DNC delegates seek fresh motivation

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

STEPHAN SAVOIA / AP Norman Cook, a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, pushes aside balloons as he makes his way to the floor at the Democratic National Convention site in Boston last week. The convention begins tomorrow.

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BOSTON — Delegates arriving for tomorrow's opening of the 2004 Democratic National Convention have heard the pundits, historians and media critics who say nothing ever really happens at national conventions anymore. They say it's just a TV commercial, a party, little more than a way for moneyed interests and political power to rub up against each other.

It's true to one degree: The only official function of the convention is the removal of the word "presumptive" from Democratic nominee John Kerry's name.

But many arriving here say important things need to happen — even if it's just creating the right Democratic vibe.

"There needs to be an energizing that goes on," said Jason Sawatzki, a Howard Dean delegate from Seattle who says he's hoping he leaves here in a week excited about Kerry. "There was a drop-off after Kerry got the nomination of people who had been gung-ho."

Clearly, Kerry needs to use the four days of the convention to introduce himself to Americans who have yet to begin paying attention to the presidential race or remain undecided in the contest between the Massachusetts senator and President Bush.

While most of the convention stagecraft is aimed at that work, Kerry and the party also will be reaching out to liberal delegates, like the Dennis Kucinich and Dean fans in Washington state's delegation.

The delegates want to hear how the ideals — and passion — that attracted them to their first choice for president will be carried forward by Kerry. It's not that they need convincing that Kerry would be a better president for them than Bush. But they want to be excited, if not inspired.

Convention on TV ABC, CBS, NBC: 7-8 p.m., tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday CNN, MSNBC, FNC: Regular evening programming and special reports PBS, C-SPAN: Gavel-to-gavel coverage Source: Gannett News Service

"There is a great deal of fatigue among the base right now," said Sawatzki. "It's been a long, rough road for many of us who are progressives."

Convention coverage David Postman, The Seattle Times chief political reporter, will be filing daily reports from the Democratic convention this week in Boston and the Republican convention in New York City next month. He has covered political conventions for The Times since 1996. Postman also will share his observations of the convention maneuverings every day on KING-5 Morning News, which airs from 5-7 a.m.

The key for Kerry and the Democratic National Committee is to find a message that can appeal to diehards in the FleetCenter convention hall as well as those just starting to pay attention across the country.

"I think one of the big challenges for Kerry is making sure that he can keep our base excited enough and keep the far left of our party motivated enough that we don't hemorrhage to the Nader factor," said Washington state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt.

It has been clear since February that Kerry would be the Democratic nominee.

Since then, he has spent some $80 million to introduce himself to voters. And the Bush campaign has spent millions of its own trying to define Kerry as Republicans want voters to see him.

But many voters still don't know Kerry and aren't yet sold on him.

"This is the best opportunity for John Kerry and John Edwards to introduce themselves to the country," said U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, who is close to Kerry and is the candidate's campaign co-chairman in Washington. "This is the moment people are paying attention."

Anyone paying even scant attention to Kerry would know a few details: He's a senator from Massachusetts and served in Vietnam, something Kerry mentions often on the campaign trail.

But as recently as two weeks ago, the Kerry campaign held focus groups in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two key swing states, and some voters said they didn't know Kerry had served in Vietnam, Smith said.

"As much as we pay attention to politics, other people have other things going on in their lives," Smith said.

A recent Los Angeles Times poll found that, while Kerry is doing better in bringing undecided voters his way, one-third still don't know enough about him to decide.

	CHITOSE SUZUKI / AP U.S. Capitol police officers patrol Boston's Rowes Wharf yesterday, two days before the start of the Democratic National Convention.

At the convention, Democrats will try to change that with a carefully orchestrated four-day show highlighting Kerry's biography and his plans for the country. It'll be hard to walk through the convention this week without hearing the words "strength" or "security."

Day one tomorrow opens, according to the convention agenda, with a Kerry-Edwards plan "to make America strong at home and respected in the world."

Day two: "A Lifetime of Strength and Service," a biography on Kerry's life.

Day three: "A Stronger, More Secure America," a focus on the military and homeland defense.

Day four: "Stronger at Home, Respected in the World," Kerry's speech summing it all up.

