The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • A20

V1N39VIAI yiovna LMSUZl OZ IVNId 3383VS -Q- A20 The Sacramento Bee Saturday, December 1 5, 2007 Edwards riding populism on campaign trail 02 there been a major presidential candidate with such a pronounced populist message, according to Michael Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University who has written extensively on populism. It shows up in different ways for Edwards. He has criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for example, for not joining him in refusing to take contributions from Washington lobbyists and political action committees. His rhetoric has more of an theme to it than the other major candidates.

By Rob Christensen McClatchy Newspapers DES MOINES, Iowa When John Edwards is on the campaign trail these days, chances are he is railing against big insurance, big oil, big drug companies, big banks and big agribusiness. In Edwards' view of the world, people have lost control of their government to powerful interests that hire lobbyists and bankroll the campaigns of officeholders. It is the reason, Edwards argues, that there is no universal health insurance, that drug costs He even dresses differently than the other candidates. Edwards is the only major candidate who frequently wears blue jeans on the campaign trail. The approach appears to have helped Edwards as he courts organized labor and liberal voters angered over the misdeeds of corporations such as Enron and the perceived coziness of companies such as Halliburton with the Bush administration.

Ron Robek is attracted to Edwards' message that big business and their lobbyists have accumulated too much power. are high and that there have been so many bad trade deals. It is why, he argues, the country is so reliant on oil, and why the Bush administration has hired contractors such as Blackwater to do what the military should. "We all know what has happened in our democracy," Edwards told about 300 people at a Des Moines convention center Monday, as he began a weeklong bus tour across Iowa. "What has happened is the few have taken over the democracy against the interests of the many.

Not since Harry Truman has "They have complete control," said Robek, a 68-year-old retired small-business owner from a Des Moines suburb. "The lobbyists are running the country, which is why we are in such a mess." But populism has rarely been a winning formula for candidates. "Part of the problem is that Americans can be resentful of the rich, and especially the rich who got money in unethical ways," Kazin said. "But most Americans don't like class-conscious politics. That is one of the things that hurt William Jennings Bryan.

Edwards presents a more sub urban, upbeat version than the historical image of a suspender-snapping populist who rallies the pitchfork crowd. Edwards' background both adds to and detracts from his populist appeal. His childhood in Southern mill villages and his career as a trial lawyer add credence to his story. But his personal wealth and lifestyle his 29,000 square-foot house and his connection to a Wall Street hedge fund detract from the image of his fighting for the little guy. Rob Christensen is a reporter for the Raleigh News Observer.

Huckabee: Scrutiny of his stands increasing Reagan strategist to toil for Huckabee Hearst Newspapers Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Friday signed veteran political organizer Ed Rollins to run his burgeoning national campaign, hoping to tap the experience of a back-room legend who masterminded Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election landslide and Ross Perot's 19-percent share of the popular vote in 1992. Huckabee praised Rollins' "track record of building winning coalitions within our party, bringing together social, economic and foreign-policy conservatives, and reaching across party lines." Rollins called Huckabee's surging campaign "a very exciting place right now. "I have always said that I want to work for candidates with convictions who can communicate those convictions," he said in a statement released by the Huckabee campaign. Rollins likened Huckabee to Reagan, a former Hollywood actor who became known as the "great communicator." As Rollins put it: "I was with the old Reagan and I can promise you this man comes as close to anyone in filling those shoes. Rollins, 64, who has served in the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Reagan, provoked controversy after working for the successful election of Christine Todd Whitman as the Republican governor of New Jersey in 1993.

Rollins claimed afterward that he had paid African American ministers to suppress black voter turnout for Whitman's rival, Democratic Gov. James Florio, enabling the Republican candidate to prevail. Rollins later revised his remarks to tell People magazine that his remarks had been "an exaggeration" that had been "inaccurate." Cheryl SenterAssociated Press Actor Chuck Norris, sharing a laugh Friday with GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee at a veterans home in Tilton, N.H., is backing the former Arkansas governor's run. Analysts are waiting to see if Huckabee can expand his appeal beyond conservatives and evangelicals. FROM PAGE Al endar, as attacks on him might not penetrate during the Christmas holidays, and could even backfire among Iowans filled with holiday spirit.

