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CNN Live Today

Trafficant's Ohio Constituents Give Unusual Show of Support

Aired August 15, 2002 - 10:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You will probably remember former Congressman Jim Traficant. After all, he was rather hard to forget. Right now, he is serving time for racketeering and for bribery after being booted out of the House. Well, last night his Ohio constituents gave an unusual show of support.
Belinda Prinz of our affiliate WJW from Cleveland has these hair- raising details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BELINDA PRINZ (voice-over): They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I helped the people in Mahoney (ph) Valley, and they are going stick by me.

PRINZ: By that score, the irascible ex-Congressman, who is now serving eight years in prison, has plenty of fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope he gets out. He got railroaded bigtime. It was bad.

PRINZ: Jim Trafficant's hairpiece stood out on Capitol Hill. True to form, wearing a toupee got fans into the Scrappers minor league baseball game for free, so did being the son of a truck driver, which Traficant was fond of mentioning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My father is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is truck driver in England.

PRINZ: What is your take on Jim Trafficant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I don't really hear much about him, but he is a bit of a nut case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing I'm missing is the bell bottoms. Everything else was pulled out of the closet.

PRINZ: The tongue in cheek tribute was the team's way of thanking the Youngstown area's favorite jailbird. After all, Traficant helped bring the team and the stadium to town. And knowing he had no qualms about poking fun of himself, the Scrappers did too.

See Jim. See many Jim. See the FBI go after him. Will he outrun the FBI?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going more for the Jim look. He is more for the Elvis look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a great Congressman. I voted for him before, and I would do it again.

PRINZ: The night was not complete without a mock election. Traficant is running for Congress from prison. The rest of the nation may count him out. Die-hard fans know he plays to win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right, one of these days these bars are coming down, and you know what, Traficant and Mini Me, we're back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to get re-elected, you watch and see.

PRINZ: Belinda Prinz, Fox 8 News, Niles, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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