2004 Republican National Convention
Media Coverage
September 7, 2004
The News & Observer
News: Swaying young voters the latest political fad
Emily Almas
Young voters matter more than ever. That's the message being broadcast on CBS and MTV, in radio spots and on bumper stickers.
"Rock the Vote," "Choose or Lose," "Get Loud Be Heard" --the slogans are on T-shirts, posters and can coozies.
The goal, sponsors say, is to raise awareness of the importance of voting.
Some of the campaigns, such as Rock the Vote, are non-profit, non-partisan organizations, mobilizing musicians and actresses to get out the word. They put their logo on Frisbees and broker corporate partnerships so you can "Experience the Charge of Voting with Sunkist" or use a cell phone to find the best candidate for you.
Others are driven by candidates or parties aiming to sway potential young voters. Cate Edwards and John Kerry's children hit up Durham and Chapel Hill last week as part of a tour aimed at luring this elusive 18-to-24 set -- though Edwards is the only one of the bunch who actually falls into that age range.
Then there are the "anti-candidate" campaigns, a new breed that aims to unite young voters to oppose a candidate or issue. So you can "Veto DeMOCKracy" at one of Punk Voter's Rock Against Bush concerts.
So whether you're going to "Smackdown your Vote!" with World Wrestling Entertainment or watch W's twin daughters and the Kerry girls on MTV's Video Music Awards, young people are a moving target.
But why all the hype? Why spend millions luring voters who traditionally don't turn out in droves?
The answer: Numbers. Even though their turnout was low, 18 million people ages 18 to 30 voted in the 2000 presidential election.
Only 42 percent of eligible 18-to-24-year-olds voted then, compared with 70 percent of those 25 and older. Simply put, we are an untapped resource. With less than two months until Election Day, young voters can expect more -- more e-mails, concerts, phone calls and TV ads.
And on Nov. 2 we should show the nation that we got the message.
Times-Picayune
3 September 2004
Bush twins take N.Y., but he's gaga for Jenna
Chris Rose
NEW YORK -- All right, I've got to get this off my chest. After a week here in New York, away from my wife and family, something happened.
I've kind of got a crush on Jenna.
But before the Secret Service breaks down my door and puts their jackboots at my throat, let me explain:
I just want to drink tequila with her.
While her sister, Barbara, graduated from the Ivy League and dresses demurely and is elegant and brainy and public-service- minded -- and I'm sure some guys go for that -- Jenna in Blue Jeans clearly has the party soul and spirit of a Loyola Tri Phi on a weekend pass at Pat O's with daddy's MasterCard.
The Bush Twins, just like the Kerry daughters in Boston last month for the Democrats, are the subject of much sport in the political press corps and punditocracy.
Who's hotter, is how the general debate usually unfolds. And though this may sound juvenile and demeaning -- and it most certainly is -- we can't forget that philosophical discourse like this dates back at least as far as the 13th century.
Wasn't it the great philosopher Thomas Aquinas who first raised this sort of existential conundrum when he posed this question in his search for the meaning of life: Ginger or Mary Ann?
Once this question was raised, men, of course, have never been the same.
By the way, the answer is Mary Ann.
No encore
But back to the Bush Twins. I don't mean to be creepy here; it's just that, of all the personalities, issues and activities going on here at the Republican National Convention and on the streets of this city, they are the least menacing.
In fact, they're downright goofy.
Clearly, their role as public speakers on the Bush re-election campaign ended Tuesday night when they did a stupefying set of Republican Valley Girl comedy from the convention stage.
Jenna in Blue Jeans poked fun at their matronly grandmother, explaining to an arena filled with hard-shell conservatives that the president's mother thought "Sex and the City" was "something married people do but NEVER talk about."
Barbara Bush, the epic maternal icon, gamely tried to smile down from her VIP seat in Madison Square Garden.
Then Jenna in Blue Jeans tried to explain how hip their mom and dad are, that they sometimes liked to dance at home -- really cut the rug -- and she quoted the OutKast lyric: "They shake it like a Polaroid picture."
Now, I happen to think the image of W and his librarian wife shaking their booties and doing the Gator to an old Rick James LP back on the ranch in Crawford, Texas, is a somewhat liberating idea, but the masses were clearly not amused.
I swear, if it hadn't been the president's daughters at the podium, this crowd -- some of whom no doubt believe dancing leads to much harder drugs -- would have booed those kids out of there as if they were Michael Moore.
In fact, they just as well should have brought out Chris Rock to entertain the folks; that's how bad it went over.
On the house?
No, my problem with the Bush Twins comes from a far more serious gaffe they committed this week:
At a party they hosted at the famed Roseland Ballroom, there was a CASH BAR. In this age of fat-cat, corporate-saturated political kleptocracy, it is impossible to imagine that some drug/energy/ money laundering firm couldn't be found to underwrite a truck full of Heinekens for the shindig.
To pay for beer at a national political party convention is, truthfully, unthinkable. It simply doesn't happen.
Like the masses who suffered the Bush Twins' much-savaged comedy routine, I found myself uttering: What were they thinking?
Nevertheless, I soldiered on through the night at their party, a rollicking huddle of fresh-scrubbed and ambitious faces waiting eagerly for their hosts to arrive.
The only celebrities on hand were the WWE wrestler Ivory and Don King, the boxing promoter with the Empire State hairdo, who was as ubiquitous at Republican fetes, bashes and soirees this week as Ben Affleck was in Boston for the Demos.
King has sort of become a Jesse Jackson of the right wing, uttering profound political philosophy in iambic pentameter:
Don't give W no flak about the attack on Iraq.
Or something like that.
The party was surrealistic in some fashion. For instance, the deejay was a guy named Tom Finn, a recalcitrant Californian who clearly did not want to talk about how he got this gig.
Thing is -- and I am not making this up -- he looked exactly like Dick Cheney, but not so hip. In fact, he looked like a cross between Bud Melman and Dick Cheney, his pocket stuffed with pens and his blue tie reaching only halfway down his belly over his starched white shirt.
But here's the magical part: This dude rocked. When I walked in, he was playing the Neville Brothers, and then he played some Brazilian dance music, and then he played "My Gal Is Red Hot" by Robert Gordon and The Legendary Link Wray.
That's his name by the way: The Legendary Link Wray.
This Tom Finn is one Krazy Kat if you know what I mean.
Party on
Well, the Bush Twins finally showed up, in a flash really, hustling by me in the lobby, Barbara in demure whatever and Jenna in Blue Jeans, so lovely, trailing a sea of lookalikes and wannabes behind them -- one of them no doubt one Lindy Landry, a Mount Carmel graduate who has somehow found herself in the interesting position of being the New York City roommate of Jenna in Blue Jeans.
For understandable reasons, neither she nor her family in New Orleans want to talk much about this, the situation being so new and them probably somewhat rattled still by whatever kind of shakedown and vetting inspection the Secret Service administers when your daughter moves in with the president's kid.
An interesting life, no doubt.
I want to party with those girls. But only if the drinks are free.
These $6 Beck's are killing me.
. . . . . . .
Columnist Chris Rose can be reached at chris.rose@timespicayune.com, (504) 352-2535 or (504) 826-3309. Or you can leave a comment any time on the Chris Rose forum at www.nola.com.
E gets Shakedown's vote for effort (9/3)
02:54 AM CDT on Friday, September 3, 2004
Sometimes, the E is an easy target. Simply by selling the product it does, it is open for ridicule. When it lets heavily siliconed women swear on live TV, scorn rightfully falls its way and efforts in other areas - however well-intentioned - become less effective.
Foul-mouth fraülines aside, the E's "Smackdown Your Vote" campaign (vote.wwe.com) is not only a good idea, but also one that is long running and effective. And, two Texans are leading the charge.
Folks know John Bradshaw Layfield isn't afraid to speak his mind, be it politics, finance, sports, whatever. Big Show, Ivory (who never met a microphone she couldn't speak into), Silsbee's Mark Henry and San Antonio's Shawn Michaels have also gotten into the mix.
Michaels led the E contingent this week at the Republican National Convention. Ivory and Henry stopped by the Bush twins' party as part of the "Smackdown Your Vote" tour, a campaign aimed at getting 18-30 year-olds off the couch and into the voting booth. Being a member of that demographic, The Shakedown gives a RVD-like thumbs up to the E for trying to motivate this lethargic bunch.
At the convention, wrestlers did their encouraging of people to sign up, but they also spouted their views. Now, The Shakedown advocates celebrities shutting their pie holes and just doing their thing. Put on your movie, your concert, your wrestling match and collect your check. No one believes you have a better foreign policy plan than men and women who have made it their lives. But, when it's The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels talking, who doesn't listen?
Michaels was on the Fox News Channel this week talking about how he learned his politics from his father, who was in the military. He said he still follows his father's lead. Michaels was on the Bush side of things, but it was nice to see that he actually followed the scene and the campaign is a solid effort on the E's part.
2 September 2004
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION: Wrestling with the younger voters CONVENTION BITES.
