Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 5

BEEVIOCRATIC COiyVEEHTIOEy Monday, July 13, 1992 The Arizona Republic A5 Vklley friend recalls Gore's independence' By Jason Eaton The Arizona Republic Sen. Albert Gore Jr. didn't give much thought to nuclear-arms control until he met a bunch of doomsday teens. The boys, a group of Tennessee's young pleaders, told Gore in 1980 that more than 90 percent of them expected a nuclear war their lifetimes. "He literally couldn't respond for a few minutes," said Steve Owens, a longtime Gore friend who is a Phoenix lawyer with the firm of Brown Bain.

"After that, he went back to Washington and decided that was something he needed to do something about." Gore, a veteran of the Vietnam War, spent a year studying arms control. He became enough of an expert that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger embraced his proposal for reducing the United States' and former Soviet Union's incentives to launch a first strike. His arms-control know-how has been cited as one of the reasons presidential contender Bill Clinton, an Arkansas Democrat, chose Gore as his running mate. But Owens said candidate Gore will do more than beat Vice President Dan Quayle in a spelling bee. "He's always been an independent thinker," Owens said.

"He doesn't buckle under pressure." Gore was one of few Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the Persian Gulf war. But he voted against the Strategic Defense Initiative and opposed military aid to Nicaragua. Owens said Gore also brings a vital quality to Clinton's campaign: experience. Gore ran for president in 1988, an effort Owens directed in the southern United States. "He's seasoned, and Al has one of these exponential abilities to learn," Owens said.

The pair met in 1978, when Gore was a freshman congressman and Owens was a law student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. They worked together for about dVi years. "It was more like working for a friend than being just a staffer," Owens said. "He is a pretty regular fellow." As a Gore staffer, Owens was impressed by Gore's weekend trips to Tennessee, where he held meetings in every hamlet across the state at least once a year. In eight years in Congress, Gore has logged about 1,206 trips to Tennessee for his version of town hall meetings, Owens said.

"That's how he thinks government ought to work," he said. COIUVEKUTIOKU DIARY Delegates arrive in NYC excited and rumpled ANNETTE DIZ1NN0 I i 1 -A O. Ma, A' fey KEVEN WILLEY Republic Political Columnist i THIS ACT WON'T BOMB With the help of an explosives-sniffing dog, a U.S. Customs agent inspects the musical instruments of a high-school marching band. The young musicians were getting ready Sunday to rehearse outside New York's Madison Square Garden, where security was tight as Democrats made last-minute preparations for their national convention.

i John KurtzPoughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal NEW YORK CITY Twenty-five-year-old Denise Bautista Lefkowitz doesn't know for sure whether Paul Tsongas likes Mexican food, but she's about to find out. She and her mother packed 2Vi dozen homemade red beef tamales in dry ice for Lefkowitz to take with her to the Democratic National Convention, and Lefkowitz hopes to present them to the one-time presidential aspirant this week. "I just like what he stands for so much that I wanted to do something special," a weary but still giggly Lefkowitz said early Sunday as she boarded an airport bus to her Manhattan hotel. "I hope he likes them." Red-eye survivors Lefkowitz was one of about 65 Arizonans on two red-eye flights out of Phoenix late Saturday bound for the convention, which opens today. Technically, she is a Tsongas delegate.

But Tsongas has pulled out of the race and endorsed nominee-to-be Bill Clinton, so Lefkowitz may join most of the 5,000 other delegates descending upon New York City from across the country this week and cast her vote Wednesday night for the Arkansas governor. Lefkowitz actually was one of the more visibly excited members of the Arizona delegation as they left Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport just before midnight Saturday. It was a pretty subdued crowd, not at all the frenzied, born-to-party crew you might expect heading off to a presidential convention in the Big Apple. A varied delegation It must have been the hour. Several of the delegates had spent much of the day driving to Phoenix from such places as Winslow, Window Rock and Rio Rico.

