. - Call it sympathy for the diva. In the wake of Martha Stewart's conviction last Friday, a wave of compassion for the steely domestic doyenne has swept through water-cooler conversations and onto editorial pages.

Some of her greatest devotees have dubbed this Saturday "National Save Martha Day," complete with Uncle Sam posters proclaiming: "I WANT YOU TO HELP SAVE MARTHA!" "Knit-ins" are planned at Kmarts around the country, at which the faithful will wear Martha Stewart gear, buy Ms. Stewart's products, and urge fellow shoppers to do the same. And an online "Pardon Martha" petition is circulating, bound for President Bush.

While many agree with the jury that Stewart lied and got what she deserves, her supporters, many women academics, and even some who watched the trial with a morbid fascination, see a deeper morality in the story. To them, her downfall is about questionable justice, media bias, and a deep-seated cultural anxiety over the rich, successful, and female.

"Most women are actually very torn about this. Most are convinced that she did violate the law, but on the other hand they're very uncomfortable with the glee with which she's been brought down," says Susan Douglas, a professor of communications at the University of Michigan. "It's a glee about women stepping out of their place and [the public] slapping them down when they do, and that makes women very uncomfortable and angry."

And that, says John Small, editor of www.SaveMartha.com, has produced "an explosion" of support, at least on his website. In the first days after the caterer-turned-domestic-dynamo was convicted for lying about a possible insider stock tip, Mr. Small's website was inundated. Its Save Martha! store had its biggest day ever.

Besides T-shirts and tote bags in tasteful pastels, hot items included mugs inscribed with "If her stock deal is legit, you must acquit," and a Save Martha sewing pincushion in the shape of a voodoo doll, geared for Martha advocates who'd like to stick pins in biased reporters and SEC investigators.

"It's been astounding," Small says. "People have really woken up to the fact that Martha could go to jail while O.J. Simpson and [Enron's] Ken Lay are still walking around free."

Some cultural commentators see the groundswell of sympathy as just the normal polarizing that occurs after major events involving high-profile people or deeply held beliefs. Michael Solomon, a professor of consumer behavior at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., contends that overall feeling about Stewart is probably still negative - in part because of her conviction. But those diehards who supported her before are likely even more dedicated now, which accounts for part of the surge in sympathy.

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