Thursday, September 2, 2004

CONVENTION WEBLOG Continuing Coverage From This Week's Republican National Convention Issues in depth: The Chronicle's coverage of Election 2004. Printer friendly E-mail article Subscribe Order reprints By SARA HEBEL New York One College's Trove of Republicans SEPTEMBER 2, 5:35 P.M. -- Getting press credentials to cover the Republican National Convention for an alumni magazine seemed like a long shot to Susan Kasten, editor of Beloit College Magazine. She had even less reason to hope because the Democratic Party never even responded to her request to attend its convention, in Boston in July, as a journalist. But two weeks before the Republicans kicked off their gathering here in the Big Apple, Kasten got the word that she was in. On the Saturday before the convention, she picked up her media passes from the "special press credentials" office at the Hotel Pennsylvania, where mainstream reporters also had to obtain their passes. She is not complaining, but "they did not make it easy for us," she said of her experience getting the credentials, compared with what traditional journalists went through. "We had a very small window of time," she said, "and we literally had to go into this, like, back room where all these boxes were stacked up." For the fall-winter issue of her magazine, which is published three times a year for a readership of 18,000, Kasten wanted to feature alumni intimately involved with the political conventions. She reckoned the feature would be timely because the issue is scheduled to come out two days after Election Day. First she learned about Peggy Robinson, a senior producer of politics and legal issues for PBS's News Hour With Jim Lehrer. This year Robinson, for the first time, is responsible for coordinating all of the program's coverage of the political conventions, Republican and Democrat alike. In New York, Kasten visited Robinson in PBS's news trailer, parked outside Madison Square Garden. The magazine editor was impressed by the crazed atmosphere that the production of live television created inside the trailer, which she said must have been filled with about 60 television sets and staff members running around with headphones. Beloit College can also count a top Republican Party worker among its alumni: Dean Armandroff, chief of staff to Ann Wagner, a co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Kasten also found two current Beloit students, who were serving here as PBS interns. But she did not have as much luck finding top Democrats to profile. "I did a pretty extensive search, but I've not turned up anyone yet," Kasten said. "And the college tends to be much more liberal-leaning, so that surprises me." The Far Side of Rove SEPTEMBER 2, 3:20 P.M. -- The pageantry of political conventions tends to make them ripe targets for satire. The Republican National Convention this week has proved no exception, especially since it has been held in the backyard of some of the nation's best-known comedians. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Late Show With David Letterman, for example, are taped just a few blocks north of Madison Square Garden, and they've been showcasing the political gathering all week. The columnist Dave Barry also has been covering some of the goings-on, including the College Republicans' reception on Monday with Karl Rove (Convention Weblog, August 31). It turns out that the College Republicans "somewhat intimidated" Barry, according to his column, published on Wednesday in the National Journal Convention Daily. (In the same column, he described Rove as having "a large, roundish head to accommodate all the various brains he keeps in there.") Back when Barry was in college, he wrote, "my idea of formal wear was a T-shirt on which most of the stains were the same color." By contrast, "the College Republicans, overwhelmingly male, wore nice suits and ties and had haircuts that appeared to be only minutes old." "They also had firm handshakes, outgoing personalities, and the easy, confident manner of young people who will someday, possibly later this year, be deciding whether to move your company to Taiwan." Copping College Credit at the Convention SEPTEMBER 2, 1:05 P.M. -- Just imagine the look of surprise on the face of Joe Piscopo, the former Saturday Night Live star who is considering running for governor of New Jersey, when his chauffeur on Sunday appeared in the form of a college student. In fact, a college student in a rented Chevy Impala sporting a silvery-goldish exterior. Jason Taormina, Mr. Piscopo's driver and a fifth-year student majoring in electrical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology, could envision the celebrity's reaction. "It's like, 'Yes, I've arrived,'" Taormina joked. He said the chauffeuring experience was a highlight of his two weeks here working for the Republican National Convention as part of a program run by the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. And he won't hold it against Piscopo that he went to bed around 9 p.m. on Sunday, calling it a