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Democrat giving NRA keynote for 1st time since1991
Josey1
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Democrat giving NRA keynote for first time since 1991
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Georgia Sen. Zell Miller will be the first Democrat in more than a decade to give the keynote address to the National Rifle Association's annual meeting, a constituency he says his party doesn't always understand.
When Miller takes the stage this weekend as the first keynote speaker of his party since before ex-President Bill Clinton was elected, he also will be delivering a message from disaffected Southern Democrats.
Miller, a popular two-term governor in Georgia elected to the Senate in 2000, has criticized fellow Democrats before for failing to understand issues important to rural voters in the South and elsewhere, including gun rights. Those failures led to ex-Vice President Al Gore's lost 2000 presidential campaign, he has said.
"The campaign in the South was a mess. ... Our party can't let this happen again," Miller wrote in a column in the New York Times last June. "And given the demographic changes that determine the makeup of the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, it will happen again if the Democratic Party fails to recover its strength in the South."
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said many in the media were surprised by the choice of Miller to give the speech.
"But Zell has always been a good supporter of ours. We do have Democrats who support the NRA. If you ask me to gauge Democratic interest in the NRA post-2000, I would say it has gone up a lot," he said from NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Va.
Texas Rep. Martin Frost was the last Democrat to give a keynote address at the NRA's national convention in 1991, Arulanandam said.
The year before, it was delivered by then-Rep. Mike Espy, D-Miss., who later became Clinton's agriculture secretary.
"Since 1992, they've been shut out," Arulanandam said.
Nevada Rep. Jim Gibbons, a longtime NRA backer, is among Republicans welcoming the change of pace at the NRA's 131st annual meeting running Friday through Sunday in Reno.
"I applaud the NRA for broadening the inclusion of those Democrats who also support the Second Amendment," Gibbons said.
"Democrats like Zell Miller need to be more outspoken," he said.
Nevada Democrats say party lines have little to do with gun debates in their state.
"There is this impression sometimes that in liberal, eastern cities, Democrats advocate total gun control, but that's not the case out here," Nevada Democratic Party Chairman Terry Care said.
"I just don't see it being much of an issue in Nevada."
NRA leaders say Democrats have been warming up to their group since Gore's narrow loss to President Bush. They point to a number of Democratic congressional candidates, especially in the South and West, emphasizing their support for gun rights.
"Democrats seem to be learning a lesson from the Electoral College losses," Arulanandam said. He said gun rights issues played an important role in Gore's failure to carry any Southern state, especially West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.
"For a politician in the South, gun control is not just about guns," Miller wrote. "Gun control - along with a whole bunch of other issues - is about values."
Democrats in the South will remember Gore as being only the third Democrat since the Civil War to lose not only every state in the old Confederacy, but two border states as well, Miller said.
The two others, George McGovern and Walter Mondale, "had an excuse because they were crushed in national landslides," Miller said.
"Mr. Gore's loss was different. He was swept in the South while winning the national vote," the senator wrote.
NRA President Charlton Heston and NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre are scheduled to address members Saturday morning, with Miller's keynote Saturday night at the Reno Hilton hotel-casino. As many as 35,000 people are expected to attend parts of the meeting.
On Friday, rock guitarist Ted Nugent will be on hand to sign copies of his new book, "Kill It & Grill It." Conventioneers will be treated to a concerts through the weekend by Vince Gill, Lee Greenwood and the Oak Ridge Boys.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2002/apr/25/042510166.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Georgia Sen. Zell Miller will be the first Democrat in more than a decade to give the keynote address to the National Rifle Association's annual meeting, a constituency he says his party doesn't always understand.
When Miller takes the stage this weekend as the first keynote speaker of his party since before ex-President Bill Clinton was elected, he also will be delivering a message from disaffected Southern Democrats.
Miller, a popular two-term governor in Georgia elected to the Senate in 2000, has criticized fellow Democrats before for failing to understand issues important to rural voters in the South and elsewhere, including gun rights. Those failures led to ex-Vice President Al Gore's lost 2000 presidential campaign, he has said.
"The campaign in the South was a mess. ... Our party can't let this happen again," Miller wrote in a column in the New York Times last June. "And given the demographic changes that determine the makeup of the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, it will happen again if the Democratic Party fails to recover its strength in the South."
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said many in the media were surprised by the choice of Miller to give the speech.
"But Zell has always been a good supporter of ours. We do have Democrats who support the NRA. If you ask me to gauge Democratic interest in the NRA post-2000, I would say it has gone up a lot," he said from NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Va.
Texas Rep. Martin Frost was the last Democrat to give a keynote address at the NRA's national convention in 1991, Arulanandam said.
The year before, it was delivered by then-Rep. Mike Espy, D-Miss., who later became Clinton's agriculture secretary.
"Since 1992, they've been shut out," Arulanandam said.
Nevada Rep. Jim Gibbons, a longtime NRA backer, is among Republicans welcoming the change of pace at the NRA's 131st annual meeting running Friday through Sunday in Reno.
"I applaud the NRA for broadening the inclusion of those Democrats who also support the Second Amendment," Gibbons said.
"Democrats like Zell Miller need to be more outspoken," he said.
Nevada Democrats say party lines have little to do with gun debates in their state.
"There is this impression sometimes that in liberal, eastern cities, Democrats advocate total gun control, but that's not the case out here," Nevada Democratic Party Chairman Terry Care said.
"I just don't see it being much of an issue in Nevada."
NRA leaders say Democrats have been warming up to their group since Gore's narrow loss to President Bush. They point to a number of Democratic congressional candidates, especially in the South and West, emphasizing their support for gun rights.
"Democrats seem to be learning a lesson from the Electoral College losses," Arulanandam said. He said gun rights issues played an important role in Gore's failure to carry any Southern state, especially West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.
"For a politician in the South, gun control is not just about guns," Miller wrote. "Gun control - along with a whole bunch of other issues - is about values."
Democrats in the South will remember Gore as being only the third Democrat since the Civil War to lose not only every state in the old Confederacy, but two border states as well, Miller said.
The two others, George McGovern and Walter Mondale, "had an excuse because they were crushed in national landslides," Miller said.
"Mr. Gore's loss was different. He was swept in the South while winning the national vote," the senator wrote.
NRA President Charlton Heston and NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre are scheduled to address members Saturday morning, with Miller's keynote Saturday night at the Reno Hilton hotel-casino. As many as 35,000 people are expected to attend parts of the meeting.
On Friday, rock guitarist Ted Nugent will be on hand to sign copies of his new book, "Kill It & Grill It." Conventioneers will be treated to a concerts through the weekend by Vince Gill, Lee Greenwood and the Oak Ridge Boys.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2002/apr/25/042510166.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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