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Show Standard-Examiner | [SSUES $$ c ounday, 79> July ic 4 992 171A CONVENTION DLAYBILL Inside Madison Square Garden, Democrats will be in harmony, but outside it could be anotherstory By JEFFREY L. KATZ Congressional Quarterly ASHINGTON — WhenArkansas Gov. Bill Clinton got a grip on the Democratic presidential nomination in early April, he freed his party’s convention to focus on the fall campaign. Clinton will have far more than the 2,145 delegate votes needed fora first-ballot Keynote speech Demonstrations The pointof this opening monologue is to state the party's After a candidate is named, the delegate floor explodesinto position, often with a few jabsat the opposition. The audienceis warnedof the opposition's faults as they plug their own party's strengths. Party unity is praised in contrast to the fratricidal primaries. The roll-call begins again with Credential challenges At nominating At each of the three Democratic conventions of the Meese CoA Siat escae Nominations ‘nomineeis usually aoe roll call. Starting speakerputs looking for a creative convention experience.” The committee voted downall 22 of the amendments offered by Brown andhis small band of backers. Brown’s package included a “Humility Agenda” he wanted all Democratic candidates to subscribe 10 in their campaigns and in office. It included the rollback of congressional pay raises, 12-year term limits onall offices and a $100 Kmit on all campaign contributions. the vice president This is a formality. | Candidates decide who they want. Delegates are expected to agree. The running-mateis usually chosen to balance the ticket. If the candidate is a northernliberal, the vice presidential candidate may be 7 a southern conservative. Standard-Examiner staff iverdale’s Rhoda Struhs has the right idea — take some time to see The Big Apple during this week’s Democratic Party National Convention, to the ony predetermined states that will TS make seconding speeches and EMT} nominate other candidates. When Struhs is asked about her first time as a national delegate from Utah, as a Gary Hart supporter to the 1984 National Convention in San Francisco, the Riverdale resident says, “It was great and the convention wasn’t too bad either.” CR As state party secretary and a field worker for Utah gubernatorial candidate Pat Shea, Struhs has several convention responsibilities, but she also will have some free time through Thursday in NewYork City. “The National Convention really gets you charged up. It reaffirms whyyou’re involved, and you get a lot back fromit,” she said. But Struhs also plans to “spend # a PeterBillings, museums, and the restaurants, state party and Id like very much to go out Chairman to Ellis Island,” now a restored memorial to immigrants who came to the United States seeking freedom and a chancefor better life. National Committeewoman Louise Henson of Sunset will try to pack even moreinto hertrip. Henson said she will hit the ground running today, attending a party reception and then going out to dinner with a niece who lives in New York. Hensonalso will stay through Friday, the day after convention ends, to attend Democratic National Committee meetings. She will be pushing for a Rocky Mountain-area presidential primary. “This is what we are working tor, and we want to have all Rocky Mountain states primaries on the sam¢ day. That will be our goal,” said Henson, whohelped organize Utah’s first Democratic Party presidential primary last April. Acceptance speech The winner ascends to the podium and makes a magnanimous healing speech. Losing candidates are expected to smile, shake hands and deny any disagreement. As a result of that primary, Henson’s husband, Phillip, is going to New York as a delegate pledged to Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. As national committeewoman and a super delegate, Louise Hensonis officially uncommitted, but she said she has been a Clinton supporter since before the Utah primary. And shesaid Clinton’s selection of Tennessee Sen. Al Gore as his vice presidential running mate will bea major plus. “They bring different strengths to the ticket that mesh beautifully,” Henson said. Struhs said she likes Clinton, noting “he’s earned my respect.” But the delegate for former California Gov. Jerry Brown said Clinton “wasn’t my first choice, for sure.” And, if Brown releases his delegates, Struhs said she might cast her ballot for New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who is not an official candidate. _ Louise Henson was part of a similar Utah dissent at the 1980 convention, also held in New York. She wanted to vote for Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, but when Kennedy tossed his support to President campaign’s strongest denunciations of Tsongas,calling him an “anti-death penalty, anti-middle class politician” during a Feb. 19 rally for Clinton in Atlanta. . The third keynoter, Barbara Jordan of Texas,will be familiar to veterans of previous conventions. The former member of Congress (1973-79) first pierced the Carter, she was among five Utahns who gave their votes to Utah Gov. Scott Matheson. State Party Chairman PeterBillings Jr., who alsois a delegate, said he will be involved primarilyin national