T-shirt tolerance: Bush loses test

The question: Which presidential campaign better tolerates dissent? The experiment: A man wears a Kerry-Edwards shirt to a rally for Preside...

The question: Which presidential campaign better tolerates dissent? The experiment: A man wears a Kerry-Edwards shirt to a rally for President Bush, then a Bush for President shirt to a Kerry rally. Result: Bush people make him remove his shirt, and give him the boot. The Kerry people don8217;t make a peep.

John Prather, 38, a Mathematics professor at Ohio University, says he carried out this one-man study, attending both rallies in a day. 8216;8216;It8217;s been my opinion that George Bush has stifled dissent 8230; I think Kerry doesn8217;t. In neither event was I a threat to anyone.8217;8217;

Yet, he says, at the Bush rally, 8216;8216;I was tailed the whole time.8217;8217; It turns out the Bush-Cheney campaign acts pre-emptively against what it regards as suspicious attendees.

Spokesman Terry Holt said on Tuesday: 8216;8216;Unfortunately, there have been people who have sought to be disruptive, and a small disruptive presence can ruin an event for the rest of the participating people.8217;8217;

Prather, who lives in Wheeling, W.Va., calls himself a 8216;8216;moderate Democrat8217;8217; who voted for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. At the first ring of security, Prather says he was told to turn his Kerry shirt inside out. He did. At the second ring, he was told to remove the shirt.

He did, then donned a soccer T-shirt. 8216;8216;I was in for 10 or 15 minutes,8217;8217; he says, when security escorted him out. It was before the President arrived. 8216;8216;I was so far away I couldn8217;t have even heckled him,8217;8217; Prather notes.

A few hours later, he entered the Kerry rally, in Wheeling, wearing his Bush shirt. 8216;8216;Nobody said anything to me. I changed the Bush shirt after it was clear no one was watching me.8217;8217; Prather realises that this limited sample does not provide a solid conclusion, and offers an assignment: 8216;8216;I would encourage other people to carry out the experiment.8217;8217; Civics class dismissed. 8212; LAT-WP