Monday, April 19, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.
Fed-up Democrats passed a party platform over the weekend calling for the impeachment of President Bush, saying he lied to justify the war in Iraq.
Some party leaders were lukewarm to the idea, with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., saying the platform plank was "just for show."
"I support impeachment of the president, but I support it on Nov. 2," he said, preferring to send Bush packing by an election defeat instead of by impeachment, as touted in the platform plank sponsored by state Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas.
Party platforms don't always draw attention, but some said the impeachment plank could alienate moderate voters and further polarize what is shaping up to be a contentious election in this swing state.
Chris Carr, executive director of the state Republican party, said the motion will "ignite our base."
"It's just out of step with mainstream Nevada," said Carr, who is planning the Republican state convention in Reno in two weeks.
Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the platform could dissuade undecided voters, and that it is another example of how the two parties are polarizing.
"It's over the top," Herzik said. "And this is the problem. Both sides are over the top on their attacks on the other side. They are preaching to their most loyal voters."
Coffin introduced the plank and passed out a three-page letter saying he thinks only Congress can properly investigate Bush's path to war in Iraq.
"I have agonized over my personal belief that a President should be supported in his endeavors in international affairs, but I am convinced that President Bush breached his constitutional duty to Congress and the American people when he launched our adventure in Iraq," Coffin wrote in the letter.
This year's state convention drew an estimated 920 people -- more than three times the number who attended the last convention in 2002.
Participants were united in "Bush bashing," but the sheer number of people attending sometimes made proceedings disorganized and contentious.
After bickering over delegate selection on Saturday, a smaller crowd arrived Sunday morning to debate the platform.
They spent hours on the first few pages of the 38-page platform, mostly debating a pro-choice plank and parliamentary procedure.
When they ran out of time, they passed the rest of the platform without debate -- even the line that called for Bush's impeachment.
Some delegates were furious that they weren't given the party platform in advance, saying they hadn't had a chance to read it before they had to vote.
"I feel outraged," Fallon resident Michelle Ippolito told convention leaders. "I think every one of you should be replaced."
The war in Iraq was one of the most talked-about topics on the main floor, but members of the committee that hammered out the platform for two days said the idea of impeaching Bush was not controversial when it was proposed.
"It carries a message that I thought was important to say," said committee member Peggy Maze Johnson.
Another committee member, John Cahill, said that some people actually cheered when they first talked about the idea.
Yet Cahill and others worried that people would think Democrats were trying to get back at Republicans for impeaching President Clinton.
"We should not be a party that wants to take vengeance and impeach Bush just to get even," said John Ponticello, president of the Paradise Democratic Club.
Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers said the motion to impeach Bush isn't "extremist."
"The platform plank regarding the impeachment says what everyone is saying right now -- that this country was misled into the war in Iraq," he said.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a respected civil rights activist, invigorated the crowd Saturday with a speech on bonding together to fight for their rights.
At one point, he bellowed in his Southern drawl: "This war was unnecessary! We didn't have to have this war! It was unnecessary!"
Democrats said this weekend they realize they need to keep up their energy to win Nevada for John Kerry in November.
"This man is an absolute disaster," said 71-year-old Lucien Benjamin, who retired to Las Vegas after a career with the Federal Aviation Administration. "He ranks about as low as you can get."
Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said the strong showing at the state convention proves that Democrats are keeping up the momentum they created when they showed up en masse throughout the state for the Feb. 14 presidential caucus.
"My worst fear was that after the caucus meetings, things would kind of fall flat," he said.
A steady lineup of the state party's notables rallied the crowd on Saturday, and TV and movie star Martin Sheen made a brief appearance Saturday evening to present an award to Reid.
Reid called the White House a "palace of privilege" and rattled off a list of complaints about Bush, from the rising deficit, which he said will hinder future generations, to the Medicare bill, which he said won't help seniors pay for their prescription bills.
"Harry Truman had a sign that said, 'The Buck Stops Here,' " Reid said. "President Bush has a sign that says, 'Hey, don't blame me.' "
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