VIEWS FROM DENVER

	July 28, 2000
	Do the Presidential nominating conventions matter as much as they used to? Elizabeth Farnsworth posed that question to the group of voters in Denver, the same one she has talked to before here on the NewsHour.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Welcome, everybody. It's good to see you again. Ada Diaz-Kirby, are the conventions important to you? ADA DIAZ KIRBY, Republican: Oh, absolutely. You really get a lot more depth in the issues. And all I have seen about the issues are very superficial right now -- the headlines, the sound bites, who's for this and who's for that, and I guess that what I'm looking for is to get more information about the issues that I really care about, and to understand what the candidates think about those issues in reality and then you also get a better sense about the personality of the individuals. I mean, I know who Cheney is, I know who George Bush is, but I really haven't seen them at any length in action, and I'm anxious to see them. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Dennis Coughlin, do you agree? Are you going to watch? DENNIS COUGHLIN, Republican: I will watch, but the conventions are not that important to me. I think that the issues and the people have been decided. I think it will be anticlimactic for me, so no, it's not a big deal to me. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Sarah Bay, do you think they're important? This is your first election, first Presidential election. SARAH BAY, Independent: Yeah, yeah, being my first election, it's really hard to, right now, at least relate to the candidates because I really don't... I haven't seen previous conventions before, so I really don't know how to relate. I have seen bits and pieces of the conventions previous to this one, and I really don't think that they're very important nowadays. I see them more as a high school pep rally for the specific group of people, the Republicans or the Democrats, rather than really touching the issues, or really having any debate on them because they all seem to agree with whoever is running. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Well, let me ask you this: Would it... could it make a difference? Could you learn from the convention something that would change your mind about your candidate, or have you made up your mind? SARAH BAY: I really haven't made up my mind. I don't see... I'm very independent as far as not siding with either of the candidates, and I don't know. I don't think it really will change my mind. I know basically what they... they stand for and I don't think that a pep rally is really going to change my mind. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Uh-huh. Brent Neiser, how about you? BRENT NEISER: Well, I think it's important because it's a great way to test the... It shows is a party optimistic about the future or are they going to engage in maybe scare tactics to sort of scare their way into the White House. And I think that's a choice and that's really... they're really going to test that on the American people. So you see an ensemble of performances. I think a few years ago there was a family values type convention the Republicans put on and that had a definite theme and it turned some people off because it was just kind of one- sided. So I think that's a good place to do it, plus, I think you could showcase maybe potential cabinet members as well now that the decision's pretty much locked up. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Chris Goodwin, what do you think? CHRIS GOODWIN, Independent: I think they're pretty much meaningless exercises. The candidates have been decided. I'm a lot more interested in what's going to be going on outside of the conventions. The demonstrations that are going to be taking place, and the shadow conventions and how those people are going to interject some talk on some real issues like healthcare reform and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and issues like that. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: So, in your case, part of the reason you're not interested is that you don't think the issues that are most important will be covered? CHRIS GOODWIN: Yeah, I doubt it very much, or they'll be covered in a very superficial way. They're basically coronations for the two candidates. That's all. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Dr. Morris Clark, do you agree that the important issues might not be covered in the conventions? MORRIS CLARK, Democrat: I really don't agree with that. I think that certain themes will be honed and refined and articulated during the convention and will allow the viewer to help form their opinion. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Will you watch the conventions, and if so, how much would you expect to watch? MORRIS CLARK: I will watch every part that I can, that my work schedule allows me to, because I think it's important, I think it's part of the American process and I think the convention and the election this year, is extremely important. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And tell me why. Is there a lot at stake this year? MORRIS CLARK:I think there's a lot at stake. I think the two candidates obviously are very well contrasted and I think what they represent truly will have an impact for years to come. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Do you agree with that, Dee Cisneros? DEE CISNEROS, Democrat: Well, I feel that conventions are good. I think that's the place to energize and galvanize the people and all the speeches and people get excited and then they want to go out and... and get the vote out. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What do you think, Eric Duran? Will you watch? ERIC DURAN, Democrat: I'll definitely watch the convention. I think it's an important time in party politics, really to gauge the candidates. First, it gives them an opportunity, you know, 45 minutes on prime time, or maybe even an hour to spell out where they stand and what they stand for, and sometimes that's the first time people get to see the candidates and hear their stump speech. The second thing is it puts a lot of pressure on the candidates. This is, like, the most pressure-filled situation that they'll ever have in their life and we all get to see how they respond to that under pressure and I think that's a really important gauge in Presidential politics in terms of a crisis, and so I think it's really important. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: You're shaking your head, Dennis. DENNIS COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think the Presidential debates are much more important than the convention. I think the convention is very much staged and the Presidential debates, I think, you'll get a much better feel of the candidates, their positions and the issues. And so I think that that's a much more important forum than the convention. LINDA STAHNKE, Republican: You know, I think a couple of things that we've not brought up are important. One is for our young people to see what is going on as a part of the process, to expose them to this whole rigmarole of how we choose candidates. It's a part of our system, and I think that's really important. And also it's a part of how grassroots people get involved. This is where platforms are chosen, whether they're followed by candidates or not, and it's around those platforms that grassroots activists, or grassroots neophytes are drawn in. So I think that they're important for that reason. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mark Poe, this is your second Presidential election. Are the conventions important to you? MARK POE, Democrat: To me, personally, they aren't that important. I've already made up my mind as far as the candidate who I intend to vote for, and I think... going back to something that Eric said, I think that the conventions are more important as far as intra-party politics than they are to the average voter who is sitting at home watching them, waiting to make up their mind. More important than the conventions to the average voter, I think, is Dennis' point about the debates. I think having the two candidates stand together in the same room debating each other about the issues is much more informative. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Do you think a lot is at stake this time, Linda Houston? LINDA HOUSTON, Republican: I think we're looking for some feeling about character and experience and where people are coming from for our new Presidential candidate and I think they're very important. I think it still matters who our President is. It still matters who our Vice President is. And I agree that it is an inter- party structure, sort of, and I think it is a pep rally and I think it's a very important pep rally. I think we need to get people interested in it. It's the same kind of pep rally that we have in high school. What does it do? It brings school spirit. And this brings the spirit for each party, and I think it's extremely important. And I think it's extremely important to see how they work together, because you're not voting just for one person. You're voting for a package. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Yes, Sarah. SARAH BAY: Well, I don't... I don't see it as necessarily a positive high school pep rally. I see it as more "vote for us and this is why." But not really... Instead of really covering what should be covered, it's more, as somebody earlier said, a superficial tab on what's going on in America so that they can say, "yeah, look, I'm looking at this issue but really it's more of a superficial basis than it is." ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: So from your own life, do you feel that issues that really need to be covered are not going to be talked about? SARAH BAY: Well, maybe not... Maybe talked about, but truly not looked at in depth. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Uh-huh. Yes, Brent. BRENT NEISER: I think it... It hinges on leadership as well, and a demonstrative vision. And I think because we've had the candidates wrapped up so early, this is a time to show "how I might govern," and to actually energize and engage Americans with that next level of introspection and kind of analysis -- and parading people that might be potential cabinet officers, how they interact, and laying out a vision on different issues, it would be a way to advance that -- because a lot of people do make up their minds before Labor Day. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: So that's the kind of thing you'll be looking for? BRENT NEISER: I want to see a vision and leadership articulated. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Uh-huh. Eric, what are you going to be looking for? ERIC DURAN: Well, I think some of those same things, but I think, you know, more importantly are I think what I'm hearing a lot from people is maybe they're not happy necessarily with what the outcome is in some of these conventions, and maybe they're not getting the choices that they would like, or maybe they would like to see viable alternatives CHRIS GOODWIN: I think what's really at stake here is the credibility of the electoral system in this country. The fact is, the majority of people don't participate in any way. They either don't vote if they're registered, or they're not registered at all. So I think the key question is: Is the system going to open up a little bit and offer different points of view from Ralph Nader, who I support, or Patrick Buchanan, who I don't support. And I think that's a key. I think that the two major parties are offering two relatively boring, very similar candidates. And if that's what we're going to be left with between now and November, I think a lot of people are going to tune out. ERIC DURAN: Well, at least during the convention, I think that you will really see the differences between the two candidates, and I think one of the candidates is talking about... clearly, when you think about abortion, when you think about tax cuts and how that's going to be going on, about education. I think there's distinct differences between the candidates, and those become more apparent during the convention perhaps than they would, you know, during debates where they have sound bites or some of the other serious stuff. DENNIS COUGHLIN: One of the things that we're hearing now is a lack of name- calling, and that's why I think you are hearing more about the issues. And the hope, I think, of everybody in the room is that the campaign continues that way, and if there is a lack of mudslinging or name-calling, I think it'll be a much better campaign for all of us, no matter which side of the fence you are on. ERIC DURAN: Well, I think that brings up an interesting point. I think that's something that you need in conventions and in the convention system. You could have it. It's all about the Republicans, and it's all about them, and it's not so much about clashing. It's just about presenting their ideas and I think you're going to hear that thing with the Democratic convention. But after that, when you go into the debates, then it's all about sound bites and, you know, laying out your issues. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Thank you all for being with us. It's very nice to see you who have been with us a long time, and glad to have you new people, too.