By ALEX HALPERIN
Getting young people to vote is an inexact science. So for a panel discussion this week on grassroots politics and an audience of young Republicans, the advice came from an unusual variety of sources.
A representative from World Wrestling Entertainment, which features men in tights and costumes who fight each other in dramatic fashion, was on hand to discuss the group's non-partisan vote drive. So was a former staffer for Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader whose well-earned nickname, The Hammer, could belong to a professional wrestler. Though WWE is stereotyped as a red state pleasure, Smackdown Your Vote activist Chris Nowinski said the drive was not designed as a counterweight to liberal get-out-the-vote campaigns.
Aged 18 to 21, the young Republicans were invited to be pages at this week's convention on the strength of their GOP activism. In New York they have participated in a mock convention as they volunteer at the grown-up version.
They looked the part. The young men wore white shirts and blazers with elephant-motif ties; the young women white shirts, blue skirts and elephant sashes. And all appeared at home in the clubby but sumptuous confines of the Harvard Club, where a mounted elephant head looked down approvingly. Alex Halperin
The Daily Pennsylvanian
September 02, 2004
Young Republicans focus on NYC
By Benjamin Black
NEW YORK -- For the first time in the Republican Party's history, its nominating convention is being held in the nation's largest city. In what is widely considered a classical liberal city, thousands of conservatives have gathered to officially nominate President George W. Bush as the party's candidate for the November election.
Not only is this convention the first of its kind for New York City, but it is also garnering notice from within the Republican Party for its high degree of participation from the 18- to 30-year-old demographic. In what both parties are labeling the most important election in more than a decade, it is also proving to be one where an increasingly large number of young Republicans are cutting their political teeth.
"This year, the young Republicans at the convention are 100 percent different from the 2000 convention," said Andrea Dingas, a 22-year-old graduate of the University of Alabama and convention attendee. "The new generation of Republicans is going back to the true origin of the party. We are diverse, and we fight for what we believe in."
Students from all over the nation are working at the convention as volunteers and are highly involved through the Students for Bush national organization.
The students are not only involved in the volunteer effort at the convention, but they are also beneficiaries of the party's outreach efforts during the event, as much as any other demographic.
Just as there are cocktail parties and other soirees for the delegates and party higher-ups, there are other social events specifically tailored to young Republicans.
One such event was co-sponsored by World Wrestling Entertainment's "Smackdown Your Vote!," a bipartisan campaign to register young voters. The theme of these events was reiterated by guest speakers, who lauded attendees for their political activism.
The tone of the events stayed positive and avoided mudslinging. Instead of criticizing the Democrats, speakers stressed the core values that young Republicans represent.
The only consistent jabs at their political rivals have come on the topic of filmmaker Michael Moore. After the convention's opening night, when Moore was singled out by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and received a loud chorus of boos, the controversial figure has become a lightning rod for young Republican hostility.
However, Moore's political message is considered trivial by many of the young volunteers, who are more focused on staffing the convention.
"The young people are the future of our country, and we need to get them involved early in the political process," said Jennifer Stockman, co-chairwoman of the Republican Majority for Choice and a Connecticut delegate to the convention.
The focus of the Students for Bush organization is getting young party members to persuade their friends and family members to register to vote. The group has youth volunteers travel to battleground states like Pennsylvania.
Leaders of the young Republicans liken the political atmosphere to that of former President Ronald Reagan's campaign for re-election in 1984, citing a statistic that 60 percent of the youth vote went to Reagan that year.
They speak of Reagan with reverence and draw a parallel between his hard-line stance on communism and Bush's war on terror.
While it remains to be seen whether the Republican Party will receive the same level of support in this election as it did in 1984, it is abundantly clear that, in bracing for a tight election, the party has a legion of young Republicans stepping up to strengthen their party.
The Dallas Morning News
1 September 2004
QUICK: WWE star wrestles for votes
Madeleine Asplundh
NEW YORK - WWE wrestler Chris "Harvard" Nowinski didn't vote when he first had the chance - in the 1996 presidential race between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.
"I was from Chicago and I was in Boston," said Nowinski, who was then a freshman at Harvard. He was playing varsity football and didn't want to go through the hassle of registering and voting.
Yesterday, he told about 300 students at the "Students Mobilizing Students" rally in Manhattan that he was wrong not to vote.
"The people who got me out to vote were other students," said Nowinski, now 25 and part of WWE's "Smackdown Your Vote," a nonpartisan campaign committed to turning out young voters.
"Enthusiasm is contagious," Nowinski said.