Thirty minutes into the flight, many passengers already were chasing those elusive "Z's." It's a varied delegation that Arizona Democrats have sent to New York all ages, sizes, occupations and backgrounds. Former Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard and retiring state Sen. David Bartlett of Tucson weren't on the red-eye but were expected to join the delegation late at its hotel, the aging-and-shows-it Roosevelt. Less-well-known delegates range from the carefully coiffed Linda-Marie Kratzenberg, a 43-year-old claims examiner from Phoenix, to 24-year-old Michael Morrell, a student from Mesa who sports a side-swept Tiny Tim-like mane of long brown hair and a ring prominently positioned in his right nostril. Trip to remember It's a first convention for both of them, and neither is likely to forget it.

Just to be sure, Morrell spent a DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: WHOM TO WATCH AND WHEN Highlights of this week's Democratic National Convention agenda and TV schedule of convention coverage. The convention begins each night at 6 p.m. (Arizona time) portion of the four-hour flight dictating his thoughts into a portable tape recorder. We knew we were in New York City when three city-sponsored guides assigned to shepherd the Arizona delegation by bus to the hotel warned us three times in 1 5 minutes to "above all, be careful." But in case there was any doubt, we could look out the bus windows at one point and watch what looked like a hooker, her pimp and a john argue over a fistful of cash in the middle of an intersection. The john hit the hooker in the face.

Bad move. The hooker snatched the cash. It was 8:15 a.m. on Sunday. Only in New York All and all, it was a mild morning by New York standards.

After all, when I was here on vacation last summer, a man walking his dog on a leash paused at one point to urinate on a street sign. The dog looked bored and waited passively for his master to complete his business. Only in New York. Once the delegates checked in, they scattered. Some went to bed to rest up for a harbor cruise Merrill-Lynch was to hold Sunday night for the Arizona delegation.

Others went sightseeing or to meet friends. By 10 a.m., state Sen. Chuck Blanchard, a Clinton delegate, had already had breakfast with fellow Arizona delegate Steve Owens, a close friend of vice-presidential nominee-to-be Albert Gore and a crew of Gore confidants. The all-nighter look Owens, like Blanchard a lawyer with the Phoenix law firm of Brown Bain, used to run Gore's Senate office in Tennessee and once staffed a committee for him on Capitol Hill. Blanchard, wearing that distinctively rumpled I-pulled-an-all-nighter look, nonetheless was wired.

Gore's staffers "are higher than a kite" about his selection as Clinton's running mate, he reported. Then, it was upstairs for a quick change of clothes and off to "whips meeting." Blanchard, 33, who coordinated much of Clinton's Arizona campaign earlier this year, is a floor marshal in charge of keeping Clinton delegates on the floor for key votes. It could be a tough job, given all the distractions. iri WEDNESDAY TODAY TUESDAY Remarks by: Convention THURSDAY I 1 I Remarks by: Sen. Edward Kennedy, Mass.

Nominafinr. A chief goal: Surviving week without collapsing Annette DiZinno, a 37-year-old Chandler homemaker, is one of Arizona's 49 delegates to this week's Democratic National Convention in New York City. She is a 17-year resident of Arizona. DiZinno will keep a diary for The Arizona Republic on her experiences at this, her first national convention. Months and weeks of preparation finally have come down to this.

My mailbox has been inundated with information and invitations this past week about our big week in New The task at hand has been to figure out how to cram as many events as possible into each day without collapse. Among the invitations I received were for a reception for Jay Rockefeller, and events for the League of Conservation Voters and Emily's List, an organization that supports female candidates. The list goes on and on. I also was chosen to participate in the Democratic Health Caucus, a forum about our nation's health-care system. Speaking again on behalf of the average citizen, I was asked to address my family's health insurance, which has a cost equivalent to a monthly new-car payment.

I'm being inter-' viewed for this at the hotel. I feel a tiny bit like a celebrity. I woke up in New York from a red-eye flight on one hour's sleep and feel like I'm on another planet, but New York is that sort of place. By 8:30 a.m., we heard "be careful" about half a dozen times. The group breaks out laughing each time we are cautioned, but it never hurts to be careful.

The Roosevelt Hotel is nice, a bit on the old side, but I'm sure they'll make up for it in service. The shower already has doused me with hot and cold water, just not at the same time. I should have it figured out by Wednesday. .1, The lobby is buzzing with dele-gates. We are identified easily by buttons, hats, T-shirts "and, already, a glazed-over look.

