ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
It was 9 a.m. West Coast time, just one day before Kay Coles James would ascend to perhaps the most celebrated post of her political career, and all she was worrying about was when to do laundry and what party invitations to decline.
The Chesapeake resident and dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University is expected to be named secretary of the Republican National Convention early today. She will be responsible for tallying all the roll-call votes and making sure they comply with the party bylaws.
But on the day before her appointment, she hadn't even read the bylaws. And she wasn't planning to.
``I am assured that I will be assigned a staff person who is very familiar with all the intricacies and that, by Monday morning at 10:30, when the gavel falls, I will be very well briefed,'' James said, relaxing over coffee Sunday morning.
Then she paused a moment.
``But, come on. Let's get real. The important part is...''
Then she sat up straight with a big convention-giddy grin and cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone.
``A-LA-BA-MA,'' James cried with a mock roar.
``AR-KAN-SAS.''
Alas, even the woman who will get the job as convention secretary acknowledges it's simply a position of ceremony, pageantry and party pomp. Her primary role: standing on the podium Wednesday night and reading out the names of the states and territories, so each can announce - with the requisite flourish - its presidential nomination.
But James' selection as convention secretary, delegates in California say, is also symbolic of the mounting regard Republicans throughout the country hold for the 47-year-old Portsmouth native who presided over Virginia's welfare overhaul as Gov. George Allen's health and human services secretary.
James' name is whispered more than anyone's in the Old Dominion as a possible officer in a potential Dole administration. She is a black woman - welcome in a party struggling for diversity - but has a conservative resum that puts her in limited company by many GOP standards.
``I don't think there's any question,'' said Virginia delegate Robert McDonnell, who served with James on the GOP's platform committee last week. ``If you put in line a list of the top conservative leaders in the country, Kay's name would be there somewhere.''
James is an engaging speaker who was born into poverty and then grew up in middle-class Richmond. She first stood in the political spotlight as spokeswoman for the National Right to Life Committee in the mid-80s. She held two sub-Cabinet posts in the Bush administration dealing with health and social issues.
But while others might be pondering her political might if the Republicans take the White House, James swore she was not. Particularly, she said, with issues to resolve such as which of her two new dresses will look best under the convention lights.
``I was talking to a Los Angeles Times reporter, and he wanted to know which states I thought would give me the most trouble, which had the trickiest names,'' James said, clearly showing little concern about her ability to perform as expected.
``The two states I don't want to mess up are, of course, Kansas and New York,'' she said, naming the home states of the two presidential hopefuls. ``But I'd have a hard time if I stumbled on Virginia.''
Adept with sarcasm when necessary, James doesn't hype the secretary role beyond the simple tradition it is. The real thrill of the job, she said, is that she will be one of only a handful of people on the convention stage during a historic moment - when Bob Dole and Jack Kemp accept the party's nomination.
``I don't want to diminish the honor at all. You can imagine that there are thousands of activists all over the country who would love the honor.
``But let's be real. I have, I think, 53 words to say, counting the states and the territories.
``No one can tell you who the last two convention secretaries are. Can you? I can't. I assure you that by next year this time, no one will remember it was me.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) James. color KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB