After the vast resources sinkholed into Homeland Security, what if the most immediate, the most likely, the most realistic terrorist threat to America, is the white male who votes Bush, goes to church, mows and edges his lawn, and one clear morning gathers his firearms and ammunition and walks into a school.

We don't want to think about him. We prefer our terrorists wild-eyed and fanatic, turbaned and howling, bearded and masked and glaring and gowned.

We don't want to think about profiling Charles Whitman. We don't want to think that the gifted student, the accomplished pianist, the Eagle Scout who grows to become the Marine who wins the Good Conduct medal, married to his hardworking, supportive sweetheart, will one day climb a clock tower, shoot 14 passersby to death, and wound dozens more.

We have privacy issues, we Americans do.

We respect the privacy of our neighbors. So much so that we may live next to them for 20 years and know them not at all.

We respect the privacy of the quiet, the keep-to-himself kind of guy. Maybe a little scary. But that's his business, not ours.

Until he walks into a school.

Until he trains his handgun, his assault rifle, his shotgun, his deer rifle, on girls in the school, authority figures in the school, anyone who gets in his way.

Or until he walks into the workplace, opening fire on colleagues or former colleagues, bosses or former bosses. Anyone who gets in his way.

Be afraid, America. Be very afraid. And hire guards. Place them at the entrances to your schools. Keep that guy out. I'm not talking Mohammed Atta. I'm talking that guy who looks like you're supposed to look, if you live in America.

Keep him out. It's a gun-happy country. There must be a few weapons left over to bar his entry. If the guard sees he has a gun, the guard should be trained and ready to drop him before he drops a single child.

Keep him out, America. You'll never forgive yourself if you don't.

Police clear the streets after a protest Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006.

Police fired beanbag rounds a two people who disappeared into the crowd, police said.

In all, 10 people were arrested for disorderly conduct and failing to obey police, according to Kent.

Protesters told KGW they were upset with the direction the Bush administration is taking the country.

"We're not able to control everybody, and people are free to do what they want. But as far as the organizers go, this is intended to be a free peaceful expression of what needs to happen in our country," Jim Oberg of the World Can't Wait organization said.

The protest was a part of several taking place around the nation Thursday.

Mr. Bush, accompanied by a security guard and a female aide, made a slow retreat toward the T-station at Wood Street.

"He was quickly getting out of the way and not wanting to engage us," said Jon Vandenburgh, one of the protesters, who also is a researcher for the United Steelworkers.

Once in the subway station, Mr. Bush scurried to the escalators and descended to the mezzanine level, Mr. Vandenburgh said.

By now, Mr. Bush was cornered. He was surrounded by signs that said "Pittsburgh is a Santorum Free Zone," "Honk if you're sick of Rick," and a crowd growing increasingly louder, according to Mr. Vandenburgh.

"We don't want you here," protesters chanted.

Port Authority spokesman Bob Grove said six or seven officers responded to the scene to control the crowds.

He said Mr. Bush had been walking in the area near the T-station and the incident happened spontaneously when about 50 pickets "tailed him and stayed with him and went into the Wood Street station."

About 75 protesters remained on the street, said Mr. Grove.

He said the crowd was asked repeatedly to disperse.

Mr. Grove said a Port Authority canine unit was called in to help with crowd control. Two officers used their tasers to stun two protesters who "were asked to leave, but did not go," Mr. Grove said.

The tasers he said were empty of the cartridges that supply a more powerful charge.

"It was a very tense situation. They were very close to the governor and shouting on top of him."

As a precaution, the governor was ushered into a T-station supply closet and stayed there until the crowd left.

No arrests were made and no citations were issued, Mr. Grove said. Mr. Bush was not injured.

The two men who were tasered were shaken and left the protest, said David Meieran, with the Thomas Merton Center and one of the protesters with Uprise Counter Recruitment.

Mr. Meieran said the Port Authority officers were fairly aggressive and pushed them aside.

Pittsburgh police said they monitored the protest in front of the Duquesne Club, which they called peaceful, but did not respond to the incident in the T-station.

The entire incident lasted about 5 minutes. After calm was restored, the smaller group of protesters inside the T-station made their way back to the Duquesne Club where they staked out the front of the building and an alley entrance.

Mr. Vandenburgh and Mr. Meieran said they later saw Mr. Bush escorted to the Duquesne Club, which he entered through a back door at about 5 p.m.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Bush said she was unaware of the incident last night and had no immediate comment.

The elder Bush, a decorated Navy pilot in World War II, joined the armed forces on his 18th birthday, June 12, 1942. "After our nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor, you simply couldn't find anyone who wasn't anxious to sign up," he told the audience as a heavy rain fell.

