HOME TO THE SOPAPILLA

I'll be back in Santa Fe tomorrow, but not in time to do The Santa Fe Opry. I've left that in the capable hands of Tom Knoblauch and Laurell Reynolds.

I'll be there for Terrell's Sound World on Sunday night. Hope you'll be there too.

I'll be posting this week's Terrell's Tune-up hopefully Saturday morning. And, oh yes, at some point this weekend I intend to clean up these convention posts from New York -- zap some of the late-night, rush-job typos, add links, bold, italics, etc. For some reason I can't do much of that from this silly laptop.

And if you're up early Saturday -- about 7:30 a.m. -- I've agreed to be interviewed for a CSPAN program about battleground state politics. Hopefully I'll have time to get a couple of cups of coffee in me.

CONVENTION NOTEBOOK: DAY 4

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 3, 2004

NEW YORK _ Just a few blocks south of Madison Square Garden on Seventh Avenue, there’s a building with a huge banner reading “Save America. Defeat Bush.”

And on the 15th floor of the building is a complex of offices filled with 30-50 people -- both paid staff and volunteers -- dedicated to the idea expressed on that banner.

Welcome to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee’s Convention Response Team, spearheading the Democrats’ fight to keep their message and their candidate John Kerry from getting buried by the overwhelming amount of GOP-related news during the week of the Republican convention.

The idea isn’t new. Republicans had a similar operation in Boston when the Democrats met in convention.

There’s a television studio and a radio studio used for recording Democratic spokesmen responding to convention speeches. There’s an office where people arrange for Democratic leaders to appear on t.v. and radio news shows.

There are offices dedicated to organizing press conferences and events around the city during the convention.

And there’s even workers there who are engaged in what could be described as “psychological warfare” against Republican delegates.

Kevin Wardally, the New York campaign director for the response team, said he intended to put campaign posters -- ones with the slogans “Mission Not Accomplished” and “America Can Do Better” on lampposts around delegate hotels.

When police nixed that idea, Wardally said his workers called every Democratic and independent voter in the surrounding neighborhoods to put signs with the Kerry slogans in their windows.

Wardally also organizes Kerry supporters wearing T-shirts with those slogans to show up at live televised programs such as morning news shows that take place outside.

But the real nerve center of the operation is “The War Room,” in which about a dozen researchers sit at tables with their laptops monitoring news on seven television sets.

On the walls in the windowless room are common Democratic messages to be stressed: “Lost 1.8 million private sector jobs.” “Family income down by $1,400.”

There also are unflattering photos of convention speakers such as Vice President Cheney and Sen. Zell Miller, D- Georgia.

When they hear something they consider inaccurate or contradictory from a Republican, the laptop warriors research it, write up press releases and zap it to reporters around the land.

But one thing the response team -- which will pull up stakes in New York today because the convention is over -- isn’t responsible for. The “Defeat Bush” banner actually is the work of a labor group called UNITE!, which is headquartered in the building.

A word from the “real people.”

A New Mexico woman was part of a Thursday press conference organized by the response team.

Loretta Grund, a retired Veterans Administration nurse from Albuquerque was one of several “real people” (as opposed to “political hacks,” one supposes) who were flown to New York for just one day in order to tell reporters why they don’t support President Bush’s reelection.

Grund, who retired in December after 24 years with the VA hospital said while there are 600 new patients being treated, there are fewer doctors and physicians assistants to help them.

She said she volunteered for the Kerry campaign in the New Mexico caucus early this year because she likes Kerry’s record on the environment.

Where’s Bill?

One Democrat not heard from during the Republican convention is Gov. Bill Richardson.

Earlier this week the governor’s office released a statement that out of his deep respect for political parties to have conventions without criticism, he would make a huge sacrifice, at least for someone who loves the national limelight.

“Gov. Bill Richardson today announced that he would not accept any national media requests during the Republican National convention and that he would honor the convention period by not criticizing the Bush Administration during the four days the Republicans are gathered in New York City,” the statement said.

“The governor went on to say that he wishes the New Mexico Republican delegates well at the New York City Convention and urges them to proudly promote the state at every opportunity in concert with the New Mexico Department of Tourism,” the statement said.

Although Richardson was avoiding the national news, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish was interviewed by phone Thursday for Battleground, a show on ABC Now, ABC’s new 24-hour digital television channel.

