Pubdate: Mon, 31 Jul 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
Fax: (213) 237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/
Author: Anne-Marie O'Connor, Times Staff Writer
Note: Times staff writer T. Christian Miller contributed to this story
Bookmark: MAP's link to shadow convention items: 
http://www.mapinc.org/shadow.htm

IN THE 'SHADOW,' NOTHING LURKS

Counterculture: Testy Chants And Biting Humor Greet Sen. John Mccain, 
Others At The Unorthodox Convention Across Town.

PHILADELPHIA--An alternative convention that promises to be anything but 
conventional got off to a raucous start Sunday when Sen. John McCain was 
interrupted by boos and hisses for departing from talk of campaign finance 
reform to underline his endorsement of George W. Bush.

McCain won cheers with his trademark attack on the influence of big money 
on politics at the "shadow convention," an unorthodox nonpartisan forum 
that is being staged during each of the party conventions by an unlikely 
coalition of social reformers and professional entertainers.

But the audience booed loudly when McCain said he felt bound "not by party 
loyalty but by sincere conviction" to urge Americans to support presumptive 
Republican nominee Bush.

McCain kept talking, praising Bush's education record in Texas, but the 
heckling escalated. One man shouted "Gong!" while another banged on the 
floor. A crowd of Native American rights activists chanted "Save Black 
Mesa!"--referring to an Arizona tribal land dispute.

"If you'd like, I don't need to continue," McCain told the protesters.

Conservative columnist Arianna Huffington, a co-convenor, stepped in, 
saying: "You know, this is the convention where we can listen to everything 
with respect."

McCain managed to finish his speech to the forum, which is being held at 
the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center, but sporadic 
interruptions continued. McCain, who was suffering from stomach flu, left 
immediately after his speech. But he seemed to find the combative challenge 
invigorating.

"That's the nature of politics. It's fun," he said later. "We can't shut 
them out of the political process. I'm glad they're in it. If you proceed 
on the theory that independent voters are going to be the key to the 
election, then you have to go out and interface with them."

Huffington made it clear that lively exchanges are completely in keeping 
with the irreverent spirit of the shadow convention, a political hybrid 
that promises to use everything from speeches to stand-up satire to 
showcase campaign finance reform, the racial inequities of the drug war and 
the gap between rich and poor.

"This is a convention that is designed to promote debate, not stifle it," 
Huffington told the packed forum. "Those who want to hear people preach to 
the choir should go somewhere else."

The shadow convention also is not for people who don't like loud music and 
counterculture Americana.

Like a rock concert between acts, organizers interspersed speeches with 
everything from hip-hop to rock music with a political edge. Paul 
Krassner's book "Pot Stories for the Soul" was featured on a table 
alongside McCain's "Faith of the Fathers" and Huffington's "How to 
Overthrow the Government."

Among those not preaching to the choir Sunday was Rep. Tom Campbell (R-San 
Jose), who attacked the Clinton administration's $1.3-billion aid package 
for the drug war in Colombia, saying it would be better spent on U.S. drug 
rehabilitation programs. He excoriated the racial gap in drug convictions, 
which jail more black Americans than white Americans.

"The drug war has failed," Campbell said. "I cannot remain silent."

Bush took hits from all sides.

A paid advertisement of one of the convening groups, the Lindesmith Center, 
showed a smirking Bush alongside pictures of people given lengthy drug 
sentences on purportedly shaky evidence. "His youthful indiscretions. Their 
shattered lives," it read.

In a comedy routine with Huffington, Al Franken concocted an imaginary 
"push-poll," a mudslinging tactic in which voters are telephoned by 
campaigners pretending to be pollsters.

"If you knew that during five-and-a-half years, [while] John McCain was 
hanging by his thumbs in a North Vietnamese prison camp, that George W. 
Bush snorted several pounds of cocaine, would you be more likely to vote 
for Gov. Bush or less likely?" Franken asked, to laughter.

Franken lampooned Bush's education record, saying that now, "60% of high 
school seniors in Texas read at a higher rate than the governor."

Nevertheless, one analyst at the forum thought McCain had done Bush a big 
favor by appearing before the crowd of young voters.

The shadow convention "does have cachet," said Los Angeles political 
analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe.

"I think it was basically a job interview for secretary of Defense," she 
said of McCain's appearance. "I think he has a lot of points toward that 
with his speech. It would have been nice if Gore could have gotten Bill 
Bradley to do the same thing."

Times staff writer T. Christian Miller contributed to this story
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