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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: U Up U Down who wrote (58701)	11/4/2000 7:02:14 AM
From: U Up U Down	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Gadfly relishes role as Dubya's Maine pain by David R. Guarino Saturday, November 4, 2000 PORTLAND, MAINE - Dubya probably doesn't remember the first time he crossed paths with Tom Connolly. It was back in June, when the GOP nominee rallied in Portland and Connolly appeared yelling ``You Big Weiner'' repeatedly through the event. As Gov. George W. Bush's motorcade passed the crowd, Bush rolled down his window and said to Connolly, ``Who you callin' weiner, boy?'' before laughing as he rolled out of town. But today, Connolly might be having the last laugh, sitting comfortably with a leaked story certain to dog Bush on sleepless nights at least through Election Day. The 43-year-old lawyer and Democrat known for his duckbill caps, rhetorical abilities and far-left leanings found himself at the center of perhaps the seminal downturn in Bush's White House race. After railing against Bush locally, at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and in a worldwide Web site (www.weinerboy.org), the once Democratic nominee for Maine's governor's office finally found a captive audience. And he was proud of his work. ``I think the function of a citizen is, as they say, to keep an open mouth,'' Connolly said. ``That's what I did.'' And, as such, he's being praised by some, vilified by others - most of whom can't fathom that he isn't just a tool of Vice President Al Gore's campaign. ``When you see dirty tricks like this, it's just too hard to believe that someone like him could be the only one involved,'' said Sharon Miller, campaign manager to former Republican Gov. John McKernan. But, just as forcefully, Democrats are defending him for merely spreading the truth where Bush chose to hide it. ``I don't see the turning over of this document as a dirty trick; it is the revelation of a public document,'' said Michael W. MacLeod-Ball, a fellow convention delegate and Kennebunk lawyer. ``It seems to me it wasn't a plant, it was just an innocent passing of information.'' But controversy is nothing new for Connolly. Neither is confusion as to his motives or eccentric stylings. One only need look around his office for proof of that. Lincoln and Jefferson busts crowd the office near a skeleton with a crash helmet Connolly proudly calls ``Bones.'' His creaking three-story law office in the Old Port District doubles as a part-time home, complete with his young child wandering around and two goldfish swimming in a kitchen blender. His involvement in Democratic Party politics here is deep - but mostly as an activist. He has campaigned with most of Maine's progressives, putting his name on the ballot only once for a failed 1998 gubernatorial run where he finished third with just 13 percent of the vote. Republicans called it a ``vanity campaign,'' Democrats thought he'd fall to the background. But he is rabidly anti-Bush, launching the Web site and handing out buttons featuring Bush in a hotdog bun saying ``W. is for Weiner.'' The story that changed the campaign - as he tells it - found him fourth-hand, told to a chiropractor by his patient, from the doctor to a probate court judge and then to Connolly. And the lawyer wasn't expecting the reaction he got, holding court for hours yesterday with everyone from CNN to Newsweek in his cramped office. In each chat, Connolly proudly said he hoped to change the course of the election, that he believes Bush will ``go on a bender'' in the White House and start World War III over Russian vodka with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He says he got the story to a TV reporter because ``I didn't have time for a conspiracy.'' He worries that the Bush ties to the Central Intelligence Agency will bring trouble his way and insists Maine law now prevents Bush from entering Canada - even if he wins the Oval Office. Connolly is concerned his leak will look like Gore's handiwork and hurt the Democrat but, either way, says he's pleased with what he's done. Quoting a political hero in Lincoln, he said with a smile, ``I do the very best I can, the very best I know how.'' bostonherald.com

To: U Up U Down who wrote (58701)	11/4/2000 7:33:52 AM
From: U Up U Down	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Maine delegate says Gore may be a bore, but W's a wiener (Los Angeles-AP) -- Maine delegate Tom Connolly is at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles pushing a different kind of message -- ``W is for Wiener.'' That slogan referring to Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush isn't the most popular propaganda he's been pushing. The button shows Bush, wearing cowboy boots, stuffed into a hot dog roll. Connolly, the former gubernatorial hopeful, says that more people like the buttons that say -- quote -- ``Insomniacs for Gore -- I'd rather be put to sleep than put to death.'' That slogan refers to Vice President Al Gore's bland reputation and the executions in Texas since Bush became governor. Connolly says 500 of the Gore buttons have already been snapped up. Connolly says that people prefer being for something than against something else -- even though the positive button is not exactly a normal endorsement.