Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 6

6A DETROIT FREE PRESS TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1998 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION Speakers send a strong message 1WW WnAT'S WITH THE HAT? Actor Edward James Olmos wore a blue baseball cap with his suit through a rambling speech about children and the elderly. He explained his hair was "butchered" for a film. LOOK ME IN THE EYE The convention uses three teleprompters at the speaker's podium, one more than the Republicans had in San Diego. The third screen allows speakers to look directly forward, as if looking at TV viewers. Republicans could only turn from side to side.

MY, WHAT A TV producers who like the panoramic shot must love the Chicago convention hall, compared to the claustrophobic GOP hall in San Diego. On the tube, Chicago's United Center looks like a football stadium, with room for expansive shots that make the crowd look huge, too. oh yes, without raising taxes. Anyway, it doesn't hurt to have Superman on your side. Preceding Reeve were Jim and Sarah Brady, leaders of a national gun control movement.

Jim Brady is the former press secretary to President Ronald Reagan who was wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan. "Jim, we must have made a wrong turn. This isn't San Diego," Sarah Brady began her speech, stirring wild cheers. The Bradys are Republicans. Then Sarah Brady noted the National Rifle Association's opposition to the so-called Brady Bill as an inconvenience.

"Our family can tell the gun lobby about a little bit of inconve Ja amrnrnm M'i "I love thf remembering when I was really yuuug and people still used to take the train a lot My first memory of going anywhere was when I was 4, 1 went down from Hope to New Orleans to see my mother." PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, chugging tlirough Ohio on the campaign train Monday, en route to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He passus through Michigan today and Wednesday "We're happy to have you here. Keep rockin' and keep rollinV REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BOB DOLE, at a rally Sunday in Portland, while a band played "Dole Man" to the tune of "Soul Man." "Anything that gets me votes." DOLE, at the same event, responding to a question on whether he liked the group Hootie and the Blowfish. "Finally we have a president who stands up to the NRA. Finally we have a president who stands up to the tobacco lobby.

Finally we have a president who just doesn't talk tough about crime but does something about it. Finally we have a president who ensures that a woman's right to choose is her right" FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, talking Monday to the Arkansas delegation in Chicago. The NRA is the National Rifle Association. "President Roosevelt showed us that a man who could barely lift himself out of a wheelchair could still lift a nation out of despair." ACTOR CHRISTOPHER REEVE, Paralyzed in an equestrian accident, in his convention speech Monday night. "Do it for our children." FORMER PRESIDENTIAL AIDE JIM BRADY, paralyzed during the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

Brady joined his wife, Sarah, in her appeal for tougher gun control. sJ. rni IIllPU MCUIARMID Politics Won't be same without Young 17 ou knw what? They'll miss the old guy. That's because hizzoner, Coleman Young, 78 even though he a bona fide, certified delegate is sitting out the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago (at home in Detroit for health reasons) and, thus, depriving the Michigan delegation of of Well, "pizzazz" works. Here are some highlights, dating back to 1968 in Chicago, Young first Democratic convention: 1968, Taxing Gas, Faml Yes, Young, a 50-year-old Michigan state senator, got a whiff of tear gas (that was the convention-turned- riot resulting from bitter divisions over the Vietnam War), but he also was picked on the convention opening night, Aug.

26, as the first elected black member of the Democratic National Committee. A Free Press story on this noted as follows: Within minutes of his election, delegates were speculating what use Young will make of his new job." It also noted that the labor-black-liberal coalition that elected him "has generally been responsible for the election of a mayor in Detroit. Hmmm. 1976, Subways Axe Coming: in New York on the second day of the convention, the Free Press caught up with the mayor on the hot, crowded Seventh Avenue subway. Well get em (subways in Detroit) only ours'D be a little more modern than this and hopefully not so graffiti-ized," he pledged.

