Opening Night at Convention Is Clinton’s Show

Seizing his party’s center stage one last time, President Clinton opened the Democratic convention Monday night with a laudatory tour of the past eight years and asserted that only Al Gore can keep the good times going.

Seeking to embrace his would-be successor without smothering him, Clinton said the nation’s soaring economy and falling crime, welfare and teen pregnancy rates were not mere happenstance.

“To those who say . . . the progress of the last eight years was an accident, that we just kind of coasted along, let me be clear: America’s success was not a matter of chance. It was a matter of choice,” Clinton said, responding directly to a line from George W. Bush’s acceptance speech 12 days ago.

Democrats opened their convention in Los Angeles with a rainbow burst of celebration and a lineup of political celebrities led by the president and his wife, Hillary.

Virtually every speaker heaped unstinting praise on the achievements of the Clinton era. In doing so, they sought to bathe Vice President Al Gore, who arrives to claim his party’s nomination Wednesday, in the glow of that success.

Mrs. Clinton--speaking to the convention as a political candidate in her own right--called the last eight years “the most peaceful, prosperous, promising time in our nation’s history” and repeatedly credited the team of “Bill and Al.”

While the night belonged to the Clintons--they turned the adulatory hall into a combination revival and raucous bon voyage party--the day saw Gore winning a strong endorsement from ex-foe Bill Bradley. More important, Bradley released his 359 delegates, ensuring a smooth roll call Wednesday night.

Speaking to supporters at a downtown hotel, Bradley said: “It’s not even a close call in this race. I believe that Al Gore will stand for the things that we fought for in our campaign and he deserves our support.” Behind the scenes, however, the convention was not quite as tranquil as suggested by the happy images beamed from inside the star-spangled Staples Center.

After backing down under pressure from Democratic leaders and moving a fund-raiser from the Playboy mansion, Rep. Loretta Sanchez had the last word: The Garden Grove Democrat snubbed Gore and withdrew as a convention speaker.

Gore allies, meantime, continued efforts to reassure party loyalists about the centrist leanings of running mate Joseph I. Lieberman. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills) acknowledged Hollywood’s high anxiety but said “these are not parochial people” and insisted that the industry would rally behind the Democratic ticket.

Waters Refrains From Endorsing the Ticket

Rep. Maxine Waters, however, was withholding her endorsement because of concerns about the positions that Gore and Lieberman have taken on education, criminal justice and affirmative action. The Democrat from South-Central Los Angeles, one of the most prominent African Americans in Congress, spoke for many liberals in questioning the commitment of Connecticut Sen. Lieberman to the party’s long-standing principles.

But halfway across the country, as if to give his rejoinder, Gore invoked a pair of party legends in a sentimental stop in Harry S. Truman’s hometown.

At a forum in Independence, Mo., Gore channeled the spirit of the famous political underdog by giving hell to the prescription drug companies.

The vice president also offered a peek at Thursday night’s acceptance speech--and tweaked GOP rival George W. Bush--by promising a speech rich with detail. This time, he invoked Franklin D. Roosevelt, who warned against “the smooth evasion” of the politically cunning.

“To give generalities and not give specifics--that’s not the best way to elevate our democracy,” the vice president said.

Clinton’s speech had one overriding goal: to answer the Republican attacks in Philadelphia not with a flourish but with a point-by-point refutation, delivered almost the way a lawyer would make his summary argument to a jury.

Clinton’s text swam with statistics: the multibillion-dollar federal budget deficit that became a multibillion-dollar surplus; 22 million new jobs created; 15 million poor Americans benefiting from the earned-income tax credit; a halving of welfare rolls and a soaring rate of home ownership.

He repeatedly stole Republican lines, including the one made famous by Ronald Reagan 20 years ago. “My fellow Americans, are we better off today than we were eight years ago?” Clinton asked. He then answered, to the jubilant affirmation of the crowd, “You bet we are.”

