Politics

Convention Wrap

By Lloyd Vries

July 27, 2004 / 12:10 PM EDT / CBS

Dotty Lynch, Beth Lester, Clothilde Ewing, Cody Kucharczyk and Dan Furman of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the Democratic convention.

Monday's Headlines

Change-Up: In a campaign change-up, John Kerry appeared at Fenway Park Sunday night to see the Yankees-Red Sox game instead of going on his planned campaign stop to Cape Canaveral, Fla. The New York Times reports that the plane took off from Columbus, Ohio, and at about 30,000 feet the presidential contender announced, "This plane is diverted!" "The idea of missing a Yankees-Red Sox series right before a convention week was not acceptable," Kerry said. The plan had apparently been kept under wraps for security purposes. Kerry has been a Red Sox fan since he first went to Fenway as a teenager.

Amid boos and cheers, the first pitch was thrown by Kerry to Massachusetts National Guard veteran Will Pumyea. Fatigue-clad Pumyea is 23 and fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the ball didn't make it to home plate. "It's like his foreign policy," said Larry Restiano, a spectator at the game. "It hit the ground before it even reached home."

The schedule switch was designed to draw maximum publicity and showcase Kerry as a "regular-guy baseball fan" rather than a four-term senator. The presidential nominee, his wife Teresa, and his daughters all saw the game from the owner's box behind the Red Sox dugout. Fenway Park is about three miles away form where Kerry will accept the nomination at the Fleet Center.

CBS News' Steve Chaggaris has more on Kerry's day in his Trail Bytes:

It's not always easy getting from A to B, especially when the New York Yankees are playing the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Kerry decided Sunday to attend the 8 p.m. game in Boston even though he was scheduled to fly to Cape Canaveral, Fla., after a day in Columbus, Ohio. Surprised reporters at the Columbus airport were told of the change, though for security reasons, they were under wraps till Kerry arrived at the game.

While Kerry and most of the press were flying to Beantown on the campaign's 757, a smaller group of journalists would fly a chartered jet straight to Florida to await the candidate's arrival there.

But a funny thing happened to the 15 folks on the Florida-bound plane: someone failed to inform the pilots they were actually supposed to fly to the Sunshine State. About a half-hour into the flight, Jim Jiranek, the director of a company that provides Internet service to the campaign and the press, noticed the video screen displaying a map of the flight's progress.

"Why are we flying east?" Jiranek asked as the plane was about to fly over Cleveland, immediately causing the campaign aide to rise from his seat and talk to the pilots.

The aide emerged from the cockpit, informing the reporters that there was some sort of snafu and the plane was actually headed for Boston along with the 757, though he was convinced he could get the plane diverted to its intended destination.

The co-pilot, the campaign aide and a journalist who needed to be in Florida for a previously scheduled live TV appearance alternately took turns on the one telephone on the plane as the aircraft continued east over western, then central New York State.

"Trust me, this plane is going to Boston," the co-pilot confirmed to the dismay of those aboard. It was then explained that the pilots were informed they were to take the Gulfstream to Boston and not tell anyone until they were airborne, although the campaign had told the charter company to take the small plane straight to Florida.

Ultimately, the Gulfstream landed in Boston — 200 feet away from the Kerry 757 — refueled, and headed to Florida, landing six-and-a-half hours after taking off from Columbus.

Heinz Kerry Goes Off Message: After reiterating the importance of civility in politics to a group of Pennsylvania delegates at the Democratic National Convention, Teresa Heinz Kerry told a Pittsburgh reporter to "shove it," according to the Boston Herald.

In her comments to the delegates from Pennsylvania, Heinz Kerry said, "We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics." After being asked repeatedly by reporter Colin McNickle of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to clarify her interpretation of the word "un-American," Heinz Kerry replied, "You said something I didn't say.

Now shove it.

Marla Romash, a spokeswoman for Teresa Heinz Kerry, defended Heinz Kerry's remarks, saying, "It was a moment of sheer frustration, in response to a right-wing rag that has consistently and persistently misrepresented the facts over the years. Mrs. Kerry will stand up to those who don't speak the truth."

Heinz Kerry demonstrated this ability to "stand up" at the Pennsylvania delegation's State House party held on Sunday night. When a minor tiff broke out as to whether Boston or Philadelphia has claim to the title "Birthplace of America," Heinz Kerry was quick to rectify the situation. After listening to Governor Ed Rendell's claim that "the birthplace of America is a little bit south," she set the record straight, concluding, "I hate to correct the governor, but actually John said that (Boston) is the birthplace of freedom."

