Stationed on a busy corner of Seventh Avenue just a few feet from Madison Square Garden last Saturday afternoon, Ray Agostini was busily engaged in some last-minute button-pushing. Curiously: The usual crew of ranting Black Hebrews who occupy the corner was missing.

Mr. Agostini�s wares�Republican Party paraphernalia, including buttons proclaiming "W Stands for Women" and "Bush/Cheney �04" in both square and round varieties, as well as John Podhoretz�s Bush Country�haven�t attracted jeers from passers-by. (What happened to all those angry liberals?) Instead, for the past four Saturdays, Mr. Agostini has created a nexus of the like-minded.

"We�re very happy to see this here," said Bronx native Frank Szas, who�d already affixed the Bush button he�d bought moments earlier. "I feel like a minority among all these Democrats in New York." His wife Maryanne chirped in: "I can�t believe anyone would be stupid enough to vote for Kerry. He�s an empty-headed idiot. I wouldn�t let him be the teacher of a kindergarten!" The image seemed uncanny, on the whole; a recent documentary featured the President in a strangely similar setting. Ms. Szas continued: "Can you imagine him on foreign policy, with all those Hindus over there who want our heads on their backs?" She turned back to the table. "How much is that book there?"

Mr. Agostini, who works at a finance company during the day, also attends the Conservative Book Discussion Club, a nonprofit group that�s behind his old-fashioned down-home campaign drive. The group, Mr. Agostini explained, met regularly at a local Barnes and Noble to study conservative thinkers like Edmund Burke, Roger Kimball and Dinesh DeSouza (no Ann Coulter or Bill O�Reilly here, thank you very much). "We�re a very literate, educated group."

More customers arrived. Two Australian tourists handed over $4 for a pair of Bush/Cheney buttons. "If I lived here, it�d be Bushie all the way. He�s gonna take all the terrorists out," said Aaron Lindsey, 21.

"I love George Bush," added a woman with a thick European accent. "George W. Bush give freedom, Baltic states�Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Thank you, George W. Bush. Thank you, Ronald Reagan. All East Europe loves George W. Bush."

So far, a pretty eclectic bunch.

"There�s no stereotypes here," said Mr. Agostini. "For example, I�m Puerto Rican, she�s Cuban. Republicans are like everybody else." His Cuban friend Ann from New Jersey joined in, dismissing the claim that New Yorkers are liberals by default: "New Yorkers voted twice for Giuliani. And Reagan carried New York." As for the conventional wisdom that minorities and Bush just don�t mix, Ann said, "Because I�m a Hispanic woman, people think I should be kowtowing the Jesse Jackson motto or jamming for Al Sharpton. I�m a person who�s self-sufficient. I don�t think the government needs to take care of all my needs."