But while his overtly Christian message is resonating with religious conservatives in Iowa, will it sell in states like New Hampshire, Florida and California? His record as governor is getting scrutiny for the first time, and it's not pure conservative. How will conservatives react when they learn that he repeatedly raised taxes? He's raising cash now, and volunteers are rolling into Iowa, but he still doesn't have much of a campaign. He did take a big step Friday by hiring veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins as his national campaign chairman. Can Huckabee compete with the cash-rich campaigns of Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani once this year's leisurely pace in Iowa turns into a frantic state-to-state sprint and TV-dominated campaign for the 20-plus mega-states, including California, voting on Feb. "Huckabee's benefiting from the lack of enthusiasm that social conservatives have for the rest of the field," said Dan Schnur, a veteran GOP strategist from California not associated with any campaign.

"But as primary voters find out more about him along the primary trail, it's hard to see him sustaining that level of support much past Iowa. As the primaries move to other states and the nature of the electorate changes, it may become harder for him to expand his support." "A lot of my core issues are kind of social conservative issues," said Scott Spray, 48, of Johnston, a district manager with Block. "Abortion is pretty important. Keeping marriage between a man and a woman, that tends to be a key issue for a lot of folks." "His views on many issues relate very well with Midwestern views," said Ben Booth, a construction salesman navigating an ice storm to snag a pair of Huckabee signs for his front yard. Huckabee can expect similar support in states such as Michigan, where Christian conservatives could make up a third of the Jan.

15 GOP vote, or South Carolina, where they could make up 60 percent of the Jan. 19 GOP vote. He's the most openly religious candidate since televangelist Pat Robertson in 1988. In one Huckabee TV ad, the first word spoken is "faith, and the first words appearing on screen are "Christian leader." "You would think, watching his ads, that there is a religious test for office," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines. That might not sell in other states where religious conservatives are not as strong.

And new attention to his earlier statements, such as one supporting the Southern Baptist tenet that wives should submit to their husbands, could pose trouble among moderate and independent voters. Then there's his record as governor. Huckabee raised taxes in Arkansas. He backed a proposal to let the children of illegal immigrants earn the same college aid as citizens. He's accused of pressing to parole a convicted rapist who later murdered a Kansas City woman.

"He did have a lot of tax increases, said printed with Christmas wishes, a snapshot of Mike and Janet Huckabee and a quote from the biblical Book of Isaiah. Can such devotion compete against the better-financed campaigns awaiting Huckabee in later states? Perhaps. For one thing, the Internet makes it easy to raise money quickly following a victory. Schnur said Huckabee could raise tens of millions of dollars if he wins. But renting office space, hiring staff, buying TV time and getting organized in time to compete in the Feb.

5 onslaught of voting is another thing. To Huckabee, it's all a blessing. "I just am always reminded that a ragtag army of underequipped, underfinanced, undertrained and underprepared people won the Revolutionary War," he said after this week's debate. "There's an old saying in the South: It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog that determines the outcome. And there's a lot of fight in this dog." Call Steven Thomma, McClatchy Washington Bureau, (202) 383-6042.

Nils Norland, a real estate appraiser from Ankeny, Iowa. "Once true conservatives look at his record more closely, I think his support will change. "If he thinks the questions are tough now, just wait to see what happens after he wins the Iowa caucuses," said Schnur. "He's going to face the same intensity of questions on taxes and immigration that other candidates get on abortion." Finally, there's the question of whether Huckabee has the resources to compete. Starved for cash most of the year, he's benefited from strong performances in televised debates and word of mouth.

And he's attracting volunteers. Out-of-state volunteers Kristy Warren, 44, and her son Joel, 1 5, came from Minneapolis. They found themselves this week buying 3,000 candy canes for Huckabee at an Iowa Wal-Mart. "He represents the things that are important to me," said Warren, a home schooler who learned about Huckabee in an e-mail from a home schooling group. "He's strongly pro-life, strong on family and marriage things, on border security.

The candy canes? Mother and son planned to tie them to slips of paper Global: Comcast began broadcasting network last year more people to send us news from Punjab daily." Local programming mixes with a wide range of syndicated shows on KBTV, including news in more than half a dozen languages, and the soap operas. Holton, who runs 10 television stations throughout the United States, said he first saw "Star In My Heart" when it was broadcast by a Korean network in Los Angeles. "I thought it was a terrific show and learned it has been dubbed in Chinese," he said. He has it dubbed in Spanish. Holton said KBTV teaches him how much we all have in common.

"At our birthday party Dec. 20, people sang 'Happy Birthday' in nine different languages, the same harmony, just different words." Call The Bee's Stephen Magag-nini, (916) 321-1072. master's degree in film directing at Yale. "I cover almost every event that's important to the Hmong community from here to Fresno," said Xiong. He'll be in Stockton today to cover an expected 1,000 Hmong rallying against the Patriot Act, which Hmong leaders claim is being used to classify as terrorists the Hmong who oppose the communist government in Laos.