night earlier than Taormina had hoped. "He ditched you," chimed in Ester Lopez, another participant in the Washington Center program and a junior majoring in social work at Utah State University. "We heard about it all night." The students are among 185 in the program who are working the convention and staying in dormitories at Pace University. The center also ran a program at the Democratic National Convention, in Boston in July. Beyond rubbing shoulders with celebrities, the participants actually receive college credit -- typically two to four semester hours' worth, depending on their institution -- for keeping journals, conducting interviews, and completing other assignments while they are performing volunteer work at the convention. The students end up doing such things as helping news-media organizations that are covering the convention or giving directions to visitors to the convention on behalf of the New York City host committee. Such work proved a natural fit for Lopez, who was stationed outside of C-SPAN's center of operations in the Farley Building, adjacent to Madison Square Garden and temporary home for much of the news media here. "I was talking with the media, the Secret Service, the cops, everybody who walked by," she said, adding excitedly that one security guard gave her a gold coin from the Navy. "I made a point to talk to all of them." "I can see that, I can see that," laughed Robin Lee, director of the Career Development Center at California State University at Long Beach. She is serving as a faculty leader for Taormina, Lopez, and other students here. Being a Democrat -- a fact she somewhat sheepishly admits to her Republican-minded students ("she plays along well, though," Taormina concedes) -- has made this a "really, really interesting" experience for Lee, she said. "It's been interesting to probe their minds," she said of the students. "We've had some really good conversations." In a program designed to give students lessons best learned outside of the classroom, Crystal Banning got even more than she bargained for. Banning, another of Lee's charges and a senior political-science major at the University of Tampa, said she quickly learned to keep a low profile, and her convention credentials hidden, when walking the streets. She said she was taunted and booed getting off a train in New Jersey and passing through Times Square. And then, when she was shopping in the official store for Republican paraphernalia at the New York Hilton Hotel, her credentials were stolen. But not all was lost. Banning said she has had a good time, highlighted by hearing the first lady, Laura Bush, and her twin daughters speak at a lunch. "I thought Laura Bush was really great," she said. And the twins? "They actually did well," she said. "I was surprised." Delegate From Community College Says Republicans Speak His Language SEPTEMBER 1, 6:40 P.M. -- Before the Republican National Convention started, David G. Arredondo, director of international-student services at Lorain County Community College and an Ohio delegate, had hoped to appear on Telemundo and other Spanish-language media during his time here. The son of a Mexican immigrant, Arredondo is a member of a minority group whose votes the Republican Party covets, and he's from the swingiest of swing states. In trying to win the support of more Hispanic citizens, the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, convention officials are taking pains to highlight Hispanic Republicans. For instance, George P. Bush, the president's nephew, who is Hispanic himself, threw in several sentences of Spanish from the podium during Tuesday night's convention program. As for Arredondo, Telemundo had not called as of Tuesday night, only a radio network in Spain. "I guess I'll have to turn my cellphone off," he joked. But the English-language media, it seems, can't get enough of him. Each morning, he does 10-to-20-minute rundowns of convention news for two AM radio stations in Ohio, one in Elyria and one in Oberlin. He has been quoted often this week in Elyria's daily newspaper, the Chronicle-Telegram. And then he lucked into even more publicity. A Cleveland affiliate of Fox News led some delegates on Tuesday down to ground zero, in Lower Manhattan, and Arredondo went along. When they got there, they ran into other reporters -- from North Carolina, Texas, even the Los Angeles Times -- who had gone to the site of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to interview delegates whom they assumed would be there. But the only delegates in sight were those in Arredondo's group. "So they just lined up to talk to us," Arredondo said. This is his second convention. His first was back in 1972, when he was 21 and devoted to the Democrats. He served as a delegate from Ohio at the convention in Miami Beach in which U.S. Sen. George S. McGovern was selected to run against President Richard M. Nixon. Those were different times, he said, before conventions were as carefully scripted as they are today. Fights among Democratic delegates over the party's