document: IN VIRGINIA the North American Free Trade Agreement evokes a passionate opposition , but football , apparently , still is the reigning obsession . A ` not this Nafta ' rally on Saturday provided little competition for the college ` game of the century ' - Florida State University against Notre Dame . Only 115 demonstrators turned out amid the autumn foliage in the grounds of Virginia 's capitol in Richmond . They came promptly at two in the afternoon and by three most were gone . The organisers said they were sending a message to Virginia 's three wavering congressmen that a ` yes ' vote on Nafta in the House on Wednesday would be ` remembered in November ' . That is , next November 's mid-term elections , when those assembled - mostly followers of Texas billionaires of Mr Ross Perot and union members - would unite to throw the rascals out of office . ` We are absolutely for free trade , ' says Mr Bill Diggitt , the state director of Mr Perot 's United We Stand . ` But Nafta undermines our constitution . It puts decision-making in the hands of international panels , which undermines our judicial system . ' He says he is concerned about the loss of Virginia 's tax base as companies move production to Mexico and place continuous downward pressure on wages . ` The administration is selling everything it can to every congressman it can . That 's wrong , ' he says . Mr Josh Greenwood , owner of a small hydroelectric company , says : ' I might run against my congressman myself . ' Mexican workers are treated like slaves , he claims . ` In Virginia there was slavery , but the slaves were expensive and the people who owned them valued them . They had better housing and better sanitary conditions than the workers in Mexico today . The babies of the slaves were n't born with brain damage from concentrated pollution . ' Virginia has 11 congressmen . Three have joined the anti-Nafta forces ; five have declared themselves in favour of the pact . The three undecided have found themselves in the eye of a lobbying whirlwind . Mr Greenwood 's congressman , Norman Sisisky , spent Friday meeting groups from both sides . ` He is trying to sort through the misleading information , ' says his press secretary . As a member of the House armed services committee he expects the foreign policy implications of the Nafta vote to weigh heavily in his decision . This argument carried little weight at Saturday 's rally . Mr Ralph Dombrower , a Perot devotee , brought the results of an interactive computer poll showing a growing isolationism among American voters . ` The public is becoming less inclined to see the US as arbiter of worldwide human behaviour and wishes to get out of our foreign policy involvements , ' he says . The Virginia business community began a pro-Nafta lobbying effort last March . ` The unions had gotten to everyone . We were going against a tide of misinformation , ' says Ms Kathy Otts , co-captain of Virginians For Nafta . The coalition - 100 of the state 's largest businesses and 500 small and medium-sized companies - counter-attacked with an ` education ' campaign . Company employees were exhorted to write or call their congressman . The anti-Nafta forces on Saturday published long lists of business contributors to the pro-Nafta congressmen . ` Constituents only have votes to give , and it seems these congressmen are having a hard time hearing their message , ' the cover page said . On Friday , after the fifth pro-Nafta congressman announced his position , a dispirited Lorrie Beckwith , an opposition organiser , said her campaign had been hindered early on by a lack of unity . President Bill Clinton seemed to be buying off the undecided congressmen . One was reported to have been promised that a manufacturing research centre would be located in his district . Another was said to have received assurances of funding for a new aircraft carrier to be built in his district . A visit to Congressman Sisisky had not been encouraging , says Mr Beckwith . ` He says he had a bad feeling about the agreement in his gut . He was concerned it may hurt family farms . But if he is offered a decent project , he says he might find it tough to say no . ' In Portsmouth , Virginia , one of the last undecided congressmen , Owen Pickett , is in his district office , as he is every weekend . His door bears a sign , ` This office belongs to the people of the second district of Virginia ' . The unionised port workers are urging opposition . The military , which comprises most of the district 's voters , are worried about jobs in the face of Pentagon cutbacks . ` He will listen to everyone 's side , ' a Pickett aide says .
extractive_keyphrases: north american free trade agreement demonstrators judicial system foreign policy implications opposition organiser president bill clinton passionate opposition virginia
abstractive_keyphrases: anti-nafta forces pro-nafta lobbying effort pro-nafta congressmen