POLITICS, IN OUT OF THE SHADOWS

A reader called the other day to get information on the Shadow Conventions.
I confessed my ignorance, which is easier than it should be.

After she hung up, I did a quick search through our wire services and came
up with several stories about the Shadow Conventions, which didn't mention
much in the way of specifics. All the stories, however, had one thing in
common -- Arianna Huffington.

The Shadow Conventions, as it turns out, were and are being held
simultaneously with the regular GOP and Democratic conventions. Republicans
met last week in Philadelphia, while Democrats meet in a few days in Los
Angeles -- hoping perhaps to catch some of the energy left over at the
Staples Center in the wake of the Lakers winning the NBA championship.

I looked in my Rolodex to see if I still had Arianna's phone numbers. I
don't, other than the one she gave me years ago for her Washington office,
and the one in Montecito she and ex-husband Michael Huffington shared while
they were still sharing things. They don't live in those places anymore.

Arianna now lives somewhere in the Los Angeles Basin, possibly the
Brentwood area, which may explain recent affiliations with celebrities she
is enlisting in her crusade to reshape American politics.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows Arianna. In brief
encounters, I found her to be charming, funny, quick to laugh, totally
disarming -- and someone with whom you would not willingly enter into a
debate, unless you are comfortable with losing.

Arianna told a reporter for Editor & Publisher magazine the reason she's
doing the Shadow Conventions is because: "It seems to be a reflection of
the vacuum the two parties have left. Political journalists are frustrated
that the two parties have turned their conventions into completely scripted
floor shows."

As if that is something new.

I lost interest in political conventions many years ago. I vote in every
election, no matter how minor it might seem, because I feel that if I don't
vote, I have no reasonable basis for griping about what candidates do once
they achieve office. It makes no sense to not vote, then howl about bad
government. As an every-time voter, I can howl all I want.

My guess is Arianna is using the Shadow Conventions to shame Republicans
and Democrats into allowing meaningful discussion of -- if not outright
arguments about -- important issues.

Remember when there used to be shouting matches at political conventions,
when delegates with different points of view stood on the convention floor,
ranting and shaking their fingers accusingly at each other?

Actually, I don't remember that. It's been so long since the outcome at a
major-party convention was anything but a foregone conclusion, the memory
of such spirited exchanges is long gone.

Which is why we now have Shadow Conventions, and which is why so many
people are linking themselves to third parties, of which there are dozens.

Ralph Nader is dropping by the News-Press later this month to tout his
Green Party candidacy. It should be an interesting visit, because although
Nader can't win the presidency, he apparently can cause a mess for Al Gore.
According to polls, right now Nader has nearly 10 percent of the vote in
California -- more than enough to give Al the jitters, because Nader's and
Gore's voters are philosophically co-mingled. To make matters worse, a
recent story in New Republic magazine opines that if Nader gets 3 to 5
percent of the vote in as few as seven key states, Gore loses.

Arianna Huffington's emerging role in national politics is, well, interesting.

It was clear throughout ex-husband Michael's various political adventures
she was that duo's source of power. She had the forceful personality and
political beliefs. She stated those beliefs clearly and without
equivocation, a talent Michael never mastered. She has the easy, engaging
politician's smile; Michael's smile was wooden, to be worn only when the
situation dictated a need.

I met Michael before his run against Bob Lagomarsino for the House seat. We
were in the main lobby at the downtown Montecito Bank & Trust for a
political event of some kind. I was introduced to him as the News-Press'
political writer. Michael dismissed me in record time, a matter of seconds,
the tip-off being that he kept glancing at his wristwatch and looking
around as I asked questions about his candidacy.

I met Arianna a few months later. She laughed at my jokes. There was no
dismissal -- which, the way I understand the game, makes her a more
accomplished politician than her former husband.

I always wondered when Arianna would make her political move, and where she
would position herself in the spectrum. Would it be as a reflexive
conservative, in the Newt Gingrich mold? Or would she come from another
direction.

She chose another direction. She describes herself as a political
progressive, a populist. The title of her new book is, "How to Overthrow
The Government,'' which might still be a mantra for Republicans, if George
Bush didn't have that lead in the polls.

One objective of her Shadow Conventions is to get important people talking
about things the major parties would just as soon keep in the closet.

For example, how would the GOP handle a debate on dealing with the
ever-increasing disparity between rich and poor?

Will Gore willingly open a discussion at the Democrats' convention of the
rotten, deceptive way political campaigns are financed?

Would either major candidate talk frankly about the miserable, expensive
failure of America's war on drugs?

Those are issues with which every politician at the national level should
be dealing. I'm not holding my breath.

John Lankford is editorial page editor of the News-Press. Write to him at
P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara, Ca.; phone: 564-5161; e-mail:
jlankford@newspress.com.