Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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That Was As Good As It Ever Has To Be

Tuesday, August 1, 2000

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Republican National Convention

If you want to have a hit musical, you have a rousing overture followed by a memorable opening song featuring at least one of the play's stars. Laura Bush strolled on to the stage, sang a song of hope and love, and won the hearts of the audience.

General Colin Powell's remarks were more challenging, asking the convention to follow George W's lead in including more people in more opportunities to have a greater chance at the American dream.

The SpeakOut.com-MSNBC on-line dial polling showed the opening night did what the organizers wanted it to do:

Averaging the results of over 1,200 people who participated, the GOP got surprisingly good scores from women who said they were Gore voters (53 percent) , from women who identified themselves as Democrats (53 percent) , and from women who were undecided (61.4 percent).

For the summary of the dial poll results go here.

This opening night was another day lost to the Gore campaign. Whether you believe the current polls showing Bush with a double-digit lead or not, every observer of this process thinks Gore is trailing and will be trailing more after this convention ends on Thursday night.

That means the Gore folks have to do something - not this week - but beginning next to change the flow, because if they don't then the sense of inevitability which is pervading Philadelphia this week among the most loyal of the party faithful, will begin to seep into the general population.

The convention got off to a great start on another front - the technical aspects of moving a big chunk of the 35,000 people who have come to Philadelphia to and from the Comcast First Union Center.

The Bush convention manager is a man named Andy Card. Card was deputy chief of staff for President Bush and later Secretary of Transportation. At a meeting in Your Nation's Capital a few weeks ago, Card said he felt a former Transportation Secretary had a special responsibility for that aspect of the convention.

It worked perfectly. Busses are plentiful, run regularly, and go to the location advertised.

The credential issue we touched on yesterday was in full evidence last night. The best credential is, of course, having the Secret Service clear a path for you. Short of that the best credential is on which allows you to actually get on the convention floor.

Delegates have that credential of course. Some media have that credential. Folks who make the convention actually run, have that credential.

If you do get on the floor you find yourself packed in like a commuter in a subway car during rush hour. Doesn't matter. It's the place to be.

At one point, I found myself talking to a Senate press secretary, a former party spokesperson, and a pretty big-time public relations guy. One of the convention officials came by and suggested we didn't need to be spinning ourselves. The press section, he said pointing directly over our heads, was where there was work to be done.

Another interesting aspect to floor activities are people running around with colored hats. It's all about the hats, really.

Red baseball caps signal pages. Yellow hats are designated for "flow control." The big boys in the hat department are those who wear orange hats which signify the delegation whips.

A nice story from yesterday told to me by Democratic pollster Chris Lapitina in the wake of GOP Chairman Jim Nicholson having hosted an event for Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, Jr.

A former GOP spokesman, Mike Collins, here to help out, told Hoffa that Collin's dad had been a huge fan of Hoffa's dad. The elder Mr. Collins is having a rough go physically right now and, at Hoffa's suggestion, Collins called his dad from his cell phone and put Hoffa on.

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Copyright © 2000 Richard A. Galen

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