Bookmark: MAP's link to shadow convention items:
http://www.mapinc.org/shadow.htm

Note: Shadow Convention websites:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/
http://www.shadowconventions.com/

SHADOW EVENT DRAWING THE DISAFFECTED

Alternative Convention Hits A Collective Nerve With Those Who Feel Their
Issues Are Overlooked By The Major Parties.

It might not be the next "Survivor" or "How to Marry a Millionaire," and it
may not have stolen the scene from the Democratic National Convention or
the nightly network news.

But the alternative Shadow Convention packed fervent crowds into a
heat-roiled auditorium Tuesday at Patriotic Hall, where speakers--from
yippie co-founder Paul Krassner to essayist Alexander Cockburn and Rep.
Maxine Waters--seemed to have hit a collective nerve with Los Angelenos who
feel their issues are overlooked by the major parties.

The issues being aired here are not "new." But neither have they spilled
into the mainstream political debates inside the convention halls this
summer. The Shadow Convention has dealt with issues as diverse as racial
inequity of drug law enforcement, campaign finance and the gap between rich
and poor.

The daily press has largely ignored this gathering of grass-roots
activists, intellectuals and maverick politicians.

But Tuesday, the audience--some of whom took vacation days from work to
attend--filled the seats and crowded along the wood-paneled walls or sat on
the marble floor of the lobby. They couldn't care less if the forum wasn't
"newsworthy," many said.

"Hopefully this will send a message to the media that there are many people
who think the issues are important," said Pamela Lichty, the vice president
of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, who traveled from Honolulu to attend.

"I think the hope was to attract attention from the Democrats, and I don't
know if that's happened. But I think that the more that elected people
speak out on these issues, the more courage it gives to the others," she added.

And if the much-hyped celebrity appearances led some to wonder what would
be the main draw of the affair, it was telling that the largest, standing,
ovations Tuesday went to the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters of
Los Angeles, not to actors Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. When the couple
moved around the building, it was the media that mobbed them, not the
assembled activists and participants.

But were speakers merely preaching to the choir?

"I think there was a little bit of preaching to the choir. Of course," said
"Saturday Night Live" veteran Al Franken, whose Stuart Smalley routine
provided a respite from wall-to-wall speeches Tuesday. "But the choir needs
to be preached to, and there are a lot of organizations here networking.
It's organizing the choir, so to speak."

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said, "This should be a good catalyst
for organizing. . . . People have been getting to know each other,
networking. I met a lot of people who will be staying in touch."

"Something amazing happened in that room today," said Ethan Nadelmann of
the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, which advocates treating
drugs as a health issue, not a criminal matter. "It's pretty strong
evidence that drug policy reform is moving from the fringes into the
mainstream."

Shadow Convention co-organizer Arianna Huffington called the drug war issue
"a real breakthrough" for the gathering.

"Some of the press coverage has been based on the old paradigm that assumes
that any discussion of reform is left-wing," Huffington said. "When you
have [Republican New Mexico] Gov. [Gary] Johnson and [Rep.] Tom Campbell
[R-San Jose] speaking passionately against the drug war, why is this
left-leaning?"

Nadelmann said he did not view the Shadow Convention "as an end in itself
but a vehicle. We have to regroup after this and see where we go next."

And for some issues, such as the drug war, "this day will be remembered as
a major step forward from the fringes into the mainstream," he said.

Cockburn said the development of outlets like the Shadow Convention was
predictable. "Whenever the tension of the banality of the regular
convention reaches a boiling point, you'll get something of this kind. They
crop up, in one way or another, whenever people feel dissatisfied."

Huffington said there have been 2 million hits on the Shadow Convention's
Web site since it went up in July. She said the group will unveil
http://www.americandemocracy.com a new "populist portal" Web site to to
coordinate the convening groups and link them to grass-roots organizations
around the country.

For some, the Shadow Convention provided a quick and accessible way to tune
into their country's political culture and issues that affect their community.

"The other convention was going on and I wanted to get involved," said
Clara Waters, 68, a retired Realtor from Inglewood. "It made me feel good
that people are actually out here doing things. I thought everyone was at
home crying in their beer, like me."

Much of the enthusiasm Tuesday seemed to focus on the public examination of
drug policy itself, which many politicians are reluctant to tackle publicly.

The drug war is a thorny issue for the Democratic Party, which does not
want to seem soft on drugs but must grapple with the fact that drug laws
take the highest toll on minorities, a core Democratic constituency.

Why, in a country in which half of all college students say they have tried
drugs, are blacks and Latinos so much more likely to go to prison for
narcotic use, Gov. Johnson asked.

California state Sen. Tom Hayden called the drug war "the 'third rail' of
electoral politics."

"If you touch the issue, you're dead."