Ani DiFranco and Margaret Cho joined forces at the Overture Center for the Arts Tuesday in an effort to swell the ranks of voters who hope to put a new president in office.

"It looks like your town got the memo," DiFranco, who spent the previous day tooling around Madison, told the sold- out crowd. "It seemed like everyone I passed on the street was talking about participating and activating."

In the lobby, an army of clipboard-toting supporters worked diligently to make sure concertgoers were registered to vote, so, as Cho put it, "we can get our country back."

"We want democracy, not demo-crazy," said Cho, who called the current atmosphere in the nation "perilous."

"First of all, free Cat Stevens," she said, referencing the former singer and peace activist who years ago converted to Islam. Recently, the plane on which Stevens was traveling from London to Washington, D.C., was diverted to Maine because Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) is on a U.S. no-fly list.

Saying the country's terrorism warning elevates whenever President Bush is down in the polls, Cho predicted that on Election Day, "Osama Bin Laden is gonna jump out of a cake."

Cho used her often risque humor masterfully to build a case against the Bush administration and its assault on gay rights and women's rights.

"You know things are bad when you're reminiscing about how good a president Ronald Reagan was," said Cho, whose performance was highlighted by a hilarious routine on the supposed dangers of women's sexuality.

Rather demure in comparison, DiFranco let her presence and her lyrics speak for themselves in echoing Cho's message.

With lyrics such as "I am an all-powerful amazon warrior not just some sniveling girl" - from the song "Origami," on her latest CD, "Educated Guess" - DiFranco harkened back to her earliest songs, which earned her a fierce following of young women rightfully claiming their own power and potential.

Along with newer works, DiFranco offered earlier songs characteristically born anew, such as "As Is," "Untouchable Face" and "Anticipate."

"You gotta rub some juju on those seats, work this place in a little," DiFranco playfully teased before chiding Overture Center for being the only hall on the tour that charged for a table to be used by groups providing information and registering people to vote.

"If you think that's dumb, you can contact this venue," she said.

But Overture treated DiFranco right in providing a stellar venue for her intimate bass- accompanied performance. While her set leaned toward more introspective and contemplative choices, DiFranco fully conveyed the passion she brings to her words and music.

DiFranco underscored the evening's theme by ending with her poem "Grand Canyon," which begins and ends with a profession of love for her country and joyful indebtedness to all the people throughout its history who have fought the government for what is right "so that we could stand here and behold breathlessly the sight how a raging river of tears cut a grand canyon of light."

During intermission, a slide show chronicled how women, blacks and Native Americans have had to fight for the right to vote and the ability to exercise it without being the target of violence.

Black gay comedian Bruce Daniels, who opened the show, brought biting humor to his condemnation of the Bush administration and its proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

"If I pay my taxes in this country, shouldn't I have every right everyone else has?" asked Daniels, who equated being a gay Republican to being a Jewish Nazi. "How could you hate yourself some more?

"I'm not going to let this administration scare me back into the closet."