Pubdate: Sun, 06 Aug 2000
Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA)
Section: By The Way
Copyright: 2000 Santa Barbara News-Press
Contact:  P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
Website: http://www.newspress.com/
Author: John Lankford, 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:  ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D