Nostalgic for dissent

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/28/Columns/Nostalgic_for_dissent.shtml

By MARTIN DYCKMAN, St. Petersburg Times
Published November 28, 2004

TALLAHASSEE - When Richard Nixon was running for the Senate by smearing fellow Rep. Helen Gahagan Douglas as a communist sympathizer, one of her supporters, a man named Dick Tuck, figured out a sly way to fight back. He got a job as an advance man for Nixon, booked him into an auditorium large enough for 4,000 people, and arranged for only a few dozen to show up.

Nixon won anyhow, but Tuck would become a living legend by playing tricks on Nixon throughout his career. Some examples: At the 1956 Republican convention, garbage trucks bore signs saying "Dump Nixon." On other occasions, Tuck put bands up to playing "Mack the Knife" as the candidate took the stage.

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In the most recent campaign, the administration of the world's greatest democracy did not allow even quiet pickets at any of its rallies. They would be expelled, or their signs would be seized, and some were arrested on orders of the Secret Service. At both conventions, authorities tried to limit protesters to so-called "free speech zones" far from where the candidates or delegates might see them.

Remember when the Constitution contemplated the entire United States as a free speech zone?

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