Protesters gearing up for the political conventions

Every four years, liberal activists follow political power brokers and the world media to the Democratic and Republican party conventions, filling the streets with spirited protest against war, corporate domination and environmental destruction.

This year there's a twist: Many protesters will demonstrate outside a convention that will nominate the first black major-party presidential candidate in history, who is opposed to the Iraq war and was once a community organizer and activist in Chicago.

But Barack Obama will not get a pass from demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention. Activists say they are wary of his shift to the center since he secured the nomination last month.

"We're hoping he can remember his roots and, through these mass rallies and protests, we can move him," said Glenn Spagnuolo, a spokesman for an umbrella group coordinating the Denver protests, provocatively named Re-create '68.

In Denver as well as in St. Paul, Minn., the site of the Republican National Convention, activists are already skirmishing with city officials over where and when they will be allowed to demonstrate. But different dynamics are forming. In Minnesota, activists are eager to contrast their views with the Republican Party's pro- business agenda and support for the Iraq war.

"People are coming from around the country to stand side by side and show how angry Americans are at the state of the country," said Jess Sundin, spokeswoman for the group coordinating protests in Minnesota.

As many as 50,000 people are expected in the Twin Cities -- so many that activists are asking farmers to let demonstrators camp in their fields.

"Why go to Denver if you can be here protesting the important political issues being raised this year: the war in Iraq and the Republican way?" Sundin said.

In Denver, where activists say as many as 25,000 may show up, some demonstrators are taking pains to explain that they are not against Obama.

"People are looking to him to end this militarism, end this assault on civil liberties," said Carolyn Bninski of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center. "A lot of people feel he will make a lot of changes."

In recent years, protesters have caused headaches for cities holding political conventions. Authorities have sometimes taken controversial steps to keep demonstrators from disrupting the proceedings.