NEW YORK NOTEBOOK : Peabody for Veep?

Al Gore’s path to the vice presidential nomination won’t be without obstacles if former Massachusetts Gov. Endicott Peabody has his way. Peabody has undertaken a petition drive to have his own name placed in nomination tonight. He realizes he has little chance of stealing the nomination from Gore--in fact, he says the senator is “great.” It’s the process by which Gore was chosen that Peabody opposes. The problem, he insists, is that voters have no say in choosing the vice presidential nominees. “If the process can cough up a Quayle today, it can tomorrow. Then the country would be in dire jeopardy,” he said.

Sound Bites

Colorado Sen. Timothy E. Wirth, asking for donations for the latest Democratic bumper sticker, “Bush-Quayl ‘92: It’s a mistake”: “It’s for a good cause--literacy.”

Democratic stalwart Sargent Shriver to his son-in-law, Republican muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger, left: “The American people, Arnold, are going to terminate your leader.”

Harvest for the Homeless

Democratic delegates may not know it, but they are feeding the homeless. City Harvest, an organization that collects and transports surplus food from parties and restaurants to shelters, reports business is booming. After New York City’s party for 15,000 media people attending the convention, City Harvest picked up 3,000 hot dogs, plus tamales, sodas and cases of fortune cookies. “We’ve collected food from the delegation parties . . . shrimp, grilled chicken, meatballs, Mexican and Chinese food,” said John Mooney, a spokesman for the organization. “We’ve gotten over two tons of food already, and the week isn’t over yet.”