Also in the audience: Arianna Huffington, the Republican columnist and unlikely ``cheerleader-in-chief'' for a Beatty candidacy.

To be fair, Beatty isn't Bulworth.

``The movie,'' Beatty said, ``simplifies things. But that's the beauty of being a filmmaker. You get to be particular as in a painting. You get to point things out; something you could never do as a political candidate.''

Those who know Beatty best are guessing that he'll back away from an actual run for office, settling instead for the opportunity to influence the political debate. Beatty himself has hinted this may be the case. But if he does run there are probably some things we won't hear Beatty parroting from Bulworth, like his solution to race issues. ``Everybody just got to be . . . (making love) until we're all the same color.''

Over the top. Yes. But a rappin' Warren would make certainly give us something to talk about next year.

Staff Writer Glenn Whipp and Daily News Wire Services contributed to this story.

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Photo: (color) Beatty