by Peter Mackler
BOSTON, Massachusetts, July 27 (AFP) - He has no official role here but filmmaker Michael Moore, whose scathing anti-Bush documentary has hit many nerves, cuts a large and sometimes awkward figure at the Democratic convention.
Moore, whose "Fahrenheit 9/11" has made him a guru of the Bush-bashing movement turned up for a crowded schedule of apearances around the convention as it launched hometown hero John Kerry on his quest for the White House.
But if he's eagerly awaited by fans and mobbed by reporters at each step of the way, the burly director with the trademark baseball cap can be a thorn to some Democrats and the media as well as Republicans.
Asked by CNN to explain the phenomenal success of his latest film, which hauls President George W. Bush over the coals for his war on terror and move into Iraq, Moore lashed out in all directions.
"I think it's because the American people, for the last four years, feel like they haven't been told the whole truth ... both from the White House and the media not doing its job," he said.
"When the war started, too much of the media was a cheerleader instead of doing the real job of asking the hard questions, demanding the evidence. And so people have come to this movie to see the things that they haven't seen."
Moore's unabashedly strident politics are a double edge for the campaign of John Kerry, which has been highly critical of the Bush administration but does not want to go overboard in its attacks and alienate moderate voters.
The Massachusetts senator has said he was in no rush to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Moore is not among the crowd of art world heavyweights such as actor Ben Affleck who have become regular faces on the campaign.
The Kerry camp is mindful of the polarizing effect Moore has as demonstrated earlier this month when singer Linda Ronstadt was booed off a Las Vegas stage and kicked out of a casino after praising his film.
Moore, 50, himself has shown no particular love for Kerry but brandishes a cynical disdain for politicians in general.
He told Time magazine this month he did not want "Fahrenheit 9/11" to boil down to a question of Bush versus Kerry. "When Clinton was president I went after him," he said, "and if Kerrys president, on day two Ill be on him."
Moore tries to move discretely in the supercharged environment of US politics. When he scheduled a meeting with the African-American caucus here Monday, he came in and left through a back door, with reporters giving chase.
He turned up on the floor of the convention in Boston's Fleet Center sports arena, intently concentrating on the speeches by former president Bill Clinton and others as they tore into Bush.
Moore was scheduled to speak at a "Take Back America" rally along with former presidential candidate Howard Dean, and to appear at a screening of "Fahrenheit 9/11" at a local theater.
And his presence was felt everywhere he went, including at the black caucus reception where a speaker practically referred to his film as a bible for anti-Bush dissent.
"Who hasn't seen Fahrenhewit 9/11?" she asked. "If you've seen it, go see it again. Use it in your classrooms. Use it in your communities."