HART TO ADDRESS 'SHADOW CONVENTION'

Former Colorado senator Gary Hart will step back into the public
arena in Los Angeles on Sunday to take a few jabs at the party he once
sought to lead.

Hart will give the kickoff address to the "shadow convention," a
counterculture alternative to the glitzy love-fest being put on by the
Democratic Party and corporate sponsors.

Hart has said for some time that both parties are too corrupt to fix
society's problems, a complaint that fits neatly with the philosophy of
the guerrilla gatherings.

"We had been looking for a keynote speaker who would be able to put
what's happening in our democracy today in some sort of historical
perspective," said syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington, who invited
Hart. "He seemed uniquely able to do that."

A similar gathering was held in Philadelphia during the GOP's national
convention. The alter-conventions are being put on by Huffington,
campaign finance watchdog Common Cause and other groups.

The Los Angeles shadow convention is sticking to the same themes - the
corrupting influence of money on politics, the failures of the war on
drugs and the growing gap in America between rich and poor. Hart's 15-
minute address is supposed to tie the three together.

The roots of Hart's appearance are in an interview he did with
Huffington for the January edition of Talk magazine about his book, "I,
Che Guevara." He told Huffington that "both parties are caught in the
politics of the past, intellectually bankrupt, and in some ways -
because of the influence of money - morally bankrupt as well."

In Huffington's mind, that's just what the shadow conventions are
about, "and so it seemed very appropriate to have him as the opening
speaker."

Hart's speech is in the same slot that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
occupied at the shadow convention's Republican incarnation. McCain
called for reform, but was booed when he endorsed Republican nominee
George W. Bush as the one to deliver that reform.

The sex scandal that drove Hart from his 1988 campaign for the
Democratic presidential nomination, Huffington said, is not only
offlimits, but irrelevant. "The American people have made it clear
that politicians' private lives have become a huge distraction. I
think that was made clear during the Clinton scandals."

Hart now lives in the mountains near Evergreen and practices law in the
Denver offices of Coudert Brothers, representing clients looking to do
business around the globe. He is also a co-chairman of the U.S.
Commission on National Security.

He's not the only Westerner on the shadow convention's schedule. New
Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson will make his second convention appearance
next week, touting his increasingly well-known support for legalizing
marijuana.