"The point is that our nation was totally united against the insidious totalitarian threat against freedom," he said. He added, "In my humble view, we were no greater than the kids that serve today."

The current president said that in the 21st century, "freedom is again under attack and young Americans are volunteering to answer the call."

Doro Bush Koch, the elder Bush's daughter, handled the ritual smashing of a bottle of sparkling wine against the flattop's bow.

Bush father and son and several relatives joined hundreds of others, from government dignitaries to shipyard workers, at Northrop Grumman Newport News, where the $6 billion, 1,092-foot-long carrier is being built. It is not yet finished and is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in late 2008.

The christening ceremony was scheduled to be nearly two hours long, but deafening thunderclaps, lightning, wind and intermittent heavy rain left the speakers mostly abandoning their prepared remarks to merely introduce the next in line.

The elder Bush choked up during his informal and sentimental address, while talking about the men with whom he served in World War II.

Four Navy veterans who served with Bush during the war traveled to the ceremony, an event the former president called the "third happiest day of his life," after his wedding and the day when two of his sons were elected governors.

"This is every naval aviator's dream," he said

The 10th of the Nimitz-class carriers - the largest warships in the world - features technological advancements that make it a bridge to the next generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

On Sunday, the carrier was to be launched from its dry-dock into the James River and taken to an outfitting berth, where work on interior systems will continue.

The former president was the youngest pilot in the Navy when he joined, receiving his commission and naval aviator wings before age 19.

Bush flew torpedo bombers off the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto. In 1944, he was on a mission over the Pacific when Japanese anti-aircraft fire hit his plane. Bush parachuted into the sea and was rescued by a Navy submarine. He later was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals for his Navy service in the Pacific theater.

Capt. Kevin O'Flaherty, the carrier's prospective commanding officer, is in charge of about 330 sailors now attached to the ship. He said he eventually will be responsible for about 3,000 crew members when the ship is put into service. It is not known where the carrier is to be stationed

"As a critic of the administration, I will be damned if you can get away with calling me the equivalent of a Nazi appeaser," Olbermann told The Associated Press. "No one has the right to say that about any free-speaking American in this country."

Since that first commentary, Olbermann's nightly audience has increased 69 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research. This past Monday 834,000 people tuned in, virtually double his season average and more than CNN competitors Paula Zahn and Nancy Grace. Cable kingpin and Olbermann nemesis Bill O'Reilly (two million viewers that night) stands in his way.

Olbermann stood before Ground Zero on Sept. 11 and said Bush's conduct before the Iraq war was an impeachable offense. "Not once, in now five years, has this president ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space and to this, the current and curdled version of our beloved country," he said.

His latest verbal attack, this past Thursday, criticized the president's campaign attacks on Democrats.

"Why have you chosen to go down in history as the president who made things up?" he asked.

Olbermann has become a hero to Bush opponents, who distribute video files and transcripts of his commentaries. One poster on the Daily Kos who's been trying to spread his own four-year boycott of cable news wondered: "Is it time to modify the boycott to allow for Keith's show 'Countdown' - and only his show?"

On the right, he's known as Krazy Keith and OlbyLoon, and the Olbermannwatch.com Web site is devoted to picking apart his words.

"Look in the mirror, Keith," an Olbermannwatch.com blogger wrote. "You have become that which you claim to despise - a demagogue."

Olbermann has never been a Bush fan. He's gone on crusades before, pounding on alleged voting irregularities in Ohio in 2004 when the story went dry elsewhere. He's also waged war against O'Reilly. None of these match his most recent campaign for ferocity.

Liberal activist Jeff Cohen is thrilled for Olbermann's success, but admits that it's bittersweet.

Cohen was a producer for Phil Donahue's failed talk show. Less than four years ago Donahue's show imploded primarily because MSNBC and its corporate owners were afraid to have a show seen as liberal or anti-Bush at a time those opinions were less popular, he said.

In his new book "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media," Cohen alleges that NBC News forced Donahue to book more conservatives than liberals and eventually wanted one of the nation's best-known liberal media figures to imitate O'Reilly.

Same time as Olbermann, same channel.

That Olbermann has been permitted to do what he's doing is evidence that "the political zeitgeist has changed dramatically in four years, and especially (at) MSNBC," Cohen said.

While it's true a different political atmosphere has helped Olbermann, NBC News senior vice president Phil Griffin disputed Cohen's interpretation that politics doomed Donahue. While MSNBC could be faulted for giving up on Donahue too fast, the show never caught its rhythm and was extremely expensive, he said.

