Video Games, Berlin Wall Lead Poll

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - With a week of voting left, video games and the fall of the Berlin Wall are the leading candidates for postage
stamps commemorating the 1980s.

Votes cast through Feb. 17 put video games in first place with 133,942 ballots, followed by the Berlin Wall at 132,190, the Postal
Service said Monday.

The public is being asked to select 15 stamps to commemorate the decade of the 1980s. Voting continues through the end of the
month. Ballots are available at post offices or on the Internet at http://stampvote.msn.com.

The 1980s stamps, to be released next year, are part of the post office's extensive Celebrate the Century series, which will have a set
of 15 stamps for each decade of the 1900s.

Stamps for the first five decades were selected by postal officials and public balloting is being conducted for the century's last five
decades. Stamps are listed in five categories, with the top two vote getters in each category getting on a stamp, plus the next five
highest vote-getters overall.

Video games are part of the Lifestyle group. The second likely stamp candidate in that group is mountain biking, placing second in
the category despite only 73,301 votes.

The fall of the Berlin Wall leads the People and Events category. Running second there is Washington's popular Vietnam Veterans
Memorial with 128,734 votes.

In the Arts and Entertainment category, the leading candidate is the film ``E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,'' with 120,700 votes, followed
by television's popular ``The Cosby Show,'' with 96,762.
Turning to Science and Technology, personal computers are ahead with 101,624 votes, followed by compact discs with 100,571.

Figure skating's 99,305 put it on top of the sports category, followed by the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers with
95,303.

The next five top vote-getters are cable television, 94,385; freeing of the American hostages in Iran, 90,303; the Space Shuttle
program, 88,727; the Broadway musical ``Cats,'' 86,247 and the National Basketball Association rivalry between the Los Angeles
Lakers and Boston Celtics, 78,773.

Unlikely to earn a stamp if the balloting continues as it is currently, are:

Hip-hop music culture, 77,577; AIDS awareness, 70,862; Cabbage Patch Kids, 68,776; NCAA basketball March Madness, 68,719;
television talk shows, 63,683; beach volleyball, 62,359; camcorders, 58,792; country music, 56,416; international arms reduction
treaty, 46,538; aerobics, 38,073; minivans, 37,492; pianist Vladimir Horowitz returns to Russia to perform, 31,159; gene
mapping, 27,929; Senior PGA Tour, 26,781; movie ``The Bonfire of the Vanities,'' 17,035.