DISILLUSIONED OPEN SHADOW CONVENTION ACROSS TOWN

As their placards proclaimed, it was a gathering of the "disillusioned,"
the "disrespected," those "2 poor 4 access" at the big Republican National
Convention across town.

But when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested to those attending the
so-called "Shadow Convention" that Republican presidential candidate George
W. Bush was their best chance for political reform, the audience erupted in
boos. McCain threatened to walk off the stage.

Columnist Arianna Huffington, who created the alternative convention with
the help of several national reform groups, managed to quiet the crowd in a
steamy University of Pennsylvania auditorium.

"You know, this is supposed to be the convention where we hear everything
with respect," she admonished the crowd.

With that, McCain, the featured speaker of the four-day event, completed
his talk. The Shadow Convention, however, was off to a far rockier start
than what promises to be the carefully-scripted GOP gathering that
Huffington hopes to ridicule.

McCain's raucous reception illustrated the diverse groups Huffington has
brought together to promote campaign finance reform, the senator's major
campaign issue, and revamp the nation's drug laws are far more divided than
the Republicans who are gathering here to nominate Bush, the Texas
governor, as their nominee for president.

As he did in his brief campaign for the GOP nomination, McCain again showed
a willingness to go before an audience and make a potentially hostile
comment. "I'm obliged, not by party loyalty, but by sincere conviction, to
urge all Americans to support my party's nominee for president, Gov. George
Bush of Texas," McCain declared as the audience became increasingly hostile.

As he went through a list of Bush's proposals, many in the audience booed.
Some applauded.

The senator declined to back off, although he had acknowledged the group
didn't want to hear "overt appeals" from either party. He told them that he
was a conservative Republican and proud of his party.

"I believe that, despite our imperfections, that Republicans are still the
party of reform, " he said.

He maintained that Congress will continue to address problems with the
current campaign finance system, which he described as "nothing more than
an elaborate influence-buying scheme." McCain said he was offering his
support of Bush because "it would be dishonest by omission." Perhaps
because he has the highest profile of any speaker at the convention, McCain
was a likely target for protesters. About one-third of the audience and
most of the reporters left the hall after the senator finished his talk.

The audience that remained gave a much more polite reception to U.S. Rep.
Tom Campbell, RCalif., a self-professed maverick who told the group he
shared their belief that the government's war on drugs was a failure.
Campbell, who is running for the Senate, did not invoke Bush's name or urge
support of the GOP ticket this fall.

What many in the audience came for was Al Franken's take on the GOP
convention. The humorist, a liberal Democrat and supporter of President
Clinton, did not disappoint them.

Taking the stage with Huffington, whose former husband spent more than $30
million trying to win a California senate seat, he immediately questioned
how she could talk about the problems of political money.

"That's something you should know about," Franken told her.

"That was a long time ago," she replied.

Franken also praised some media for not becoming obsessed with President
Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Among the publications he
lauded were Sailing magazine and the American Grocer Monthly.

The Shadow Convention will continue through Thursday. Among the scheduled
speakers is David Kopel of the Golden-based conservative Independence
Institute.

Kopel will speak on "police militarization," according to the convention
sponsors.

Huffington is planning another such convention in Los Angles to mock the
Democrats when they convene there.

"We're engaged in the politics of ideas, not the politics of
electioneering," the sponsors said, adding that the Shadow Conventions
should play "a catalytic role in helping revitalize what has become a
superficial political debate in America."