Republican National Convention

Republicans on Thursday announced that a conservative Democrat, Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, would be the keynote speaker at their party's national convention -- the latest signal of President Bush's effort to woo swing voters in his reelection bid. Miller, who is retiring from his Senate seat, endorsed Bush several months ago and previously had been named as a convention speaker.

As the Republican convention approaches, the table has been set for a lavish party. But persistent concerns over terrorism, protests and other issues make it unclear whether the New York gala will be a success or a security disaster. Once seen as a nearly perfect choice, the Big Apple now seems to present as many potential problems as opportunities for Republican planners. And public resentment over disruptions the convention may bring has been growing.

A federal judge ruled Monday that two protest groups could not use Central Park as a site for a demonstration days before the Republican National Convention. "This court cannot blind itself to the daunting security concerns facing this city during the Republican National Convention," U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III said.

On Sept. 2, the last day of the Republican National Convention in New York City, there will be a gathering of the Brooklyn Orgastic Politics Collective. Somewhere in Brooklyn (the location is undisclosed), these followers of the radical early 20th century psychologist Wilhelm Reich will attempt to "suck the fascism from Madison Square Garden," the site of the convention.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that he wouldn't attend the Republican National Convention next week in New York because his state was still recovering from Hurricane Charley. "There will be a role later on for me to play" in the presidential race, said the governor, brother of President Bush. "The recovery phase of this is important to get started and ... being up in New York is inappropriate. "It's appropriate for others but not for me," he said.

City officials clashed with protest organizers during a Tuesday court hearing over their bid to hold a rally for 200,000 people in Central Park on the eve of next week's Republican National Convention. A gathering of that size would damage the park's Great Lawn, New York officials argued during the acrimonious, two-hour session. But demonstrators said that denying them a permit to rally Sunday would be a violation of their free-speech rights.

Hours after a judge turned down a bid by protesters to stage an antiwar rally in Central Park, organizers met Wednesday with police to map out a peaceful conclusion to the march through Midtown Manhattan by an expected 250,000 demonstrators on the eve of the Republican National Convention. Activists blasted the ruling, saying it violated their free-speech rights, and vowed that the march past Madison Square Garden, site of the convention, would still take place Sunday.

Over the last few years, many political protesters have felt increasingly squeezed by law enforcement authorities, who frequently seek to restrict them to predetermined "free speech zones" and sometimes threaten them with tear gas, rubber bullets or arrest if they stray. Such tactics can lead to innovation, however, and the technologically savvy have found it in the combined use of cellphones, the Internet and low-power radio.

Two groups have put up a giant digital display to tick off the cost of the Iraq war days before the Republican National Convention gets going less than a mile away. The digital billboard was unveiled Wednesday by the advocacy group Project Billboard and the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank headed by John Podesta, former President Clinton's chief of staff. Organizers calculated the war's cost as of Wednesday at $134.

President Bush got his wish from Republican platform writers Thursday: a tightly controlled, highly conservative statement of party principles that lauds his administration and glosses over internal dissent. The platform, drafted by a 110-member delegate committee and set to be ratified after the Republican National Convention begins Monday, is a paean to Bush's record in office and a guide to at least some of his goals for a second term.