consciousness in 1974 with her eloquent and meeting with political action committees, “trying to raise moneyfor Utah candidates.” deliberate speeches during President Richard Nixon’s impeachment hearings. Tuesday evening: Consideration and adoption of a platform. Predictably, the draft leans heavily on the moderate ideas pushed by the DLC. The platform includes such unconventional Democratic planks as emphasizing the importance of economic expansion, as well as pledges to uphold law and order and use military force where necessary. It calls for a cutoff of welfare benefits after two years and But it also adheres to such traditional Democratic viewpoints as protecting abortion rights, providing civil rights for homosexuals and taxing wealthy people at higherrates. Wednesdaynight: Thetraditional nominating of presidential candidates, with seconding speeches, supports the right of states to enact death penalty pre-fabricated demonstrations and theroll call of The Associated Press states. statutes. By RALPH WAKLEY some time in someofthe tC ETS floor is then yielded Democratic National Convention: Mondaynight: Gov. Ann Richards of Texas, the convention chair, opens the proceedings and welcomes the Democratics. The delegates then hear from three keynote speakers, each with a different constituency. The best knownis Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, long seen as a prospective presidential candidate himself, who has lately been strongly critical of Bush. Bradley is known for a cool and dispassionatestyle, but another keynoter, Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, can go surprise. Peach forward a namefor nomination. The Here,in brief, is the agenda for the 1992 for the jugular. Miller issued one of the Clinton WeUy As the party script, it spells out whatthe party standsfor. It is generally broad. Hammered out by a committee well ahead of the convention, itis put to a vote. with Alabama, the Choosing therise of the The platform “T will be in New York,” Browntold thefinal platform drafting session June 27 in Washington. “I’m usually decided on the first ballot and is oflittle Uae USAT The convention chairman takes a ofall delegates to win. This is WNAULaE primaries during Brownhaslet it be known that he wants and expects to be heard from. And much the samesignal has been sent by another Clinton critic, former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. have atleasthalf TTA Rg attemptto seat friendlier forces. Challenges are sorted out by the credentials committee. This pre-ballot posturing is less important now that most delegates’ votes are decided in the primaries. StOry. eeaand rat eS Hh validity, in an As a result, the New York event ought to follow the script desired by the candidate and the formal party apparatus: a forward focus, a compact agenda, a relatively succinct platform acceptable to the party mainstream and few, if any, public fights over rules or the seating of delegates. In sum, a harmonious show inside Madison Square Garden. Outside the Garden, of course, might yet be another Faeont heer aenters 0 speakercalling WTANSA oc 1980s, the runner-up to the eventual nominee had a each state's ; A candidate enough delegates to make muchofa fuss on thefloor. end of June, according to The Associated Press. The last time the nominee-apparent so dominated his rivals in delegate strength was in 1976, when Jimmy Carter was nominated. It was also the last time the Democratic nominee won. The lopsided delegate count has already yielded visible dividends for Clinton. His designees enjoyed clear majorities on all the committees that assembled * the elements of the convention: platform, rules and credentials. These rowdy plumage displays are intended to show how popular a candidateis. In days of old this was intended to impress other delegates. Todayit is mostly for the T.V. cameras. to draw someattention to their homestate, plus also see New York Balloting situation apart is that no surviving rival candidate has Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts had 553 at the demonstrations. NS nomination, but having such a lock has become commonplacein the past 20 years. Whatsets the 1992 delegate count of 1,150 or more — enough to keep things warm for the winner throughout. But this year, Clinton’s two closest rivals Would have to pool their delegates to get into four figures. Former California Jerry Brown had 613, and former Utah delegates hoping Thursday night: The vice presidential candidate will be formally nominated and the two running mates will deliver their acceptance speeches. Clinton should know better than most the importance of keeping the attention of his audience. Four years ago he nominated Dukakis with a 35-minute speech so lacking in luster that the largest cheer came when he said, “And, in closing...” Billings said his major argument will be “they shouldn’t write Utah offlike it’s always been written off before in presidential election years” because independent candidate Ross Perot could strip President Bush of enough votes to allowClinton to win in Utah. The state chairman said healso hopes to convince either Clinton or Gore to campaign in Utah later this summer orduring the fall. John M. 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