PORTLAND, Maine (AP)   -- Former Maine congressman Tom Andrews has been rubbing elbows with celebrity musicians and appearing on political affairs TV programs. He has orchestrated a massive call-in campaign that tied up phone lines in U.S. Senate offices for most of a day.

It's all part of the job for Andrews, who has assumed a prominent role in the national anti-war movement. As director of Win Without War, a coalition of nearly three dozen diverse organizations, Andrews thinks up and organizes ways to get the anti-war message out to America.

Last month, Andrews helped put together Musicians United to Win Without War, an alliance of more than 40 musical artists. After a news conference to announce the alliance, he talked strategy with rock musicians David Byrne and Lou Reed, country music star Roseanne Cash and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

Andrews also proposed having actor Martin Sheen, the president on NBC's ''The West Wing,'' appear in an anti-war TV ad, then wrote the script and helped produce it. He has faced off with hawkish conservatives on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' and CNN's ''Crossfire.''

And he directed a national ''virtual march'' on the nation's capital that resulted in more than 1 million phone calls to the White House and U.S. Senate offices to protest an invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Andrews, an unabashed liberal, said the Bush administration has made itself clear on Iraq, and that it's time for an opposing view to take the bully pulpit.

''We're talking about an invasion and full-scale occupation of the most volatile part of the world where anti-American sentiment is already at a fevered pitch,'' Andrews said.

Andrews, 49, is no stranger to controversy or to issues of war.

Maine's 1st District congressman from 1991-95, Andrews set off a ruckus when he supported closing Loring Air Force Base in northern Maine during a round of military base closures in the early 1990s. While a freshman in Congress, he gave a fiery speech on the House floor against the 1991 war with Iraq.

He's also no stranger to liberal causes. For most of his life, he has crusaded on human rights, global economic policy, nuclear power, poverty, free speech, sweatshop labor and disability rights. Andrews, who lost a leg to cancer as a teenager and now uses a prosthetic device, was in Augusta last month to support a legislative bill to bolster insurance coverage for artificial limbs.

When he's not in Washington or on the road, he spends time in Maine; he and his wife have a home in South Portland.

David Cortright, a Win Without War committee member and director of Fourth Freedom Forum anti-war organization in Indiana, said Andrews was the first choice when it was decided Win Without War needed a full-time director. The coalition, formed in December, counts Greenpeace, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, the National Council of Churches and the Sierra Club among its members.

Cortright said Andrews was chosen because of his legislative experience, his media savvy and his organizing skills.

''He seems to have earned his way building coalitions, listening to people, and articulating messages that are creative without being extreme, without sounding radical and putting people off,'' Cortright said.

Craig Brown, who was Andrews' congressional chief of staff for four years, said Andrews' position in the anti-war movement is consistent with the kind of work he's done his whole life. Brown heads the Portland-based commondreams.org, a nonprofit Web site with news and opinion for ''the progressive community.''

''He's unique in that he understands Washington mechanics, but his roots are grassroots organizing,'' he said. ''He understands coalitions and strategizing as an organizer. There aren't many current or former members of Congress that have those skills.''

For now, Andrews finds himself ''in the lion's den of debate'' on Iraq.

On CNN's ''Crossfire,'' he went up against former U.S. Rep. Bob Dornan, a conservative from California once known as ''B-1 Bob.'' On ''Meet the Press,'' he was paired against Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Andrews is sure more public appearances are to come. ''Any time and every time we have the opportunity to present our point of view, we will take it.''

On the Net:

Win Without War: www.winwithoutwarus.org

Common Dreams News Center: www.commondreams.org

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

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