"People try to ascribe motives to us, that somehow we're trying to keep liberals off the air and it's all about ideology," Griffin said. "If you get ratings, there's no issue."

Even before this fall, Olbermann's ratings had been on a slow rise as viewers connected with his entertaining way of delivering the news, Griffin said.

Early in his second tenure at MSNBC, Olbermann said he wanted to do a segment on whether some of the more heroic elements of former POW Jessica Lynch's rescue were exaggerated. He was told by NBC News executives that he had to balance it with a commentary by conservative radio host Michael Savage, and he refused. He was prepared to walk, he said, but it never came to that.

Olbermann said he hasn't spoken to NBC Chairman Bob Wright or anyone at corporate owner General Electric Co. about his commentaries. No one's asked him to tone things down; in fact, "I've had to calm them down a little bit," he said.

Such is the almighty power of the Nielsen meter.

"As dangerous as it can sometimes be for news, it is also our great protector," Olbermann said. "Because as long as you make them money, they don't care. This is not Rupert Murdoch. And even Rupert Murdoch puts 'Family Guy' on the air and 'The Simpsons,' that regularly criticize Fox News. There is some safety in the corporate structure that we probably could never have anticipated."

What he's doing now is little different from what he did in sports, he said. "You see the events happening before you and you describe them to the audience."

As for his hero worship on the left, Olbermann said, "I'd love to say it's totally irrelevant. I'd say it's 99 percent irrelevant."

More important to him was when he was approached by a Republican media operative on Sept. 11, who complimented him on the commentaries despite utterly disagreeing with them.

"The purpose of this is to get people to think and supply the marketplace of ideas with something at every fruit stand, something of every variety," he said. "As an industry, only half the fruit stand has been open the last four years."

Plenty of people were already watching the two men in their mid 20's engaged in a loud argument.

"A guy chased another guy down, kicking him and beating him," said Linda Vu, who was just 20 feet away. "And I heard a gun shot and the guy who was doing the beating up was on the ground."

The gun shot sent most shoppers scrambling, but some moved in closer in to help.

"He looked kind of dazed that he'd shot somebody," said Ken Malmborg, who was shopping with his wife. "So I came out here to make sure he didn't get away, but I didn't accost him because he was standing there with a loaded weapon."

Witnesses said the shooter sat down after pulling the trigger.

"And he stayed there so other people could start helping the gentleman on the ground. So you could tell it wasn't a threat where he was going to start shooting people," said Annette Johnson of Silverdale.

The shooting shut down the city block in front of the Westlake Mall while police investigated and shoppers walked around the crime tape.

Seattle Police arrived at the scene within moments of the shooting.

"The officers, when they saw the person, he did not run. He said, 'I'm the one who did it,' and he handed over the gun to the officer," said Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel.

The victim was rushed to Harborview Medical Center where he later died.

Police said the two men did not know each other and that the man who fired the shot was acting in self defense.

Investigators said the man who was killed approached the other and out of the blue started assaulting him. The man who was being hit fired one round from his own weapon, which police say was legally registered.

Police said the man will likely not face charges.

The name of the man who died has not been released.

She and her husband, 85-year-old Robert Hess, lived at the Woodland Retirement Center in Lacey. Residents of the community live independently in apartments, yet enjoy the security of having a nursing staff that checks on them. It was that staff that discovered the body around 7 a.m.

Commander John Suessman says when investigators searched the apartment, they recovered a couple of kitchen-type knives.

They also found a suicide note.

"The only thing the note said was 'I'm sorry,' " Commander Suessman said. "The note had no indication of what the motive was, except it indicated that the female didn't want to live any longer." Police did not say how the woman died.

Robert and Bessie Hess were married 48 years. They are survived by a daughter who lives in Eastern Washington.

The staff at Woodland told KOMO 4 News that they do have counselors available for any of their residents, who may need a little extra help, during a time like this.

This is Lacey's first homicide this year.

On Saturday, October 1, two grey helicopters circled at 5:00pm, flying in circles around the city. On our short street three families ran out to look. One elderly woman was carrying a white pillowcase and waved it, as if men in the helicopter could see her. White is the color of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz' Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI in its Spanish initials) - peace at any price, one might say. Afterward she looked at me fiercely and declaimed, "We are hostages in our own city!" Referring to the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials): "they can clean out these people!" Across from us, another house displays a white banner. The houses flying the Mexican flag of red, green and white are the APPO supporters. Most house show no signs, pro or con. Most people sit tight, waiting.

They are navy helicopters. Many people took photos. On Radio 710 AM, the APPO broadcasts in a pleasant voice: keep calm, there are 3,000 people at each barricade, they are probably more afraid than we are, keep calm, maximum alert, this is not Atenco, we are on our own turf and they are strangers here.