WireTap.com
Posted on September 1, 2004, Printed on September 7, 2004
RNC: Young Reporter's Notebook: Somebody’s got to do it
Children's PressLine
New York City Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg was right … the GOP is bringing business to the city. From the looks of a pre-convention tour of Madison Square Garden on Thursday, every electrician, carpenter and plumber in the five boroughs is at work making sure the weeklong party is a success. It’s a wake-up call to see all these hardworking people.
Even the guy who puts down the rat traps at Madison Square Garden doesn’t wear gloves. The traps were the sticky kind, good at catching dust bunnies. Luckily we didn’t see any dead rats.
Patriotic protest
On Saturday, one of the protestors at a pre-convention protest was protesting the protestors. He was wearing a pretty tall top hat, plastered with the American flag and pictures of the president. Around his neck, he wore a clock that, instead of numbers, had images of Bush from the different speeches he has given. His shoes were even patriotic, painted with nail polish – red, white and blue. He said it took a lot of work.
Cheney visits, crowd gets earful
On Ellis Island, the republicans held an official welcoming party for Vice President Dick Cheney. The press had to stand way in the back but the regular people got to be up close. The Secret Service told us that when the press pulls out microphones they get jumpy because from far away, they don’t always know what they’re microphones. We saw snipers on nearby buildings, so we backed away.
We did meet a friendly Secret Service guy who gave us Secret Service pins. He was tall in a dark suit. He told us he was from Mississippi but now lives in Miami. He’s only been in the Secret Service for two years. It’s his first time in New York. He had done security for both the president and for Kerry and, he says, they protect them all the same.
To entertain the crowd, a high school marching band in yellow and black sweat outfits played a version of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and D12’s “My Band.” D12 is Eminem’s band. While they performed, bag pipers rehearsed behind us.
Scissors, wrestlers and Boy Scouts
At the New Yorker Hotel, World Wrestler Entertainment presented their “Smackdown Your Vote” event with the help of the Boy Scouts. It seemed like they were expecting a lot more Boy Scouts to show up. After 30 minutes of the wrestlers speaking, they all sat down and started making Thank You cards for the troops in Iraq. Some had to sit on the floor but they were enthusiastic, none the less. One wrestler, using a purple marker and yellow construction paper, asked out loud how he should address his letter. He decided on “Dear my hero.”
Sly Fox
Fox News didn’t like our line of questioning with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). During the second question, a cameraman gave us a hand signal signifying that we should end the interview. We wanted to ask Hastert about how testing actually affects the education of students. We know that testing isn’t the same as educating kids but wanted to give Hastert the chance to defend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
We had to use very “kid-like” voices to get interviews with Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Mike DeWine (R-OH) about NCLB.
Chambliss said that the government funds testing so that it can see improvements in the classroom. He also said that the government should fund more scholarships. This will only work if the scholarships go to average kids who need the financial aid, like those who won’t go to college without the help.
DeWine said that NCLB isn’t under-funded and that it will reach its goal by 2014. By then, we will be in our mid-20’s.
In and out
It was hot and steamy outside Madison Square Garden yesterday afternoon, but that didn’t stop party-faithful from showing off Republican regalia. Delegates, interns and volunteers expressed their GOP pride with pins: “Luvya Dubya,” “I Only Sleep with Republicans” and “Win One More for the Gipper.”
Lindsay, an 11-year-old from Missouri who accompanied her parents to the convention, sported American-flag earrings. Trudy Pellerin, a delegate from Orange County, Texas, dressed up in a printed vest also featuring Old Glory. She and Lydia Damnel, her colleague, shaded themselves with red and white cowboy hats that matched their Native American jewelry.
When asked how the Republicans intend to address children’s issues, Damnel responded that providing social services is the job of “churches and Christians. If it’s done through the churches,” she continued, “children will be taken care of properly…all [the federal government] has done is take care of the outside of children and we haven’t provided them with what they need inside to be better people and grow up to be productive adults.”
Still big
While waiting in the light rain for security to give us clearance across from Grand Central Station, an elderly man questioned us about the festivities. “Why is Giuliani here?” For 10 minutes he praised the virtues of the former mayor, who was being honored at the luncheon. “Giuliani did what any mayor should do. He is not supposed to hide under his bed.”
Once inside the restaurant, we took advantage of the opportunity to ask Giuliani about health insurance. Before we finished asking the question, he started talking about HealthStat, a program which claims to have provided health insurance to 96,000 children and families.
We wanted to ask a follow-up but the security guards were “whispering” in our ear, “just one question.” We left while the rest of the people, who had paid at least $2,000 to be there, were being served their fancy salads.