He probably already knew

New Mexico delegate Darren White -- the sheriff of Bernalillo County -- was one of 10 delegates selected to officially inform President Bush Thursday that he’d been nominated for President.

White said the honorary duty is left over from the wild old days of politics when conventions were full of floor fights and back-room wheeling and dealing, so candidates often weren’t sure if they’d won the nomination.

THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: WHAT NEXT FOR THE STATE GOP?

As published in the Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 3, 2004

NEW YORK _ For New Mexico’s delegates at the Republican National Convention, it’s been a week of rousing speeches, meeting other Republicans from across the country and generally getting fired up for President Bush.

But how do the delegates use that enthusiasm to their candidate’s advantage when they get home to New Mexico, a “battleground” state that Bush lost by less than 400 votes four years ago?

“It’s the job of all the delegates to carry back that enthusiasm and energize our people,” said Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, who also is his county’s GOP county chairman.

While the state party has gone through bitter leadership battles in the past year, the delegation in New York seems to have put those old battles behind them, at least for the next two months.

They will be up against a largely united Democratic Party, led by Gov. Bill Richardson, whose prestige in the national party adds pressure on him to delver the state’s five electoral votes to John Kerry.

But GOP delegates interviewed Thursday seemed up for the fight.

“In the next two weeks you’ll see with a new voter registration program, recruiting more volunteers and preparing for a massive get-out-the vote effort,” White said.

White said New Mexico Republicans will be targeting the small group of undecided voters, who could end up determining who gets New Mexico’s undecided vote.

Former Congressman and secretary of interior Manuel Lujan said Thursday he thinks the Republican effort in New Mexico will be helped next week when Vice Presdident Cheney visits Roswell.

“I’m sure (Biush will) be back to the state again before the election, Lujan said. “And I’m sure other Republican luminaries will be here too.”

“The rest of us will just have to talk to voters and get them to vote,” Lujan said. He said to expect large direct mail and telephone bank effort in the state.

“But you can’t talk to everyone,” Lujan said. “There will be lots of t.v., radio and newspaper ads drawing the comparison between John Kerry and the president.”

Lujan said a new organization called the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute should help the GOP with the Hispanic vote -- which normally goes to Democrats by a large margin in New Mexico.

“They’ve got a data base of 8 million Hispanic voters nationwide,” he said. The institute will be conducting mail and phone campaigns for Bush, Lujan said. He didn’t know the group’s budget for New Mexico.

Delegate Jesse Dompreh, an Albuquerque insurance agent, said he believes the GOP must “intensify our outreach to minorities.”

Dompreh, who is an African-Amercan said if the party makes a real effort to appeal to minorities, “it’ll pull strength away from the Democrats.

He said he’s been talking with party leaders and state officials with the Bush-Cheney campaign. “We have a plan,” he said.

Jonathan Collard, 25, of Albuquerque is the delegation’s youngest member. Collard, who is a national committeeman for the Young Republicans, says it’s his job to get his organization to get the Bush message out to young people.

He said his organization -- which he said numbers in the hundreds -- will be involved in a voter registration program aimed at young voters.

State Rep. Joe Thompson of Albuquerque, who is an alternate delegate, said he doesn’t think the party should “pander” to any ethnic or age group.

Thompson said he attended a workshop this week with Bush’s political advisor Karl Rove and other leading GOP strategists.

“What they said was that the Republican Party sells concepts,” Thompson said. “We talk about the role of government and the role of individual responsibility instead of the old-style politics of `What’s in this for me?’”

Thompson said that this year, instead of depending on early and absentee ballots -- a traditional Republican strength -- the Bush campaign is going to have to have a major final countdown effort.

“We’ll have to do an intensive last 72-hours effort to turn out the vote,” he said. “We’ll have to have a magnificent ground game. This is no time for gimmicks and trick plays.”

THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: CONVENTION NOTEBOOK DAY 3

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 2, 2004

NEW YORK _ I report. You decide.

And on Wednesday Fox News decided they weren't going to let me in if I was going to report.

Members of New Mexico's delegation to the Republican National Convention had scheduled a tour of the "Fair and Balanced" news network headquarters on the Avenue of the Americas at 49th Street. I'd arranged with state Sen. Joe Carraro of Albuquerque -- a convention delegate -- to tag along.

