California dreaming of a Kerry victory

AS SOON as the traffic lights turn red on the long road into San Francisco from the airport, a platoon of beggars converges on drivers. Without any pretence about washing car windows, they had written out a novel pitch for cash: "Hungry, Homeless, Bush Out."

This is a fairly accurate welcome to the political climate of the city. I had come to write a portrait of an America which was evenly and agonisingly split between George Bush and John Kerry - and had started in the wrong place.

From homeless to hoi-polloi, the city seems united in its loathing for the president. The first Californian I stopped to ask about his voting intentions responded by reaching inside his shirt and producing a dog-tag engraved with his choice: Kerry-Edwards 2004. "Do you see this? I work with 200 men; we’re all wearing one," said Stephen Schwartz. "And do you know why? Because George Bush is the anti-Christ. He’s in cahoots with big business, he’s started a war on a damned lie, and we’re going to crucify him."

Mr Schwartz works for Amtrak, a railway company he believes Mr Bush intends to privatise.

His colleagues are preparing for battle and bracing their friends, family and distant cousins for operation Eject Bush 2004.

"I am so fired up," he says. "I haven’t felt this way for years. We’re going to take our country back again. It’s time for the people."

But only a certain type of people, and this, it transpires, is what the United States presidential election is all about.

Mr Schwartz, a trade union leader, has a clear idea of his enemy: Hicksville allied with Wall Street. "There are these, these," he struggles to find the word, "Christians. Mad, mad Christians. And they vote for Bush because they’re just like him."

Along the Californian coast, the analysis was almost identical. "Bush is run by businesses, starting wars so they can profit," said Joe Marshall, a student in Santa Cruz. "My generation has woken up to this, we’re all supporting John Kerry."

Car stickers said "Bush Go To Hell" - one car in Santa Cruz had "Dick Cheney (the vice president) f**k you" sprayed on to the window in the way couples write "just married". Such anger in a state where only 44 per cent bothered to vote last time.

So why the anger? Partly because Mr Bush’s narrow margin of victory - 570 votes in Florida, which swung the balance of power after a recount was banned by the supreme court. From that moment, Mr Bush’s enemies have been in a rage.

The Iraq war drove them into a fit of pique. When Iraq contracts were handed to Halliburton, a firm Mr Cheney used to run, they grew apoplectic. Mr Bush’s proposed ban on gay marriage has tipped the anger beyond a measurable scale.

But California recently elected Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, as its governor by a huge majority. Four years ago, two in every five Californian voters went for Mr Bush. Where were they hiding?

The first sign of life came via the radio, when I detected unusual lyrics in the music I’d been listening to in the car. "Don’t give up/ don’t give in/ His son died for our sins." I had hit on the conservative wavelength: a kind of God FM.

On the hour, a "family news" bulletin relayed dispatches about court rulings on gay marriage in various American states. San Francisco, according to one survey, had now turned so gay that pet dogs now outnumber children.

This was not a sect broadcasting from a beach house. The US has some 1,600 Christian radio stations which claim 90 million listeners. It is a first sign of the other life form that wants to give Mr Bush a second term.

Labels are put on each side: the "metro" like to sip caffe lattes, have gay friends, and are deeply suspicious of big companies and favour higher tax and oppose the Iraq war.

This is, broadly speaking, the "liberal" camp, which most of Europe would fit into. The flip side are dubbed "retro", or conservatives. They emphasise family values, are suspicious of government meddling, are fiercely protective of their rights to bear arms and are usually Christian.

After decades of peaceful co-existence, these two cultures are clashing and it is hard to tell who fired the first shot. San Francisco, for example, authorised gay marriage last year, causing uproar and leading the Californian Supreme Court to annul 4,000 same-sex marriages it sanctioned.

To evangelical Christians, who believe the United States was founded on the Bible, the "liberals" are attempting something of a coup d’tat, enforcing their will on others.

Each side senses that the other is trying to take over America - hence the battle for the soul and identity of the country is being waged in the courts, bookshops and, now, the presidential election.

I found Jake Scott in Starbucks. He claims he is the only Republican left in the state. His major concern is San Francisco’s homeless.

"Go out after 9pm and it’s like City of the Dead," he complains. The city pays the homeless $400 (225) in cash each month, which he claims has trebled its begging population in five years. "When liberals fight poverty, poverty wins," he said.

The stereotypes never work completely - caffe latte drinkers go to church, gays vote for Mr Bush. But the election is forcing Americans to make a choice.

This is what makes United States elections so explosive - they are about culture, migration, economy and ways of life. And infuriatingly for the elites on either side of the US coast, it will be decided by about 15 of the so-called "flyover" states - as they are named by those who only ever see them when peering from an aircraft window.

California may be an economic and cultural engine for the US, home to Silicon Valley, Hollywood and more voters than any other state. But it is painted blue, the colour for the Democrats. Kansas, Kentucky or Wyoming are all painted deep Bush red. So I head next for Arizona, a neighbouring state which is - on paper at least - an even mosaic of both.