Red, white and blue balloons filled the large convention hall. Flags decorated the walls. Signs -- many, again, with a red, white and blue color scheme -- blared slogans: "End the Drug War," "Legalize Marijuana," "We Need a Living Wage," "Save the Rainforest," "Free Circus Animals," "Moratorium on Capital Punishment," and more. Speakers included Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Paul Wellstone (D-MN), The Reverend Jesse Jackson, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Governor Gary Johnson (R-NM), Congressperson Maxine Waters (D-CA), singer David Crosby and campaign reform activist Granny D. Actors Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins made an appearance at the podium; Al Franken made the audience laugh and Arianna Huffington -- syndicated columnist and former Newt Gingrich confidant -- served as host.

The occasion? The Shadow Conventions. The first, held at Philadelphia's Annenberg Center from July 30 - Aug. 3, paralleled the Republican Convention; the second, held in Los Angeles' Patriotic Hall, took place from Aug. 13-17, at the same time as the Democratic Convention. Each drew about 2,500 participants -- mostly political, community and religious activists.

Calling for a politics of ideas, not of electioneering

Free of charge and open to the public, the Shadow Conventions, according to organizers, were meant "to challenge the two major party conventions to genuinely engage in debate and in a politics of ideas, not a politics of electioneering." Chuck Collins, co-founder and co-director of United for a Fair Economy, a national organization concerned about the growing income and wealth gap in America, was one of the Conventions' conveners. As he explains, "The real party conventions were boring, scripted coronations devoid of substance." The Shadow Conventions were the place for "the voices of the people left behind. Our slogan was 'a citizens' intervention in American politics.' It is the citizens' friendly and patriotic duty to intervene when things get out of control."

Criticism of the Democratic and Republican parties has been deepening this election season as both their two presidential candidates -- Al Gore (D) and George W. Bush (R) -- hope to control the political middle. Each claims to be "inclusive" and "sensitive." Each claims to represent that part of the population left behind in the current economic boom. Yet, each supports welfare reform and capital punishment. And each seems to defer to the corporations who sponsor their conventions and fund their campaigns.

As Ruth Conniff wrote in an aptly titled article in The Progressive, "Speak Democracy, Deliver Plutocracy" (8/15/00), "It was confusing enough to hear the Republicans at their convention make a left-wing critique of the last eight years, championing 'those left behind' by the economic boom and borrowing a line from the Children's Defense Fund to promote their new policies of inclusion. But if the Republicans are pretending to be Democrats, so are the Democrats."

She describes a "Motown Bash" at the Democratic Convention, honoring Representative John Dingell (D-MI): The Edison Electric Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the American Gas Association, and the National Mining Association were the sponsors.

Scott Harshbarger, president of the campaign-finance-reform organization Common Cause, described the Democratic Convention as a "made-for-TV infomercial characterized largely by lavish corporate-sponsored receptions." The Republican Convention was, of course, no different. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, who visited both conventions, noted that, "with the exception of tobacco," the same corporations were present at both. "The only difference," he added, "is GM offered the Democrats and the Republicans Cadillacs. The Democrats accepted. The Republicans declined the offer, and instead opted for Buicks and Chevys."

According to Margaret Prescod and Lisa Fithian, members of the organizing team for the L.A. and Philadelphia Shadow Conventions, "Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are bought, paid for and are accountable to

