Nader's backers stage sideshow and trot out a 'Demo-publican'

As several thousand citizens, some holding bright red, white and blue Gore/Lieberman signs, made their way to Westlake Center for yesterday's rally, 25-year-old Brian Davis waved a placard with a strange animal: a donkey with an elephant's trunk.

"Is it a donkey or is it an elephant? It's a Demo-publican. It only walks down the middle of the road," he called out, jumping up and down like a crazed carnival huckster.

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If the appearance by Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and his running mate Joe Lieberman took center stage at the rally, this was the sideshow: Davis and about 50 other noisy, placard-carrying supporters of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader trying to convince Democrats that Gore/Bush was a distinction without a difference, and that a vote for Nader would not be a vote tossed away.

As the Gore supporters filed by a sign saying "A Vote for Gore is a Vote Out of Fear" and a woman wearing a rooster mask that was supposed to symbolize chicken-heartedness, some smiled. Others, worried Nader would pull enough votes from Gore to give Republican George W. Bush the edge, frowned.

Some stopped, engaging in the street corner debates Mayor Paul Schell had hoped would happen during the World Trade Organization conference, only to see the very same square fill with tear gas.

The Nader supporters' efforts yesterday seemed to be befitting Nader's status in the political campaign.

Kept on the outskirts of a crowd estimated at from 2,000 to 9,000, Nader supporters demanded their candidate be included in any upcoming presidential debates.

Terri McQuillen, 47, from Port Townsend, debated a couple of Nader's supporters. "I like his health-care plan," she said of Gore.

"And you like bombing Iraq and children?" one of Nader's supporters asked.

"I do," McQuillen said, obviously annoyed. "I'm from a military family. I'm for freedom."

Others voiced concerns about hurting Gore's chances by voting for Nader.

"They're going to get Bush elected," said Dave Pelter, 47, of Seattle. "The first job of a politician is to get elected, then they can do whatever they want, or at least as much as is possible."

But Christine Olha, 29, who held a sign that said, "Hey Al, Debate Nader," said, "I think that's a fear tactic. Vote for who you believe in, not out of fear."

Meanwhile, Gore supporters waved their signs and cheered loudly as Gore punched home the key points in what was basically his stump speech this week. They made especially loud bursts when Gore mentioned appointing members to swing the Supreme Court to one "that reflects our values," supporting a women's right to choose whether to have an abortion, raising teachers' pay and getting guns out of the hands of children.

As she walked out, Laurie Mischley, 25, still wasn't convinced about Gore or Nader.

"It was really everything (Gore has) said before. He re-established what's important to him. But he didn't give any specifics about how he's going to do what he says he's going to do. But he got the crowd going."

P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8029 or kerymurakami@seattle-pi.com