Clear Choice: Line Dance, Or Macarena? Chicago Convention Contrasts Sharply With San Diego’s
If San Diego is a squeaky clean city where Republicans performed an inoffensive line dance, Chicago is a gritty metropolis where Democrats are rocking to the Latin beat of “La Macarena.”
Both conventions have been carefully choreographed for maximum political advantage, and are geared more for the swing voters who might watch on television than the delegates gathered in the hall.
But the flavor inside the two convention halls is as different as Chicago kielbasa and Pacific seafood salad.
The most noticeable difference is the look of the delegates. The Democrats gathered in United Arena sport a variety of looks. Some are dressed in business suits. Some wear jeans. The head of the American Samoa delegation doesn’t wear a shirt. Many wear silly hats.
Each day about 5 p.m., the sound system blasts the thumping Salsa sound of “La Macarena,” drawing wild howls from uninhibited delegates who shake their hips, getting into the dance craze that is sweeping the country.
The Republicans were a much more businesslike group. The presence of religious leaders and abundance of money - 20 percent of GOP delegates were millionaires - made for a much more serious look. Republicans have finally replaced Neil Diamond numbers with more contemporary sounds, but they haven’t yet discovered the macarena.
The differences are apparent even to journalists from the other side of the world. “The Republicans are - I don’t know if it is rude to say this - more white men, and old,” said Yoshinori Omura, a journalist for the Tokyo-based Nihon Keizai Shimbun. “Democrats here have more females, minorities, and they are younger.”
The statistics bear him out.
In San Diego, just 54 of the 2,000 delegates were African American, and 47 were Latino. Two-thirds were men. Television cameramen in San Diego were given color coded maps to help them spot minority faces on the convention floor.
There is no such need in Chicago, where more than 800 of the 4,000 delegates are African American, and about 400 are of Latino background. The delegates are equally divided between women and men.
Democrats are very sensitive about inclusion. When Vice President Al Gore noted the presence of African Americans, Latinos and Asians at a California delegate breakfast this week, a heckler shouted out “What about Lithuanians?”
“And Lithuanians,” Gore said.
The facility being used by Democrats is far more intimate than the sprawling convention center in San Diego, a low-slung building normally used to host large trade shows. The United Arena in Chicago is home to the National Basketball Association’s Bulls and National Hockey League’s Blackhawks. Voices from the podium echo from a 10-story high ceiling, while the scent of Italian sausages and nachos fill the hall.
Delegates using pay phones stand in cut-out models of Wilt Chamberlain’s size 19 or Bill Russell’s size 17 shoes, and can have their picture taken next to a life-sized photograph of Scottie Pippen.
Among the top perks for a few very well connected Democrats are tickets to a windowless quarter deep in the bowels of the convention center. Each night, a group of high rollers crowd into the Bulls’ locker rooms, where they can see where Michael Jordan showers and coach Phil Jackson trims his beard.
“Do not touch items” reads a sign in Michael Jordan’s locker. “Items to be auctioned.”