Apparently, though, to the punk-pop poster boy cum soccer mom fave, not all audiences are created equal. Because while his cheerfully optimistic song "Brand New Day" is a regular at events for Al Gore, Sting has asked that it be taken out of regular rotation by the George W. Bush campaign, which had been using it at events earlier this year.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out why Sting wouldn't want his music associated with the Bush Republican presidential campaign," says a source close to Sting.

Sting’s manager, Miles Copeland (brother of Sting's former Police-mate, Stewart Copeland), claims the British singer simply doesn't want to take a side in an election in the country where he is "a guest." "It's not a polite thing to do," Copeland says, adding that he soon will tell the Gore campaign, too, to stop using "Brand New Day." Still, the song was nixed from the Bush lineup months ago.

Sting's rebuff was nowhere near as polite as the one that came from John Mellencamp, who was miffed at Bush's use of his ditty "R.O.C.K. in the USA." Over Labor Day weekend, the Indianapolis Star reported that Mellencamp had his people call Bush's people to tell him to stop. "They said OK, and then used it anyway," the self-described "liberal" singer told reporters after a free Aug. 31 concert in Bloomington, Ind. "What am I going to do? Am I going to sue the guy -- that seems a little silly -- and make a big ruckus out of it?"

Of course, entertainers tend to be more liberal (filmmaker Robert Altman recently promised to move to France should Bush win), but medium-size musical-political ruckuses are erupting like never before -- because this year, pop songs are being appropriated by politicians at a fast and furious pace.

Popular music has been a part of politics since long before "Happy Days Are Here Again," FDR's theme song, of course. The Rat Pack sang the national anthem at the 1960 Democratic convention. Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis highlighted his ethnic immigrant roots by playing Neil Diamond's "America" at the 1988 Democratic Convention, while at the Republican equivalent then-Vice President George Bush surfed a wave of economic contentment (and foreshadowed his elitist cluelessness) by playing Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Keith Nahigian, who was in charge of scheduling and advance for the campaign of since-vanquished Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, says that there's a reason for both the increased use of music and the increased controversy. "Music is the key to the whole crowd," Nahigian, 32, says. "The addition of newer rock music in politics went along with the music explosion and also the media explosion. Before we only had three networks ... Now we have six channels a day, plus local news is having more of an impact -- we have to put on more of a show."

And in this era of controversy over citizens using Napster to download songs for free, it would seem that politicians are appropriating pop music for their own purposes with equal abandon. Mike Glabicki, the lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for the band Rusted Root, says he had mixed feelings when he heard his song "Send Me On My Way" played as background music during the Gore biopic.

"I'm generally usually excited to hear my music played anywhere," Glabicki says. "But after thinking about it, I thought it was kind of strange that Gore played it without asking us first. Because it's perceived that we are backing him and therefore we accept his use of our music. But he never asked."

But in this era of cultural crusaders -- like Gore, wife Tipper, his running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, and, of course, Lynne Cheney -- the question is no longer even whether or not it's fair, but just what are the lyrics in question? It's a question advance staffers have been on top of ever since it reached a crescendo during the GOP presidential primaries.

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