Protest

High stakes at the presidential debates

by Ben Geman

READY FOR PRIME TIME? If Gore and Bush debate here, it could be Boston's audition for the next Democratic convention.<

George W. Bush and Al Gore are scheduled to debate at UMass Boston on October 3, even though at press time W. had not agreed to show up. If they spar here, Boston will host a major prime-time debate between the two major-party nominees.

And maybe a lot more. The likely exclusion of Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader from the debates is stirring up the local left. Progressive activists, including members of the Massachusetts Green Party, are preparing to protest both the exclusion of third-party candidates and the debate's corporate funding. Organizers are planning to hold teach-ins, demonstrations, and an alternative debate with third-party candidates on October 2. Invitations have been sent to a slew of hopefuls, such as Nader, Socialist Party candidate David McReynolds, competing Reform Party candidates Pat Buchanan and John Hagelin, Libertarian Harry Browne, and candidates from other small fringe parties.

Different activist coalitions are organizing different events before and on October 3. The group planning the alternative debate and other forums, called the October 3 Task Force, includes UMass student radicals, the Campaign on Contingent Work, and the International Socialist Organization. Like any protest planners worth their salt these days, it has a Web site: www.expandthedebate.org.

Other activists are threatening civil disobedience on October 3 if Nader is excluded. "There's a wide variety of things being planned," says Roni Krouzman of the Campus Action Network, which is affiliated with Boston Mobilization for Survival. "From legal marches and rallies, if we can get the permits, to direct action that will attempt to block or disrupt or shut down the debate if it is indeed not a real debate." (This group is also Web organized -- check out www.bostonmobilization.org).

That kind of talk probably isn't music to Police Commissioner Paul Evans's ears. But the city official who should really be worried is Tom Menino. No one's really talking about it yet, but the mayor has a lot at stake here. Boston made a spirited but failed bid to host the 2000 Democratic National Convention, and Menino is already talking up Boston as the best site for 2004. "We will put on a serious push," says Howard Leibowitz, Menino's head of intergovernmental affairs. "I think the whole dynamic will be changed in 2004. The convention center will be done, more hotels will be done, and the Big Dig will be that much further along."

City officials may be touting Boston's future, but the planned debate and protest mean Boston's big audition for 2004 will take place next month, providing a glimpse of the city's ability to handle a presidential-scale event that could get messy. Democratic officials will notice how well -- or poorly -- police and city officials handle the affair.

"It's a dry run, an opportunity to showcase ourselves to the national media in the context of a presidential campaign, and it may be the only opportunity we have to do that in such a direct way over the next four years," says one Democratic insider. "All eyes will be on Boston."