On the Prowl
)N THE PROW Floored in Philadelphia There were many unhappy Republican delegates and state party officials at the GOP's Philadelphia convention. Not because so many state delegations were...
...We were paying the Gore campaign more than $500 a day for expenses to cover the damn trip...
...Meanwhile, many attendees pointed out that the convention should have been held at the downtown convention center, which could hold about 5,ooo more people than the F.U...
...Most of fine co> erage of Gore's Midwest swing was glowing, showing the Democratic candidates basking in a 15-point bump in the polls...
...Nelson's Mandela Don't look for Bill Clinton to do much more campaigning for Florida Senate candidate Bill Nelson...
...But Daley is in a tight spot...
...To be fair, alternates and other par~ officials were sitting in decent seats that go for upwards of $35 for Philadelphia 76ers games...
...One of the most glaring snubs came at the wonderful party hosted by National Review to honor Rep...
...The Ritz-Carlton, you'll recall, was the site of the infamous takedown by FBI officers of Monica Lewinsky the evening that Linda Tripp wore a wire to ensnare the former White House intern...
...The comment was met with applause by the crowd, but not the man standing next to Clinton on the stage: Bill Nelson, who had voted the same way as Cheney on the Mandela resolution...
...Reporters covering the river ride did all they could to help Gore keep rolling, rolling down the river...
...Current State Treasurer Carl McCall, one of the highest-ranking black elected Democratic officials in the country, is building a huge war chest for the gubernatorial primary and has state party backing for what may be a race against Rudy Giuliani or incumbent George Pataki, if he decides to seek a third term...
...Using the press buses for the campaign showed real chutzpah," says a reporter who traveled with the campaign...
...Center" was mediocre at best...
...Armey, who later attended an alcohol-fueled birthday bash for his former aide and current Republican consultant Ed Gillespie, claimed he just couldn't get to the Hyde affair...
...Hillary got mad about that...
...Before heading out to Los Angeles for the convention, the president dropped in on a Democratic fundraiser for Nelson in Palm Beach and attacked Republican vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney...
...He called Terry McAuliffe about it, said he was dooming his son's chances of winning the New York Democratic primary for governor in 2oe2," said a DNC aide in Los Angeles...
...Clinton a few times, but declined to attend a couple of events she held in Buffalo and Erie County...
...While the Democrats like to claim their party looks more like America, Gore's campaign looks more Republican than the Bush campaign: Brazile is the only African American in Gore's inner circle--or outer circle, for that matter...
...While Andy has made no bones about his desire to run for his dad's old job, he faces an uphill battle...
...Both Hastert and Armey promised to attend and give brief introductory remarks for Hyde...
...Chelsea has appeared with Mrs...
...Center...
...The Boys and Brazile If Gore senior campaign aide Donna "Bo-Bo" Brazile is 12 0 c t o b e r 2 o o o _9 The American Spectator expecting a high-paying job with the Democratic National Committee after November, she might as well forget it...
...Told about the gaffe by a Nelson aide, Clinton's people passed the information on to the president...
...She looked like one of the protesters in front of the Staples Center," says a DNC member...
...Daddy's Girl When New York reporters asked Hillary Clinton why Chelsea Clinton was spending more time with her dad in the White House than with her on the campaign trail, the Senate candidate snapped, "Chelsea has her own life...
...Not because so many state delegations were forced to travel to the First Union Center from Delaware and New Jersey...
...But because the Republican National Committee cut a deal ~ith the Comcast Corporation- which provided flee cable broadcasting for the event and underx~ rote about zo percent of the overall convention cost-the event was held in the facilib: partially owned by Comcast...
...Only after three days of riding in the dark did reporters ask a Gore aide if the campaign signs could be lowered from the windows and hung along the sides...
...Both committed to attending a number of events during the four-day convention and were frequent no-shows...
...During the Los Angeles convention, Brazile appeared for a presentation before the DNC dressed in what could politely be termed "casual" attire...
...Reporters asked whom Clinton was referring to, but she demurred...
