NADER FILES PETITIONS IN N.M.

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 8, 2004

Unless Democrats can disqualify more than half the 31,000-plus petition signatures submitted Tuesday for independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, the controversial consumer advocate will be on November’s general-election ballot in New Mexico.

Carol Miller, Nader’s New Mexico coordinator, submitted the petitions to the Secretary of State’s office Tuesday.

Miller said the petition drive was successful despite “organized and well-funded malicious attacks” by Democrats, who fear Nader will draw enough votes from their candidate, John Kerry, to tip the state to President Bush.

Although the state has only five electoral votes, New Mexico is a battleground state in what most pundits think will be a close election.

Miller said Nader petition gatherers had been harassed and intimidated by Democrats. “We’re just lucky we had some strong people,” she said.

“I’m calling on the New Mexico Democratic Party to take the high ground,” Miller said. “I’d encourage the Democrats not to divert their energy on Ralph Nader and concentrate on getting out the vote for John Kerry.”

State Election Director Denise Lamb said she expects to certify Nader’s name for the ballot this week. Nader needs valid signatures of 14,527 registered voters.

Lamb said her office only checks whether signatures are legible and contain a name and address. She said her office doesn’t check voter-registration lists to determine if each signature on a Nader petition is valid. Instead, the office checks to see if names are legible and include addresses.

However, a private group — such as the Democratic Party — could file a lawsuit to challenge the validity of petition signatures. Matt Furtado, a state Democratic party spokesman, said Tuesday that Democrats might do just that.

“Given Ralph Nader’s submission of insufficient signatures in Virginia, Missouri, Arizona and Pennsylvania, we will be reviewing those (New Mexico signatures) very carefully.”

Any lawsuit would have to be filed quickly because voting for overseas military begins Sept. 18. Absentee voting for other New Mexico voters begins Oct. 5.

The president of an anti-Nader group that purchased television commercials in New Mexico last month said Tuesday that it looks as if Nader will be on New Mexico’s ballot.

David Jones of The Nader Factor said his group will concentrate on trying to convince potential Nader voters that “the only way to stop the Bush agenda is to unify with the Democrats. Issues they care about — job outsourcing, health care, consumer rights, the environment — are all being undermined by the Bush presidency.”

Jones said he didn’t have the state-by-state breakdown for money spent trying to stop Nader, so he couldn’t say how much The Nader Factor has spent in New Mexico. The organization — which is a 527 political group — has spent about $300,000 nationwide, he said.

That figure doesn’t include the legal costs for the Democratic parties of various states fighting Nader in courts. According to Ballot Access News — a newsletter dedicated to minor political parties — the Nader campaign has pending legal battles in seven states.

Furtado repeated state Democratic claims that Republicans in the state are using Nader’s campaign to hurt Kerry. He pointed to state Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, who circulated Nader petitions via e-mail.

Adair said Tuesday he only gathered “a couple of thousand” signatures for Nader.

But Miller said she didn’t accept any of Adair’s petitions. “I said all along that we didn’t need Rod Adair’s help,” she said.

However, Lamb said, “I don’t know if they’re from Rod Adair, but there sure are a lot of signatures from Chaves County.” Chaves is Adair’s county.

Adair has agreed that Nader’s name on the ballot helps Republicans. But he’s countered that the Libertarian Party, whose candidate Michael Badnarik is on this state’s ballot, draws votes away from the GOP.

Also on the New Mexico presidential ballot are the Green Party’s David Cobb and The Constitution Party’s Michael Peroutka.

“Voters want choice,” Adair said. “It’s part of democracy, despite what the Democrats want.”

In 2000 Democrat Al Gore beat Bush in New Mexico by 366 votes statewide. In that election, Nader, who was running as the Green Party candidate, got 21,251 votes, which was about 4 percent.

Most observers don’t expect Nader to get nearly that much support here this year. An Albuquerque Journal poll on Sunday showed Nader with only about 1 percent.

Nader had good news and bad news in other states Tuesday.

In Wisconsin — another battleground state — Nader supporters turned in twice the number of signatures he needs to get on the ballot there. Only 2,000 valid signatures are required in Wisconsin.

More on Nader Here

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Sept. 5, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
On Broadway by Neil Young
Romeo Had Juliette by Lou Reed
NYC by Steve Earle
The Man From Harlem by Cab Calloway
Forty Deuce by Black 47
Uptown by Loudon Wainwright III
New York City Cops by The Strokes

Good Guys/Bad Guys Cheer by Country Joe & The Fish
Empty Sky by Bruce Springsteen
53rd & 3rd by The Ramones
Hard Times in New York Town by Bob Dylan
New York City by They Might Be Giants
New York, New York by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
I Gotcha by Joe Tex
Big Brother by Mose Allison
Don't Hang Up by The Orlons

Just Couldn't Tie Me Down by The Black Keys
The Wheel by Dinosaur Jr.
Lost in Music by The Fall
I Have Been to Heaven and Back by The Mekons
The Slow Drug by P.J. Harvey
Walk Idiot Walk by The Hives
Let it Be Me by Magic Elephant Orchestra

Patriot's Heart by American Music Club
Automatic Blues by Chuck Prophet
Dreaming Awake by Bing
Falling by Julee Cruise
World So Full by Jon Dee Graham
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

(The above photo, featuring my pals Dedemona, Doug and Chuck, was taken Thursday night at the photo booth at The Lakeside Lounge in New York City.)