"It's really to let people know who John Kerry is and what he's all about, and his ideas and his hopes and dreams of how he wants to help Americans fulfill their hopes and dreams," said Gov. Gary Locke.

Republicans are ready to counter anything that looks like Kerry trying to reshape his image.

"What we're expecting to see is an attempt by Sen. Kerry to pursue an extreme makeover," said Molly Bordonaro, Northwest regional chairwoman of the Bush-Cheney campaign. "Through his entire career, he's one of the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate. He's going to attempt to shift away from these extreme liberal positions."

King County Democratic Party Chairman Greg Rodriguez is here as a Kerry delegate. But Dean was his first choice, and he worked for months to help the former Vermont governor win the nomination.

He said he is glad the Kerry campaign has given Dean and Kucinich the chance to deliver speeches to the convention.

"I think they're doing a great job of reaching out to those people who might not be 100 percent comfortable yet," Rodriguez said.

To try to bolster liberal support, Dean and Kucinich will speak to Washington delegates during separate appearances this week at the delegation's daily breakfast meeting.

(And even if the convention is light on official business, there is still plenty of party in politics. The Washington delegation will attend a Microsoft-sponsored late-night reception tomorrow at the Kennedy Library and a "Celebrate the DNC with AT&T" breakfast Thursday at the bar featured in the television show "Cheers.")

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, will be working on liberals beyond those in his home state delegation.

He, too, was an early Dean supporter.

"All of us who came from some other camp, we're dedicated to one thing this year, and that's getting rid of George Bush," McDermott said.

He will give a series of speeches outside the convention this week, including at a rally of an expected 1,000 Young Democrats' tonight, at the request of the Kerry campaign.

McDermott has been one of Congress' biggest critics of Bush. But he says the convention floor is not the place to attack the president.

"The tone has to be right for moderate voters," he said. "You can't be out there saying everything George Bush does is bad."

Smith is likely to have the most visible role this week. He was the first member of Congress to endorse Kerry and so far the only Washingtonian with an announced solo appearance on the convention stage.

In a brief speech Tuesday afternoon, Smith says, he will talk about his blue-collar roots and how "Democrats made sure people like me had a shot."

Locke is expected to appear with other Democratic governors. And Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are scheduled to be part of a tribute to women in the Senate.

In the convention halls, there will be plenty of pull on Kerry from the left.

"If you don't play to the base, then people don't go to the polls to vote," said Dian Ferguson, a Kucinich delegate.

She said both Kucinich and Dean brought new people into the party and brought back some who had become disenchanted with Democrats.

"I think you stand the fear of disenfranchising those people who hadn't been players before," she said.

Dean delegate Sawatzki actively lobbied at the state and national levels to move the party platform to the left, with, he said, some success.

"The real problem with the Democratic Party as it has been in the past is it was afraid to enunciate a position out of fear of losing the middle," he said.

This week, he figures that will come from others who speak on the stage, not Kerry himself, "because his handlers probably won't allow that."

Dean endorsed Kerry in the spring and his supporters have had time to adjust their loyalties. Kucinich backed Kerry just last week. Some of his supporters arrive in Boston not yet sounding as if they are fully on board. And while they may be ready to vote for Kerry, they miss the evangelical zeal.

"I don't come here expecting a whole lot from the convention," said Kucinich delegate Jim Mullins. "A lot of people don't realize where Kerry stands on a lot of the issues.

"They see him as a Democrat, as a war veteran, as someone who would like peace," Mullins said. "They don't realize he is a captive of the corporations as much as he is. We're trying to keep that alive while recognizing we have to work together."

Berendt said he is confident the base can get excited about Kerry — just as he did. Berendt was a big Dean backer. He was the first state party chairman in the country to endorse Dean, and only backed Kerry when he was the inevitable nominee.

But at a closed-door session in Washington, D.C., in March, Kerry talked to party chairmen about health care in a way Berendt hadn't heard before.

"I walked away from that meeting thinking, 'He's going to do something about the health-care crisis in this country if he is elected.'

"There are delegates who are looking for that — that one thing that makes them say, 'Wow, a Kerry administration is really going to be different.' "

Seattle Times staff reporter J. Patrick Coolican contributed to this report. David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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