Protest, Latino dissent present at the debates 

Night 1: Los Angeles welcomed Vice President Al Gore with open arms as Latino supporters proudly displayed painted signs reading: "Viva Gore!"

Night 2: Masked protestors spat on the debates with spiteful chants about all the candidates.  "Bush, Bradley, Gore, McCain, who's funding your campaign?"

"They're all different heads on the same beast," said Becky Sanchez, 23, a protestor representing the American Indian Movement.  "If they don't represent freedom for the people, what do they represent?"

These were the some of the spectacles behind the presidential primary debates Wednesday and Thursday in downtown Los Angeles. The candidates of both nights personified fire and ice.

Democratic hopefuls Gore and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley kept their cool and agreed on many issues.

Both candidates agreed that Proposition 22, which would ban the recognition of same-sex marriage in California, was unjust.

"I think that it's time just to leave people alone because of the way God made them and stop the discrimination," Gore said.  

Bradley agreed.

"What's also important for us to convey to people is that gays and lesbians are no different than the rest of us," he said. "They just have a different attitude, like a different color of hair."

However, both candidates launched insults against the Republican front-runners, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Bradley accused Bush of wanting to halt a bill that would increase penalties for hate crimes, and Gore said the Republican Party was "in the midst of an identity crisis."

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Gore supporter, said having a president like Bush would pose a negative effect on the U.S. Latino population.

Comparing Bush's favorable numbers with Texan Latinos to the arrival of pop star Ricky Martin, Bustamante said: "Anyone who thinks George W. Bush is good for the Latino community is living la vida loca!"

Bustamante said Bush's popularity will never cross over to California because of the perception Latinos have of Republican governors.

"He thinks just because he spoke a little Spanish in the beginning, and rode in a Cinco de Mayo parade, Latinos will support him," he said. "Latinos will never forget the tattooing of propositions 187, 209 and 222."

Bustamante also said the Latino children in Texas are the most impoverished and uneducated.

Bush denied those charges.

"Our test scores are up in the state of Texas for African-American students and Hispanic students," Bush said.