12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, November 7, 2006

By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

Nathan Wiley was barely able to see over the police barricades, but he did his best Monday night, waving his mini-protest sign at the GOP supporters flocking to Reunion Arena.

"I want to stop the war," said the 9-year-old Little Elm fourth-grader who was accompanied by his parents and little brother, Jacob, 2. His sign read "My government is leaving me behind."

A smattering of protesters began Monday's demonstration by gathering at downtown Dallas' Ferris Plaza. There, they broke out the megaphones and unfurled huge, hand-painted signs declaring President Bush's administration as the "worst ever."

Then they took their message on the road. Actually, about a block.

The boisterous group ended up positioned along Sports Street across from the arena. There, they were well within hectoring range of the throng going inside. Some driving their SUVs and Lincolns through the gauntlet traded verbal barbs with the protesters, many of whom had hollered themselves hoarse by later in the evening.

At the demonstration's height, about 250 protesters turned out. Dallas police reported no arrests.

"I'm surprised at the turnout," said Dan Dodd of McKinney, the Democratic nominee for the 3rd Congressional District seat. Mr. Dodd, who's challenging GOP Rep. Sam Johnson, was the only candidate in a contested race observed working the crowd.

"I was expecting 25 or 30 people," Mr. Dodd said.

About 20 Dallas police officers, a half dozen or so on horseback, stood between the protesters and the arena.

Some rally members expressed impassioned views. Hadi Jawad, of the Dallas Peace Center, gestured toward Reunion.

"The people inside there are forgetting that it's their responsibility to ask our leaders tough questions," said the Pakistani native as he cradled a megaphone. "Blind support is a death knell for democracy."

For others, kookiness ruled the day. One mixed what looked like a Wizard of Oz flying monkey suit with a President Bush mask.

Someone else was driving a pickup around the arena, pulling a huge bust of Gov. Rick Perry toking on a giant smoldering smokestack – a reference to the controversy surrounding the governor's relationship with coal-plant interests.

Few in the GOP crowd seemed fazed by the protest.

"There's a bunch of crazies across the street," barked Barney Chapman into a cellphone as he sauntered up to Reunion's entrance. After getting his ticket, the sixth-generation Texas rancher from Clarksville offered his view on the opposition.

"We live in a country where you can say what you want," he said. "They've got a right to be wrong."

E-mail jtrahan@dallasnews.com

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Bush Rallies Republicans In Dallas

Bush To Vote In Crawford Tuesday

POSTED: 9:25 am CST November 6, 2006

UPDATED: 10:22 pm CST November 6, 2006

DALLAS -- President George W. Bush promised a rowdy crowd that Election Day would be a great day for Republicans in Texas as he joined Gov. Rick Perry for an end-of-the-campaign rally Monday night at Reunion Arena.

"Tuesday is going to be a great victory for Republicans here in the state of Texas," Bush said.

Perry pointed to legislation on education funding and lower property taxes as accomplishments.

"We've built a better Texas than ever before," Perry said. "The future in Texas has never been brighter."

Outside, about 200 anti-Bush demonstrators gathered. They carried banners and balloons as they chanted and walked from a nearby park to the venue. One homemade sign had the word "Liar!" spray-painted in black. Another said: "Not One More Death in Iraq."

In the arena, country and Christian rock bands warmed up the crowd more than an hour before Bush was scheduled to arrive.

Several other Texas GOP candidates were on hand, including Supreme Court Justice Don Willett, Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones and Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, who's running for state comptroller.

Perry faces Democratic challenger Chris Bell and independents Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn in Tuesday's election. Libertarian James Werner is also on the ballot.

President Bush was on his last day of a 10-state campaign swing trying to energize voters to keep Republicans in office.

But Bush wasn't met with excitement from within his own party. Earlier on Monday, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Florida chose not to appear with Bush. Other GOP candidates have put distance between Bush and their campaigns.

Republicans have faced corruption scandals and remain divided over immigration reform and other issues.

Bush plans to spend the night at his Central Texas ranch, vote in Crawford on Tuesday, then fly back to Washington to monitor the returns.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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