ALTERNATE CONVENTION HITS A NERVE

It might not be the next "Survivor" or "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-
Millionaire," and it might 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 including
yippie co-founder Paul Krassner, essayist Alexander Cockburn and Rep.
Maxine Waters, D-Calif., seemed to have hit a nerve with Americans who feel
their issues were overlooked by the major parties.

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

The news media have largely ignored this gathering of grass-roots
activists, intellectuals and maverick politicians.

But Tuesday, the audience filled the seats and crowded along the
wood-paneled walls or sat on the marble floor of the lobby. Many said they
couldn't care less if the forum wasn't "newsworthy."

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

"I think the hope was to attract attention from the Democrats, and I don't
know if that's happened," she said.

Ethan Nadelmann of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, which
advocates treating drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal matter,
said, "Something amazing happened in that room today. It's pretty strong
evidence that drug policy reform is moving from the fringes into the
mainstream."

Arianna Huffington, the commentator, helped organize the Shadow Convention.
She called the drug war issue "a real breakthrough" for the convention.

"Some of the press coverage has been based on the old paradigm that assumes
that any discussion of reform is left-wing," Huffington said. Noting that
New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and California Rep. Tom Campbell, both
Republicans, have spoken passionately against the drug war, she asked, "Why
is this left-leaning?"