Trail Bytes: Out with John Edwards, here is CBS News' Bonney Kapp

Pundits speculated early on that John Edwards' charisma might overshadow his running mate's perceived aloof demeanor. Whether or not, one thing is certain: Emma Claire and Jack outshine them both.

The candidates and their families gathered at Denver's Fillmore Auditorium Friday for a joint rally. Vanessa Kerry introduced Elizabeth Edwards, who introduced Teresa Heinz Kerry, who introduced John Edwards, who gave a beefier version of his stump speech (before introducing John Kerry, who spoke for 31 minutes). A long event, especially if you're four or six years old and standing in front of 3,600 supporters and dozens of cameras.

Jack amused himself at times by hopping on the shoulders of Kerry stepson Chris Heinz and counting to himself on his fingers, perhaps the number of times he was mentioned during the course of the rally.

"As much as he loves being on this stage, being in Colorado and being with all of you — what he wants to be doing right now is swimming," Edwards said of his son when he took the microphone. It then became clear that this was the conversation the two had on stage while Mrs. Edwards spoke.

Senator Kerry even took advantage of the children's charm. "For the last two weeks, I've been lucky to have two Edwards on board helping make decisions, planning campaign stops, giving political advice — from both a male and female perspective ... but enough about Jack and Emma Claire," Kerry joked.

At a Milwaukee rally Saturday afternoon, Edwards was in full stump swing when the two children came onto the stage wearing cheesehead hats. "John Kerry and I, we will make sure that we have a strong — and here come my cheesehead children. This is Emma Claire and this is Jack…what do you guys think — are they Packer fans or what?" Edwards said to an apparently pro-Green Bay Packers crowd.

Later in the rally, the children, obviously more interested in their headgear than their father's speech, began using their hats as weapons in a head-butting duel, much to the audience's delight.

The children, the nanny, and their Secret Service detail returned to Washington (much to the dismay of the press corps) while Mr. and Mrs. Edwards headed to San Antonio for a $600,000 fundraiser on Sunday. After being introduced by a young, local political virtuoso as "Senator Kerry," Senator Edwards had his own slip-up when he inadvertently referred to his running mate as "President Kerry." He excused himself with a grin and added, "I mean he will be president."

The Senator returned to Raleigh Sunday evening to put finishing touches on his speech before heading up to Boston Tuesday afternoon for the Democratic Convention and his Wednesday night speech. One senior campaign official told reporters Edwards has been reviewing his 20-minute speech (sans applause) and practicing it aloud in his hotel room (since he's not likely to use the Boston teleprompter).

Edwards is expected to cover three main topics in his speech: John Kerry, John Edwards, and what their ticket will do for the country. "It's hard to imagine someone listening to this speech and not think it's positive," the campaign official noted. When pressed for further detail, the official demurely smiled and said, "Wednesday night, Wednesday night."

Who are the Democratic Delegates? The 2004 delegates to the Democratic Convention look similar to delegates of past conventions but there are some differences compared to the delegates who attended the 2000 Democratic convention.

According to interviews conducted with a random sample of 1,085 Democratic delegates by CBS News and The New York Times, they are somewhat more liberal than in 2000. More than half are attending their first convention — up from 2000. Only a quarter of the delegates are union members, the lowest number since 1988.

Notable demographic characteristics of the delegates include:

Sixty-eight percent of the delegates are white, 18 percent are black, and 12 percent are Hispanic. Three percent are Asian. There are fewer African-Americans at the Convention than there are among Democratic voters. Twenty-eight percent of Democratic voters nationally are black.
While just 41 percent of delegates call themselves liberals (up from 36 percent in 2000), that's still more than their voters. Thirty-four percent of Democrats nationally say they are liberal. Among delegates, 52 percent say they are moderates, and only 3 percent are conservatives. Nineteen percent in the national Democratic Party call themselves conservatives.
Democratic delegates are wealthier than their party's voters. Eight-two percent of Democratic delegates earn more than $50,000 a year, while about half that number — 41 percent — of Democratic voters nationwide earn that much. The delegates are more educated as well: 77 percent of delegates have at least a college degree, compared to just 28 percent of Democratic voters nationally.
Twenty-five percent of Democratic delegates belong to a labor union, while 15 percent of Democratic voters are union members. Still, the number of delegates who are union members is the lowest since 1988.
Fourteen percent of Democratic delegates this year are veterans, similar to the number in 2000. Eighteen percent of Democratic voters nationally are veterans.
While just 2 percent of Democratic delegates are members of the National Rifle Association, more than one in five is a gun owner. Among Democratic voters nationally, 4 percent are NRA members and 19 percent own a firearm.
Fourteen percent of delegates say they once called themselves Republicans. So did 18 percent of today's Democratic-identifying voters.