...Two Secret Service officers blocked guests from using them, refusing to elaborate on the inconvenience...
...Neither man showed...
...So really, we were paying them so they could use us...
...Cheney was in Congress, he voted against letting Nelson Mandela out of prison," Clinton said...
...Henry Hyde...
...Not even because the food served inside what came to be kno~ n as the "F.U...
...Cuomo said if we could prop up Ted Kennedy in prime time, we could put his son up there, too...
...Such complaints were rare...
...I am a strong advocate for young people leading their own lives and not being taken advantage of by people in the public arena...
...No Respect Aging Democratic darling Mario Cuomo blew a gasket in Los Angeles when he saw a schedule for speakers at the convention and realized that his son and current HUD secretary, Andrew Cuomo, didn't have a prime-time speaking slot...
...Still, it irked par~ ~ loyalists that o so many VIP floor passes uent to donors and so-called "newcomers like Case, whom the party was trying to woo for bucks and backing...
...Thank God, nobody listened to the vote that was cast by the Republican nominee for vice president...
...They just stared ahead and kept their mouths shut," said a guest...
...He didn't seem to care," says a White House communications staffer...
...They traveled on the riverboat with Gore, and would shuttle to on-shore events or hotels at night in several large press buses festooned with GoreLieberman signs and decorations...
...When Mr...
...He said something like, 'Who cares, the people loved it, and that's all that matters this time of year.'" @ The American Spectator _9 0 c t o b e r ~. o o o | 3...
...No, these officials were unhappy about not being granted floor access while a number of high-rolling RNC donors got unlimited floor passes...
...We asked if it was the president, but they wouldn't even give us an answer...
...In fact, none of the reporters seemed to mind that the windows of their buses were blocked by Gore-Lieberman signs...
...Apparently Lazio's daughters are appearing with their parents at a lot of events and Hillary is disgusted that he's using his kids," says a Hillary Clinton political consultant...
...Her New York delegation at the Democratic convention felt snubbed, too...
...In the end, the younger Cuomo didn't get his national spotlight speech, and he didn't get much else either...
...A motorcade left the hotel a little before noon...
...Several DNC members approached Gore campaign Chairman William Daley and strongly suggested that Brazile be given a lowerprofile job...
...No-Shows Two men who didn't help themselves in Philadelphia with Republican loyalists were House leaders Dennis Hastert and Dick Armey...
...Never mind that Duberstein is a Washington lobbyist for Comcast...
...The First Lady declined several invitations to sit with the delegation, and skipped a delegation breakfast she previously had promised to attend...
...Some reporters even offered to open the bus windows to hang the signs from the inside," a reporter says...
...Getting the Shaft On Saturday morning, August 19, guests at the RitzCarlton Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, were grumbling that one of the elevators from the lobby to VIP floors was out of commission...
...It wasn't just Hillary feeling snubbed in New York...
...But many party loyalists noted that Armey and Hastert steered clear of any event that conservative-haters might later have portrayed as a "Clinton-hater" event...
...Later, a Clinton aide told a Washingtonbased reporter covering the campaign that her boss was talking about Rick Lazio...
...Pay to Play Reaffirming that most journalists are liberal Democrats, the press corps covering A1 Gore and Joe Lieberman's post-convention riverboat trip down the Mississippi did all it could to keep the Veep's Los Angeles bounce in play...
...As the caravan pulled up to rally sites, the press buses would blare the Gore cainpaign's theme song--an obscure ditty from the mid198o's cult alternative-rock band The Call, one of the groups wife Tipper once wanted slapped with ratings warnings...
...Case isn't going to vote for Republicans in November, but there we are sucking up to him, while we sit in the bleachers...
...I saw Steve Case from AOL on the floor more than I was," said a Texas alternate delegate...
...Former Reagan Chief of Staff] Ken Duberstein cut the deal for us," says a convention planner...
...Overall she was wholly unimpressive...
...McAuliffe and others know not to waste too much iuice on the Cuomo kid...
Vol. 33 • October 2000 • No. 8
