TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Elizabeth Snead and Jenny Peters

GIMME SOME SKIN!: Shirtless men offering cocktails at the door; this is one event trend we just love.

It was all about skin at the annual Macy's & American Express Passport Gala to fight AIDS, first at the prefashion show party as buff guys with ``Razz'' painted on their chests handed out frou-frou concoctions made of Bacardi Razz rum, and later on the runway itself, as male models pranced around in their VF Intimates underwear.

``I love my job!'' the evening's host, Sharon Stone, chortled, as she snuggled a male model riding a pink Vespa. Stone wowed the massive crowd filling the bleachers in the Barker Hangar on Thursday night, looking sleek and sexy in a form-fitting bright yellow embroidered sheath. She skillfully auctioning off items that brought in nearly $100,000 for the cause.

Newly single (and newly retired) ex-L.A. Laker Rick Fox led the bidding and joined Stone on the catwalk; but despite our high hopes, that was one hunk who kept his shirt and stylish brown velvet jacket on the whole time. We're still not quite sure what the pole-dancing interlude in the middle of the show was all about (designed for the straight guys in the audience, we guess?). But the rest of the fashion show, featuring the designs of Tommy Hilfiger, Anna Sui and Allen Schwartz (ABS), made more sense, with designs ranging from casual looks to evening gowns.

Spotted at the before VIP cocktail party and after dessert festivities and on the runway, too, were party girls Brooke Burke, Bai Ling and Traci Bingham (who happily popped open her pinstripe jacket and showed off her overflowing bra to anyone who asked), along with Marilu Henner and ``American Idol'' judge Randy Jackson. Teen heartthrob J.C. Chasez of N'Sync fame looked uncomfortable on the catwalk despite being fully dressed, while last season's ``Apprentice'' loser Katrina Campins modeled a slinky black leather dress and filled the night's position of the latest person in a never-ending string of people who make us wonder, ``Why is this person a celebrity?''

GORE THE MERRIER: No politics, please.

That was the mantra at Kristin Gore's garden party Monday night at the Bel Air home of Warner Bros. President and CEO Alan Horn.

But it was tough to keep to the subject at hand - the launch of Gore's first novel, ``Sammy's Hill'' - when the author's proud pop, former Vice President Al Gore, was working the crowd like a consummate politician.

But there was no way to get Gore senior to do any Bush-bashing.

``Tonight is Kristin's night,'' he insisted, masterfully toeing the party line. ``It's a wonderful, funny book, and I recommend it highly.''

Being part of their high-profile almost-first-family (Tipper was on hand, too, of course) means that Kristin Gore has lots of powerful friends in Hollywood, and many of them turned up to celebrate.

We spotted (``Charlie's Angels'') producer Leonard Goldberg and his wife, Wendy, novelists Helen Fielding (``Bridget Jones's Diary'') and Jackie Collins (``Hollywood Wives''), ``The Simpsons'' creator Matt Groening, ``Just Shoot Me'' star Enrico Colantoni and ``Pulp Fiction'' producer Lawrence Bender.

``I'm writing the script for the screenplay of the book,'' Gore, the ex-television writer (Groening's ``Futurama''), revealed. ``But I already have another novel planned, so I'm anxious to get started on that. I'm really loving the novel-writing. I am an excellent recluse, I've found out.''

Kind of like her dad, who is keeping a low profile during the current presidential campaign. But Al Gore did reveal a slight chink in his ``no talking politics'' armor. When a reporter wistfully told him she wished he was president, he smiled and said, ``So do I.''

WAGGING THE DOG: All men are dogs. Even presidential candidates.

``George Bush is a Tibetan terrier, not intellectual, but willing to please,'' says Georgia Sullivan, author of ``Porch Dogs: The Unmuzzled Truth About Men and Our Relationships With Them.''

``John Kerry is an English setter - if he receives new information, he sees no reason he shouldn't take it under consideration.''

Sullivan gave out these animal insights into the candidates at her book launch that got off to howlingly good start at a party that paired pooches and pundits with a passel of hot prospects of the male persuasion.

The Comedy and Canine's charity dinner was supposed to be about saving pups from the pound. But the benefit for New Leash on Life Animal Rescue let politics rule the party, despite a hunk-strewn dog fashion show and a bachelor auction.

Comedian Martin Lewis and comic writer Merrill Markoe threw jabs at the Bush administration. But it was Lily Tomlin who careened off the dog track into the meat of the presidential race, delighting ``The West Wing'' co-stars Allison Janney, Janel Moloney and pal Teri Garr.

``I don't know why I'm doing all this Bush material,'' Tomlin said, after calling the president's folksy patter ``kinda like Yogi Berra without the meaning.''

``I really should be talking about neutering and spaying,'' Tomlin apologized. But did she mean Bush or dogs?

CAPTION(S):

8 photos

Photo:

(1) STONE: Host with the most.

Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com

(2) GORE: Easy reader.

Donna McWilliam/Associated Press

(3) LEWIS: Barking at Bush.

Theo Wargo/WireImage.com

(4) MODEL BEHAVIOR: White after Labor Day ... but who cares?

(5) CHASEZ: Relax, J.C., it'll all be over soon.

(6) STONE (and friend): She's got to scoot.

(7) CAMPINS: Tell the Donald to zip it.

(8) no caption (underwear model)