Wheels on the house go round and round
Career advice or political philosophy from former bus driver and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, to us:
“Do you know why driving a school bus was important? Huh? When you drive to school you have to get that big bus right down the middle of the road. That means that everybody behind you has to behave and you have to keep your eye on that mirror and watch your back.”
Open mic on the Bowery
At a SoHo event for Sen. Rick Santorum a cheery lady in purple introduced us to an RNC press secretary who was talking into her cell phone. While waiting for her to finish, we listened to cell phones rings. Eventually a man came and took us to see Santorum.
In a mandarin orange T-shirt and khaki pants, we didn’t recognize the senator. He looked a lot younger than in the press photos on his website. He was finishing up an interview with a reporter from “How’s Your News?”
Before leaving the room, the journalist questioned the senator about his favorite talk show host. After the senator answered, the reporter said, “I can do a great imitation of that person.” And then he proceeded to do one. The senator replied, “That’s the best imitation I’ve ever heard, better than I could ever do.”
We didn’t do any imitations for the senator. But we did ask him about the harassment faced by gay students and federal education policies. He said he couldn’t answer a question about the federal safe schools act because he’s “not an expert.” Somebody in his state, Pennsylvania, must be an expert because it is one of five states that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
After a few questions, we left the small room and thanked Santorum and the lady in purple for their time. They said, “You’re welcome,” “Anytime” and “Good luck.”
What’s your beef?
When asked what he felt could be done to increase youth voter turnout by kid reporters from 8-18 Media, Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele said it starts with government officials meeting with the young people and asking, "Wassup? What's your issue? What's your beef? What do you like? What don't you like? How would you like to see the government performing for you?"
Since Steele, asked, students in Marquette, Mich., (where 8-18 Media is based), gave these answers:
"The [local] budget cuts affect my brother because [now] there are no honors classes for him to take," said Jessica Vonck, 17. "This year he had to take a bunch of regular classes and he felt like he could slack off in all the courses. He never did homework because he didn't have to."
Nick Quinnell, 18, said he’s worried about how the cuts would affect college acceptance. "If [colleges] have a choice between somebody who got all “A”s from our high school, which has no honors classes, or all “A”s from some school that does, obviously they're going to take the kid that had the honors classes," he said.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/19748/
The Hill
August 30, 2004
Under the Dome (excerpt)
Albert Eisele and Jeff Dufour
WWE wrestlers get politically active in New York smackdown
That 6-foot-5, 300-pound man you’re standing next to might not be security. He might be one of the half-dozen professional wrestlers from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on hand this week to promote “Smackdown Your Vote,” WWE’s youth voting initiative.
As she did in Boston, WWE CEO Linda McMahon has traveled to New York along with WWE Champion John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Sean Michaels, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Big Show, Mark Henry and Ivory to participate in various events this week.
The group seeks to to increase voter turnout of 18- to 30-year-old Americans by 10 percent in this election and to get more politicians to respond to the “18-30 VIP,” a voter issues paper that asks elected officials to comment on the economy, Iraq, education and their motivation/vision. Both President Bush and John Kerry have completed the survey.
Also this week, wrestler Chris Nowinski, WWE’s “political correspondent,” will be penning a column each day. His last entry, dated Aug. 20, concerned the candidates’ children. “I believe the campaigns have rendered the candidates’ children ineffective in reaching their peers by choosing to have them be solely cheerleaders,” he wrote. He explained that “when celebrities speak out for a specific party or candidate, it probably doesn’t, and shouldn’t, affect the voting behavior of the general public.
The Hartford Courant
30 August 2004
MAIN: ELECTION 2004 * REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
I don't want to hear about politics three hours straight from anyone, let alone me.
It gets monotonous for the listener.
It wouldn't wind my clock.
[As for her political role,] I'm a conservative first and a Republican second. I've been very critical of the Bush administration on a host of issues.
-- Laura Ingraham, conservative talk-show host, one of more than 100 radio hosts descending on the convention.
I would tell them 'when are they going to start using their own voices and really telling
young people what they think.' Telling people, 'Vote for my dad, he's a good guy,' isn't telling us anything we didn't already know.
-- Chris Nowinski, professional wrestler, on what he would advise Jenna and Barbara Bush at a celebrity party they attended Sunday night in Manhattan.
Visit www.ctnow.com for the latest updates
New York Post
30 August 2004
PAGE SIX AT THE CONVENTION (excerpt from)
Bush twins' late show (lcf)
The Bush twins - Jenna and Barbara - showed last night they're the night owls of the first family.
