Giving new meaning to the concept of not giving an inch:
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Kerry troops rally supporters for 'True Patriot' at courthouse stop
Sunday, May 30, 2004
By JOHN PECK
Times Staff Writer jpeck@htimes.com
State's Democratic chief holds out hope to beat GOP here
State and local supporters of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry plugged his leadership and Vietnam-era military record Saturday during a political rally on the Madison County Courthouse square.
About 75 fans, some carrying signs reading "A True Patriot" and "The only one who actually served," bashed President Bush and cheered the man they hope will replace him. The Huntsville stop was part of a three-city Saturday "Kerry-van" planned for North Alabama. Other stops were planned for Anniston and Birmingham.
State Democratic Party Chairman Redding Pitt told the Huntsville crowd to disregard polls and past elections showing Alabama's strong Republican leanings in presidential elections.
Not since Georgian Jimmy Carter won the White House in 1976 has Alabama gone Democratic in a presidential election.
A recent statewide poll by Montgomery-based Capital Survey Research showed Kerry trailing Bush 37 percent to 56 percent, with 8 percent undecided. The poll of 785 registered voters, conducted May 4-6 and May 17-20, has a 3.5 percent margin of error.
But Pitt said four years ago Democratic nominee Al Gore got 41 percent of the state's vote, which he said was 25 percentage points better than reported in pre-election polls in a state Gore and the national Democratic Party virtually ignored.
Mike Vaccaro of Huntsville, a veteran and retired NASA engineer, said he supported Bush in 2000 but came to Saturday's rally to support Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran. Vaccaro, 78, said he has been disappointed with Bush's record on the economy and on the decision to invade Iraq without more backing from the United Nations.
"It's not a war of necessity but a war of choice," he said.
Similar Kerry caravans will be held in the coming months throughout Alabama on such issues as jobs, health care, education and the economy, said Ted Hosp, Kerry's Alabama campaign manager.