Rob Lowe isn't shy when it comes to two of his favorite subjects: politics and
sex.

The eternally hunky actor proudly offers plenty of details of his adventures on
both fronts in the September issue of George magazine.

In a profile dubbed "Lowe Down & Dirty," the star of the upcoming NBC series
"The West Wing" gleefully recalls a verbal sparring match he had with Tipper
Gore at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

"Tell me something," she asked Lowe, "Why is it that the people in your
community [Hollywood] didn't get behind my husband?

"Well, it's you, frankly," Lowe replied, making obvious reference to her
attempts to slap ratings on rock lyrics.

Lowe concedes the exchange was fueled by his passion for the bottle, which he
says he no longer has. "It's moments like those when I appreciate why people
drink," says Lowe. "I had just the right amount. Thank God for Heineken."

Later that night, recalls Lowe, he found himself in a private conversation with
Al Gore.

"It was sad," Lowe remembers. "At one point, there was nobody around. It had
gotten very quiet. And with tears in his eyes, he said, apropos of nothing,
'They wouldn't even let me speak at this convention.' I felt so bad for him.
But four years later, the guy's vice president. See, this is the kind of stuff
I always loved about politics."

On the sex front, Lowe jokes about the infamous video of him having sex with
two women in an Atlanta hotel room — and his other escapades.

"You don't know how many leather jackets I lost," he recalls. "Petty theft —
especially the postcoital kind — was part of being a movie star."

On a serious note, the actor believes his Atlanta sex mess cost him many roles
in Hollywood, including the one Billy Zane landed in "Titanic."

"Apparently, someone at 20th Century Fox — all right, [chairman] Bill Mechanic
— thinks I'm a bad guy because of the video," Lowe says in George. "But hey,
that's cool. One day, he may reconsider, and if he does there will be a
surcharge."

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