HOUSTON NOTEBOOK : Bright, Shiny Faces

Americans tuning in to the GOP conclave may have marveled at the tireless enthusiasm of young conventioneers who, night after night, kept leaping to their feet to applaud, cheer, chant, roar, hoist signs and execute the wave. If it all seemed a little too organized, well, it was. The outbursts were choreographed by the Youth Delegate Program, a group of several hundred college-age Republicans. “Our mission is to motivate,” said 18-year-old Chad Fisher of Steubenville, Ohio.

Memories . . .

Favorite theme song: “The Best of Times,” from the gay-oriented musical “La Cage aux Folles,” played as President Bush stepped onto the podium Wednesday at the conclusion of Barbara Bush’s “family values” address.

Right idea, wrong city: The gate-crasher who told police he was supposed to pick up tickets inside the Astrodome from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Unconventional candor: “We really don’t have any inkling of what the recession is like. We’re experiencing good things.”

--Wisconsin delegate Diane Herner

Unexplained hot seller: Souvenir pins bearing the likeness of V.I. Lenin, father of Soviet communism.

Hitch Up the Sled

As conventioneers scurry home to begin selling George Bush to their neighbors, nobody faces tougher odds than delegate Wayne Ross. Ross is the GOP’s national committeeman for Alaska, a job that requires him to organize voters across the massive state. Party pros from Washington have offered tips, but Ross said they’ve been of little use. “The hotshots mean well,” he said. “But they suggest things like, ‘Why don’t you try going door-to-door?’ Well, the doors in our state are five or 10 or 40 miles apart.”