The twins didn't start partying until 11 p.m., when they showed up at Roseland for their own bash, "R: The Party," for the GOP's 3,000 youngest faithful. Barbara - the brunette - wore a white and green empire-waisted top, while Jenna - the blonde - donned a black-and-silver Western blouse.
They spent the next two hours in a curtained-off VIP room. "They looked absolutely gorgeous," gushed Tom, a smitten 32-year-old investment banker, who did not give his last name.
"Jenna looked hot, like a vixen, while Barbara was Miss Congeniality."
But alas, boldfaced names were in short supply - take your pick from Aaron "The Bachelor" Buerge, boxing promoter Don King, singer Carolyn Hudson and WWE wrestlers Ivory and Mark Henry. The grapplers were on hand to encourage people to vote. Asked how she would cast her ballot, Ivory replied only, "I could go either way."
One thing is certain: Lynyrd Skynryd is backing Bush. The legendary southern rock band entertained the GOP troops later in the evening at Crobar - praising the president and, of course, playing "Freebird."
Earlier in the evening, security was so tight at CNN's "Capital Gang" party that even a dog couldn't get inside. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog - along with his puppet master, Robert Smigel - did manage to get past the first guard, but the canine crew was kicked out before it could poop on a single delegate. Party stars Bob Novak and Mark Shields schmoozed with Fred Thompson, who was once a senator but now makes his home in "The West Wing." Novak loudly panned the Time Warner Center's Botero sculptures.
-Jennifer Fermino and Jason Carpenter
The Seattle Times (The Associated Press)
30 August 2004
News: Bush's daughters step onto the campaign trail in style
Anne Gearan
NEW YORK Barbara and Jenna Bush, the president's 22-year-old twin daughters, arrived like rock 'n' roll stars at a Republican convention party yesterday, complete with red carpet, cameras and paparazzi shouting for a smile.
The young women, both dressed fashionably in jeans and heels, grinned and waved at hundreds of reporters and gawkers outside the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan, site of the convention's first big celebrity bash.
Inside, the guest list included actress Angie Harmon and her husband, the NFL's Jason Sehorn. Also inside was WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski. The twins have only recently begun to publicly campaign for their father and have focused some efforts on youth-voter turnout.
The Bush daughters planned five days of parties and minor campaign appearances during the convention.
They are not scheduled to make formal speeches from the floor of the nominating hall, as did the daughters of Democratic nominee John Kerry.
They will be in the hall for first lady Laura Bush's prime-time speech tomorrow and for their father's acceptance speech Thursday.
Newsday
29 August 2004
NEWS: INSIDE NEW YORK COUNTRY FLAVOR Invasion of grand old partyers From 'Bradshaw' to Bo Derek to Skynyrd, the stars will be out while the convention is in the Big Apple
BY ROBERT KAHN. STAFF WRITER
John "Bradshaw" Layfield, whose villainous Texan TV persona is a cross between J.R. Ewing and Pat Buchanan, will visit the Republican Governors Association meeting Thursday to promote "Smackdown Your Vote."
His cause is a nonpartisan initiative for the 18-30 set, but the World Wrestling Entertainment champ will leave no one guessing about his leanings.
"If John Kerry and George W. Bush got into a wrestling match, I don't know who'd win," he quips, "but I think Kerry would find a way to get a Purple Heart out of it."
Though urban Democratic consultants like to joke that "the only talent the GOP can lasso is Wayne Newton and Bo Derek," it couldn't be further from the truth. It's just that, by way of Layfield's example, things here are about to get a little bit country.
Coming this week to an exclusive fund-raiser near you: Faith Hill, ZZ Top, Martina McBride, The Marshall Tucker Band, Sara Evans, Lee Ann Womack, Jonny Lang, the Charlie Daniels Band and .38 Special, all performing at various locales during the Republican National Convention. Pat Boone will be on hand for a few parties, too.
Friday morning, Hill's hubby, Tim McGraw, caused a commotion just stepping out of the Bryant Park Hotel. Security guards rushed to protect him from a horde of screaming autograph-seekers, their Camcorders all fired up. Good country boy that he is, McGraw graciously inked pics and posed before jumping into a big black SUV with tinted windows.
While it's uncertain if Bush supporters like Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, Shannen Doherty or Kelsey Grammer will mingle at the Garden, comedian Dennis Miller and actress Angie Harmon definitely will, and super-vocal GOPer Derek will make several public appearances, including one nonpartisan showing tomorrow at Bergdorf Goodman for a Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation soiree.
Al Franken will be on the convention floor at Madison Square Garden, broadcasting for his liberal radio network.
