ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Convention Notebook
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on August 15, 1996.
An item in Wednesday's Convention Notebook inaccurately attributed a
speech in which Republicans criticized President Clinton. The speaker
was Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson.
SAN DIEGO - So what does a governor like George Allen do at the convention after he's been passed over for the vice presidential nomination and not offered a chance to speak from the podium?
Two words: Talk radio.
On Monday, Allen ventured to ``radio row'' at the convention hall to do a talk show segment. What started as a 15-minute excursion turned into a three-hour adventure for the governor.
Oliver North grabbed him to do a segment on his show. So did Mary Matalin. And then there was Seattle, Sacramento, KCNN from somwhere, WKIB from somehere else. All told, Allen did more than a dozen radio interviews broadcast across the nation before returning to his seat.
``We were up there and everyone just kind of glommed on,'' said Ken Stroupe, the governor's press secretary, who reports that Allen talked about the usual things on his mind: welfare reform, Bob Dole and abolishing parole.
Oliver North, journalist
Could that be Oliver North entering the convention hall with media credentials?
You bet.
The famous media basher turned talk-show host is broadcasting his radio show from the convention all week. Later this month, he'll take his show to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
``I are now the media,'' crowed North, who is still swarmed by autograph hounds.
My fellow impersonators
Holy cow, it's the president in enemy territory!
There he is, standing amid an entourage with his hoarse drawl, feathered gray hair, bulbous nose and blue eyes.
But ... isn't Bill Clinton taller? And why are all those Republicans having their picture taken with him?
The guy in the presidential-looking navy blue suit is really Tim Watters, a dead ringer for Clinton. He's pretty convincing. Secret Service agents and the president's wife have done double-takes, Watters says with pride.
When he strode into the Hyatt Regency hotel Monday to crash a Newt Gingrich breakfast, a tired AP reporter rushed up to him, tape recorder whirring, and began asking serious questions.
Then she suddenly realized the prank and turned crimson. ``Oh, you had me going,'' she moaned. ``I'm so embarrassed.''
Hyphen-spewing Molinari
Perhaps it's just a demonstration event - this time. But we're betting Rep. Susan Molinari, Tuesday night's keynote speaker, would take the gold in the hyphen event without breaking a sweat. Quick - try saying this three times:
``America, it's time to wake up to President Clinton and his high-taxing, free-spending, promise-breaking, Social Security-taxing, health care-socializing, drug-coddling, power-grabbing, business-busting, lawsuit-loving, U.N.-following, FBI-abusing, IRS-increasing, $200 hair-cutting, gas-taxing, over-regulating, bureaucracy-trusting, class-baiting, privacy-violating, values-crushing, truth-dodging, Medicare-forsaking, property rights-taking, job-destroying friends.''
Abortion issue stews
For days, abortion-rights activists have been chanting ``Yank the Plank'' to protest the anti-abortion section of the Republican Party platform. But anti-abortion forces have elevated the war of slogans by hiring a plane to carry a long banner over the convention hall.
It reads: ``Hey Pro-Choice, Yank This!''
Give me Dole, plus 5 points
``Bet on Bob.''
That's the ad in Tuesday's edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
You can, too. Just take a short hike across the border to Tijuana, Mexico. There, Bob Dole supporters can legally ``put a little dinero where your mouth is.'' Caliente Race and Sports Books is taking bets on the outcome of the race. The latest odds (as of Aug. 1):
Bob Dole 3-1
Bill Clinton 1-8
Ross Perot 50-1
What the cultural elite eat
Officials at the downtown Marriott Hotel, where the world's news organizations are headquartered, have been keeping track - who knows why? - of the eating and drinking habits of their 1,500 guests, the majority of whom are members of the media.
In the 36 hours from noon Sunday to midnight Monday, the following were (in hotel lingo) ``consumed by sale:'' 7,500 cookies, 15,000 brownies and blondies, 7,250 beers, 450 bottles of wine, 625 pizzas, more than 2,500 hot dogs and an equal number of hamburgers. The favorite beverage: draft beer. The favorite lunch: hot dogs. Average wake-up call: 6 a.m.
All of this tends to show that reporters drink heavily, eat badly and still manage to get up early.
And for those interested in estimating the collective gluttony of the press corps here, there are about 16,000 members accredited to cover the convention.
That works out, incidentally, to roughly eight journalists for every delegate. - Landmark News Service
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB