Clout: Localite Amoore is GOP 'cheerleader'

R

ENEE AMOORE

, a working-class kid from Haverford who grew up to become a successful businesswoman, calls herself "cheerleader of the Republican Party."

Last night, she addressed the Republican National Convention in a Red State red dress.

Amoore, the only African-American woman to address the convention, led the cheers this way: "If you want common-sense energy policies that increase use of alternative energy without increasing food prices, then you are a McCain voter.

"If you want health care to be more accessible and affordable for families and small businesses in the private market, instead of through a government-run system, you are a McCain voter . . .

"You are a McCain voter if you know - like I do - that small businesses are the greatest source of jobs in the inner city and are demanding policies that allow small businesses to thrive there.

"If you want a country where high taxes, excessive regulation and bureaucratic paperwork never rob small businesses of the ability to create more jobs, then John's your man.

"If you are sick and tired of all the D.C. yak-yak-yak . . . and realize that every day action is delayed, problems just get worse . . . If you want action, McCain's your man."

And, her big finish: "I'm proud to be an African-American woman. I'm proud to be a Republican, and I'm proud to be voting for John McCain."

Amoore's profile among national Republicans has been rising. In 2000, she conducted the roll call of the states at the convention in Philadelphia.

In 2004, she chaired Pennsylvania's delegation.

Last night came the prime-time speech

"I'm very, very excited and very honored and humbled," Amoore told us before she took the podium. "I have seven sisters and they're rah, rah, rah, [plus] my husband and daughter, they're all proud of me."

Amoore, who runs the Amoore Group of consulting companies in King of Prussia, is a third-generation Republican, so the fuss over little- known vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin doesn't faze her.

"I don't care how large or small her town is, if you're a mayor and a councilwoman you have executive credentials," Amoore said. "She's a quick study and she'll appeal to working women who understand juggling two or three things at the same time."

Knocked up: A solution!

With the fuss over Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter being preggers, it looks like the condom maker Trojan has hit on a great marketing tool.

Trojan representatives were outside the Xcel Energy Center yesterday with a display and handing out free condoms.

But it wasn't the high-profile Alaskan bun-in-the-oven that attracted the Trojans. They were giving them away at the Democratic National Convention, too, where everyone is apparently on the pill.

"America is not a sexually healthy nation," Trojan Group Product Manager David Johnson told Clout's Andrew Reich in a massive understatement, "and abstinence-only education just isn't working"

The conventions are stops on a nationwide tour of college campuses, Johnson said.

Besides the condoms, the display includes a TV showing man-on-the- street interviews about sexual health, and a condom relay race in which participants must run to a banana and properly dress it with a condom to prove their "evolved sexual behavior."

Johnson says that Trojan has no political affiliation or preference, just a desire to promote "comprehensive sexual-health education."

That's controversial to some, but Johnson said that he hadn't encountered any opposition. Giggles are another story.

"Condoms can generate a smile because it's an embarrassing subject for some people," Johnson said.

One passer-by was overheard saying, "I'm trying to get her pregnant; why the hell would I want a condom!"

But overall, convention-goers have loved the free samples, of which there are three varieties offered, including "magnum." Condom recipients also received a free pin with the words "Get it on! (the agenda)" at the top and "Condoms save lives" at the bottom.

They can also save political embarrassment.

Brady bids for Biden

It was no accident that John McCain's only public stop in Philly on Tuesday was in the Northeast, where Republicans see fertile ground.

But Democratic Party chief Bob Brady thinks he has an antidote: Joe Biden.

Barack Obama's running mate has the white, ethnic working-class roots that connect with Northeast voters, Brady said.

Biden has scheduled a campaign stop in Langhorne tomorrow, and Brady is trying to get him to swing by a couple of places in the Northeast.

"We're looking at a Catholic senior center and a synagogue," Brady said.

Republicans yuk it up

Those attending the Pennsylvania delegation breakfast yesterday got a splash of GOP humor served up at the expense of the Democrats.

Former Arkansas Gov. (and presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee, the featured speaker, defended Sarah Palin with, "She got more votes in her quest for mayor of Wasilla than Joe Biden got when he was running for president."

And Allegheny County GOP chairman Jim Roddey told attendees that his 100-year-old mother is campaigning for John McCain door-to-door in her Pittsburgh assisted-living facility and telling residents there that, "Any taxpayer who votes for Obama is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." *

Staff writers Gar Joseph and John Baer contributed to this report.