A call in to radio APPO came from a man in the town of Ocotlán de Morelos. He was weeping. He said, he "never thought that Fox would ally with the PRI against Oaxaca, to attack our Oaxaqueño people. We never thought there would be massacre of our people."

And the next call: "We are not afraid, we have only our bodies and our sticks and they have guns. We are brave, we are Mexicans...we have the force of justice...I will defend my country. If we die, we die with honor, but they die with shame." And then he began to weep also. The announcer replies, "Animo! Animo, compañero!" - "keep your spirits up, have courage." Well, by now I'm weeping myself.

The announcer remains calm. They are organized, they are ready. The helicopters are doing military reconnaissance, and are certainly trying to terrorize. A press conference at 6:30 in the zocalo by the APPO said pretty much the same. We're ready. Keep calm, don't give in to provocations.

From La Jornada I learned that the helicopters arrived at the Oaxaca airport with military units, and the armed forces were also moved to Salina Cruz and Bahía de Huatulco, along with other military equipment such as tanks, and troops. When they landed "¡Bienvenidos, cabrones!" "¡Bajen, aquí los esperamos!", were the shouts launched at them from people carrying sticks and pipes. "Welcome, bastards! Come on down, we're here waiting for you!"

At 9:00 PM Saturday night the APPO closed off the historic downtown area, telling people who were caught away from home to present themselves as rapidly as possible to pass through the barricades. The APPO was determined to fight off any attack, asking people to unite in support, and at the same time telling those outside the city and around the state to organize their defense.

Radio Ley continued calmly presenting a lawyer's account of what could happen next, as the barricades defended the city center, an island inside the highway roads.

Thousands gathered very quickly to defend the barricades. Among them, I was told, were some foreigners including Univision and CNN. The PRD was heavily represented. The radio voice asked for food, water, telephone lines. I went to sleep around 12:30 and could hear the people singing at the barricades, the basic revolutionary songs. It was kind of like being in a movie.

At 8:00 AM. On Sunday, October 1, I learned that a strong overnight mobilization of the popular teachers movement/APPO went unchallenged. No attack was launched by the federal government. The morning "shots" turned out to be rockets fired as the helicopters circled. Another strategy - is this high tech? - is to run out with mirrors to reflect back into the helicopters "to confuse them". Yet another "solution" was to burn green wood, setting up a smoke screen.

Daylight lets everyone relax. APPO instructed the guards to take down the barricades, except for those around the radio stations and outside the zocalo. In the normal APPO response to challenge, another march was scheduled of the national health service workers this morning from several points to the zocalo. About 2,000-3,000 marched. Another day.

The state is militarized, although Captain Unda Pomposo, chief of the guard in the 10th Naval Military Zone, based in that port, was quoted as saying they are only doing "one or two routine flights" in the state. Over the weekend, three trailers arrived in Bahias de Huatulco, each one carrying three amphibious tanks which were placed in the naval base. According to La Jornada, this makes the biggest military operation the nation has seen since the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas in 1994.

Another concentration of forces on the coast arrived by ship to Salina Cruz, where troops disembarked by sea, air and land. Usually, according to reports, the Army keeps 10,000 troops in the state, and there are 4,000 police from the different state units. Now, La Jornada calculates there are as many as 20,000 military and police. The state's population is about three and a half million.

From Salina Cruz also came the four Puma helicopters to circle the city of Oaxaca. One of them circled overhead Sunday night when a PRI squad attacked the barricade located in the neighborhood of Brenamiel. Thugs kidnapped, beat and tied up three youngsters who had been on the barricade, one of them twelve years old. Two of the three youngsters rescued required medical attention. The APPO people saved them after a broadcast which generated the mobilization of hundreds of Oaxaqueños, by the middle of the night almost two thousand.

The flight was registered by the Institute of National Government Statistics; it was violating the rules of civil aviation.

Monday, October 2 after the commemorative march for the 1968 massacre, the PRI came out again like roaches. Two more abductions were reported, one of a law student and activist from the Benito Juarez Autonomous University, Pedro Garcia, also a member of the Revolutionary Front, who was walking on Sunday with a woman friend toward the university when he was snatched by occupants of a van. On October 3 he was located in the prison at Tlacolula, charged falsely with carrying explosives. It seems the police or thugs have reinitiated the use torture.

The other case is Alfredo Melchor Tirado Cruz, member of the Wide Front for Popular Struggle and of the APPO, who was grabbed at 1:00 on Tuesday afternoon, also in Tlacolula. His whereabouts are still unknown. These two abductions bring the total of arrests to eleven since the onset of the teachers' popular movement.

