Campaign Diary home >> Pre-empting the Republican threat
Pre-empting the Republican threat
Date: Sunday, January 11, 2004
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Place: Presidential debate
I'm in the lobby of the Polk County Convention Center, trying to find a way into the Brown and Black Presidential Debate.
Only guests with tickets to the debate are allowed in, but a very nice man has an extra ticket. I take my seat, put away my notebook, and enjoy the show. I wouldn't be any happier at the Super Bowl.
During a commercial break, security ejects a man wearing a George Washington-like white wig. I ask the person next to me the reason for the man's ejection. "I'm not sure. I think it's because he's a Republican." And indeed, this is the reason.
I meet the guy after the debate. His name is Daniel Vovak. He is a wig-wearing Republican running for president with the campaign slogan, "Small ideas for America." Fifty-two newspapers and six television stations have interviewed him.
Obviously, Vovak is a goof. However, he was in no way disrupting the debate, nor has he ever caused a disturbance anywhere else.
When I ask him for a comment, he notes that he was kicked out of a debate sponsored by a minority group. "Isn't it ironic," he says, "that Republicans aren't allowed to discriminate against minorities, but minorities are allowed to discriminate against Republicans?"
To some extent, I sympathize with the debate sponsors. They probably knew that Vovak is both a Republican and an attention-seeker. They probably figured Vovak could cause trouble. They pre-empted the threat.
And how can a good Republican like me argue with a policy of pre-emption?
Next stop: Sioux City
Duke senior Justin Walker, a "political junkie" from Louisville, Ky., is on the Democratic Party campaign trail as part of an independent study project. He is filing periodic dispatches for the Duke Web site.
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