How the convention played in the USA // A week that bored and bedazzled

Patricia Edmonds

07/17/1992

USA Today

FINAL

Page 05A

Americans with remote controls blinked and clicked all week as video images of

three presidential candidates flashed and danced across the screen during the

Democratic convention in New York.

Click. Bill Clinton.

Click. George Bush.

Click. Ross Perot.

Then, in a blink on Thursday, only two candidates were left.

After Perot's exit, some voters said they'd tune in for a closer look at Clinton or

Bush. But people said the political show provided some excitement, some disgust

- and some disillusionment and indifference.

From coast to coast, The Campaign '92 Show has played like this:

HOGANSVILLE, Ga. Small-town America reacts

Just a few days back, Carolyn Davis, 56, was saying that George Bush ``ought to

have been left under a tree,'' and that she - co-owner of the Hogansville Cleaners

- would make a better president than Bill Clinton.

She called the Democrats' convention ``the same old hash.''

But Thursday morning, she lost the Perot option. So Thursday night, she was

back in front of her TV, giving Democrats another chance.

This 3,000-soul town where Davis lives, about 100 miles southwest of Atlanta,

has watched its two main industries close and another 10 businesses collapse in

the past two years.

``Most people lost interest in politics here when the economy got bad,'' says Billy

Richardson, 44, an unemployed textile worker.

Richardson says he tuned in the Democrats for only a few minutes at a time -

even though he's convinced that ``if another Republican gets in, we'll be in the

soup line.''

City Manager Wesley Duffy, 62, voted for Bush in the last election - but he's

convinced that Bush administration trade policies cost Hogansville a steel plant,

a textile plant and two American auto dealerships.

``Bush did not help us,'' Duffy says. ``We're on the very bottom, so it has to go

up. And I believe the Democrats are the ones to take us there.''

Duffy gave Clinton and Gore ``an A-plus'' for their acceptance speeches

Thursday. Clinton showed a commitment to break the hold of lobbyists and an

ability to balance the budget, Duffy says.

``They were awfully convincing, and they convinced me,'' Duffy says. ``There's

going to be change. Change is imminent.''

CHICAGO Batting .000 for excitement

As sure as this city is Democrat country, Schaller's Pump is Daley country: The

small bar and restaurant is across the street from the 11th Ward headquarters of

Mayor Richard M. Daley.

So the Pump crowd tried to tune in Daley's first Democratic convention speech

Tuesday night - ``Richie, he's our boy,'' said city inspections director Pat Curtin,

beer in hand.

Then the Daley fans realized that the station they'd been watching had chosen not

to air Daley's speech. ``I'm leaving,'' said cigar-chomping regular Guy Spizzirri,

83. ``I sure am disappointed. I sure am.''

Pump patrons registered a bit more interest - but also skepticism - after the

Wednesday night speech in which New York Gov. Mario Cuomo nominated

Clinton.

Credit manager Margaret Sheridan, 29, said: ``Cuomo made Clinton sound like

he walked on water. I kept thinking, `Isn't this the guy who didn't inhale? Isn't

this the guy who supposedly had a 14-year affair?' ''

On the convention's last day, not even Perot's swan song could excite the Pump

pol-watchers.

``We're going to the racetrack,'' said bar owner Jack Schaller, 64. ``National

politics doesn't (matter). Local politics is all that counts.''

Thursday night, the only two people watching Clinton's speech were reporters.

Bar patrons were glued to an extra-innings White Sox game. MIAMI Passionate

about politics

At Maximo Gomez Park in the heart of Little Havana, where dominoes and

politics are equal passions, there was plenty of talk of Perot's exit - and some

indecision about the remaining candidates.

Miami's Cuban-Americans are 75% Republican, and the Little Havana area is a

Reagan-Bush stronghold. But here, as elsewhere, change is the theme of election

talk.

Yael Gonzalez, 29, says that for the first time in 12 years, she's thinking about

voting for a Democrat: ``I think it's time for a change. Maybe this is it. Maybe

it's not.''

Manolo Reboso, a former Miami city commissioner who was among the nation's

first Cuban-born elected officials, says Perot's defection will boost Clinton's

chances.

``Unless Bush does something dramatic, I think he's in trouble,'' says Reboso, 67.

Elio Rojas, executive director of Miami's Latin Quarter Association, found

Cuomo's nominating speech persuasive, and says he'll see how Bush performs at

his convention.

``I'm a Republican,'' says Rojas, 58. ``But I'm not married to President Bush. I'm

only married to my wife.''

AUSTIN, Texas Sad to see Perot go

In this upscale university town, probably as liberal as Texas gets, baby boomers

watched with an activist zeal and a sharp eye on issues.

What Danny Young loved was ``the Texas influence ... because there is a touch

of wildness in Texas people. I like mavericks like (Texas Gov.) Ann Richards,''

says Young, whose Texicalli Grille is a favorite hangout of local political and

social activists.

