Demo group targets Demo

WASHINGTON — A group angry that Sen. Zell Miller will deliver the keynote address to the Republican National Convention kicked off an Internet campaign Wednesday demanding that the Georgian stop calling himself a Democrat.

"Zell votes like a Republican, he talks like a Republican and he's going to speak to the Republicans. People who are going to see that should know the whole story behind it," said Eric Carbone, a Democrat who created an anti-Miller Web site.

The site, zellout.com, has already received "hundreds and hundreds" of e-mails from Democrats angry at Miller, its creators said.

Visitors to the site can review a list of the top nine reasons Miller isn't really a Democrat — chiefly his support for President Bush's agenda — then sign an online petition calling on Miller to switch party affiliations.

"You've sold out, Zell," is the site's message to Miller.

Each time someone signs the petition, an e-mail is sent to Miller's Senate office. Carbone said that for every 1,000 signatures he gathers, he'll deliver a red elephant — the symbol of the Republican Party — to Miller's office.

Miller, who has vowed not to leave the Democratic Party despite his opposition to its leadership, dismissed the site.

"It doesn't bother me," Miller said. "My office doesn't even bother me with things like that."

Rich Mintz, an Atlanta marketing consultant who helped put together zellout.com, said the project reflects a disgust he and many other Democrats feel for what they see as Miller's betrayal of a party that backed him for 40 years.

"I got involved because I'm angry with Zell Miller," Mintz said. "I feel like he's left us in the dust, the people who elected him. Georgians are particularly angry. It's personal for us."

Carbone's loosely organized group intends to launch similar internet projects to help Democrats. They chose Miller as their first target because he takes center stage at the Republican convention in New York next week.