I arrived early and had a nice chat with members of the state's delegation in the lobby of the conservatives' favorite news organization.

The delegates all had printed name tags. I was told by the receptionist that I'd have to wait for the tour guide, a young woman named Dana, to get the o.k.

When Dana arrived, she looked at me skeptically. "You're just here like the others, to take the tour? You're not going to write about it?"

I had an idea what was coming. Like a politician, I gave an evasive answer. "I'm just here because Im curious," I said.

Dana persisted. "So you agree that everything you see is off the record?"

I couldn't agree to that.

She said she was sorry, but if I was there to report, I would have had to have made arrangements last week.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's because of security concerns."

So by not agreeing to keep what I saw of the Fox News tour off the record, I'd suddenly risen to the level of a security threat.

The delegation members I'd been talking to vouched for me, but it was to no avail.

As I began to leave, Carraro arrived. He went to bat for me too. "My political career is on the line here," he joked. But not even a senior Republican state senator from New Mexico could get the tour guide to change her mind.

Security is a very serious issue. It was obvious that this reporter was not going to be allowed anywhere near the No Spin Zone.

So I was 86ed from Fox. But they did it in a fair and balanced way.

Kerryphernalia

At the Democrats' convention in Boston there were countless places selling funny anti-Bush buttons, T-shirts and other paraphernalia. While only official, "positive" Kerry/Edwards merchandise could be found inside the convention hall itself, there were tables hawking anti-Bush souvenirs on the streets and even in some of the delegate hotels.

It seemed only logical that at the GOP the shoe would be on the other foot, and there would be an avalanche of funny anti-Kerry novelties.

But no.

For the first couple of days, the only sign of an anti-Kerry button I saw was one being worn by a young person roaming near the media center next to Madison Square Garden. It said, "I Believe the Swifties," apparently referring to the swift boat veterans who question John Kerry's military record.

On Wednesday I came across a souvenir shop on Broadway called Grand Slam. Inside was a table, which had several Bush and Kerry buttons -- both pro and anti for both candidates.

And on the floor by that table were some plastic sandals on which was printed changes in some of Kerry's positions.

You guessed it. These were called "Kerry Flip Flops." They sell for $19.95.

My Place in the Stands

If you watch the convention on CNN and you see Wolf Blitzer or Larry King or Anderson Cooper or Judy Woodruff, chances are this reporter is about 10 yards away, in front of the host just off to his or her right.

As was the case for the Democratic Convention, my assigned work area seat is stage right, several rows above the stage. But in Boston, my assigned place was right by the house band. Looking up and seeing Bob Dole or Pat Buchanan being interviewed a few feet away on CNN isn't nearly as distracting as having a band break out into "Soul Man" or "Respect" every few minutes to introduce a speaker.

THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: PROTESTERS KEPT AWAY FROM N.M. DELEGATES

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 2, 2004

NEW YORK _ Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to demonstrate against the Republican National Convention this weekend. More than a thousand protesters were arrested for acts of civil disobedience earlier this week.

And almost everywhere one walks in this city there’s someone carrying an anti-Bush or anti-GOP sign -- and sometimes haranguing convention-goers.

At a reception at the Haier Building on Broadway for western state delegates Wednesday, a lone demonstrator in a T-shirt that said “Fuck Bush” yelled obscenities at guests standing in the line going in.

“Republicans go home,” he bellowed. “Pick someone else’s tragedy to exploit,” he said, apparently referring to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which has been a constant theme at the convention.

However members of New Mexico’s delegation said Wednesday that they’ve had few if any encounters with demonstrators this week.

“I think the police are doing an excellent job keeping the protesters away from us,” said Sherolyn Smith DeSantis of Albuquerque.

John Gonzales of San Ildefonso Pueblo said the closest thing to protesters he’s seen is a group of bicyclists riding down the street yelling at pedestrians to vote.

“They weren’t saying anything anti-Bush or anti-Republican,” Gonzales said.

And in a city with a 5-to-1 Democratic registration advantage, New Mexico’s delegates said they’ve had mainly positive interactions with the locals.

Rick Lopez of Santa Fe said the only protesters he’s come across were near the Majestic Theatre Sunday when he and other New Mexico delegates went to see a performance of The Phantom of the Opera.

“On the way over to the theater, we discussed it with the delegates from Oklahoma and other states that if we came across any we’d only engage in positive conversation with them,” Lopez said.

