NEW YORK -- As Spike Lee was being interviewed, the Rev. Al Sharpton waited for a photo-op with the film director. Whoopi Goldberg took an unassuming seat among the audience.

The red velvet seats in the orchestra section and two mezzanines of the Apollo Theatre were dotted with celebrities -- and celebrity attorneys -- for Monday night's Democratic presidential debate between Vice President Al Gore and Bill Bradley.

There was Dallas Cowboys veteran Calvin Hill and Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, both Bradley supporters. Gore acknowledged Martin Luther King III midway through. There also was O.J. Simpson's defense lawyer, Johnnie Cochran, whose favorite was unclear.

Some flocked to the press filing center across the street afterward to join the political talking heads. Goldberg, a Gore partisan, said she wasn't too impressed by the candidates' zingers. "I had better putdowns sitting in my seat."

Sharpton told reporters before the forum that he did not expect to make an immediate endorsement "unless somebody knocks me off my seat."