The National Education Workers' Union local Section 22 began intensifying the mobilization of the teachers in the Tehuantepec Isthmus region, occupying offices of the government and marching. In a press conference the union's auxiliary secretary of organization, Eleuterio López Ruiz said that the teachers are in agreement to stick together until Ulises Ruiz Ortiz falls. He insisted there will be no return to classes, although some teachers are indeed in the classroom in some zones, thinking to hold onto their teaching jobs, in a dissent that chips off fragments of the union.

By Tuesday, October 3, dozens of organizations from civil society who belong to the APPO demanded that the federal government "order the deactivation of all possible operations and the departure of military troops from the Oaxaca territory".

At the same time they rejected the "electoral reform" passed by the Oaxaca legislators (non-PRD members only) to lengthen the term of office for sitting legislators and other governing figures, to which in all the turmoil nobody gave much thought. If Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz ("URO") comes out on top, extended legislative terms will be only a minor annoyance in comparison to what many believe will be total repression.

Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal met with twelve National Action Party (PAN) members of the state legislature led by federal congressman Diódoro Carrasco, president of the Commission on Interior Governance the of the House of Deputies (Mexico's lower house of Congress). Invitations to the meeting were not received by PRD members.

Carrasco admitted that the conflict in Oaxaca changes every minute. He listed three new ingredients: "the invitation of the federal government to build an agreement to restore governability and tranquility to the state; the military flights over the city, and, he claimed, the fact that the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) guerrilla group is calling for continued popular struggle.

Interviewed at am Inter-American Press Society meeting, Abascal had exhorted the APPO to look for an agreement within the institutional means. Before, in a radio interview he again hinted that the government could carry out "a peaceful occupation of Oaxaca" so that the citizens can carry out their activities with security.

With 20,000 military and police personnel looking over your shoulder, you might not give credence to guarantees that there will be no repression on the part of the federal government. Abascal offers a package of reforms to convert the state legislature (those guys who just voted themselves extended terms) into a space for talking amiably with the people, and a refurbishing of the current legal government. The departure of URO won't be put on the table.

Neither the APPO nor the teachers attended the meeting scheduled with the Department of the Interior (known as Segob in its Spanish abbreviation) for October 4. In a live radio broadcast of an assembly of the Wide Progressive Front (FAP) from Mexico City on Wednesday October 4 it was averred that the problems of state ungovernability could be solved promptly after the removal of the powers from the three branches of government of Oaxaca. The departure of Ulises Ruiz is the only non-negotiable demand. The assembly was attended by the PRD politicians elected on July 2 as federal deputies, who are also members of the APPO. It was reaffirmed that the Mexican Senate has the constitutional right and obligation to remove state powers.

In a direct question posed by the Oaxaca radio contact, the secretary general of the PRD, Guadalupe Acosta, was asked if the National Democratic Convention - the opposition movement that "elected" Andrés Manuel López Obrador as "legitimate president of Mexico" on September 16 - would be willing to act as a human shield in Oaxaca. Acosta responded, "claro que sí" - "Yes, of course. We are inclined to participate. We had information that URO is planning a provocation today to bring in the federal intervention." He went on to say, "Today our senators asked the secretary of the Navy not participate in any attack on Oaxaca."

Tomorrow, Acosta said, there will be a national mobilization on the part of the National Democratic Convention to defend Oaxaca.

Swift, a Seattle University Law School graduate, also said he will continue to defend Hamdan as a civilian. The Seattle law firm of Perkins Coie, which provided pro-bono legal work in Hamdan's habeas corpus petition, has agreed to support Swift's defense of Hamdan in civilian life, he said.

Hamdan, 36, who has only a fourth-grade education, was captured along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan while fleeing the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, launched in reprisal for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He admits working as bin Laden's $200-a-month driver on a Kandahar farm but said he never joined al-Qaida and never fought anyone.

Democrat Tim Mahoney, a Republican himself until last year, was trailing Rep. Mark Foley by 13 points in his Florida district in the race for the November 7 election when the Republican resigned last week amid disclosures that he had sent lewd electronic messages to teenage male congressional aides.

Mahoney, an investment banker and cattle rancher, says he got fed up with the Republicans' handling of the war in
Iraq, the budget deficits and what he viewed as Washington cronyism, so he switched parties.

Now, "This is the most likely Democratic pickup in the country," said Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama, a Democrat mentoring Mahoney in his first run for elected office.

The Republicans recruited a state legislator, Joe Negron, to fill Foley's spot and are scrambling to help him assemble a campaign team. But it is too late to change the ballot for what had been considered a safe Republican seat, so Negron will get only the votes cast for the disgraced Foley.