"Boy," says Layfield, "is he gonna be a fish out of water."
And a dizzying array of late-night parties are scheduled. Last night's big soiree was at Time Warner Center, where guests were welcomed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Gov. George Pataki and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
This afternoon, delegates can attend "welcome parties" at family-friendly Broadway shows like "The Lion King" and "42nd Street." Also today is the Log Cabin Republicans' "Big Tent" event at Bryant Park Grill, hosted by Bloomberg and honoring "inclusive" GOP leaders, among them California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who no doubt will be very careful about tossing off the phrase "girly men."
Tonight, real estate and media baron Mort Zuckerman co-hosts a bash at Elaine's with Pataki, while Lynyrd Skynyrd takes the stage at Crobar to honor the Southern members of Congress, some of whom may be tickled to discover they're partying next door to the strip-club Scores on the 500 block of West 28th Street.
On a hipper note, Jenna and Barbara Bush tonight host "R: The Party," with Stephen Baldwin (no doubt to brother Alec's chagrin, a born-again Christian and GOP supporter), the Gatlin Brothers and Derek, at Roseland ballroom.
Pataki will host four galas, one each night of the convention. On Monday, he's at Cipriani's on 42nd Street. Tuesday's party is at Tavern on the Green. Wednesday, in what is described as his "major" event, the governor hosts "Amigos de America," a salsa and tango soiree for Puerto Rican delegates at the Copacabana. Thursday afternoon he waxes poetic at Madame Tussaud's.
Tomorrow's highlights include the "Warrior Foundation" luncheon at Cipriani, chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and hosted by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. Country singer Lee Greenwood performs. The American Gas Association and California Rep. Richard Pombo will throw a "Wild West Saloon" party at Crobar featuring .38 Special and Otis Day & the Knights.
CNBC journo Alan Murray has a bash for financial heavyweights Tuesday afternoon at Le Cirque, while network compatriots Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer host a lunch Wednesday at Daniel.
Into the wee hours Tuesday, the Tarab Ensemble will perform sets of Arabic music as part of "Arabian Night in New York," with a video on the history of Arabic immigrants to New York, at the Dahesh Museum of Art/Café Opaline on Madison Avenue. John H. Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor and former chief of staff during Bush's father's presidency, and Indiana gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels are expected.
NFL Hall-of-Famers will gather Wednesday morning for a no-media-allowed breakfast with football commish Paul Tagliabue at 280 Park Ave. A Wednesday night hot ticket puts Frank and Malachy McCourt, James Carville and Mary Matalin at a Cipriani bash hosted by McCain, with entertainment provided by Lorne Michaels.
Set to last long after the confetti has fallen Thursday night is the "Next Generation of Leaders" cocktail bash at Gotham Hall. The president's daughters are expected at a party hosted by political progeny Emma Bloomberg, Emily Pataki and Taylor Whitman, son of Christie Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor who for a time headed the Environmental Protection Agency for Bush. Emily Pataki will work the red carpet for "Extra" for the duration of the convention.
The Atlanta Journal - Constitution
28 August 2004
News: Saints, sinners hustle to sign up new voters
PHIL KLOER
Eminem wants you to vote. So do professional wrestlers, soap opera characters, rock stars, Promise Keepers, strippers, Christian musicians and just about anybody who can mount a soapbox, start a Web site or set up a booth.
With less than 10 weeks remaining in the razor-close, hard-fought presidential race between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, voter registration drives --- from some unlikely sources --- are proliferating as never before.
"We're seeing unprecedented efforts to mobilize voters, particularly young voters," said Ivan Frishberg, communications director for the nonpartisan New Voters Project.
"There's a greater sense of urgency around this election," he said. "You just can't ignore the closeness of the 2000 election. And the issues over the war in Iraq and the intensity of the fight between the two sides has made it a more significant election."
Added Frishberg: "We call it a thousand flowers blooming."
And they're blooming in places more connected with popular culture than politics.
Soap operas: Four CBS daytime soaps signed up with Rock the Vote to incorporate voting messages into plots and dialogue. On the Sept. 3 episode of "As the World Turns," Nikki tells a group of guys in a strip poker game that if they lose, they have to volunteer for Rock the Vote. They lose.
Pro wrestlers: World Wrestling Entertainment has a "Smackdown Your Vote" campaign, with a Web site and public service announcements in which wrestlers such as John Cena glower at the camera and tell young people to vote.
Strippers: More than 800 adult clubs have held or are planning voter registration drives, said Angeline Spencer, executive director of the Association of Club Executives. "Some clubs have sent their dancers door to door," she said. Alan Begner, an Atlanta attorney on the group's advisory board, said he hasn't heard of any such plans at metro Atlanta strip clubs.
