Will Host of PCs Help Democrats?

Politicians, party activists and reporters aren’t the only ones descending on Atlanta for the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Hundreds of personal computers will also be on the scene.

The Democratic National Committee, or DNC, which oversees the convention, will rely on a battery of IBM PCs and compatible computers for word processing, database management and electronic mail. The Dukakis campaign will have a Digital Equipment Corp. minicomputer, MicroVax II, along with some IBM compatibles and Apple Macintoshes. And the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s campaign will install a network of IBM PC compatibles.

Computers have been a big part of the nation’s political landscape since at least 1980. Republicans took the lead, using giant mainframes to spot donors, opinion leaders and voters linked to specific interests and issues. The Democrats followed with their mainframes. But 1988 marks the debut of the PC as a major player on the political scene.

The DNC’s personal computer system is a sort of grass-roots organization. “It is decentralized and distributed,” said Roger Schneider, an Atlanta executive who was hired by the DNC to run the convention’s computer installation.

Instead of relying on a central mainframe computer, the convention staff will use about 300 PCs scattered throughout the city, according to Schneider. Each PC will be connected to one of nine local area networks from Novell Inc. of Orem, Utah. Novell is the leading supplier of the software for local area networks, or LANS, which will make it possible for the PCs to exchange files and electronic mail.

LANS generally are confined to a single building or office complex. In this case, however, the nine local area networks will be linked into a wide area network, or WAN. This way, it will be possible for any PC to send a message to any other PC, even if it’s on a different local area network. The WAN is controlled by a Compaq 386 personal computer.

That Compaq 386, in turn, is connected via telephone to the party’s IBM System 38 mainframe at headquarters in Washington. In theory, any PC on the network can be used to pull down information from the party’s vast national database.

One local area network will be used to issue delegate credentials--about 20,000 a day. Delegates and alternates will walk up to a counter with 20 PCs where an operator will punch in names, verify identities and issue passes. The credentials information is stored on Novell equipment behind the counter.

Another local area network will be on the podium. That network, which will have duplicate credentials information as well as other data critical to the running of the convention, will be connected to an “uninterruptable power supply” to keep the computers operating in the event of a power failure.

At the 1984 convention, according to Schneider, the party had only 12 PCs and relied on a phone link with its Washington-based mainframe to check credentials. The link went down, and delegates, including senators, governors and other dignitaries, were forced to wait up to four hours before being let on the floor.

This year all the credentials data will be in Atlanta--on the wide area network. If that goes down, Schneider said, “we’ll still have nine LANS. If the LANS go down, we’ll still have 300 PCs.”

The Dukakis campaign’s main computer, the MicroVax II, is small enough to fit in the trunk of a car and is designed to serve several users at a time. Like the Dukakis campaign, the manufacturer, Digital Equipment, is based in Massachusetts.

If things go according to plan, the MicroVax will be located at the Hyatt Hotel and connected to terminals in a trailer under the convention podium. Those terminals, along with others at the Hyatt, will be used to enter delegate information, including their positions on platform issues.

The Vax will run the Campaign Supporter System software from Boston-based Service Information Systems. SIS President Gregory Wallace is a longtime Dukakis supporter. His Vax-based software has been used throughout this and previous Dukakis campaigns.

It’s a centralized number-crunching system, not unlike traditional campaign systems. Only this year there is a twist. The Vax will be linked to Apple Macintosh personal computers that can be used to turn the minicomputer’s streams of numbers into graphs and charts to provide campaign leaders with up-to-date readings on the mood of the convention.

Wallace also plans to set up an elaborate desktop publishing operation to produce flyers, brochures, position papers and newsletters. It will be possible, Wallace says, to produce and deliver a finished publication in less than an hour.

A photographer will roam the floor of the convention, equipped with a Canon 760 high-resolution, still video camera, which can transfer images to the Macintosh. “If Mike (Dukakis) shakes hands with a labor leader,” Wallace said, “we can get that picture into a newsletter.”

At the 1984 Democratic Convention, personal computers were present, but barely evident. They were used for word processing but not much else. An elaborate network enabled state delegate chairmen to send each other electronic mail, but I couldn’t find anyone who actually used it.

In 1988, the preparations are more elaborate. But are they necessary? The DNC undoubtedly will use its equipment to run the convention, and the campaigns will certainly take advantage of desktop publishing.

The extensive database operations were instrumental in the primary campaigns and will be a crucial in the upcoming battle with George Bush, but convention politics is built around the art of arm twisting and deal making, not number crunching and pretty graphics. Were this a highly contested convention, the computers might provide a helpful advantage. But Dukakis has the nomination locked up. Perhaps the abundance of personal computers in Atlanta tells us something about the man who would be President--cautious, meticulous and maybe a bit over-prepared.

Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the authors cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Lawrence J. Magid, 3235 Kifer Road, Suite 100, Santa Clara, Calif. 95051, or contact the L. Magid account on the MCI electronic mail system.