Reminded that federal mass transit funds were in short supply, he smiled and said, That no "matter. When we get through electing Carter, we'D sweeten the pot" But we got a People Mover. 1980, Platform Chair: in New" York, the mayor addressed the convention as chairman of the party's Platform Committee and seemed proud of it: "We didn't just approve a platform ghosted by scriptwriters," he said. "We refused to put our hand to a document that didn't offend anyone because it didn say anything. We addressed ourselves to the issues." Incidentally, as mayor of the host city for 1980's GOP convention, Young also addressed that convention's July 14 opening session, saying: "May the best party and the best program prevail" Oh, well 1984, BOO-BlRD CRITIC: Out in San Francisco, Young, a Mondale delegate, turned his fury on "mean vicious little SOBs at a caucus of largely pro-Jesse Jackson Michigan black delegates who had booed not only then-Mayor Andy Young of Atlanta when he addressed the group (opposing a Jackson-backed proposal for runoff primaries) but also Coretta Scott King, who'd supported Young.

Hizzoner noted that many of the boo birds were so young they "never lifted a finger in the civil rights movement" 1988, PEACEMAKER: Hizzoner, a Michael Dukakis supporter in the bitter Michigan primary fracas with Jesse Jackson (only a few months earlier, Young had complained of Jackson: "He ain't never run nuthin' but his became a behind-the-scenes unity player at this Atlanta convention, helping forge a deal by which Michigan cast 80 votes each for Dukakis and Jackson. Young said of the deal: "I like whatever achieves the purpose at hand. We get wrapped up in all that won, you won' bullshit when, in the end, the question is not Jackson vs. Dukakis, it's Dukakis vs. Bush." 1992, RELUCTANCE: More like a graying potentate than an active politician, Young, who'd been withholding support for Bill Clinton, swept into a caucus the morning after Clinton's nomination and announced that, even though "an old-time left-winger," he could live with the ticket.

Of the party, he said, "I'm not too happy about the swing to the center." Of the Clinton-Gore team, he said, "I see (George) Bush out there further to the right and some cat who can't spell 'potato' (Dan tjuayle) and Know war, there's no choice." Delegates cheered lustily. 1 1 BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF Free Press Staff Writer Opening night was victims' night at the Democratic convention, capped off by one of the most famous victims in the United States, actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident. Reeve talks haltingly because he must wait for a respirator to fill his lungs. In a wheelchair that he drives by mouth, he was a captivating presence at the convention and on TV. As was the case with some speakers at the Republican convention two weeks ago, Reeve's presence probably overshadowed anything he said.

The evening's message: Democrats and especially Clinton are protectors of the weak, leading the way toward better times and less pain. And, "I Delegate Eleanor Slater of Wkkford, Archer says Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer said Monday that "Jack Kemp has no juice with the community" and will not draw black votes to the Republican ticket We will treat him with respect, Archer said of the GOP vice presidential candidate, "but he's not going to get the African-American vote out of the cities of America." Kemp was well-regarded by blacks during his tenure as housing secretary in the Bush administration, but Archer said Kemp will be hurt by his recent shift in position on affirmative action. Archer has put in 16-hour days since he arrived Saturday in Chicago, mostly at meetings and receptions. He met Monday morning with the Michigan delegation, then joined U.S. Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros and about 20 other mayors for a two-hour panel discussion on urban issues and planning for the November elections.

World comes to watch Among the 35,000 people in Chicago expressly for the Democratic National Convention including delegates, journalists, lobbyists and business owners are visitors from around the globe who have come to observe politics U.S. style. They include more than 100 members of the British Parliament, several foreign heads of state, and dozens of civil servants and political Michigan to President Bill Clinton will cross into Michigan today aboard his "21st Century Express," making six public stops before the train heads to Indiana on Wednesday afternoon. Clinton will start today at the Chrysler Corp. Jeep plant in Toledo.

Here's his Michigan schedule. The route and all stops are open to the public. Tuesday VM Bacon Memorial 1 ftj 1 nience," she said as her husband gave a thumbs-up from his wheelchair. It seemed staged and surely gave NRA members many are Demo-, crats conniptions. But it was meant to paint President Bill Clinton as the white-hat sheriff who took on the black-hat gunslingers.

