The movie greats and rock-and-roll bigs love the Democrats, making the Los Angeles Democratic convention the best seat in the country for star gazing. Strolling around the Staples Center, site of the confab, Tuesday eve we bumped into lots of Hollywood luminaries, including Annette Bening and Warren Beatty schmoozing with delegates. Then there was rock star Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls. Since we're at the convention, we skipped talk about music and asked him what he thought of Al Gore's veep pick, Sen. Joseph Lieberman. "What do you care what I think?" he asked. But we pressed on. It turns out he's a student of politics but not a fan of the Connecticut Democrat. His choice: the more liberal House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt.
When in Rome
Keeping on schedule in sprawling, congested Los Angeles hasn't been easy for the Dems, and none knows that better than Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. On Tuesday, she hosted a panel discussion on women's issues that ran late, eating into the time she needed to freshen up and change for her big address to the Democratic convention at the Staples Center. So, with her clothes in hand, she ducked into a bathroom and set up shop, stripping off her suit and slipping on a dress. Our source, who walked in when Townsend was in her panties and bra, said the Democrat offered: "I'm not modest, I'm behind schedule."
Call 911
One of the big complaints about the Democratic convention: Too many people have been invited to soirees held in cramped spaces, making them hot and stuffy. Tuesday night, for instance, the Democratic National Committee hosted a bash called "Hollywood Civil Rights: Destination Freedom." As usual, it was jammed and sweltering, so much so that an Arkansas delegate passed out from the heat, reports our Suzi Parker. But this is Hollywood, mind you, where there are always happy endings. And this was no exception: Who should emerge from the crowd but movie star Gary Busey, who rushed to the woman's aid with water and a wet hankie for her head. He offered to get her to the hospital, but she refused.
Tips for Al
Seems another relationship is on the rocks. They used to love each other, but these days the moderate, policy-driven Democratic Leadership Council and Vice President Al Gore are at odds. Although Big Al was one of the original "New Democrats," a DLC-coined phrase, his campaign has spun populist with un-DLC-like attacks on big business and bones to special interests. DLC head Al From says Gore should follow the 1992 Clinton model instead of copying the typical Democratic strategy of bashing the rich and kissing up to labor and minorities. "Gore does it much more by the numbers. Clinton did it by the ideas," says From. The longtime Gore friend and political associate also tells Whispers that Gore should lighten up and speak from the heart, not from index cards penned by political advisers. "He has to display some more confidence in his own instincts."
Cashing in
The Democratic Leadership Council may not be jazzed by Al Gore, but having two DLC representatives-Gore and running mate Sen. Joseph Lieberman-heading the Democratic ticket is doing wonders for the organization's fundraising. Several D.C. lobby firms, for example, tell our Sheila Kaplan that they are dueling for the honor of hosting a breakfast for Lieberman this week. It's no wonder: The DLC's cash registers have been ringing at fundraisers throughout the week. Among them: a Sunday welcome reception at the Beverly Renaissance Hotel paid for by the Health Insurance Association of America; Monday's Celebrate the Success Dinner, hosted by TRW and the American Chemistry Council; and a Tuesday reception at the City Club, sponsored by Paine-Webber and Bacardi.
Trading places
Sen. Joseph Biden may be wildly popular in his native Delaware, but that doesn't make him overly confident. Consider: The Democrat who once ran for president met with the Arkansas delegation during this week's Democratic convention and said, "If Delaware ever kicks me out, I am moving to Arkansas." But Biden questioned how he would fare in President Clinton's home state, noting: "There are too many damn good politicians in Arkansas."
Fat and happy
The bad news about the humming economy: People feel fat and happy and don't give a hoot about politics. A new University of Arkansas study reviewed by Whispers says complacent consumers, bored by the presidential candidates and turned off by scandal, will avoid the polls in record numbers this election year. "Unless the economy falters or a third-party candidate shows up with a bag full of charisma, there's a good chance that we'll see the lowest voter turnout in almost a century," says the school's Todd Shields.
The old days
Dick Tuck was walking down Figueroa Street yesterday past the Bonaventure Hotel, home of the California Democratic delegation, dressed in an eye-catching seersucker sport coat, red-and-blue bow tie, blue Bermuda shorts, and red socks. "You can't buy red socks anymore," he said, "I have a stash of them at home." Tuck is the legendary prankster who worked for the Kennedys and California Gov. Pat Brown. On the street near the Staples Center, he chatted about the good old days with our Michael Barone, who filed this report:
When Richard Nixon made an appearance in Chinatown, Tuck arranged for a sign that read, in Chinese, "What about the Hughes loan?" (Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes had made a loan to Nixon's brother Donald.) As Tuck notes, Figueroa Street and downtown LA are in the state Senate district that Tuck sought in 1964 when a court redistricting decision upped Los Angeles County's number of state Senate seats from one to 14. His platform was opposition to freeways ("I didn't want us to be an off ramp on the cloverleaf of life") and fixing the usually dry cement-lined Los Angeles River by either filling it with water or painting it blue. "The job needs Tuck," read a Tuck billboard, "and Tuck needs the job."
Nixon, stung by Tuck's pranks, came to town and endorsed him; Tuck challenged him to debate and promised not to shave. He lost to George Danielson, who achieved temporary fame as a member of the House Judiciary Committee that impeached Nixon. Today Danielson is dead and forgotten, while Tuck, 77 and living in Tucson, has returned to Los Angeles. Tuck's first Democratic National Convention was in 1948. In 1956, he was working for Pat Brown, then California attorney general, when Adlai Stevenson opened up the vice presidential nomination. "Tom Rees and Jess Unruh," then freshman members of the California Assembly, "and I ran [John F.] Kennedy for VP. I manufactured a portable bullhorn by hooking some batteries to a couple of speakers," Tuck says. But Kennedy lost at the last minute to Estes Kefauver; the ticket sank in November without a trace. Years later Kennedy thanked him: "I was so happy you ran my campaign for VP. Had I won, I would have been forgotten."
In 1960, the California delegation was split, to the consternation of the Kennedys. Then "the vaunted Kennedy machine" decided to stage Kennedy's acceptance speech outdoors at the 95,000-seat Los Angeles Coliseum. Tuck, as Gov. Pat Brown's political secretary, was asked to produce the crowd. At 9 a.m., two hours before the speech, he found that there was just one entrance, at which security guards were delaying everyone by asking for credentials. He got a California Highway Patrolman to tell the security people to can it. Eventually, they got 8,000 people clustered in one corner of the Coliseum and, in those innocent days, the TV cameras didn't pan to get shots of the 87,000 empty seats. That, he says, was "the vaunted Kennedy machine."
On Nov. 11, 1963, Tuck was in Washington to help Kennedy aide Fred Dutton lobby for the nuclear test ban treaty. He and Dutton were spied by Kennedy as he was returning from an Armistice Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery with his 3-year-old son, John Jr. JFK invited them back to the White House and they reminisced about the war in the Pacific as a photographer took the now famous pictures of John-John crawling under the desk in the Oval Office. Eleven days later Kennedy was shot in Dallas. In 1968, Tuck traveled with Bobby Kennedy in his presidential campaign. "We had a running thing about his dog, Freckles, after he crapped in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco" in full view of reporter David Broder," says Tucker. "Bobby told me that he was going to appoint me to represent the U.S. in the Vatican, because it doesn't require Senate confirmation. So, on good days, he would say, 'You got the Vatican.' On bad days it was, 'You got Tijuana.' " Tuck rode to the hospital with Bobby Kennedy after he was shot on primary night in LA's Ambassador Hotel, which has since been torn down. Now Tuck is representing ReliableSource.com and handing out fliers for his 18-year-old granddaughter Nipon's Duhsource.com.
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