Maine, Tennessee and Mississippi delegates are staying here also, so I may work up a fake Southern accent to sneak into parties. As we drove into the city, "Wellcome delegates" signs proliferated on storefronts, a friendly way to say, "Spend your money here." We have enough literature on events, places, and subways to get anyone lost and confused. I'm going to stick to cabs that get you where you want to go even if your blood pressure boils a few degrees. Most of my activities are within a 5-mile radius, so I won't need to brave the subways. The first event for the Arizona Sunday evening was a harbor cruise of New York.

All the Dramamine in the world could not get me out there. You get the picture. I will join the delegation later for music and dancing at the Lincoln Center. Some of my bigger decisions this week in New York are what to wear. I know if I go dressy, everyone will be casual, and I'll be out of the loop, but I feel adventurous.

We will receive our credentials at breakfast first thing in the morning. 1 One thing I already know: You lose your credentials, you're dead. These permit you to go where you need to be in Madison Square Garden. I feel like a kid in kindergarten. I just want to stay with my classmates not miss the bus.

They've made it 'asy for us, with a shuttle to and from Madison Square Garden. As long as I can remember the letter and the Color yellow, I'll be safe. If nothing else, I'll just follow the goofy hats. chairwoman, Gov. Ann Richards, Texas Sen.

Barbara speeches: 1 introduction of i platform discussion gov. Roy Romer, Rep- I KJI presidential candidate by Gov Mario C.i 1 Vice-pff31" nominee Mikulski, Md. Keynote speeches Nancy seconding speeches presidential nominee 1 Discussion of minority reports by Sen. Bill Bradley, N.J.; Gov. Zell Miller, former Rep.

Barbara Jordan PBS Network PBS 5-8 p.m. nightly NBC will join with PBS during early-evening coverage ABC, CBS and NBC 7-8 p.m. ABC and CBS p.m. NBC 7-8 p.m. JD Cable Cable coverage will be gavel to gavel daily 3 iiiiKfsiisi IfMmiitmiiti I ABC and CBS I CNN 2:30 a.m.-10 p.m.

daily Includes talk shows and recaps I C-SPAN Uninterrupted gavel-to-gavel coverage, without editing, commentary or commercials 1 ABC 10-11 p.m. NBC 7 p.m.. CBS Updates during All-Star game NBC p.m. Coverage nigrrtly on "Nightline" The Arizona Republic Top TV anchors debate campaign coverage Disagree on effects of digging into candidates' backgrounds by analyzing the truthfulness of political ads and the- significance money plays in elections. But CBS' Dan Rather said reporters need "more guts," especially in comparing candidates'' campaign statements with their records.

"We're getting better, but it is an unfinished piece of work," Brokaw said. Jim Lehrer of PBS said reporters need to educate the public about "why we ask difficult questions and why we play the game of 'gotcha' with digging into candidates' backgrounds. ested in Gennifer Flowers, and everyone in New Hampshire was interested in the economy," Jennings said. Brokaw agreed, saying the news media "succumbed to the old sins of the past" by giving so much attention to affair allegations. In 1988, Democrat Gary Hart's presidential campaign was sunk by a similar story.

But Shaw said the news media were "duty bound" to cover the story, first broken by a grocery-store tabloid that had paid Flowers for her interview. He said news organizations are doing a better job with 1992 coverage right in scaling back coverage of political conventions this year. There was little consensus. "I think we've made it almost unbearable (for candidates) to enter into the public arena," NBC's Tom Brokaw said when asked whether the intense news-media scrutiny scared away qualified candidates. "I think it's good," CNN's Bernard Shaw said.

"The longer you sit in the camera lens, the more you're exposed about your substance or lack of it." ABC's Peter Jennings suggested that it was a mistake to give extended coverage to unsubstantiated allegations of an affair between Democratic candidate Bill Clinton and Flowers, a former state employee in Arkansas. Jennings called the coverage a "bad beginning to the year" that probably alienated a public already critical of news-media priorities. "Everyone in the press was inter The Associated Press NEW YORK The five major TV anchors rated their own campaign coverage Sunday, disagreeing over the effects of delving into candidates' backgrounds xnd the news value of the Gennifer Flowers controversy. In a debate at a luncheon of top Democratic Party donors, the anchors fielded questions ranging from whether politicians manipulate newscasts to whether the networks were.