Now It’s Clinton’s Turn on Center Stage : Convention opens as putative nominee’s poll standing rises

Round two of the presidential sweepstakes officially opens this week as the curtain goes up on the first of America’s two national political conventions. Round one, the primary season, is over; round three, the presidential race’s post-Labor Day stretch run, is yet to come. Not only is Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton very much in the race, the latest polls show him rising to a virtual dead heat with Ross Perot and George Bush. But where will Clinton stand by the end of the week?

To be sure, the nation won’t be watching this quadrennial Democratic epic as closely or exhaustively as in times past. The three major television networks have drastically reduced their coverage, leaving the longer-play version to C-Span and CNN. And, in truth, there is scarcely more suspense to the Democratic convention in New York than there is to the Republican National Convention in Houston next month: Both parties have settled on their tickets. There should be no surprise endings. More likely, there will be a whole lot of yawns.

For all this, the week still offers Bill Clinton the chance to show his stuff, and much of the nation will be watching, in however truncated a form, to see how the Arkansas governor handles himself, handles the oft-unpredictable political figures of his party and the inevitable yo-yo demonstrations, and how he handles the ritual of the candidate’s acceptance speech.

PRIMARY QUESTIONS: For Clinton, round one was a rather bitter mixed blessing. He prevailed on the primary trail but in the process found his basic character under attack. During the very height of these triumphs, public opinion polls tracked him at a very low ebb. Only in recent weeks has his candidacy strengthened, precisely as the campaigns of both independent Ross Perot and President George Bush have started to sputter. And at the moment the selection of Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) seems to have been generally well received. This week could add to that momentum.

CONVENTION FALLOUT: A terrifically well managed convention is no guarantee of success, of course. Four years ago, Michael Dukakis did almost everything right; indeed, the lowest point was probably the interminable and inept speech by a then relatively little-known Southern governor by the name of Bill Clinton. Even so, when the festivities in Atlanta were over, Dukakis held a 17-point lead over Bush and seemed headed for great things. So much for a successful convention being a determinant of anything.

Still, Clinton will have the national stage largely to himself this week and people will be curious about how smoothly things will go.

Yes, a convention is a weird way to run a political railroad these days: After all, it’s the primaries that generally decide the issue, so why bother with a convention at all? The answer is that America has its inescapable rituals, and somehow this stew of high and low drama and political consensus-making is something the parties, if not the country, needs.

The plus for Clinton is that he gets to stride across Madison Square Garden in New York as the nation’s potential political savior. That’s what he’ll be trying to do; it’s his week to try to break out of the pack.