Democratic Convention Monday Message: The DNCC briefing, set to begin at 9:30, actually got under way at 10:02 when a phalanx of John Kerry/Democratic Nation Convention Committee staffers finally turned up to brief the press.

Among those who spoke were John Kerry press secretary Stephanie Cutter, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-Ohio, Veterans for Kerry leader Jon Hurley and DNC Secretary "unless there is a coup tonight" Alice Germond.

In slightly political news, Cutter offered to "re-hash" the campaign's goals for the convention: describing who John Kerry and John Edwards are, how their stories connect to what they believe and how they will make America stronger. Cutter also emphasized that the campaign feels it is in a "historically good" position going into the convention.

No real news was made, but reporters did hear about Tubbs-Jones' 20-year-old "man-child" whom she described as gorgeous before asking reporters for possible mates. No word on how the man-child feels about his mother's machinations.

The all-positive, all-the-time convention did come in for one question, when veteran journo Helen Thomas queried: "Why are you so afraid of dissent?" Germond, a touch flustered, said "we're not afraid of dissent, we are excited about unity." She then got right back on message, talking about how excited the DNCC is to get things underway.

DNC Welcomes the RNC to Boston: Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is used to being outnumbered by Democrats in a state known for its liberal politics, but the week of the Democratic convention he has more allies than usual. These Republicans are setting up shop in a temporary "war room," which is part of their rapid response team, scouring the Internet and monitoring convention coverage, ready to respond quickly to any Democratic claim they feel they must counter, reports the AP.

Republicans also held the first of their daily news conferences from the GOP war room Monday with RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, Rep. Henry Bonilla of Texas and Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healy. Other prominent Republicans will follow during the week.

Their message on Monday was that the convention is "John Kerry's Make-Over" and the GOP is determined to "set the record straight." An 11-minute video of Kerry "in his own words" will be released on Wednesday.

"We're behind enemy lines and we're well aware of that fact," said Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. "But we're going to swim anyway," he continued.

Speaking of enemy lines, Tony Welch, a Democratic spokesman, and Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign, managed to find out where the Republicans were housed and were ready with opposition research of their own, distributed by their own Enron Ed.

Worth Noting: CBSNews.com's David Kuhn takes a look at Howard Dean, who many believed at this time last year would be accepting the Democrats' nomination himself:

As about 2,000 people in attendance cheered, former Gov. Howard Dean said, "The greatest misconception of young voters is that they are apathetic. They have never been apathetic. They volunteer in record numbers. If young people were apathetic they would not be protesting in swarms like with the WTO. It's the disconnect from voting."

At a club across from Fenway Park, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Dean was speaking at Avalon on Sunday night before the young party faithful. And Dean may have a point.

The Harvard Institute of Politics found in October 2003 that for those ages 18 to 24, 64 percent thought elected officials seemed motivated by selfish interests. Another survey by the Center for Excellence in Government in January 2002, found that nearly half of the same cohort does not believe political leaders address their needs.

In the 2000 election only about 30 percent of those 18 to 35 voted, compared to about 50 percent of the general population.

So why are young people engaged in their communities, seemingly optimistic, but so jaded about the political system?

"We have not done enough outreach to young people," says Jane Fleming, 31, chatting at the bar. Fleming is the executive director for Young Democrats, the 527-group offshoot of the Democratic National Committee. To reach out, the group is targeting five key swing states to attract young undecided voters: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

"The biggest group of uninsured Americans are young people," Fleming adds, emphasizing it is up to activists to tell young potential voters that Washington affects their lives, tangibly.

Quote of the Day: "ELECTION 2000:" the headline on Monday's Special Convention Edition of the Washington Post over a huge picture of Kerry and Edwards. (Washington Post)