Liberal New Yorkers welcome conservative Republicans - sort of

When Peter Shankman was a smart-aleck teen carousing on the streets of Manhattan years ago, he and his buddies would sometimes make fun of the deer-in-the-headlight tourists gaping at maps, trying to find their way.

"Oh, you want to get to the Statue of Liberty?" they would snicker to themselves. "OK, easy. Get on the uptown No. 1 train, get off at 137th Street. Make sure you're wearing a lot of jewelry, then ask anyone there - and make sure you tell them you're a tourist!" (Hint: That's a stop in Harlem, a 40-minute subway ride from the Statue of Liberty.)

They never actually followed through, says Mr. Shankman, now a marketing executive in the city where he was born and raised. But as New Yorkers brace for an onslaught of Republican delegates this weekend, a handful are saying they just might take up such "disinformation campaigns" as the Republicans come to town. In fact, the former three-term mayor, Ed Koch, has been urging his notoriously liberal fellow citizens to "make nice" with their conservative GOP guests.

It's not just that 5 out of 6 registered voters here are Democrats. New York has long been a bastion of artistic libertines and avant-garde intellectuals, as well as workaday unionists, making it one of the most left-leaning regions in the country. Socialists still hand out pamphlets on college campuses - and are taken seriously - and anarchists aren't simply teens with body piercings and a fondness for punk.

Of course, such political eccentricity can make New Yorkers myopic and parochial, too. As film critic Pauline Kael said in bewilderment after Richard Nixon trounced George McGovern in 1972, "Nobody I knew voted for Nixon!"

Add to this political bent New Yorkers' infamous in-your-face demeanor, and some begin to worry. Philadelphia votes almost as Democratic as New York City, after all - as do most big cities - but no one had to urge the "City of Brotherly Love" to "make nice" when the Republicans held their convention there four years ago.

"New Yorkers, obviously, have a reputation for expressing their opinions," says Jonathan Tisch, chairman of NYC & Co., the city's convention and tourism bureau. "And so even though they may see some Republicans and tell them how they feel politically, my sense is that they'll do it with a smile, and they'll help find a restaurant or the Museum of Modern Art."

City boosters may have a reason to proclaim their confidence that New Yorkers will make nice next week, of course, but a significant number of residents are indeed planning to express their ire in a more civil way. And while much is being said about visiting protesters and fears of violence, most of the locals are looking for particularly New York ways to counter the Republican deluge.

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