000310 Vegetarians Puzzled by McCain

Fargo, ND - The words from John McCain (news - web sites)'s speech caught Mark Warren Reinhardt's attention. Right there on television, the Republican presidential candidate said he welcomed support from across the political and social spectrum - "Independents, Democrats, Libertarians, vegetarians!"

Reinhardt, a corporate attorney in Denver and strict vegetarian for more than 20 years, isn't sure how he feels about being used as a kind of punchline, and isn't sure whether McCain will get his vote.

"We really weren't very high up on his list of respected groups," he said. "As a vegetarian, though, I've grown kind of used to that."

McCain's younger brother, Joe, hit the campaign trail in big beef country North Dakota earlier this week, saying his brother has gotten a lot of mileage out of the one-liner. "But I've got a friend ... whose daughters are vegetarians," Joe McCain said. "And I'll bet you they're voting for John."

On balance, Reinhardt finds the vegetarian appeal more amusing than offensive.

"My guess is that nobody running for a political office wants to offend any group," he said. "But McCain probably feels that vegetarians are such a small group that he can have some fun with them and not take too much of a political risk."

A recent survey by a vegetarian research group found that only about 2% of Americans consider themselves strict vegetarians. Even fewer consider themselves "vegans," meaning they don't eat meat or any animal products, including milk or eggs.

Charles Stahler, a vegetarian activist from Baltimore, believes McCain's reference is a smart one. "I'm sure vegetarians are happy to be mentioned in any presidential candidate's speech," he said.

So far, however, McCain hasn't said anything that would persuade Stahler or Reinhardt that he would be a pro-vegetarian candidate worth their votes.

"Actually I'm a registered Democrat," said Reinhardt, who two years ago wrote a book entitled "A Perfectly Contented Meat-Eaters Guide to Vegetarianism," a humorous account of becoming a herbivore.

But he said he would vote for any candidate who backed vegetarian and vegan principles, such as halting taxpayer subsidies for hog or cattle producers and corporate tax breaks to fast-food burger and chicken restaurants.

Nancy Ives, a spokeswoman for McCain, said the senator has a record of opposing U.S. subsidies. "He's fundamentally opposed to subsidies and pork- barrel projects," Ives said, "No pun intended."

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