Many efforts target young people. There are about 24 million Americans ages 18 to 24, and according to the National Voters Project, about 37 percent voted in 2000, compared to 64 percent of those 25 and older. The voting rate of young Americans has been declining steadily since 1972, when 18-year-olds nationwide got the vote. (Eighteen-year-olds had been eligible to vote in Georgia and Kentucky for decades before that.).
"Younger Americans don't vote because they feel politicians don't care about them and their issues," said Gary Davis, executive director of Smackdown Your Vote.
Tracking voter registration nationally is difficult because there are so many groups, and sign-ups are done state by state. Jehmu Greene, president of Rock the Vote, said the group has registered 575,000 new voters, toward a goal of 2 million. "We're three times ahead of where we've been in the past."
Ga. ahead of game, too
In Georgia, new registrations are running about 20 percent ahead of 2000, according to the secretary of state's office. The deadline is Oct. 4 for the Nov. 2 general election.
At the University of Georgia in Athens, the Young Democrats and Young Republicans organizations battled for student sign-ups outside the Tate Student Center last week.
UGA senior Brenden Murphy manned a table for the Young Democrats. "We have tons of people coming by and signing up," Murphy said. "They're tuning into the news stories. They're excited."
Andrew Dill, president of UGA's Young Republicans, said his chapter is the largest in the country and growing. "We have over 3,000 members," Dill said.
At Georgia Tech, Ashlee Duran, a 19-year-old sophomore, said she's not so sure that young people will turn out in force in November. "I've heard lots of people say that they don't know enough to make an educated decision," Duran said. "It's hard to keep up when you're in school."
Much of the get-out-the-vote effort is about making registration easier.
At a business networking party at Vision Lounge, a hip Midtown Atlanta nightclub, people with voter registration cards got in free Wednesday night. Those who didn't have a card could get one on the spot at a table set up to register voters.
Making registration easier was a founding principle of Rock the Vote, started in 1990 by members of the recording industry. The nonprofit organization pioneered online and telephone registration in 1996. This year it plans to put voter registration forms in 6,000 7-Elevens nationwide starting in September --- convenience store placement for those who say it's inconvenient to register.
The nonpartisan group also will be working at the Republican National Convention next week, as will the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, a rap version of Rock the Vote. Stars who have lent their names to the effort include Eminem, Andre 3000 of OutKast, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg. Hip-hop impresario P. Diddy ispromoting a line of T-shirts that say "Vote or Die."
Nonpartisan, officially
While the presidential campaigns have been marked by tough, negative advertising, many voter registration groups are nonpartisan, or at least claim to be. "What's important is that when any nonpartisan group is doing registration, if a Democrat or a Republican or a Green Party [voter] walks up, that group registers that person to vote," Greene said.
But some seem to be nonpartisan with a nudge and a wink. They may not publicly endorse a candidate, but they are trying to mobilize certain groups of voters.
Redeem the Vote is a Christian-based organization with ties to many contemporary Christian musicians and a few country musicians. Founded in April by Randy Brinson, the group is targeting 18-to-30-year-old Christians through concerts, festivals and radio station promos.
"You will not see any endorsement of political candidates," said spokesman Bob Angelotti. "We're trying to reach kids of faith because we know how kids of faith are going to vote. They're going to vote for those issues that support Judeo-Christian values."
The Christian men's ministry Promise Keepers began registration drives this month. The group's membership includes Democrats, Republicans and independents, said president Dr. Tom Fortson. But "you take an issue like marriage," Fortson said, "we are encouraging guys to be followers of Jesus Christ, and take that perspective into the marketplace. It's clear we are talking about the marriage of a man and a woman."
Rock The Vote nudges from a different vantage point. "People are being hard hit by the realities of who's in office, especially young people," Greene said.
In its new get-out-the-vote version of the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song "Wake Up Everybody" with a "We Are the World"-type cast of rap and R&B musicians, no candidates are mentioned. But Missy Elliot raps, "Listen to me like you listen to 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' " a reference to Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary.
Even musicians who acknowledge strong anti-Bush feelings will register Republicans. Folk-rocker Ani DiFranco, who brings her "Vote Dammit" concert tour to Atlanta's Tabernacle next month, makes no secret of her liberal leanings, but any voter can register at the tables at her shows.
"We've tried not voting," she said. "We've thoroughly explored that option. Now all possible voters should vote. Otherwise we don't have a democracy."
--- Staff writer Andrea Jones contributed to this article.
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