Eighteen months from now, citizens will vote for president. If the 2004 campaign is anything like the last one, the election returns will mark the culmination of a depressing media spectacle.

For news watchers, the candidates and the coverage can be hard to take. Appearances on television are apt to become tedious, nauseating or worse. Campaign ads often push the limits of slick pandering. Journalists routinely seem fixated on "horseracing" the contest instead of reporting about the huge financial interests that candidates have served.

Media-driven campaigns now dominate every presidential race, badly skewed in favor of big money. And while millions of progressive-minded Americans are eager to have an impact on the political process, they often face what appears to be a choice between severe compromise and marginalization.

Remarkable transitions occur during presidential campaigns. People who are usually forthright can become evasive or even downright dishonest -- in public anyway -- when they declare themselves to be fervent supporters of a particular contender. Nuances and mixed assessments tend to go out the window.

The Historical Trekkers group will tour Dysart Woods this Saturday, May 3 with muskets and 18th century attire. They say that Dysart Woods is one of the extremely rare places where they can see a historic tract of the old growth forest that once covered 95 percent of Ohio.

They will arrive at the ancient forest between 10-10:30 a.m. this Saturday. Media are welcome to record the event. “With the current permit to mine directly under the ancient forest, this may be the last opportunity of its kind to tour a significant historic forest in Ohio, unless the permit can be stopped in the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources or in court,” said Dysart Defenders Coordinator Chad Kister.

“With only .004 percent of old growth left, this is an extremely important historic resource,” said Kister. “For the Ohio Valley Coal Company to request to mine under every acre of Dysart Woods is wrong and it needs to be challenged and stopped.”

The following is a statement from Thom "Swanny" Swan, Coordinator of Historical Trekkers:

Don't think the antiwar movement has dropped off the political map. A lot of those people, and there were millions of them, are thinking: Who should I vote for in 2004?

This brings us to the Democratic candidates vying for the honor of running against G. Bush in 2004. Senators Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, Bob Graham, John Kerry and Rep. Dick Gephardt all supported the war with varying degrees of enthusiasm

Firmly antiwar were one white, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and two blacks, the Rev. Al Sharpton and former U.S. Senator Carol Mosely Braun.

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, now vying with Kucinich for the support of the progressive crowd, stood by his position that any attack on Iraq should have the explicit blessing of the U.N. Security Council.

The logic of Dean's position is that if the U.N. Security Council had approved, war would have been justified. By contrast, Rep. Dennis Kucinich has always taken the position, as has Rev. Al Sharpton, that the U.N. inspectors should have been allowed to do their work. In

The Dixie Chicks have taken a big hit lately for exercising their basic right to express themselves. To me, they're terrific American artists expressing American values by using their American right to free speech. For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American.

The pressure coming from the government and big business to enforce conformity of thought concerning the war and politics goes against everything that this country is about - namely freedom. Right now, we are supposedly fighting to create freedom in Iraq, at the same time that some are trying to intimidate and punish people for using that same freedom here at home.

I don't know what happens next, but I do want to add my voice to those who think that the Dixie Chicks are getting a raw deal, and an un-American one to boot. I send them my support.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Alright! Alright! Alright! Saddam Hussein, down the toilet. Good work guys. That'll teach that towelhead son-of-a-bitch to mess with my daddy.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Yessir, yessir, yessir, it's all over but the shouting now, men. No more yapping from those peacenik creeps. No more stupid jerking around at the UN. Oil prices plummeting. Rebuilding contracts all around. Life is sweet. Fuck the Democrats. Fuck Tony Blair. It's on to Teheran.

KARL ROVE: Democrats? What Democrats? Fox, MSNBC, Clear Channel, the networks, that's where the power is at. All those gas bag lap dogs creaming themselves and wiping it up with the flag. George, you're going down in history. We got the whole world groveling at our feet. I love those frogs and krauts whining about the big bucks already rolling in from that beautiful Iraqi oil. Boys, we got it all.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: I must say, Karl, your idea of using Putin to slip Saddam that five billion bucks to turn tail was a master stroke. The Republican Guard took that money and ran. Saved us months of hassle and billions of dollars. What genius!