On Long Island the council has distributed posters, buttons and cash-register stickers to 500 sellers of alcoholic beverages in Brentwood and Hempstead.

The campaign is classic grass roots, with plenty of volunteers calling and writing letters to friends and neighbors, distributing buttons, posters and newsletters, and talking to civic groups and clubs.

That is when the marching band distributes buttons of a disparaging nature that when worn by Brown fans are hoped to unsettle the opposing team.

Not long ago women's groups distributed buttons reading "59 cents," the amount that working women were paid, on average, for each dollar earned by a man.

He is doing it through his promoter, Bob Arum, who said he planned to visit the Philippines to help the campaign and said he would distribute political posters and buttons before the fight.

The campaign has printed 100,000 copies of his economic booklet and Mr. Tsongas dispenses them at campaign stops like other candidates distribute buttons.

Supported by corporations and foundations, We Care is distributing buttons with the slogan "New York Is Picking Up," usually through employers that have agreed to cooperate with the program.

He distributed buttons for 25 cents each asking, "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?"

As she told it, the hotel management distributed campaign-style buttons to the housekeeping staff before the arrival of 300 Republican guests.

Aides distributed buttons with the same message.