The Shadows' sponsors Six national organizations sponsored the Shadow Conventions. These groups were the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, Common Cause, The Lindesmith Center/Drug Policy Foundation, United for a Fair Economy, Call to Renewal and Public Campaign. All nonprofit, grassroots advocacy groups, they brought with them expertise on at least one of the Shadow Conventions' three themes: campaign finance reform; poverty and the growing wealth gap ["Half of humanity is living on less than two dollars a day," says Harvard professor Cornel West. "The richest 225 individuals have more wealth than the bottom 43 percent of all humankind."]; and the failed war on drugs and the corresponding rise in the prison population [Federal and state governments will spend close to $40 billion this year fighting the drug war; 50 percent of those imprisoned in 1999 for drug offenses were imprisoned for possession; the U.S. has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's prisons.]. "These issues have something important in common," explains Episcopalian Carter Echols, a national organizer for Call to Renewal, a new federation of faith-based organizations and denominations who are coming together to end poverty. "These issues all look at problems on which we do not have enough dialogue. They also concern stratification around money. Whether or not you have money influences how these issues affect you. If you have money and are white and get involved with drugs, you will be treated differently than if you are a person of color and are poor." Each sponsoring organization was responsible for a specific day or part of the Shadow Conventions. One day at each convention was devoted to each of the three themes. The National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, an organization devoted to increasing employment options for the poor, United for a Fair Economy and Call to Renewal organized the poverty days at each convention. Common Cause and Public Campaign, two organizations dedicated to campaign finance reform, organized the days on that theme. The Lindesmith Center/Drug Policy Foundation, a drug policy institute dedicated to broadening the debate on drug policies and related issues in order to reduce the harm caused by drug abuse and drug prohibition, organized the days devoted to ending the war on drugs. The groups moved quickly to make the Shadow Conventions happen. As Chuck Collins of United for a Fair Economy explains, "We had our first full group meeting in June. Whatever we pulled off was pulled off in a short amount of time." Given the magnitude and success of the conventions, this short time frame seems amazing, says Collins. The host of the Shadow Conventions, Arianna Huffington, first contacted Call to Renewal's Jim Wallis, one of the foremost experts on poverty in America. From there, says Collins, the other organizations came together. Huffington is a story in herself. Most recently the author of How to Overthrow the Government (Regan Books 2000), Huffington has moved in Republican circles for more than 10 years. Originally from Greece, she was educated at England's Cambridge University, and wrote several books before moving to the U.S. in the 1980s. Her political career began when her now ex-husband, Texas oil millionaire Michael Huffington, who served one term in Congress, spent $30 million of his own money to run for senator of California in 1994. He lost (he also subsequently divorced his wife and announced his homosexuality). Arianna became a regular commentator on many television talk shows, founded her own think tank and began to write her syndicated column. She also became an advisor to Newt Gingrich. Huffington claims that "a series of epiphanies" led to her transformation from conservative Republican to progressive anti-poverty activist. As she explained in USA Today, "I really believed the Republican party would get involved in addressing issues such as child poverty, health care and education. But there wasn't the collective will to put the ideas into practice." Call to Renewal's Jim Wallis applauds Huffington's change of heart and mind, "We've waited years for someone like her. Her enthusiasms are worth taking seriously." United for a Fair Economy's Chuck Collins agrees: "She brought tremendous gifts; with her connections, we created a real head-turning event. The media visibility was one of the real benefits. Poverty and the wealth gap became national issues. The Shadow Conventions had tons of press with national coverage; we did radio talk shows; John McCain's speech at the Shadow Convention was covered live on CNN." Collins notes that activist protests and conferences occur every campaign year, "but they fly below the radar screen of public attention." This year, with Huffington's connections, press coverage was different. "The Shadow Conventions were well-attended, broadcast live on CNN and C-span, and broadcast over the Internet. They served as a political homebase for the majority of Americans who are disaffected with the major parties."

a small number of the corporate elite." The Shadow Conventions were, they say, a way to let the political parties know that the majority of people are not fooled. They note that "more people did not vote in the last election than did. That in itself is a vote." They also argue that Democrats and Republicans have not so much failed America as "succeeded in what they set out to do. They are accountable to who they intend to represent, but they're not accountable to us. What they have not done is to represent or stand for what people need. Industry is being deregulated, but politics is more regulated than ever, but not by the voter. Governments have been privatized and only those with a lot of money can buy."

Indeed, big money has dominated this election. A recent Common Cause study reveals that this election season candidates will raise more than $500 million in "soft money" -- unregulated campaign contributions. This is 80 percent more than was raised in the 1996 presidential election.

Organizers of the Shadow Conventions also argue that the Democratic and Republican Conventions are no longer places for real political debate and discussion. As Common Cause's Harshbarger explains, "The reason for doing the Shadow Conventions is that neither of the major conventions are addressing very important issues that affect a lot of people." Collins puts it even more starkly when he asks, "What's happening to our democracy?"

Playing to the press, but providing real political debate

Organizers scheduled the Shadow Conventions with the press in mind. The bulk of the big name speakers addressed the Conventions between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., before protestors took to the streets and before the Democratic and Republican Conventions began. For instance, John McCain, Jesse Jackson and Al Franken all spoke before lunch. The strategy, as New Republic reporter Michelle Cottle described it, allowed "the TV cameras [to] swoop in, get their footage of Jesse Jackson or Paul Wellstone, and swoop back out."

The Shadow Conventions' afternoon sessions were less glitzy. These were the ones geared not to the press but to activists. There were intense debates on solutions to poverty, for instance. Call to Renewal's Carter Echols explains: "We had people who didn't agree, people who felt welfare reform was the greatest and people who thought this was the worst thing. We did dialogue in some new ways. We were all people who were solution-driven and who have an investment in ending poverty."