On Tuesday night he got to put that into practice. “When we were strolling over to have our pictures taken, a woman whispered in my ear, `How can you support Bush when he hasn’t done anything for Native Americans?’”

Lopez, who is state director of the farm Service Agency for the federal Department of Agriculture, said he told the woman about specific programs aimed at American Indians, specifically the Navajo tribe.

Though the conversation started out on a hostile note, it ended up friendly, Lopez said.

Lopez said he and other New Mexico delegates did volunteer work Tuesday -- reading to children and distributing bags of food to neighborhood residents at the Latino Pastoral Action Center in the Bronx. The center is a Pentecostal group that has several social programs.

Lopez, who was wearing a Bush T-shirt said several people in the neighborhood and on the subway back to his hotel asked him why he was supporting Bush. But the conversation, he said, was civil.

“A lot of people asked how things are going at the convention,” he said.

However, DeSantis said she had an unpleasant conversation with a New York taxi driver earlier this week.

“He was telling me his views on President Bush,” she said. “And he raised his voice

DeSantis said at first she tried to ignore the driver. “I knew he wasn’t going to change my mind and I wasn’t going to change his,” she said.

But she felt compelled to stand up for Bush when the driver referred to the President as a “criminal.”

At the end of the ride, she said, she gave the driver a tip despite the political argument.

“He was extremely surprised,” DeSantis said. “He said, `You left me a good tip.’ I said, `It’s a free country. You’re entitled to your opinion.’ "

THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: CONVENTION NOTEBOOK DAY 2

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 1, 2004

NEW YORK _ There are states in red and states in blue. And now there's a battle over which can lay claim to the memory of the Man in Black.

Hundreds of demonstrators, a big percentage of whom wore the color favored by the late country singer Johnny Cash, gathered in front of Sotheby's auction house in uptown Manhattan Tuesday.

They were there to protest a reception for the U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and the Tennessee delegation to the Republican National Convention, sponsored by the American Gas Association.

The event was billed as a tribute to Johnny Cash.

And this riled Cash fans on the left, who argued that Cash was known for singing songs for America's underdogs.

"I'm a Johnny Cash fan and I think he's a symbol for the working people and the downtrodden," said Heidi Diehl, 23, of Brooklyn. "I don't think the Republicans are helping people who are down and out. For them to have a tribute to Johnny Cash is ironic."

"Johnny Cash was neither a Republican nor a Democrat," said Rine Siegal, Brooklyn photographer who organized the demonstration.

Siegal said she became a Johnny Cash devotee only three or four years ago. "I first became a fan listening to him in my grandpa's station wagon. When he sings, it's from the bottom of his heart.

"It's offensive that they would try to exploit his memory," she said. "He was a great uniter, not someone that one party can exploit. "

I Walk the Sign.

While the demonstration was nonviolent, protesters booed delegates and other guests who entered Southeby's. Some followed and shouted at delegates, who had to walk a path behind police barriers to enter the building. "You're the same people who put Johnny Cash in jail," one youth screamed at a party guest.

(Cash spent a night in the El Paso jail on a drug charge in the 1960s.)

Instead of singing classic protest chestnuts like "Give Peace a Chance," several demonstrators who brought guitars serenaded the rally with Cash tunes like "Ring of Fire," "I Walk the Line" and "Folsom Prison Blues."

Ever so often they sang a refrain in the Cash style, "Those Republicans they got me rollin' in my grave."

Many of the signs at the rally were based on lyrics from Cash songs.

I Walk the Line for Kerry


Send Bush to Folsom

Take Back America One Piece at a Time.

And one, referencing a relatively obscure Cash tune, apparently was aimed at Republicans. "Egg Sucking Dogs," it said.

One sign referred to a country music act hired to play at the convention: "You Can Keep Your Brooks & Dunn, But Johnny Cash Belongs to Everyone."

Another sign had no words -- just the infamous photo of a young Cash giving an obscene finger gesture to a photographer.

What Would Johnny Do?

While protesters insisted that Cash never would have condoned the Republicans paying tribute to him, one Nashville Democrat said Tuesday that this might not be the case.

A spokesman for a Nashville organization called Music Row Democrats said his group isn't concerned about the Southeby's reception.