Mahoney told voters last week he was "a little fatigued" talking about Foley's fall from grace and tried to turn the conversation to skyrocketing home insurance rates in storm-wracked Florida.

But the Foley scandal has pushed Mahoney into the national spotlight and boosted his fund raising from outside the state.

"We have seen an influx but we are not releasing numbers," said Mahoney campaign spokeswoman Jessica Santillo.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts campaigned with him before the scandal broke and Santillo said more "nationally known names" are coming down in the next few weeks.

"This wasn't on the most-competitive list. We were running a spirited campaign. Now it's certainly a winnable race," Santillo said.

Republicans aren't giving up and won't concede the seat just "because of one man's awful actions," said Florida Republican Party spokesman Jeff Sadosky. "They are shocked and horrified by what happened, but understand that's looking backward."

Negron will get some fund-raising help next week from Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, while the party and some congressional Republicans are loaning him staff. "I expect before it's over we'll have a good number of respectable field representatives here," Negron said. "I've got tens of thousands of dollars that are pouring in."

He will need it to keep up with Mahoney, who contributed $349,000 of his own money to raise more than $1.1 million before Foley dropped out.

Political analysts say a Negron victory is improbable at best, but not entirely impossible because Republicans outnumber Democrats 42-36 in the district.

"Partisanship still is the most important driving force for voters' choice, even in the face of a scandal," said Jim Kane, an independent pollster and editor of the nonpartisan Florida Voter newsletter.

"The distaste of having to push Foley's name is really what's going to be an important factor," Kane said. "What will happen is a lot of Republicans will stay home, or just skip the race."

Republicans could rally if the Foley scandal continues to dominate the news, said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political scientist who expects Mahoney to win.

"If somehow this guy (Negron) can kind of whip the Republicans into that kind of angry frenzy about the one-sided coverage of moral indiscretion, for turnout to be high among Republicans that would have to happen," MacManus said. "It's a long shot but it's possible."

A trip to the typical U.S. electronics store suggests many Americans would gladly shell out some extra cash for high-end lightweight products. Smaller, lighter, and more-expensive laptops are occupying an ever-increasing amount of shelf space. Even if a larger percentage of Japanese and European consumers reach for higher-end products than their U.S. counterparts, a small percentage of Americans could still spell big sales.

Why, then, do some innovative products never make it to our shores?

The Corporate Quarantine

Many manufacturers prefer to introduce new electronics in their own countries, to see what problems may arise before exporting the goods. There is a strong interest in catching and repairing previously unknown design defects before hitting the U.S. mass market, where the cost of a product recall could be disastrous.

Companies must also gauge consumer reaction locally before exporting. Manufacturers realize that despite extensive consumer testing, it is important to float a limited quantity of a product and see how well consumers react to it before opening the floodgates-only to find less demand than anticipated.

Some products are at a performance disadvantage in the U.S., like cutting-edge smartphones that do not mesh well with the current state of American telecom services, and videophones that operate much better in countries that have higher-speed wireless networks. The faster the network, the smoother the video will appear. In general, Japanese and Korean telecommunications companies have been quicker to provide faster connections than those offered in the U.S., so consumers in those countries are presented with more-advanced phones and more-advanced services.

Plus, according to a major player in this game, the U.S. tech market tends to take its cue from big business, not John Q. Public.

"In Japan, where a majority of the cutting-edge innovation occurs, they're driven by consumer demand. In the U.S., we're mainly driven by business needs. That's why you see more of an emphasis on cheap laptops than on lightweight machines," says Douglas Krone, chief executive of Dynamism.com, an online site that sells technology not found on the shelves of U.S. retail stores.

Smaller, Faster, Better?

In addition to corporate strategies driven by the bottom line, there are cultural preferences to consider.

Japanese consumers do not flinch at spending the equivalent of $3,000 or more on a laptop as long as it has the most up-to-date technology and weighs less than 2 pounds, Krone says. Consumers in Japan, and many in Europe, will spend more to enjoy the fruits of innovation rather than use a laptop or gadget that is just "good enough" for their purposes.

American consumers, on the other hand, are more interested in lower prices than lighter weights, which makes top-of-the-line electronics a difficult sell in this country, Krone says.

Yuni Sucippo, vice president of I-Cube, another Web site offering products from beyond U.S. borders, agrees. "Americans, in general, tend to like big, powerful notebooks," she says. "They want everything in there, as much storage as they can get, as fast as it can go, as big as possible. But they end up carrying around 10 pounds of computer."