And talk about slick TV. Immediately after Reeve's speech, Clinton, appeared live from Toledo, Ohio, where he is on a train tour. Other TV highlights: NICE COMEBACK When asked about Clinton signing a landmark welfare bill that angered liberals, California state Senator and Royal Oak native Tom Hayden said he liked Clinton's support of a bigger minimum wage, and quipped, "Americans need a living wage, not a Dole." 1 Tr 1 i 11' A .1 EUSE AMENDOLA Associated Press talks Monday with Walter Mondale at for International Affairs luncheon. an appointment to the U.S, Supreme Court if President Bill Clinton wins reelection. Babbitt, mentioned as a court candidate in the past, said during a luncheon that "were there to be a court vacancy in 2000, as the president is turning the lights out on his second aaministration, that may have some genuine appeal." Gore goes on attack Vice President Al Gore gleefully played the role of political attack dog Monday, taunting and teasing Republicans as he made his rounds of convention delegates.

Referring to the train arrival area, Michigan State University campus, East Lansing. Wednesday 1 1:15 a.m. Rally at Community Action Agency of South Michigan, 175 Main Battle Creek. 1:55 p.m. Clinton will speak at Merrill Memorial Park, River Street, Kalamazoo.

4:20 p.m. Leaves Kalamazoo for Michigan City, Ind. R.I., takes a look around the convention site Monday at United Center with Rhody, her stuffed donkey. Kemp won't draw black vote vf7 4 i 4 PAULINE LUBENSDetroit Free Press knife collection advertised on late-night TV, Gore described Republican nominee Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich as "the Ginzu gang," trying to "slice and dice" good government programs. Up close and personal With native son Gore as vice president, the Tennessee delegation has the second-best position on the convention floor, next to Arkansas, right in front of the podium.

"The good news is, we get lots of TV exposure," Will Cheek, the state Democratic Party chairman, told Tennessee delegates Monday morning. "The bad news is we get lots of TV exposure. Don't scratch." Eatery has partisan menu Bistro 110, a hip downtown Chicago eatery, is offering a special menu for Democrats and Republicans that pretty clearly lays out the restaurant's view of the parties. Democrats get a $19.96 combination that includes angel hair pasta which is "adored by the masses," as well as cassoulet Toulousain featuring white beans, duck, sausage and lamb "with ethnic roots and broad appeal." Republicans get an "eight-phase campaign" that includes Beluga caviar, smoked goose, creme brulee, a bottle of 1976 Dom Perignon, and a round-trip plane ticket to Washington, D.C. Price: $1,996.00.

TUT" Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, left, the National Democratic Institute operatives. Many are guests of the Washington D.C.-based National Democratic Institute, an organization dedicated to promoting democracy in new and emerging nations. The foreign visitors represent stable democracies such as New Zealand and Australia, and pariah nations such as Nigeria. Even Bermuda, a British colony which boasts one of the world's oldest parliaments, sent a senator. Babbitt hints at judgeship Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Monday he would be interested in "This Democratic party today is showing America once again how we can come together to preserve the American dream for the 21st Century.

Democrats know that in our glorious diversity is the strength of America." SEN. CAROL MOSELEY-BROWN OF ILLINOIS, welcoming delegates Monday night. "I've always loved politics. When I was 3 or 4 years old, I was memorizing the presidents instead of my ABCs, so I got a head start." PAULKRAUS, 17, of Dubuque, Iowa, the convention's youngest delegate. JtF KOWALoKYANSOcmlort 1 get gander at president i Library, 45 Vinewood, Wyandotte.

5:10 p.m. Whistle-stop appearance in Royal Oak. The public can enter the viewing area near the Am-trak station at Center and Sixth streets. 6:40 p.m. Whistle-stop appear-' ance at Pontiac's Amtrak Station.

Gates will open to the public at 3:30 p.m. 10 p.m. Clinton will speak at if Enzo Zoppi of Utica helps build the platform Monday for Irenident Bill Clinton's Tuesday appearance at Wyandotte's Bacon Memorial Library..