Mainers rally in D.C.

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WASHINGTON – A passionate and boisterous contingent of about 150 Mainers joined tens of thousands more demonstrators on Saturday to advocate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and urge concentration on domestic issues. On Monday, some of them will lobby Congress to that end.

The protesters, including infants, college students, veterans, military parents, senior citizens, gathered in the center of the National Mall during the morning after a 12-hour overnight bus ride. Half of them were from the Bangor area, while others were from Down East and northern Maine.

During a pre-march rally on the Mall, with the Capitol dome and a pale blue sky as the backdrop, they listened to speakers including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and actors Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Jane Fonda and Susan Sarandon.

“Peace is controversial, but so is war,” Jackson said, rousing a crowd that lulled at times. “The fruit of peace is so much sweeter.”

Each celebrity denounced President Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. Each expressed grief for the 3,075 U.S. fatalities there, including 14 from Maine. Some called for the president’s impeachment.

“It’s important for us to gather together with others from all over the country to send a message that this war’s got to end,” said Diane Kay, 33, of Orrington. Kay’s cheeks were adorned with peace symbols as she sat on the trampled Mall grass and wielded a fluorescent green placard. “There’s something amazing about being in a place like this and sharing this experience with so many people.”

Expecting similar cold weather that plagued Maine last week, many protesters came overdressed, as morning temperatures in Washington rose from below freezing to the mid-50s by noon. New York City-based United for Peace and Justice, an advocacy coalition that organized the protest, expected a half-million people. Initial predictions appeared off that mark, despite tranquil weather.

Maine’s largest recent presence in Washington came in January 2003, when 1,000 activists traveled here, according to Ilze Peterson, coordinator of the Peace and Justice Center in Bangor, a trip organizer.

Five of the Maine protesters, including Tim McCormick, 60, of Ellsworth, are expected on Monday to lobby Maine’s House delegation.

McCormick circulated pieces of notebook paper among 60 bus occupants who signed their names in blue ink. The petition, which promotes sponsorship of legislation to fast-track troop withdrawal, will be delivered to the offices of Democratic Reps. Michael Michaud and Tom Allen.

“I want to listen to what they have to say, so I can go back to Maine and let people know what our representatives are doing here,” McCormick said.

McCormick is a veteran on the protest scene. He came to Washington in September 2005 and twice during the Vietnam War “when you could smell tear gas in the streets,” he said. “This isn’t as controversial as that, but it’s getting there fast.”

After rallying, McCormick and his Vacationland cohorts marched. They marched with “Maine pride,” they said.

Many donned unique hats – one of a lobster, another of a moose – while others showed off L.L. Bean boots and backpacks. Another carried a bottle of Moxie, Maine’s official soft drink.

Pippa Stanley speckled her unzipped winter coat and underlying T-shirt with buttons, each emblazoned with a political statement. The 15-year-old made the 700-mile trip, which cost bus riders $75 each, without her parents because she “just had to do something about this war,” she said.

Marching past walls of policemen who cordoned off adjacent streets, Stanley was flanked by Steve Leighton, 57, of Fort Fairfield. Wearing a brown cowboy hat and bobbing a makeshift sign into the air, the bearded man, who also protested during Vietnam in the 1960s and ’70s, feared only “old people who have been peaceniks for years” would attend, he said.

But activists of all ages clung to a tattered 20-foot canvas as they marched. Scrawled onto the banner, black and red X’s denoted dead Americans and Iraqis. Since 2004, the Peace and Justice Center has made eight such banners, according to Kathryn Gaianguest, 67, of Lamoine, a member of the center.

“We consider this sacred,” Gaianguest said as she clinched it tightly in her left hand. “We can’t let it touch the ground.”

Onlookers lined the parade route, which spanned sections of Pennsylvania, Constitution and Independence avenues, and pointed out the “group from Maine.” Others approached them and complimented the banner.

“You guys are from Maine?” one woman asked skeptically.

“Yes,” they said in unison.

“Wow,” the woman said.

The two-mile, two-hour march led them around the backside of the Capitol and past legislative office buildings and the U.S. Supreme Court.

For Michele Roy, 48, of West Gardiner, the protest “was a great way to experience the city for the first time.”

A mother of a 29-year-old Army soldier who served two tours in Iraq, Roy said she “agrees to disagree” with her son, who remains committed to the conflict.

Along the way, dozens of counterprotesters sported signs that read “God bless our troops.” Some of them waved American flags and shouted patriotic calls and some curses, which were smothered by chants initiated by Roy and bolstered by the group.

“No more war,” she yelled.

“No more war,” the rest yelled.

Then they sang “Down by the Riverside,” a chorus that nearby protesters mimicked.

“Mainers like to sing,” one said.

Pamphleteers dished out information about the Iraq war. But hands were already laden with signs, cameras and superfluous clothing. One man stuffed a pocket with his lunch and carried a two-liter bottle of seltzer water in his hand.

The Mainers – or “Mainahs,” as they stressed to people – walked the final stretch with the same vigor they displayed on the first. But chants weren’t as easy to ignite. Their volume fell. They were tired, hungry, thirsty. One song turned somber, not because of fatigue, but because of sympathy for lives lost, including three U.S. troops killed in Iraq on the day of the protest.

“For the sake of my children and grandchildren,” said Marsha Lyons, 57, of Mount Desert, “I hope this makes a difference.”