Xiong is also working on a show about the desecration of Hmong graves at Wat Tham Krabok, a former Thai refugee camp that closed after 16,000 Hmong were allowed to come to the United States in 2004. "You should see the video," Xiong said. "Hmong Report" includes Hmong news and "The Hmong Buzz," which features Hmong personalities talking about "new Hmong stars coming from Laos, gram after mine, and then Hindi and Hmong programs," Ponomar said. "I don't understand a word they say, but I'm looking about how they do the news, when their commercial breaks run." Ranjit Kandola of Yuba City, another independent producer, seems to have scored a hit with "YPDTV," a show he hosts in Punjabi and Hindi. "I talk about the local economy and housing market, and cover top politicians from India," said Kandola, who was born in Punjab, India.

Kandola said his show potentially can reach 118,000 Asian Indian viewers from Visalia to Redding and many more on his YPDTV Web site. "On the Web, this is the world's first Punjabi online TV channel," he said. "We're putting about 50 big banners on all the main highways in Punjab. I've hired 15 nity here I didn't know about," Washington said. "This is a way to open conversation and provide some understanding of who these people are and what they're about." In 2006, Comcast cable picked up the network and now broadcasts KBTV to 750,000 subscribers from Vis alia to Chico on Channel 238, said communications director Bryan Byrd.

Sacramento viewers without cable can pick up KBTV on Channel 8. The station has covered regional events such as Sacramento's Pacific Rim Festival and Yuba City's Sikh parade, and recently launched the "Hmong Report at 7" on Sunday nights. "There's about 100,000 Hmong in our territory," said general manager Brian Holton. "They needed a voice." The two-hour Hmong show is produced by Atary Xiong, a refugee from Laos who got a concerns, parties, events and what's going on the next week," Xiong said. KBTV also is developing "Phil-Am Beat," a local Filipino show, said marketing director Michelle Robles, who recently interviewed Filipino heartthrob Gary Valenciano.

"I've idolized him since I was 5, and I found out he was doing a concert at Cache Creek in November," Robles said. "He does pop, and he's still hot in the Philippines after 20 years. David Ponomar, a local entrepreneur of Russian and Ukrainian descent, is among the independent producers who buy time on KBTV. Seven days a week he broadcasts "Best TV," which includes news, religion, cooking, cultural events and discussions on community issues. "I watch my show, and then I'm watching the Chinese pro FROM PAGE Al community." Unlike other ethnic stations available to Sacramento viewers, KBTV mixes locally produced shows with nationally and internationally syndicated programming.

Some local shows are produced by station staff; others are by local producers who buy airtime and sell their own advertising. Calderon, who says he watches "Star In My Heart" for "the good-looking senoritas," said KBTV's viewers range from teens who tune in for music to "older folks who are great fans of news and cultural events. The station was born in 2005 when former newspaper executive Frank Washington and a group of investors bought the station for $1.5 million. "I was inspired to do this when I found out there was this huge Russian-speaking commu COMING IN THE BEE NEWS SCENE When presents go bad it a inrarrnnTan TRAVEL What's new at ski resorts? Snow has Bad holiday gifts are as seasonal as arrived in the Sierra, SCENE How to be a Hero "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band," two of the season's hottest video games, let you indulge your inner rock star. Bee staff writer Rachel Leibrock talks to local fans, who share their insight into the phenomenon.

Plus: We tell you how to play and, most important, how to earn those "star power" points. Life. Captured daily. The Sacramento Bee sacbee.com kllV; III IVI UJIWU It is Friday, July 6,2007. In the back of an ambulance an "unidentified Asian female" is on her way to the UC Davis Medical Center.

The "Jane Doe" was struck while jogging along Freeport Boulevard. ioU. mall Santas, rope lights and weight gain. We've all been in time for us to reveal what's new and improved atTahoe there, all felt the sting of disap pointment, the blast of bewilder ski resorts. Alpine Meadows and Homewood now are under the same ownership.

Northstar and Heavenly continue to make strides in creating "destinations" that go way beyond day-trip ski slopes. We chart the changes and show you how to get there. ment, the overwhelming urge to ask, "What is it?" We share some of our readers' wacky gift stories. Who is she and will she survive the next 24 hours? The Bee's Cynthia Hubert reports in the first of two parts. OUTPUT: 121407 23:08 USER: DCARACCI0 BEEBR0AD MASTER 06-26-02.