Environmentalists Bashing Bush Over Mercury

The Sierra Club on Thursday debuted a print and broadcast advertising campaign across nine states and Washington that condemns the Bush administration’s relaxing of mercury contamination standards while cautioning Americans against eating fish contaminated with mercury.

“During the State of the Union address, President Bush will gloss over how his administration puts our communities at risk to benefit corporate polluters,” Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement. “We’re making sure the public knows the Bush administration consistently favors polluting industries over health and safety.”

TV ads will run in select cities, including Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., and New York, with print ads appearing in publications like the Washington Post and La Opinion.

Who’s That Joker?

Thursday’s rally for John Edwards at the Renaissance Savery Hotel in Des Moines brought several hundred devotees, a crush of news media -- and syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry.

“I always come to the caucuses,” said Barry, who writes musings on life, love and exploding toilets for the Miami Herald. “I just find the whole process amusing; the way the media defines it ... removes all the humor,” he said, lurking unobtrusively in the back of the room.

He comes to the caucuses to gather material for his widely popular column.

“The media doesn’t know what’s going on, but they have to write about it anyway,” Barry said, dispensing handshakes to the trickle of fans who noticed him.

The writer declined to name a favorite Democratic contender. “All the rallies are all exactly the same,” he said. “It’s all great theater.”

Laptop Pit Stop

Who says you can’t get Wi-Fi, lattes and scones in the middle of nowhere? On Thursday morning, the Dick Gephardt campaign gave its press corps a treat: a two-hour stop at an Internet cafe in Clear Lake, Iowa. While the candidate made fundraising and turnout phone calls, reporters set up shop at Cabin Coffee Co. in the small lake resort town, equidistant from Minneapolis and Des Moines.

Owner Brad Barber said he was happy to host the Democratic campaign entourage, but confessed he was a Bush supporter.

“I just think we should be backing our president and government for the war right now in Iraq,” Barber said.

Orange Alert

Those fresh-faced youths sporting orange astronaut flight suits aren’t hopefuls for Bush’s next mission to Mars. Storming campaign events around Des Moines, these young activists are trying to raise awareness for the Apollo Alliance, a loose coalition working toward energy independence.

The group’s name comes from John F. Kennedy’s plan to put a man on the moon with the Apollo mission; the organization hopes to establish energy independence in a generation through job creation and investment.

“We have groups everywhere right now,” said orange-clad volunteer Nisha Swinton, 20, a University of Iowa student from Waterloo. “We’re heavily hitting [events for] every candidate,” she said.

Duly Quoted

“I’ve shook hands with Dean about 800 times. I don’t need to shake it again.” -- A Dean supporter at the campaign’s Iowa bus tour kick-off rally at the Des Moines Fairgrounds on Wednesday.

Compiled from staff, wire and Web reports by Times staff researcher Susannah Rosenblatt.