Attorney Sandra McKenzie, who says she was ``glued to the television every

night'' for convention coverage, ticked off the moments that moved her: ``Jimmy

Carter, when he pointed out how the U.S. needs to be a country about peace and

not war''; Richards' opening comment, ``I am pro-choice and I vote''; and

Cuomo's reference to city kids who grow up hearing ``gunshots before they hear

an orchestra.''

McKenzie says she was ``deeply disappointed'' at Perot's exit. But, Thursday

night, both Democratic candidates said things she liked. ``I am relieved that

Gore, in his leadership role, talked about connections with the Earth, the

environment and everyone in society.''

Clinton impressed her when he said ``we need each other, with no us vs. them.''

That message also touched Steve Dodds, editor of New Texas Magazine. ``It was

very empowering to hear (Clinton) speak about the attitude of us against them,''

says Dodds. ``I'm ready to unite as one people.''

Dodds has a mixed view of the Clinton-Gore ticket. He respects Gore's stands on

environmental and nuclear issues. But he has ``a real problem with Clinton

promoting Gore as a supporter of the Iraq war.''

Still, Dodds said he cried almost all the way through Clinton's speech. He felt

like the country just ``exhaled for the first time in 12 years.''

Chaille Ellisor, bookkeeper at Whole Earth Provision Company, insists that the

convention's ``most real moment'' was when Jackson suggested that issues such

as health insurance - ``issues that white middle-class people are so worried about

- are issues that the young black urban youth can't even imagine.

``Jesse clearly showed that the poor's desperation could become everyone's

desperation,'' says Ellisor.

``I am truly inspired that the Democratic leaders are willing to deal with this

desperation instead of trying to just control it like the Bush administration,'' she

says.

She, too, was moved by Clinton's ``us'' message, and the way he castigated Bush

for not listening to his own advisers about AIDS. Sh feels ``he will do something

about AIDS.''

Young says his heart's still with Jackson more than with Clinton and Gore, whom

he calls ``two conservative Democrats who are still right in the middle of the

road.''

``As our Texas Superdelegate (and former state agriculture commissioner) Jim

Hightower always says, `There's no one in the middle of the road except dead

armadillos!' ''

LOS ANGELES Education comes first

Judith Willis stood in a sea of people, knowing she was the only one who would

vote in November.

So Willis vowed to make her vote count, for the scores of kids surrounding her

in the schoolyard of Cienega Elementary School. Willis is principal of the school

in south central Los Angeles, where May's riots tore entire neighborhoods apart

and forced the issue of urban aid onto presidential campaign agendas.

Before choosing which candidate to support, ``I was waiting to see who would

be stronger on education,'' says Willis, 52, a lifelong Democrat. ``We can't afford

four more years of someone who's so insensitive to education,'' as she says Bush

is.

With Perot out, she says, Clinton will be her choice in November.

Willis says she was impressed by what she saw of the Democratic convention: ``I

was particularly moved by the speakers with AIDS. That was a good strategy; it

touched the minds and hearts of Americans. I cried.''

Another south central resident, chef and craftsman Ishmael Fails, also said the

three-way race tempted him to stray from his Democratic leanings. But in the

final analysis, he says, ``I never trusted Perot.''

Fails, 42, who says he was riveted to his TV set throughout the convention,

called Jesse Jackson's Tuesday night speech ``tremendous. ... He really gets

people together.''

But Fails wishes that former California governor Jerry Brown had rallied to

support Clinton.

``We need to concentrate on beating Bush,'' he says. ``My family needs health

insurance, and it would be nice to make the rich pay their fair share of taxes.''

Contributing: Jane Ayers in Austin, Kevin Johnson in Chicago, Jonathan T.

Lovitt in Los Angeles, Deborah Sharp in Miami and Tom Watson in Hogansville

CUTLINE:IN MIAMI: Daniel Ferras, left, and Rolando Cabrera discuss

presidential politics over a game of dominoes in Little Havana. About 75% of

Miami's Cuban-Americans are Republicans; Little Havana is a Reagan-Bush

stronghold. CUTLINE:IN LOS ANGELES: Judith Willis, principal of Cienega

Elementary School, says Bill Clinton is her choice for president. CUTLINE:IN

AUSTIN, TEXAS: From left, Danny Young, Steve Dodds, Chaille Ellisor and

Sandra McKenzie discuss their presidential preferences at the Texicalli Grille, a

favorite hangout of local political and social activists. CUTLINE:IN CHICAGO:

Bartender Jay Schaller, 29, watches the Democratic convention at Schaller's

Pump. CUTLINE:IN HOGANSVILLE, GA.: Carolyn Davis - `a Democrat all

my life' - is perplexed by presidential politics. `I'm getting fed up with it.'

PHOTO;b/w,Tom,Salyer;PHOTO;b/w,Chris Martinez,AP;PHOTO;b/w,Michelle

Bridwell,AP;PHOTO;b/w,Anne Ryan, USA TODAY ;PHOTO;b/w,Erik S.

Lesser,AP