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Tony Bennett made his first-ever appearance on the stage of a country dance club Tuesday night in hopes that his singing could help get Vice President Al Gore elected president in two weeks.
"I'm a Democrat. In fact, I'm a liberal," Bennett said backstage at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon before performing "Stepping Out," "I've Got Rhythm," "The Best Is Yet To Come" and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" in front of 3,500 Gore supporters. "If I can't have a liberal president, I'd like to have a Democrat. I just don't trust corporations.
"I know him personally and I know him as a decent man. He's more realistic than the press has made him out to be. He's responsible and he'd be a lot better than someone who can't read."
Bennett was joined by country singers Radney Foster, Billy Ray Cyrus, Monty Holmes, Patty Loveless and Tipper Gore favorite Kim Richey, as well as Christian singer BeBe Winans, who was backed by a choir of fifteen black-clad gospel singers, and Tennessee Titans' running back Eddie George.
The vast wooden dance floor, scuffed from years of line dancing, was filled with corporate cowboys more interested in line-item vetos than the latest country hits. Cowboy hats were replaced with tacky convention headgear, while professionally dressed women tried not to snag their hose as they climbed atop aged barrels for a quick photo. This was Gore's hometown crowd, many of whom still refer to Gore as "Little Al," in deference to his late senator father. One supporter stretched a "Gore for President '88" shirt across his expansive stomach.
Patrons paid $100 each, or $1,000 for admittance to the more exclusive second floor, where Al and Tipper and Joe and Hadassah Lieberman were seated. For the record, they did clap on the beat.
The mood, both in the audience and backstage, was more subdued than most Nashville shows, perhaps because Secret Service agents stood with clasped hands at virtually every corner. "It's serious," Winans said of the night. "I think there is tension and it's understandable. I think you can feel the importance. It's entertainment, but at the same time, it's a very important situation that's going to happen for our country."
"I'm voting for Gore and I think he's a great candidate," added Richey. "He's a really strong person and he's a very, very intelligent person . . . I keep reading about how stiff he is, but I think that is so wrong because I've been around him a few times and he's really funny."
Unlike pop and rock acts, many country singers tend to lean to the right. Brooks and Dunn, Travis Tritt, Tracy Byrd , Hank Williams Jr. , and the Oak Ridge Boys are among those who have stumped for Bush recently. Some of the country singers who are supporting the Democrat ticket are doing it quietly. Mary Chapin Carpenter waited until after her performance at the recent Country Music Asociation Awards to don her Gore-Lieberman pin.
"There's a lot of folks involved in country music who come from traditional Republican strongholds as far as conservative values," said Radney Foster, who performed "Just Call Me Lonesome" and "Nobody Wins." "I was talking to a friend who lives in Hollywood and he says it's hard for him to mention the fact the he's a Republican; the socially acceptable thing is to be a Democrat. Sometimes I feel that way in Nashville, only on the opposite side of the fence. I don't have a problem standing up and campaigning for folks that I believe in. Your audience members are sophisticated enough that they go, 'Screw that guy's politics. I like his music.'"
Although Bush is using Billy Ray Cyrus' song "We the People" in his campaign, Cyrus is backing Gore. "He could be the first president that is a Vietnam veteran," says Cyrus, whose main concerns are veterans' and Native Americans' rights.
After Bennett finished singing, the candidates and their wives took the stage, surrounded by the performers. "Remember what BeBe sang," said Lieberman. "'After you've done all you can, stand. God has a purpose and God has a plan.' But remember that first part. We've got two more weeks to do all we can. This is all about our future."
Clad in a denim shirt and jeans, Gore reminded the crowd that in exactly two weeks to the hour, the first election returns would be coming in to determine the outcome of the closest election since John Kennedy won by one vote per precinct in 1960. "You've heard a lot about the issues, you've heard a lot about the politics," Gore said, before reiterating his support of hate crime and civil rights laws. "What this is really about is your future and what kind of country we are going to be at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The choices are pretty simple: either we turn toward benefits for the few or we try to lift everybody up."
BEVERLY KEEL
(October 26, 2000)