A few thousand protesters, marching through Boston under
heavy security on Sunday -- the day before the opening of the
Democratic
National Convention -- might seem to be walking on the margins of the
2004 campaign. But what united and divided the crowd that made its way
from Boston Common to the FleetCenter -- estimated by authorities at
2,500 -- might end up being central to John Kerry's effort to channel
displeasure with the Bush administration into votes, and even votes in
swing states like Maine and New Hampshire. As one sign put it, "Kerry:
It's The War, Stupid!" "I'm here because I'm against the war,"
said Frank Lavine, an 80-year-old World War II veteran from Boston.
"Because war is a racket." "It's ridiculous," said Pat Galloway of
Maine. "We were lied to. We were manipulated into going into war."
Despite the war's importance as a campaign issue and a policy matter,
the Democratic platform does not take a position on whether the 2003
invasion was justified.[more]