Shoppers on I-Cube value lighter notebooks that may not offer as much performance or capacity as those preferred by the typical American consumer, but instead boast ultra portability. To be sold on the site as a light notebook, a computer must weigh less than 4 pounds, and most units meeting that requirement are not available in the United States.

The same holds true at Dynamism.com. For example, the lightest PC on the global market, the 1.2-pound Sony Vaio U50, is not sold in America. The U50 is smaller than a portable DVD player and has an external foldable keyboard. Although this laptop might appeal to people who crave the ultimate in mobility, most U.S. corporate users would pass on it, Krone says.

Too Much To Chew

Some companies in Europe and Japan do not enter the U.S. market because their profit margins are razor-thin. Even U.S. companies like IBM and Hewlett-Packard have stepped away from certain kinds of equipment in favor of technology that produces more revenue. Foreign companies that decide to sell their most-innovative products to Americans would have to set up extensive customer-service operations, which could be cost-prohibitive given the massive size of the U.S. market. Dynamism.com tries to fill this gap by providing customer service and tech support for all the equipment it sells, acting as a go-between for consumers and companies like Sony, Nuvo, Xacti, and Fuji.

Even if sufficient demand for these products emerges, there are legal issues to consider. For example, patent law in Japan and Europe is different than in the U.S. Exporting a wealth of technology and then trying to protect valuable patents might be more trouble than many companies are willing to undertake-especially smaller manufacturers that might not yet have a corporate presence in America.

"Sometimes, it just doesn't make sense for a company to spend the time and effort to get patents here and do the enforcement necessary just to sell here," says Steve Kelber, an attorney at the law firm of Merchant & Gould.

That could change with the Patent Reform Act of 2005, which would make the U.S. law so similar to that in other countries that it would be much easier for companies to protect their rights. The bill was introduced in June of last year by Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and is still awaiting passage.

On the Horizon

Even if patent reform takes hold in the U.S., shoppers seeking niche items will likely continue to visit sites like Dynamism.com and I-Cube.

Some people may want the hard-to-find gadgets because no one else has them-kind of the geek equivalent of haute couture. But, Sucippo says, most customers are simply frustrated by the lack of truly portable options at their local computer retailers. I-Cube attracts tech aficionados who buy items as soon as they become available, she says, even if they have recently purchased a similar product on the site.

"The ones who buy like this are a smaller group, but they're growing," she says. "With the amount of people who travel and work now, there's more appreciation for lighter, more-portable notebooks."

I-Cube also features accessories, PDAs, and Tablet PCs. Gadget lovers who are disappointed that Sony stopped selling Clie handhelds in the U.S. need only surf over to I-Cube, which buys the PDAs directly from Japan and then converts most of the operating system into English. One downside: About 40 percent of the OS is still in Japanese.

Used in Japan, New to You

Kurns & Patrick also specializes in ultralight technology from Japan. One aspect of the site that sets it apart is its used section, which gives cash-strapped tech lovers the chance to buy a "previously loved" computer or gadget that is still in decent condition. Every used item comes with a three-month warranty.

In general, however, the question of a warranty is a potential deal-breaker for Kurns & Patrick and other imported-technology sites. If someone buys an item from Best Buy, it can be taken to the store for service or sent back to the manufacturer directly. But computers purchased on a site such as Kurns & Patrick come with a one-year Japanese domestic warranty, which means it must be returned to Japan-or to Kurns & Patrick-for repair.

The good news, according to the company, is that some manufacturers, like Panasonic and Sharp, honor their warranties globally. Others, like Toshiba, do not.

Even if U.S. buyers take it on faith that the item works perfectly, they should consider another potential drawback: Some of the machines have Japanese keyboards, which are very close in layout to English-language keyboards, but aren't a spot-on match. Kurns & Patrick offers English stickers for the keyboards on some models.

In general, though, such quirks are unlikely to put off folks who treasure a 2-pound notebook or a super-slim DVD drive.

Stock Answers

Despite the possible sales to be gained from these niche customers, large retailers in the U.S. get their marching orders not only from consumers, but also from shareholders. That's where the economics of mediocrity come into play.

High-end products command a high-end price. Most shoppers tend to make middle-of-the-road selections at middle-of-the-road prices. Catering to that mentality will produce the kind of returns stockholders demand. It's an economic reality that further diminishes the chances certain top-of-the-line tech goodies will reach U.S. shores anytime soon.

The bottom line: If you want the newest, coolest show-stopping gadgets, you can click your way to the handful of online stores that will satisfy your lust for hard-to-get tech, right from the comfort of your home.

But for the true beyond-borders electronics experience, you'll need to pony up for a plane ticket to Tokyo. And if you bring your notebook computer, just make sure you have a sturdy shoulder strap.

