THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090617
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 103 lines
The nation used to pick its presidential candidates during the national political conventions, in a whirlwind of intense horse-trading and politicking.
Not any more. Now the candidates wrap up the prize during primaries in the spring and the nomination is a formality.
The convention's purpose today is pitching the parties' vision for the nation to voters and carefully, almost obsessively, tailoring the message the party wants to get out.
In other words, it's a chance for each party to tell Americans what might be in store for them.
As the Republicans gather in San Diego to launch their convention Monday, they have carefully orchestrated and streamlined the events to keep boring speeches to a minimum, attract women voters, and put the party's agenda in front of Americans.
When the Democrats take their turn in Chicago Aug. 26, they will endeavor to counter the GOP's pitch.
As for the Reform Party, which is supposed to nominate its candidate by Aug. 18, who knows? With at least two possible nominees in the running, it's the most likely to resemble an old-fashioned, wide-open convention.
All of it is unmistakable political theater.
``For people who don't pay close attention - and that's about two-thirds of the public - conventions are a great opportunity to catch up on the candidates. A convention communicates to voters the essence of a party,'' said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.
``People who don't think there's any difference between the parties haven't been to Republican and Democratic conventions,'' said Charles O. Jones, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin. ``Who goes, the different classes of people, the minorities - you really get a different feel, a public display of what the party is.''
For instance, more than 90 percent of the Republican delegates are white; 62 percent of Democratic delegates are white. The Democratic Party requires its delegates to be evenly divided between men and women; men make up 66 percent of the GOP delegates.
What should voters watch for?
Platforms. The platforms approved by convention delegates are not mere window dressing. They help define the candidates and parties and can be the occasion for brutal intraparty fights. Platforms are ``the highest articulation of what the political parties are in this country . . . of what they stand for,'' says James Moore, a political scientist at the University of Portland.
Presumed Republican nominee Bob Dole last week may have defused a nasty convention battle over abortion by giving in on platform language. But everyone knows the issue is lurking in the background, capable of spoiling the party and pitting delegate against delegate.
With an incumbent in the White House, the Democrats don't have the potential for this kind of debate. Their goal is to unite behind the president. One big drawback - unity is boring.
Image. This is not the same as the platform. For instance, Dole may have backed off the ``tolerance'' language on abortion, but it's a safe bet he wants voters to see the party as inclusive, tolerant and friendly.
``Dole must, first of all, unify and galvanize the Republican Party,'' said Iowa GOP delegate Ray D. Dearin, a speech communications professor at Iowa State University. ``Party activists are not mercenaries. They are impelled by a strong sense of community, by shared values and social reality . . . The other thing the convention must do is attract independents and wavering Democrats.''
The Republicans are making a special effort this year to get that message out to voters.
For instance, by the time Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., begins her keynote address in the San Diego Convention Center on Tuesday night, she will already have spent a long day getting out her message to the nation: in dozens of interviews with local TV newscasters who didn't go to San Diego; in appearances on as many as 50 talk radio call-in programs; and on the Internet, in computer ``chat rooms.''
The Democrats' plans apparently are not as extensive yet. Many convention details, such as speakers, are not final. They do expect to use the Internet extensively.
White House aides said a hint of the convention's theme can be found in the Democratic platform, a draft of which reads, ``Today's Democratic Party is determined to renew America's most basic bargain: opportunity to every American, and responsibility from every American. And today's Democratic Party is determined to reawaken the great sense of American community.''
People. In the end, after all, this is about two men who want the same job. (OK, three or more, if you throw in third parties such as the Reform Party.) Each one has to persuade us, the employers, that he's the right man.
Dole has a slightly different task than Clinton. Dole must cast off the mantle of the Senate to look and sound believably presidential.
The Republican nominee's goal, Dearin said, should be ``to reveal the real Dole - a firm but compassionate man, fully in touch with the needs, the hopes and the dreams of ordinary Americans.''
For Clinton, the convention is a chance to recapture some of the ``man from Hope'' aura of the 1992 convention and remind Americans of his goals.
The convention is a chance to see both men presumably at their best. There will be other times during the rest of the campaign to see them at their worst. MEMO: The New York Times News Service and Cox News Service contributed
to this report.
KEYWORDS: REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION 1996 by CNB