platform and the convention rules delayed McGovern's acceptance speech until 3 a.m., Eastern time, long after most of the nationwide television audience had gone to bed. "By the time we left the convention hall, it was five in the morning and the sun was coming up," Arredondo said. "It got so far out of control that most of America didn't catch what McGovern had to say." The spontaneity may not be as great at the Republican convention this time around, but Arredondo said he feels that he has more access to top leaders in the Republican Party than he had when he was a Democrat. For instance, he lunched this week with one of his state's Republican U.S. senators, George Voinovich. The networking might even pay dividends for Arredondo after the convention ends, on Thursday night. Arredondo has persuaded the senator to schedule a visit to Lorain to talk about federal funds the college might try to get to help retrain the state's displaced workers. "The Republican leadership here is so accessible, so down to earth," Arredondo said on Tuesday night on the floor of Madison Square Garden. He wore a Panama hat, a "Viva Bush" button, and an American-flag pin, which he said he has worn every day since September 11, 2001. The Chair Recognizes the Cheerleader SEPTEMBER 1, 2:20 P.M. -- The Maine delegation here at the Republican National Convention is already looking to its youth for leadership. The delegates have appointed Oliver J. Wolf, vice chairman of the state's College Republicans and a junior majoring in political science at Bates College, as their official cheerleader on the convention floor. Wolf, dressed in pinstriped blue-and-white pants and a bow tie of light-blue and gold stripes, apologized earlier this week for his scratchy voice as he tried to socialize at a reception. His duties were already taking their toll. On Monday night his big moment came. At the beginning of the convention's evening session, the Maine delegates got to announce their official support for the renomination of President Bush. Wolf was ready, having practiced his key cheers: "Maine for Bush" and "Four More Years!" Page After Page on Schools, but Only a Phrase on Higher Education SEPTEMBER 1, 12:45 P.M. -- With Tuesday's theme at the Republican National Convention being "People of Compassion," higher-education officials may want to inquire of the U.S. education secretary, Where's the love? In his address to delegates at Madison Square Garden last night, Roderick R. Paige scarcely mentioned postsecondary education. Thrown into the thick of a speech dominated by praise for President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, which created new standards for elementary and secondary schools, was a solitary sentence on higher education. "All across America, test scores are rising, students are learning, the achievement gap is closing, teachers and principals are beaming with pride," the secretary said. (Here comes the higher-education part.) "And President Bush also increased Pell Grants funding so one million more young adults can afford college." It is true that the maximum Pell Grant has increased, from $3,750 in Bush's first year in office to $4,050 now. That was done, however, largely at the bidding of Congress, and recently the administration has proposed keeping that amount the same. And in his budget plan for 2005, the president has not proposed any new money to reduce a $3.7-billion shortfall in the Pell Grant program. The Bush plan does propose increasing Pell Grants for some. In the plan, he suggested creating a $33-million pilot program to reward financially needy students who take specific college-preparatory courses in high school by making them eligible for an extra $1,000 in Pell Grants per year. On Tuesday night, Paige -- the first of two black speakers in a row (at a convention in which 85 percent of the delegates are white and 6 percent are black, according to a survey by CBS News and The New York Times) -- also briefly mentioned his experience as a student attending segregated schools. "I was in college when the Supreme Court announced Brown v. Board of Education," Paige said. "I felt liberated that day because I thought true equality would soon follow. It did not." A 'Holla' From Arkansas SEPTEMBER 1, 10:10 A.M. -- Princella Smith got her promised moment in the limelight of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night. The junior at Ouachita Baptist University and Arkansas native won the chance to address the Republican delegates through a "Stand Up and Holla!" essay contest sponsored by the convention and MTV (The Chronicle, September 3). Smith began by giving a nod to her state's most famous politician, far from a crowd favorite here, former President Bill Clinton. "Over a decade ago, a fellow Arkansan at a national convention talked about a place called Hope," she said. "Now I want to talk about another small town in Arkansas, a place called Wynne. Growing up in Wynne, I learned to value service and community." She then presented a fierce defense of her peers, often called Generation X, saying that they can be an army that sets an example. "Unlike those who fought in world wars and battled for civil rights, we seem to be perceived as a generation without direction," she said from the convention stage, as the hall was filling with delegates for the Tuesday-night session. But now, she continued, President Bush has called on her generation to change the world, at home and abroad. "Our generation of 18-year-old soldiers has taken a stand against the horrors of terrorism in order to bring peace and democracy to those without hope," Smith said. "The president also asks us to fight important battles at home: against drugs, against poverty, against forces that want to degrade our generation and call us Generation X. "We reject that label," she said. "We are Generation X-ample." Striving to Get Young People to Vote AUGUST 31, 6:40 P.M. -- Inside the Harvard Club of New York City today, 160 college students serving as pages at the Republican National Convention took in a wide-ranging panel discussion about the dearth of young voters and how to mobilize students to go to the polls. Sponsored by Harvard's Institute of Politics, part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, the panel contained academics, a journalist, a professional wrestler working to get out the vote, and Susan Hirschmann, a former chief of staff to Tom DeLay, the majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hirschmann quickly proved to be the house favorite, with the young Republicans showering the only outwardly partisan member of the panel with almost all of the discussion's applause. They cheered when she criticized the McCain-Feingold federal legislation that has restricted how campaigns can be financed and prompted a rise in ads run by outside groups. The crowd liked her comment that it is good that network news no longer dominates how people get their information. And they went wild when she said it was hard to believe that much of the news media is objective. Over the clanking of silverware, as the pages cut into their chicken and finished off lunch with chocolate cake, the attentive audience also devoured information about the state of the youth vote. David King, associate director of the Institute of Politics, had some sobering news. In 2002, only 9 percent of potential first-time voters (those who are 18 or 19) cast their ballots. As of this week, less than half of those who are 18 or 19 are registered to vote. The majority of American children are growing up in homes where neither parent has voted. "So we have a lot of work to do," King said. He also had descriptive information: 41 percent of American college students consider themselves independents, there are slightly more Democrats than Republicans, and American young people are becoming more religious, with high-school students now more likely to attend church than their parents. But for all of President Bush's talk of faith and morals, King said that it is not at all clear if the religion dynamic among youth breaks for Republicans, or for Democrats either. The setting at the Harvard Club, however, did seem to break toward one political party, and it wasn't the one you might have expected in that bastion of liberalism and Kennedy iconography. Lynn Sweet, the Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Sun-Times and the panel's moderator, noticed it right away. "You should thank the Harvard Club for hanging the Republican symbol here," she told the pages as she kicked off the discussion, pointing to the wall behind them. On it, a gigantic gray elephant's head was mounted on the wall. But elephant sightings, especially this week in New York, aren't that rare. Here, in fact, everywhere you looked there was an elephant. As part of their official outfits, the male pages wore pale-blue ties dotted with elephants and the American flag, with their button-down white dress shirts. The women wore the same design on a sash over their black skirts. Card-Carrying Republicans Stack the Deck AUGUST 31, 2 P.M. -- You could play a mean game of war with this deck of playing cards. Every king is President Bush. Every queen: the first lady, Laura Bush. Key voters, such as Nascar Dads and Soccer Moms, appear on the twos. Other Republicans and Bush supporters make appearances as well. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California holds a sign reading "Hasta La Vista Kerry" on the six of diamonds. Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and former Wisconsin governor, sports a cheesehead on the seven of diamonds. And the jokers? Sen. John "Flip-Flop" Kerry and Sen. Edward "Liberal" Kennedy. The cards are being sold on the streets of New York this week to raise money for the New York State College Republicans. Alex von Rosenberg, who spent 13 years working in the world of college-textbook publishing, joined with friends in Cincinnati to create and publish the deck of cards through their company, Parody Productions. On Tuesday morning Rosenberg was hawking the sets of cards -- one for $10, three for $20 -- in the Bronx, outside a convention-related event at the Bronx Preparatory Charter School. He explained how the drawings on each suit of cards represent a different pillar of the president's administration. Clubs are for keeping America safe and secure. Spades depict a strong economy. Diamonds show steady leadership. And hearts? Well, compassionate conservatism, of course. Bush's Field Marshal Fires Up His College Troops AUGUST 31, 11:25 A.M. -- An American flag hung behind the bar at the Windfall Bar & Grill, in midtown Manhattan, on Monday evening, and Fox News flickered silently on three TV sets around the wood-paneled room. Crowded inside, college students decked out in tan, black, and gray business suits were rapt before the stage erected at the back. Before them stood Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, who had come to rally the youngest of his troops. "Our college effort is absolutely vital to our election," Rove told the crowd, which had gathered for a reception for leaders of the College Republicans. "Even if you are not in a battleground state, chances are someone on your campus is from a battleground state." Rove's message about unregistered students: hunt 'em down, smoke 'em out, and get 'em to the polls. Especially if your classmate or suitemate is eligible to vote in, say, Florida, or Ohio, or Pennsylvania, or another of the swing states in this fall's election. Battle imagery played well with this crowd. The students said they were inspired by Rove's message that each vote counts, impressed that 19,000 more votes in 2000 was all that it would have taken for Bush to win Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin. In other words, they heard: You are an army of one in this election fight. Rove's loudest applause line came when he talked about the Bush administration's policies on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. "There is only one way to win the war on terrorism," Rove declared, his volume growing, "and that is to chase the enemy to the end of the earth and to utterly destroy them." (For once Rove appears to have been off-message. Earlier on Monday, Bush said on NBC's Today show that the war on terrorism was probably unwinnable. "I don't think you can win it," he said. "But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.") At the end of his speech, Rove took questions. From Minnesota: "There we go," Rove said, imploring the student to help the Republicans pull out a win in his home, a swing state. From California: "There we go," Rove encouraged, saying the questioner's home state, long a Democratic stronghold, had at least a shot of becoming more in play for Republicans in the fall. From Alabama: "There we go, there we go," Rove exclaimed. "Bring it home, buddy." Then Massachusetts, home of Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, and considered a shoo-in state for him. Kevin Haskell, a senior at the College of the Holy Cross, in Massachusetts, wanted to know if there was any chance a member of the Bush campaign team might swing by his territory to "bring the battle to the belly of the beast." "Oh, man," Rove replied. Well, he added, maybe he could at least wave as he flew over the state on his way to New Hampshire, a swing state. The crowd laughed. And then, after a group photo with the College Republicans, Rove went roving. The mingling began, the plates of hors d'oeuvres -- mini hot dogs-in-a-bun, pizza, chicken nuggets, satay chicken -- circulated, the drinks flowed. Haskell, sipping a bottle of Michelob Ultra ("trying to watch the carbs," he explained), said that he and his Massachusetts Republican friends understand Rove's point about skipping over their state. Next to him, Brad Smith, a Harvard senior, was holding a pint of Bud Light. He said that he, too, is likely to work on the campaign in New Hampshire, not Massachusetts. "That," he said, "is probably where we can help the most." Young Elephants Trumpet Their Views AUGUST 30, 4:10 P.M. -- College Republicans got a piece of the stage today at the opening session of the Republican National Convention. In the midst of speeches by Congressional and gubernatorial candidates and the beginning of the process to officially nominate President Bush for re-election, the youth of the party were able to sneak in some sound bites. Eric Hoplin, chairman of the College Republicans National Committee, lauded the young Americans fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. "We are answering the call," he bragged, "to defend this nation at home and abroad." He argued that his cohorts support Republicans because they back the administration's efforts to fight terrorism. "I am proud to report that the youth of America are lining up behind President Bush because we are the 9/11 generation," he said, pleading with more of America's young people to join with the 120,000 College Republicans to vote to re-elect the president. A couple of speakers later, Michael Mack, president of the Young Republican National Federation, echoed many of Hoplin's remarks and praised Bush for inspiring