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: I DON'T THINK LAWRENCE DONE IT THIS WAY

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 3, 2004

Remember how in the early ’90s some music-marketing geniuses tried to promote Johnny Cash and Tony Bennett as “alternative-rock” stars? It wasn’t a totally wrongheaded ploy in either case — mainly because both artists kept true to their respective art.

Today there’s a hot “new” star from the days of yesteryear for the electronica crowd: Lawrence Welk. I’m not kidding.

Upstairs at Larry’s: Lawrence Welk Uncorked is a compilation of DJ/techno/dance/electronica remixes of favorite (well, somebody’s favorite) Lawrence Welk tunes.

In case you never got hip to the Lawrence trip, Welk was a North Dakota-born band leader who died in 1992 at the age of 89. The son of Alsatian immigrants, Welk didn’t speak English until he was 21 years old. His dense German accent and smiling countenance became ingrained in the popular consciousness beginning in the mid-1950s when his weekly television show debuted. The show aired on ABC until 1971, then went to syndication until the early ’80s.

The Lawrence Welk Orchestra’s basic sound was soft, safe and sanitized — lots of clarinet, accordion and syrupy, young-Caucasian vocals. Saxophones with no trace of Charlie Parker grit. And if Lawrence approved of a performance, he’d respond at the end of the song with a hearty “wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful!”

Welk was known as a puritan. He once fired a female singer for showing “too much knee” on TV. But Welk’s sound had a hedonistic side. Just like the Grateful Dead will always be linked with LSD, and Bob Marley’s music is synonymous with ganja, Welk’s music is forever associated with a certain intoxicant: champagne.

Welk’s heirs own Vanguard, that respected folk-music label, which normally doesn’t release stuff sounding remotely like techno — or Lawrence Welk, for that matter. And I’m a huge fan of neither techno nor Welk. I’m completely unfamiliar with the remix artists who mutated the champagne music. But this album is so surreal and so much goofy fun, it won me over.

My favorites here are “You Can Dance,” done by Q-Burns Abstract Message. I’m not sure who the vocalist is — one of the Lennon Sisters perhaps? — whose line, “You can dance with any girl at all,” is repeated robotically throughout the tune.

“Let it Be Me” — yes, the ballad recorded by Jerry Butler and Betty Everett, the Everly Brothers and many others — is made into something dark and sinister by Magic Elephant Orchestra.

But perhaps best of all is the remix of “You Are My Sunshine” by Joy & the Spider. It sounds like a love song for androids. I’m not sure if the late Gov. Jimmy Davis would recognize this version of his signature song, but with its sped-up vocals (one singer sounds like Bryan Ferry), it’s a creepy joy.

Some minor complaints: there didn’t have to be two versions of essentially the same song, “Baby Elephant Walk,” a Henry Mancini ditty from the soundtrack of Hatari, an early-’60s John Wayne movie. I’m not sure which version I prefer here, the one by Monkey Bars or the one by DJ Keri and DJ 43, which they’ve tweaked to call “Baby Elephant Safari.”

Also, David Lynch was so successful in filling the song “Blue Velvet” with dread and horror in his 1986 movie of the same name — sung there by actress Isabella Rossellini without the benefit of technological tricks of a DJ remix — that Smitty’s best efforts were doomed to sound second-rate.

Though it’s a novelty album to be sure, Upstairs at Larry’s is a bubbly pleasure. All in all, it’s wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful.

Also recommended

Ride This by Los Lobos. I was pretty disappointed with Los Lobos’ most recent proper album, The Ride. I felt it was one of those overrun-by-guest-stars affairs; it had too many remakes of old Lobos tunes, and a good number of those remakes were less than impressive.

But now, just a couple of months later, the band comes out with this fine little seven-song EP in which they cover songs by some of those guest stars on The Ride.

They bring out the just-beneath-the-surface Latin overtones of Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon,” while maintaining the knowing-hipster attitude of the “Rain Dogs” tune. Cesar Rosas sounds like he was born at Stax Studio on Bobby Womack’s “More Than I Can Stand.”

Their version of “Shoot Out the Lights” sounds similar to Bob Mould’s take on the song in the early ’90s, with screaming guitars and knuckle-sandwich drums. It’s as tough as Louie Perez’s singing on Rubén Blades’ “Patria” is beautiful.

With the roller-rinky organ and jazzy guitars of Thee Midnighters’ “It’ll Never Be Over For Me,” Los Lobos captures the rock sound of East L.A. in the ’60s. They do the same thing for the L.A. roots-rock scene of the early ’80s — the scene that launched Los Lobos — with their cover of the Blasters’ “Marie Marie.”

But perhaps the thing that makes Ride This more satisfying than The Ride is that Los Lobos, especially singer David Hidalgo, does Elvis Costello’s “Uncomplicated” so much better here than Elvis Costello did Los Lobos’ “Matter of Time” on The Ride. They do the song as a slow-burning, growling-guitar boogie, and Hidalgo sings it with understated soul.

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."