There was also real debate about campaign finance reform. As Chuck Collins explains, "There were business groups who support curtailing soft or unregulated money, but do not support public funding of elections, and then there was Public Campaign, a national organization devoted to what it calls the Clean Money Campaign" -- a system of full public financing for election campaigns, with no private financing at all.

Echols found the Shadow Conventions positive both in terms of the impact they had on the major parties and on the benefit they provided participants. "We know that our existence created anxiety for the major parties. A lot of people in the Republican Party got pressure not to speak. There were people who were scheduled to speak and who then jumped off. From the Republican side, we were painted as left-wing liberals. From the Democratic side, we were painted as a Huffington/[Warren] Beatty event, just a bunch of fluff and not serious. In both cases, there were efforts to discount us, but we were too present and too successful to be discounted."

Echols adds, "For faith-based people who participated, they had increased visibility about their work. They were also able to connect with others and to realize that they were not alone. Both Bush and Gore paid lip-service to partnering with faith-based organizations, and we said to them, 'We don't want just a pat on the head.' We let them know that we are competent national leaders doing real work."

Echols also believes that positive working relationships were forged among different organizations. "Across topics, we developed a strong sense of a shared ethic. It was very clear that poverty is at the heart of why campaign finance reform is needed. Until we deal with the fact that corporations can buy whatever they want and that the wealthy are running the political system, why should we believe that poor people are going to be on the political agenda?"

Issues, not individuals

The Shadow Conventions did not endorse a presidential candidate. Collins explains, "We're concerned about issues, not individuals. We want all the candidates to endorse the issues that are important to Americans."

Collins also urges people to "see your vote as just one small part of exercising your citizenship rights in a democracy. We all need to be concerned about the corporate takeover of our democratic process. The debate is being shaped and narrowed by money. This will not serve the majority of Americans. We need to take back our democracy."

Nevertheless, some speakers at the Shadow Conventions did make their preferences clear. When Senator John McCain endorsed George W. Bush, he was soundly booed.

Jesse Jackson argued that "the power is not in the ticket; the power is in the picket," but he endorsed the Democrats at the end of his speech. "I will choose to support not just Gore and Lieberman," he said. "I support that Congress ... I say on November 7, let's fight back and stay out of the bushes."

Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) also endorsed the Democratic ticket, though his endorsement was weaker than Jackson's: "I'm going to support the vice-president and be out there, but you know what? Regardless of what position you take vis-à-vis the vice-president, Ralph Nader or others, when this is over, I really do believe that we need to build a kind of independent political force. I didn't say third party, but you know what? We've gotta stop waiting for other people to put forth the new ideas ... I'm tired of waiting. It's time for us to find our own voice, to do our own organizing."

Others made it clear that they were not going to wait until November to build an independent political force. Cornel West of Harvard University said, "I am an independent. And I'm a free black man. I speak my mind and heart and soul. And that's why I'm for brother Ralph Nader. Not because he's a perfect candidate -- no candidate is perfect. But for me, on personal grounds, I reached a point where working people and poor people are so disregarded and disrespected by a corporate-dominated Democratic party, that you have to begin a new cycle somewhere with somebody. And this broadens the discourse and broadens the engagement. And maybe we can see a little leftward leaning in the Democratic party. We shall see. We shall see."

Doris Haddock, best known as Granny D, walked across the country in support of campaign finance reform. At the Shadow Convention in Los Angeles, she, too, urged the creation of independent political forces. While she did not directly endorse Nader, the implication was clear from her remarks:

"As we enter this period of great struggle, let us be willing to have short-term losses for long-term gains. This means that we must vote our hearts and let the chips fall where they may. What would be worse than having someone in the White House for four or eight long years who doesn't believe in campaign finance reform, who doesn't believe in social justice, who doesn't believe in environmental sanity, and who doesn't believe in individual rights?

"I tell you what would be worse. What would be worse would be four or eight years of someone who gives us the illusion of reform, the illusion of justice, the illusion of environmental sanity and the illusion of individual human rights. Don't think of your vote as a day trader's investment in the candidate of the moment; vote for the long term. Invest in the moral progress of your nation."

Granny D challenged convention attendants not to accept Al Gore as the lesser of two evils. "The future must be our concern," she said, "not any one election. Don't outsmart yourself by spending your one vote on an attempt to keep the worst candidate from winning; America will never get great leaders if we vote that way."

Camille Colatosti is Witness staff writer.