Passion on parade at Dems' fete
Dennis Kucinich was flanked (and dwarfed) by his stunning wife, Elizabeth: Mike Gravel (with John Lennon’s “Power to the People” ineffectively playing over his rant) accused the Clintons of selling out the Democratic Party to Wall Street; Joe Biden referred to “George W. Giuliani and George W. Romney”; Bill Richardson celebrated his birthday with a two-candle cake, Chris Dodd reminded that he needed to get back to Washington on a red-eye so he could get back to work in the Senate and a vote on Iraq funding; John Edwards said his wife, Elizabeth, was “doing just great”; Barack Obama said politics as usual “just won’t do.” A lot of information was dispersed, in seven-minute bursts, after last night at the Democratic Party’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner at Paris Las Vegas. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the last to speak as the candidates paraded to the ballroom after their debate at Cox Pavilion.
And amid this vast collection of personalities, Clinton was the most poised, most powerful speaker. Having never seen any of these candidates speak live, I was startled at how much excitement she generated during her appearance. Of course, most in the room of about 1,800 were her supporters, but there were large pockets of Obama and Edwards supporters, in particular, and a cluster of Dodd backers was positioned near the front, at the middle. But Clinton, the only candidate who stood behind the podium instead of using a hand-held mic, ran through a list of policy positions and jabs at the Bush administration and her Republican rivals, posing each as a question, “What are we going to do if. …? What are we going to do when …?” and the crowd shouted back, “Turn up the heat!” They carried signs with that message, too, and she’s hit on a theme she can use anywhere on the campaign trail. Clinton has been criticized for lacking conviction, especially when she argues every side of an issue, but I took note of something David Gergen said on CNN last night (a quote that was swiftly dispersed soon after the debate by Clinton’s high-RPM campaign committee). “You’ve got to be hungry for this, and Hillary Clinton is clearly hungry. She’s passionate about wanting to be president.” And a little less than a year before Election Day 2008, no one in her party appears equipped to stop her. Last night, the table was hot.
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Taking in some post-debate coverage on Fox, I have noticed a way national reporters attempt to provide some “insider” Las Vegas-type information by talking about clanging slot machines and all the quarters their colleagues had either won or lost while in town – “Hey Bob, where’s the bucket of quarters?” It’s pretty much all paper play these days. Back to you, Bob.
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One guy who received quite a lot of airtime in CNN’s pans of the Cox Pavilion audience was Clark County Commissioner and Clinton backer Rory Reid. Good seats, and surely not by coincident, for the Majority Leader’s son.
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Great moment during Gravel’s wild-and-wooly oratory, in which he trashed every Democrat on the stage who was not Dennis Kucinich. Seated at the next table was Dina Titus, and when Gravel started venting about how nuclear holocaust was in the offing if we attacked Iran, she threw her left fist in the air and called out, “Nice positive message!”
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Funny line from Nevada Democratic Party Chairman John Hunt, apologizing for confusion about the seating list for the dinner, which led to some frayed nerves before the program. “We’re used to it. We’re Democrats.”
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Away from debate night, I’ll offer a plug for the New American Theatre Project’s production, BASH, a three-party play at the Onyx Theatre at the Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue. Will Sturdivant, Megan Bartle, Wayne Wilson carry the night onstage and Wayne Wilson of LeReve is artistic director. New American Theatre’s future is uncertain and this high-quality local company needs support. BASH runs through November 27, go to www.newamericantheatreproject.com or call 732-7225.
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PL8 in my head: LASVEGS on a red Toyota Tercel.
Fabulous Las Vegas appears at this Web site. John Katsilometes, who also hosts Our Metropolis, a weekly issues and affairs show, each Tuesday at 6 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM, can be reached at 990-7720, 812-9812 or at [email protected].