Implicitly, the president sought to answer the criticism of Republicans who say a nation’s wealth cannot be measured by treasure alone.

“We’re not just better off, we’re also a better country. More decent, more humane, more united,” Clinton said. Then he jabbed directly at Bush, appropriating one of the Republican’s signature lines: “Now that’s the purpose of prosperity.”

“Since 1992,” Clinton went on, “America has progressed not just economically but as a community. Yes, jobs are up, but so are adoptions. Yes, the debt is down, but so is teen pregnancy. We are becoming both diverse and more united.”

Repeatedly the buoyant Clinton was interrupted by chants of, “Thank you, Bill!”

Democrats had wondered whether Clinton would seek to absolve Gore from the scandals that embroiled the administration, but that touchy subject went unmentioned.

Referring to his legacy at the end of his speech, Clinton said simply, “Remember, whenever you think about me, keep putting people first. Keep building those bridges. And don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.”

The president saved his most effusive endorsement of Gore and Lieberman for near the end of his 40-minute speech, which ran well past prime time on the East Coast.

“Al and I have worked closely together for eight years now,” Clinton said. “Everybody knows he is thoughtful and hard-working. But I can tell you personally he is a strong leader. . . . Whether it was in how we reformed welfare or in protecting the environment or closing the digital divide or bringing jobs to rural and urban America . . . the greatest champion of ordinary Americans always has been Al Gore.” Gore and Lieberman “will keep our prosperity going,” Clinton said, “in stark contrast” to Republicans “who want to spend every dime of our projected surplus and then some on big tax cuts.”

Hailing the administration’s economic record, Clinton summed up: “We should stick with what works.”

It was a theme taken up earlier in the evening by the first lady, who is running for the U.S. Senate in New York.

“We are a better, stronger country than we were in 1992,” Mrs. Clinton shouted out, standing before a bobbing sea of blue “Hillary” signs.

“At this moment of great potential, let’s not squander our children’s future,” she went on. Then, appropriating one of Bush’s lines, Mrs. Clinton said, “Let’s elect leaders who will leave no child behind. Leaders who don’t just talk the talk but walk the walk. Leaders like Al Gore and Joe Lieberman.”

Today, Lieberman is due in Los Angeles, while Gore is scheduled to meet Clinton in the Detroit suburb of Monroe for a figurative torch-passing.

In addition to the usual frothy fare, Democrats were determined to show they could be more substantive than Republicans were at their Philadelphia convention.

Scripted Praise for the Administration

Monday night’s program included the first of a series of panel discussions about the impact of Clinton-Gore policies on Americans’ day-to-day lives.

One panel of speakers hailed the impact of the booming economy. Another set of testimonials focused on the impact of specific Clinton-era policies, including efforts to hire 100,000 new police officers and efforts to put more cash into the hands of the working poor.

Although the panels were portrayed as an informal “dialogue” between public officials and ordinary people, who were seated on the stage rather than behind the podium, the exchanges were hardly free-wheeling. The moderators’ prepared questions scrolled on the TelePrompTer and the “real people” were all committed Gore supporters.

Earlier in the evening, California’s two Democratic senators enjoyed a bit of the convention limelight.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) used her remarks to respond to the pugnacious convention speech delivered by GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) contrasted the nation’s economic prosperity with years of budget deficits under the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a Republican who also appeared via satellite at the GOP convention, took the stage with about 40 children and drew some of his biggest applause when he was joined by his wife, Nancy, a Democrat.

The convention opened with an invocation from Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who became the first Roman Catholic prelate in at least 16 years to perform that function at a Democratic convention.

In his prayer, Mahony--the archbishop of Los Angeles--made clear the church’s opposition to abortion, which collides with the support for abortion rights in the Democratic Party platform.

*

Times political writer Cathleen Decker and staff writers Edwin Chen, Matea Gold, Janet Hook, T. Christian Miller, Megan Garvey, Larry Stammer and Jeff Leeds contributed to this story.