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Show Delegate Alvarez ready to support Mondale by Rick Brough Matt Alvarez went to the Democratic convention as an alternate delegate committed to Gary Hart. But he returned saying he can be very enthusiastic about campaigning for Walter Mondale. "I'm a Democrat through and through," he said. Alvarez saw action as a voting delegate, though not in the vote for president. After a delegate called in sick, Alvarez joined in voting for planks to the party platform. He supported five alternative planks proposed by Gary Hart, but all lost. (He also acted as a coordinator for the alternates.) He was also able to witness the highlights of an historic convention. The emotional high point was the nomination of Geraldine Ferraro. She was the logical choice, he said a person with non-radical politics and experience in Congress. While she may not have expertise in foreign policy, he said, "she's experienced in the patching-the-street kind of politics." The event with the deepest personal meaning, he said, was the keynote address of New York Governor Mario Cuomo, the son of Italian immigrants. Alvarez, the son of Hispanic immigrants, said, "What he talked about was the same story of my parents." He called the speech inspirational and electrifying. "It pulled all American ethnics together. That means everybody, because we're all ethnics. " He also praised the speech by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "We had probably two of the greatest speeches at any convention." Much of the activity centered on morning caucases, which discussed language for the platform on such topics as women' issues, blacks and the environment. Matt's wife, Helen, also attended the caucases. Delegates met in the St. Francis Hotel auditorium, "which is about 10 times the size of the Memorial Building." After taking comments from delegates, the coordinators of the caucas would reach a consensus on the language, and make a recommendation to the party on the particular topic. In party discussions, Alvarez said he had concerns about the plight of small business. "The deficit causes interest rates to go up for business, and I wanted to ask Gary Hart about that." Alvarez said, "There wasn't a moment that couldn't have been productive." But he also found time to attend a party with a guest list of 12,000 people. "I rubbed elbows with every Democrat in the country," he said. He said his candidate, Hart, lost because the Mondale supporters knew how to use the party machinery and Hart's neo-liberal advocates did not. "The Yuppies didn't understand what working underground means," he said. When Hart spoke just before the voting for president, his troops made a futile attempt to sway opinion with a loud demonstration, he recalled. But the convention wasn't all Mondale, Alvarez contended. Mondale compromised, he said, by giving time to Hart and Jackson to speak. The nominee had a couple of problems with the West. The Hispanic caucas felt that Hart was more considerate of their views on illegal immigration than Mondale. "When William Mondale. the vice-president's vice-president's son appeared, some in the caucas practically ran him off the floor," Alvarez said. Mondale also suffered with the West when he said he would replace party chairman Charles Manatt, a Californian, with Bert Lance. "The conventiqn was up in the air. People were saying, "How could he do that?" Alvarez appeared on an Oakland TV station to comment about Lance. He was interviewed by two papers and appeared on Utah TV at least once, he recalled. Looking ahead, Alvarez said Mondale's reputation for being colorless doesn't hurt him. "His ability to study and review is impeccable," he said. He" also said Democrats aren't being cynical when they talk about Mario Cuomo not Mondale, as the candidate in 1988. "That is just saying that if the MX doesn't work, do we use the Poseidon." Mondale-Ferraro is certainly a better ticket than Reagan-Bush, he said. "I'm committed to causing things to happen." |