Democrats, Chicago, Memories to Convene in ’96 : Convention: Party and city whose reputations were bloodied in ’68 will try again. Payment of political debt to Daley forces is a factor in choice.

Hoping finally to exorcise the demon memory of its last, bloody national convention here in 1968, the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that it will nominate its next presidential candidate in this heartland metropolis in August, 1996.

Much has changed in the 26 years since Chicago police battered anti-Vietnam War protesters in downtown streets and parks while convention delegates quashed dissent and debate on the floor--with the action both outside and inside orchestrated by Mayor Richard J. Daley.

Tom Hayden, then a New Left leader who was charged with inciting a riot, is now a California state senator who expects to attend this convention as a delegate. One anti-war protester of that era, though far removed in England at the time, is now President of the United States. Chicago’s mayor is still Richard Daley, but his middle initial is M., and he is known as “Rich,” not “Boss,” as was his late father.

“It’s important for us,” Daley said Thursday, adding a twist on the old protesters’ refrain: “During this period, the whole world will be watching . . . our city.” While exact dates for the convention have not been set, the new United Center is available from Aug. 22 to Aug. 29 and Daley said that the event will probably be scheduled during the last week of the month.

Though the city hosted Democratic conventions at least once and sometimes twice each decade between the 1930s and 1960s, “Chicago hasn’t been blacklisted” since the 1968 tumult, Democratic National Chairman David Wilhelm said. The city did not have adequate facilities for a television-age convention until the 23,000-seat United Center was built, he said.

The selection also illustrates the eternal verities of politics. United Center will be the site two years from now in part because President Clinton owes large political debts to the mayor and his brother, William, who helped shepherd the North American Free Trade Agreement through a balky Congress. Another reason is that Los Angeles, in vote-rich California, withdrew from the running after the devastating earthquake earlier this year. Illinois is also a significant factor in the Electoral College.

Chicago’s $32.1-million bid package was by far the largest submitted by the contenders, which also included New York, San Antonio and New Orleans. Daley said that the city anticipates a $100-million boost to the local economy.

Still, echoes of the past hovered over negotiations to bring the convention here, especially when local black leaders threatened to disrupt the 1996 meeting if minorities do not get a bigger piece of service and concessions contracts. Though word was leaking out that Chicago was the Democrats’ choice, the announcement was delayed while contract discussions continued with angry African American politicians, who said they wanted 40% of the contracts to go to minorities and 20% to women.

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They said that they had to set their sights that high because they are sure the Democrats and the city will not meet whatever goal is targeted. They were not appeased by the solution offered by Wilhelm and Daley, who said they will appoint an oversight committee to make sure that 25% of the contracts go to minorities and 5% go to women.

Hayden, too, is mulling whether to organize a demonstration, this time for campaign finance and lobbying reform, unless he can get a commitment for a platform plank to scrap the current system by 1998.

“What better way to do it than the convention?” he said. “Back then (in 1968), it was machine politics but the focus has shifted much more to money politics.”