Pubdate: Wed, 02 Aug 2000
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2000 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/

CAMPAIGN 2000 GOP CONVENTION OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE

It would be hard for many Democrats to quarrel with much of what they
saw and heard in Monday's opening session of the Republican National
Convention. It was all about children and education and equal
opportunity, with all of the controversy -- also known as genuine
solutions -- artfully airbrushed out of the script.

The closest the Republicans came to edginess was House Speaker Dennis
Hastert's gentle chiding of Rep. Richard Gephart's, D-Mo., promise to
raise taxes if the Democrats regained control of Congress. Hastert
also took President Clinton to task for threatening to veto GOP
versions of tax-cutting legislation to end the so-called ``marriage
penalty,'' but the tone was more of sorrow than of anger.

It hardly seemed to matter to the delegates that the themes of the
evening appeared at odds with the platform's criticisms of affirmative
action and federal support for education. Even Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., the resident maverick, managed to give a speech last night
with only an oblique reference to the issue -- campaign finance reform
- -- he so passionately believes is corrupting our political system to
the core.

This is what a party does when it wants to win in prosperous times,
and the Philadelphia delegates are not about to quarrel, not after
eight years of Clinton-Gore rule.

To hear what politicians sound like when they act as if they have
nothing to lose requires a trip across town to the Shadow Convention
being hosted by iconoclastic columnist Arianna Huffington.

Gov. Gary Johnson, R-N.M., made a forceful critique of the ``failure
of the drug war'' before an audience of several hundred at the
University of Pennsylvania. Johnson made the case for legalizing
marijuana and reassessing the enormously costly and ultimately futile
strategies of interdiction abroad and harsh punishment at home. He
admits his challenging of drug-war orthodoxy will effectively end his
elective career, but he is devoting the remainder of his second term
to try whatever it takes to reduce the crime, death, disease and
crammed jails that now prevail. Of course, Johnson will not be allowed
anywhere near the podium during prime time at the GOP convention.

Neither will Rep. Tom Campbell, the Republican challenger to Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Campbell is a GOP loyalist with a mind of
his own on many issues. He is also enough of a longshot that he is
willing to risk a ``soft on drugs'' label when he talks about the
absurdity of thinking $1.3 billion of military aid would stop the drug
trade in Colombia. Campbell unsuccessfully tried to have the money
diverted to rehabilitation programs.

``What you see,'' Campbell said yesterday, ``is most politicians
scared to death'' to challenge the war on drugs.

The Republican Party is not lacking leaders willing to push bold
ideas, notwithstanding the comforting images coming out of
Philadelphia. McCain, Johnson and Campbell have had plenty to say --
outside of their own party's convention.
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