Weapons banned for RNC delegates
Note to delegates and other convention attendees: Leave your guns home. As New York increases security for the Republican National Convention, the event's organizers are making sure nothing is left unsaid. That's why ''weapons" topped a list of prohibited items sent out in advance. The list mentions explosives, fireworks, and knives -- ''regardless of size" -- as well as some less obvious items. Don't try to get into Madison Square Garden with balloons or a stroller. Hope it doesn't rain, because umbrellas are out. So are cans as well as plastic and glass bottles. Some other items, like banners and signs, were added by convention organizers. The list also was sent to media organizations Friday, before the Secret Service led an overnight security sweep of Madison Square Garden and the media center in the James A. Farley Post Office. (AP)
Ad efforts heat up as GOP convenes
NEW YORK -- Viewers treated to a break from the television ad wars during the Democratic convention last month will not get the same respite when Republicans gather to renominate President Bush. Campaign commercials will fill airwaves from Maine to Florida to Oregon, and some by the Democratic National Committee will run even in New York City, an ultra-expensive media market in a Democratic state that is typically void of presidential political ads. Liberal interest groups and the Democratic Party will broadcast the most ads, criticizing Bush on everything from the Iraq war to the economy as they try to poke a hole in a week centered on praising the president. In New York City, the DNC is spending a small amount, about $25,000, to run four 15-second spots needling Bush. The DNC independent expenditure office has committed about $8 million to fill television and radio airwaves in 21 battleground states and nationally on cable networks with an ad arguing that Bush's viewpoints on the economy conflict with reality. (AP)
CALIFORNIA
Arabs, Muslims backing Kerry
WALNUT CREEK -- After almost three years of perceived harassment by federal investigators, Arab and Muslim Americans are coalescing into a voting bloc that could play a new and significant role in the coming presidential election, particularly in swing states. Several polls conducted this summer indicate that the population is lining up behind Democratic candidate John F. Kerry and abandoning President Bush. In contrast, Arab-Americans gave Bush a plurality of their vote in 2000, according to polls conducted then. Almost half of Arab Americans who are registered US voters back Kerry, while 16 percent support Bush and 14 percent back Independent candidate Ralph Nader, who is of Lebanese descent, according to a new poll. It was released by the ethnic media coalition New California Media and the human rights group Amnesty International. (KRT)