"From our conversation with Johnny's son, John Carter Cash, the event is for Sen. Lamar Alexander, who was very close to Johnny," said Ed Pettersen, a singer/songwriter and music producer, in a phone interview Tuesday.

"If this is in conjunction with a reception for Lamar Alexander, I have no problem with it," Pettersen said. "But if it goes beyond that and the Republicans start proselytizing using Johnny Cash, I have a big problem with it."

Republicans Love Johnny Too

Attempts to get comments from the guests at the GOP Cash tribute was difficult. I was told at the door that only invited guests could enter.

Because of the large crowd of jeering demonstrators, delegates virtually ran in and out of Sotheby's.

One who stopped and talked was William Hilleary, a delegate from Tennessee.

"These are a bunch of nuts," he said of the protesters. "They never accomplish anything. "

Asked if he was a Cash fan, Hilleary said, "I sure am. I'm from Tennessee."

THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: A TRIP TO GROUND ZERO

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 1, 2004

NEW YORK _ A white-bearded man with a flute played a slow, sad version of "Amazing Grace," while just up the sidewalk by a subway entrance, an Asian man bowing a one-stringed instrument played a whimsical "Oh! Susanna." An angry woman marched up and down the sidewalk chanting, "Bush and the CIA attacked America," provoking a man in a Bush-Cheney hat to walk up to her and tell her to "shut up."

A short man in a NYPD T-shirt was selling photo albums titled Remember the Heroes with pictures of the World Trade Center before, after and during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "It's still deeply embedded in New Yorkers," said vendor David Sterton, pointing to his heart. "It's like it happened yesterday."

Just like the photo albums Sterton was selling for $6, the program the night before at the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden was designed to evoke memories of Sept. 11.

As the Democrats did at their convention in Boston in July, there was an emotional musical tribute featuring the song "Amazing Grace." There was testimony by family members of those who died in the attack. And the night was capped off by a speech by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who became known as "America's mayor" for the way he handled the aftermath of Sept. 11.

The message was reflected in the local headlines Tuesday "It's9/11,"creamed the headline of The New York Post above a large photo of Giuliani.

It's obvious that both major parties will be trying to use Sept. 11 for their own political advantage.

Speaking with those who gathered towers had been Tuesday morning -- tourists, convention delegates and even a few locals -- it became apparent that people are split on the implications of Sept. 11.

"I think the politicians are using 9/11 as a political stepping stone," said Sterten, the photo album man. "Especially (John) Kerry. I'm not sure about him with all his off and on. I would rather have Bush running the country."

Jamie Walker, 44, of Seattle agreed.

"I think Sept. 11 is a legitimate political issue,' said Walker, who said he was making a "pilgrimage" to Ground Zero.

Considering that it's the biggest attack ever on American soil it is right for us as a nation to make this a political issue," Walker said.

But Kim and Mary Lou Ratz of Minneapolis, who were in the city on a business trip said they don't like how Bush has used Sept. 11.

"I kind of wish politicians would focus on domestic issues," Mary Lou Ratz said.

Specifically, they said, they don't believe Bush is correct in using the attack on the World Trade Center to justify the war in Iraq.

"I don't think war is the right way to fight terrorism," Mary Lou Ratz said.

The Ratzes said they are backing John Kerry for president.

So is Connie Demidio, a New York interior decorator who was at Ground Zero with her sister, Petra Gleich of Germany.

"I think George Bush is wrapping himself in a blanket of Sept. 11, which I think is wrong," Demidio said.

Eliine Bagshau, 74, of Sydney, Australia, said she believes both Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard use the image of Sept. 11 to "keep people more afraid." And both leaders used the threat of terrorism as a reason to invade Iraq, she said.

"I think it's starting to backfire against our prime minister," she said. "It certainly had nothing to do with terrorism. It was all about oil."

A convention delegate from Florida, Bob Waechter of Sarasota visited Ground Zero with his wife and another couple.

Not surprisingly, he said Bush is right to stress Sept. 11 in the campaign. "It's an irrefutable issue since it's the most significant thing to happen in the last 10 years.

But Waechter had a personal reason for being there. He's a retired New York City firefighters.

"I was here three weeks after it happened," he said. "I volunteered to help out a little."

Waechter said this is the first time he’s been back to the scene since the fall of 2001.

"The main thing I notice is that it looks so much smaller," he said. "Before, when it was a big pile of rubble it was just overwhelming. It seems so much smaller now."