Clinton gets a late presidential look at LA's glitz

By Ann Scales, Globe Staff, 8/13/2000

OS ANGELES - Wistful and nostalgic, President Clinton is playing to adoring audiences as he prepares for his sendoff at the Democratic National Convention.

Accompanied by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea, the president arrived Friday in this city where he is not just a president, but also a celebrity.

He has a schedule of glittery fund-raisers, gala tributes, and glad-handing with Democratic groups, leading to his prime-time convention address tomorrow, and his exit from center stage.

Attention will shift to Al Gore after Clinton meets with him Tuesday in Monroe, Mich., for a symbolic passing of the torch. In the meantime, Clinton plans to make the most of his days in Los Angeles.

At times this year, Clinton has expressed ambivalance about leaving office, which he must do because of the constitutional limit of two terms.

''Now, we are in a period of transformation where the vice president who wants to be president wants the president to do what he wants to him to do,'' said Charles O. Jones, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin. ''That's a role reversal made extremely difficult because the president is still the president.''

Over the weekend, White House and Gore aides played down reports of tension over Clinton's functions this weekend. The president is staying here nearly twice as long as Gore.

He is raising money, including at a star-studded concert last night to benefit Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and at a brunch today at Barbra Streisand's house, which is expected to raise millions for Clinton's presidential library.

Asked about complaints that he was hogging the spotlight, Clinton laughed. ''I've never heard him say that,'' he said of Gore.

The chief Gore spokesman, Chris Lehane, said: ''He's the president of the United States. By definition, he's always going to be in the spotlight.'' But at this week's convention, Lehane said, ''The vice president will step out as the leader of the Democratic Party, the standard bearer in this election.''