SHADOW CONVENTION SAYS IT WILL ILLUMINATE ISSUES

Miles from the Republican National Convention site, a small group of
activists and media personalities is staging daily forums on poverty, the
drug war and campaign finance, hoping to divert the spotlight to issues
they say the GOP has chosen to overlook.

Part seminar, part political cabaret, the "Shadow Convention" aims to
upstage this year's major conventions and point out what the activists say
is the failure of Republicans and Democrats alike to tackle critical issues.

"We're hoping to get these issues on the national agenda in a serious way -
beyond the sound bites," said Arianna Huffington, conservative columnist
and onetime GOP doyenne who has recast herself as an outsider and is
playing hostess at the events.

The Shadow Conventions - which will continue during the Democrats'
gathering in Los Angeles later this month - have brought Huffington
together with some unlikely partners, including Public Campaign, Common
Cause and The Lindesmith Center, a drug-policy group funded by billionaire
George Soros.

Organizers say they were motivated largely by a conviction that the
timidity of the major party conventions is directly related to their
reliance on big-money donors, who spend lavishly at convention time on
receptions, cruises and golf outings.

"This big money that is being showcased at the conventions is being
provided by the same folks, a who's who of corporate America, who are
getting unprecedented access to elected officials," said Scott Harshbarger,
president of Common Cause.

Harshbarger maintains that it's no accident that poverty, the drug war and
especially campaign finance aren't front and center at convention time.

"The people who advocate these issues don't have the money to buy access,"
he said. "They aren't paying to play."

Day One of the Shadow Convention seemed full of promise when Huffington
introduced Arizona Sen. John McCain, who broke with his party to attend and
speak out for campaign-finance reform.

Journalists and camera crews jockeyed for space on a two-tiered riser
Sunday. Delegates whose signs identified them as representing the
"Disappointed" or "Not a PAC Donor" spilled into the aisles.

The jeering that greeted McCain's vocal support for Bush was probably the
sole sign of disagreement that will be evident on a convention floor this
week. But by yesterday morning, the energy seemed to be ebbing, the glamour
losing its glimmer.

With the main event getting under way across town and thousands of
protesters for the poor marching to the GOP convention site, the auditorium
on the University of Pennsylvania campus was half-empty. Only two camera
crews arrived - one from an obscure dot.com site.

Harshbarger and Ellen Miller of Public Campaign railed against the
campaign-finance system. The 350 or so attendees chanted "Go Granny Go!" to
welcome a 90-year-old woman who had walked coast to coast to raise
awareness about the influence of money in politics.

Still, the session seemed as insular as its organizers find the main
conventions to be. Not a hint of disappointment registered on Huffington's
face as she fixed some 400 listeners with a sterling smile. Away from the
stage, she noted that the event was packaged for the Web and satellite
feeds and predicted today's panel on the failures of the drug war would be
a bigger draw. It features the Rev. Jesse Jackson and New Mexico's GOP
governor, Gary Johnson, who favors decriminalization of marijuana.

Huffington, author, columnist and onetime confidante of Newt Gingrich, has
faced a few slings and arrows in her new role. Critics suggest the former
wife of Michael Huffington, who left Congress and spent $30 million on a
failed U.S. Senate bid in California, is merely seeking a spotlight for
herself.

"I don't need any recognition," she said in a brief interview yesterday.
But there's no question that she's getting plenty of attention, whether
she's presenting the guests at the Shadow Convention in the morning or
playing straight woman to political satirist Al Franken in the afternoon.

Yesterday, Huffington and Co. were hosting a bash at a downtown restaurant.
Throughout the week, Franken and comedian Harry Shearer, in league with
Lewis Lapham of Harper's, Matt Cooper of Time magazine and other
columnists, were offering mocking analyses of the GOP proceedings. But for
all the lighthearted attempts to generate interest in their event,
Huffington and her fellow organizers were addressing serious issues.
Despite the theme of the GOP's first convention night, "Leave No Child
Behind," and the Democrats' advocacy of improved education for all, the
activists are convinced that neither Al Gore nor George W. Bush would deliver.

Huffington seemed particularly skeptical of Bush's "compassionate
conservativism." "In reality, he's changing the rhetoric and keeping the
governing philosophy," she said. But, she added quickly, "I don't believe
Gore is any more compassionate than Bush. I think Gore even sounds less
authentic than Bush.

"I'm voting for none of the above," she said.