"People understand the need for mobility the second they have to carry a heavy laptop through an airport," says Sucippo. "After that, they come to us."

She vented about what she called the gone-on-too-long
Iraq war, a sluggish economy, the bungled Hurricane Katrina response and a continuing terrorism threat.

She blamed Republicans as she hustled down an alley to the office she manages in this Louisville, Ky., suburb.

Votes like hers could decide which party controls the House and Senate after the Nov. 7 vote.

Poll results and interviews with political analysts indicate the GOP has lost ground with a voting group that helped the party keep hold of Congress and the White House in 2002 and 2004. Married moms have become a volatile swing group just as Democrats need to gain 15 GOP-held House seats and six in the Senate to win control of Capitol Hill.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll this month found that support is now evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans among married women with children in the house. Republicans won this voting group by 18 percentage points in 2002 and Bush won it by 14 percentage points in 2004.

The shift among married moms was reflected in the anxiety-laden voices of several in the Ohio River Valley, a conservative region home to several competitive House races.

"People have no money. The economy is not going well," said Michele Huber, 29. A married mother of three, she gave the country a "poor to fair" rating as she speed-walked in a suburban Cincinnati park with one of her children, a niece and a nephew in tow.

A Republican, she voted for Bush in 2004. She said she was not sure whether she would again if she had the chance or whether she would vote with her party next month - a sentiment echoed by others.

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For years, the GOP has held a slight advantage with this group of voters. Republicans made additional gains leading up to and through the 2000 presidential election, in part because, according to analysts and exit polls, married moms were attracted to Bush's emphasis on social conservatism and had a general fondness for the man himself.

In the 2002 congressional elections, more than half of married moms sided with Republicans while only 35 percent voted with Democrats. Two years later, in a presidential election year, married moms preferred Bush over Democratic Sen. John Kerry by 56 percent to 42 percent.

That GOP advantage has evaporated.

In the AP-Ipsos poll, married women with children split evenly on the question of whether they would vote for or lean toward the Democratic or Republican candidate in their congressional district.

The frustration in this group of voters is a reflection of the broader population, now down on the president and Congress as the unpopular Iraq war drags on and economic growth has slowed.

"Married moms, like Americans in other demographic groups, are much more critical of President Bush, are angry at Washington, are concerned about Iraq and are worried about many other things," said Andrew Kohut. He is director of the Pew Research Center, an independent public opinion organization that also found married moms breaking even.

The AP-Ipsos poll showed that married moms care as much about health care and the economy as they do about terrorism. The situation in Iraq is a greater concern than taxes, Social Security and gas prices. They tend to believe that Democrats would handle Iraq and the economy better than Republicans, but they favor Republicans on dealing with terrorism.

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Outside a Wal-Mart in Fort Wright, Ky., two moms hauled their kids out of their minivans. One of the women voted for Bush. One did not. Neither was pleased with the direction of the country.

"We're not happy," said Christy Blaker, 32, as she loaded a McDonald's-munching Emily, 4, and Becca, 18 months, into a shopping cart. A self-described independent, the stay-at-home mom and her husband, who replaces the breaks on train wheels, did not back Bush in 2004. She says she probably will not support Republicans next month.

The war unnerves and conflicts her. She frets about "horrible" gas prices and bemoans an economy in which inflation seems to rise higher than wages. If life does not improve, she said she may have to get a part-time job.



Across the parking lot, another stay-at-home mom, Tina Wagner, 31, voiced similar fears while two of her three children, Grace, 4, and Faith, 15 months, fidgeted. Hope, 6, was in school.

A Republican, Wagner voted for Bush in 2004 but expressed disappointment about his job performance in the two years since.

"He's made some good decisions but I also think he's made some bad," she said, lamenting Bush's justification for going to war in Iraq. "I feel like he rushed into it."

She, too, complained about gas prices, job losses, health care costs and lack of coverage. "It keeps getting worse and worse," said Wagner, whose husband's textbook sales job supports the family.

This fall, Wagner said she would consider voting for a Democrat "if they fit my values."

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Despite the GOP's lost ground, all is not lost for Republicans.

Laura Hall of Pewee Valley, Ky., has three kids, including a high-school-aged son who is considering joining the military upon graduation. The owner of a child- and elder-care placement service, the 46-year-old Hall worries about immigration, border security and threats from
North Korea.

A Republican, she voted for Bush in 2004. She is uncertain if she will stick with the party this fall. But she is not hot on Democrats, either.

"I never see them explain how they could do it better," Hall said. "If somebody could explain how they could do it better, then I think I'd be more open to their ideas."