members of his generation. "We may be young," he declared, "but we are ready to lead." Trivia in the Welcome Kit AUGUST 30, 1:35 P.M. -- Ever wonder why the sea of taxi cabs that flows up and down the streets of New York is yellow? Turns out, academics may be to blame, according to NYC & Company, New York City's official tourism-marketing group. Buried in the Republican National Convention's media-welcome package -- which includes random trinkets such as elephant-shaped macaroni and Miffy Loves New York City!, a children's book about a cartoon bunny exploring the Big Apple -- the tourism company offers this factoid: John Hertz, who founded the Yellow Cab Company in 1907, chose yellow for his taxis after reading a University of Chicago study. The university's researchers found that yellow is "the easiest color to identify." On Seventh Avenue, Near to the Madding Crowd AUGUST 30, 10:40 A.M. -- Scenes from Sunday's protests of the Republican National Convention: The number of protesters began to swell at the corner of 22nd Street and Seventh Avenue just before noon, preparing to begin their march through Manhattan, and members of the City University of New York's Professional Staff Congress dotted the crowd. Marchers from the group, which represents more than 20,000 faculty and staff members, carried red-and-white signs that cried "Money for Education Not War." "Bland, bland, I know," said one CUNY protester of the signs, as she was swept by with the crowd. "But we're sincere!" she yelled back. Not everyone was as disparaging of the placards. A woman holding one was asked if she was from the City University. "No," she laughed. "But they had a bunch of signs, and I thought they were great." * * * Off to the side, Bob and Bonnie Nelson explained how the CUNY union's signs had been specifically crafted so as to pass police muster and be allowed in Central Park, where some protesters planned to gather after the march even though they had been denied an official permit to hold a rally there. The signs, the Nelsons believed, had to be smaller than 3 feet by 2 feet (the PSC-CUNY sign was closer to 2 by 1). The handle was also made out of cardboard, a standard material to show that the sign could not be converted into a weapon, the protest veterans noted. Bob, who was sporting a black PSC baseball cap, said he was here because "the Bush administration is dangerous to the country and to the world." Bush-administration officials have been antagonistic toward education and higher education, he continued. "They have discouraged many young people from coming to college," said Bob, who is a systems administrator for student services at CUNY's Graduate Center. He talked about how President Bush had failed to adequately increase Pell Grants at the same time tuition has been rising at CUNY, which serves many needy students. He also railed against another Republican, New York's Gov. George E. Pataki, who recently vetoed operating and capital funds the Legislature had appropriated for CUNY in the state budget. Bonnie, though, said that she, like many others gathered for the march, really was here to protest the war in Iraq. She believes the war has made New York a more dangerous place, arguing that members of Al Qaeda who were not in Iraq before are there now and able to increase planning for possible future terrorist attacks. Bob and Bonnie, who is a professor of library services at CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, live within two miles of ground zero. On September 11, 2001, ashes of burning paper from the World Trade Center towers showered their backyard. Security, they said, is a personal issue for them. * * * Other groups from academe filed by onto Seventh Avenue as well. A blue banner announced the presence of the Alliance of Radical Academic and Intellectual Organizations. Three women carried a gold sign on behalf of protesters from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Lou Deutsch, a professor of Spanish literature there, said about 100 people from the Stony Brook campus had come to protest. She said she was here because she would be upset with herself if President Bush were re-elected and she had not done anything to try to prevent it. She ticked off a number of the administration's policies she opposes: No Child Left Behind, the Iraq war, the abandonment of the Kyoto treaty on global warming. * * * With the march more than an hour under way, Ying-Ying Ma and Christian Appel decided they needed to improve their makeshift sign. Ying-Ying, who will be a sophomore at Yale University this fall, and Christian, who will be a sophomore at Northwestern University, were alone on a side street wielding red and blue markers, going over and over the words "Outsource Bush Stop the Madness" on a piece of cardboard. They don't like the Bush administration, and they want the president to take his convention elsewhere. "He is really trying to capitalize on the 9/11 tragedy," Ying-Ying said. "I just want to tell them to get out." "It's rude," Christian agreed. "It's a slap in the face."