Loyalists Gather to Cheer for Favorites at TV Debate Parties

As the three major presidential candidates squared off Sunday in their first debate, dozens of their supporters congregated for debate-watching parties across the San Fernando Valley to cheer on favorites and to buoy spirits in the final stretch of the election race.

The talk among many after the showdown was the performance of independent candidate Ross Perot. About two dozen of the Texas billionaire’s backers met in the bar of the Rive Gauche Lounge in Sherman Oaks, near the Perot campaign office, to assess their man’s delivery and impact, said Jack McGrath, a Perot supporter.

McGrath, a Studio City marketing consultant, appreciated his candidate’s humor.

“Any candidate who can laugh about himself and say, ‘I’m all ears’ . . . “ McGrath said, his sentence trailing off as he chuckled at a reply by Perot that drew laughter from the St. Louis studio audience. “Too many politicians take themselves too seriously.”

Not far away in a Sherman Oaks home, about 200 people solidly behind Democratic nominee Bill Clinton crowded into the living room, patio and dining room for a combination debate-watching-party- cum -fund-raiser. Watchers devoured popcorn, cheese, soda and even $12 bottles of wine sporting a special “Vintage Clinton/Gore” label, said John Emerson, the state’s campaign manager for the Democratic ticket.

“This was definitely a partisan crowd,” Emerson said after the event, which he said was one of 1,800 such gatherings across the state aimed at raising about $750,000 for California Democratic Party coffers. “There’s a lot of laughing and cheering . . . They wear their hearts on their sleeves.”

The party, which garnered average donations of about $25 per person, was attended by state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn.

In Burbank, Gov. Pete Wilson joined about 200 people, including state Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who jammed the state Republican Party headquarters to watch the debate on a big-screen television and eight smaller sets, Lorelei Kinder, executive director of the California Republican Party, said.

Kinder described the mood as happy and positive as they watched President Bush do “precisely what he needed to do,” she said.

“I think everyone greeted Ross Perot in a very friendly manner because he certainly showed himself as a man with a great sense of humor,” Kinder said.

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