Democrats Weigh ’96 L.A. Convention : Politics: Officials are asking five cities to submit bids. Chicago is also a front-runner.

The Democratic National Committee will ask Los Angeles and four other cities to submit bids for hosting the party’s 1996 convention, Democratic Chairman David Wilhelm announced Thursday.

Although the convention will not take place for more than two years, preparations for such large-scale events require extensive planning, and Democratic officials expect to announce the city of their choice this summer.

In addition to the five cities that will be asked to make bids, party officials say, two others may join the competition. But senior advisers to President Clinton, who will make the final decision, say the early competition has already been narrowed to two front-runners--Los Angeles and Chicago.

Holding the convention in Chicago would provide a symbolic affirmation of Clinton’s claim to have reunited his party after a generation of bitterness that burst into view the last time Democrats met in that city--to nominate Hubert H. Humphrey for President in 1968. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, presided over the disastrous 1968 convention, has been a key Clinton political ally, and the industrial Midwest is a crucial electoral battleground.

A Los Angeles convention would have different symbolism. For the city, it could showcase efforts to rebuild after last year’s riots--providing the sort of high-profile publicity boost that the Olympics generated a decade ago. For Clinton, a convention in California would be a way of advertising himself in a state with more electoral votes than any other--one that he must carry to have any chance of winning reelection.

Moreover, Clinton aides note that the President’s idol, John F. Kennedy, was nominated at the last Democratic convention in Los Angeles, in 1960.

Despite the early attention to the two front-runners, the Democrats also plan to solicit bids from Kansas City, New Orleans and San Antonio. Democratic Party official Alice Travis, who is supervising the site selection, said Miami and New York, both of which have new mayors, also may bid.

The site selection process will be headed by Gordon D. Giffin, an attorney with an Atlanta-based law firm who was closely involved with the 1988 Democratic convention in Atlanta. Giffin is a political associate of Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.). Wilhelm also announced four vice chairmen of the selection committee.