Democrats 'left out in the cold' during VP's visit

Posted: Thursday, Nov 02, 2006 - 11:42:33 pm PST
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By TOM GREENE
Staff writer 

JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Skip Cuck gets the attention of drivers along Wyoming Avenue as a group holds a Democratic counter rally Thursday during Vice President Dick Cheney's visit.

COEUR d'ALENE -- Miles from the action if traveling by road, about 40 Democrats marched up and down Wyoming Avenue on Thursday carrying protest signs demanding change.

"I think I can just about see the hangar," said Bev Moss squinting in the first heavy snowfall of the year at a fuzzy silhouette where Vice President Dick Cheney would soon be landing in Air Force Two.

Moss, who chairs the Kootenai County Democrats, said the weather was appropriate for the GOP rally.

"Frozen administration," she said. "I thought this is such a metaphor: working families and the middle class are left out in the cold."

Coeur d'Alene businesswoman Melodee Watt, 51, said she has always considered herself an independent voter. When she heard the vice president was coming to North Idaho, she said she wanted to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She went to the GOP headquarters, filled out a form and waited in line.

"She (a GOP volunteer) typed it in and said 'Oops, we have a little problem,'" Watt said. "I thought 'What? I've never been arrested or anything.'"

The volunteer had pulled up a scarlet "D" by Watt's name. She was flagged as a Democrat, and Democrats were not invited to the vice president's rally.

"I don't recall ever registering as a Democrat or a Republican. Over my lifetime I have leaned Republican and I have leaned Democrat," Watt said. "It was kind of embarrassing.

"I just wanted to put politics aside and show respect for the office. I left there feeling excluded from my country."

Kootenai County Chairman Brad Corkhill confirmed Democrats were not invited except "a few might have snuck in."

"Not when we want Republicans to have them (tickets)," Corkhill said. "It's our party and that's what we want to do."

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English said it's well and good the GOP have their own party as long as they pick up the tab.

"They better make sure their expenses are paid for," said English, who handles elections in the county and is a Democrat. "If it's a strictly partisan event, I would hope it will be paid for with partisan dollars."

English said since voters do not register for a party in Idaho, any method used to determine if someone was a Democrat or Republican would be "unofficial."

"They have various sophisticated computers profiling based on your magazine subscriptions to what neighborhood you live in," English said. "Frankly, it seems like a violation of privacy to me."

Corkhill said they used a GOP "voter vault" computer database to determine which party a ticket seeker belonged to. The voter vault is a marketing tool used by Republicans to identify prospective voters. The Democrats have similar databases, but the GOP voter vault made headlines in 2003 when it was effectively used in several state races.

"We used our best judgment on who to let in," Corkhill said. He added that "The county's not paying for this."

Corkhill said bills for the event, such as local law enforcement, take time to process and "you have to understand, this was thrust on us last week."

"I don't have the details yet," he said.

Watt said she thought she would be exactly who the GOP would want at the rally: An undecided businesswoman.

Now, she said, she felt like picking up a sign and marching out in the cold with the Democrats.

"No wonder there's so much division in this country. When did it become us versus them?" Watt said. "No matter how you feel, one way or the other, we're all Americans."