OS ANGELES - Hoping to boost Vice President Al Gore's chances of winning the White House in November, Democrats convene here today to bid goodbye to President Clinton and to make the case for his understudy.
This is the first time the Democratic Party has held a convention in Los Angeles since 1960, when the party nominee was John F. Kennedy and the talk was of the politics of the ''new frontier.''
The week's events, organizers say, will focus not so much on new frontiers as on the familiar, core issues the party believes will bolster Gore's campaign in the fall election. Among them are prescription drug coverage for senior citizens, Medicare, Social Security, and the right of patients to sue their health insurance plan.
''Our convention, unlike the other party's, will be driven by issues and not images,'' said Tad Devine, a senior strategist for the Gore campaign.
The message for voters, Devine said, is how far the nation has traveled over the last eight years and how much is at stake in November. ''If we make the wrong choice and go down the wrong road, this nation will suffer,'' Devine said.
As Governor George W. Bush of Texas retired to his ranch for a week's vacation, the Republican nominee's campaign said it was ready for the Democrats' onslaught.
''They're going to try to claim credit for our nation's prosperity and cast blame for those things they didn't get done,'' said Dan Bartlett, a Bush spokesman. ''Governor Bush believes you had your chance, you didn't lead, we will.''
At the convention, delegates are set to formally nominate Gore on Wednesday, and vote to ratify the nomination on Thursday, just before Gore's acceptance speech. Gore's running mate, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, will address the convention Wednesday but will not be formally nominated or voted upon until the next night.
Tonight, however, the spotlight will be on Clinton, who hopes to see his partner in public policy assume the mantle of commander in chief.
Since he arrived here Friday for a round of fund-raising and golf, Clinton has been giving periodic previews of his speech. For example, at a star-studded tribute to the president that raised money for the New York Senate campaign of his wife, Hillary, he told the crowd why they should support Gore.
''He understands how to keep this magical prosperity going and how to spread it to the people that, I regret to say, are still left behind,'' Clinton told Cher, Diana Ross, and a plethora of celebrities Saturday night.
''I want somebody in the White House that understands the future, because it's really unfolding fast,'' he said, adding, ''The best is still out there, and the problems are still out there, and the challenges are still out there.''
Yesterday, Clinton attended a brunch hosted by Barbra Streisand that raised $10 million for his presidential library. Whether he continued his pitch for Gore was known only to the high-rolling donors who met with Clinton behind closed doors.
Amid speculation that Clinton's presence could be a distraction from Gore at a crucial time, the vice president assured the Ohio News Network in Cleveland yesterday that everything would work out fine.
''The convention will be an opportunity for me to introduce myself for who I am, not as a vice president who stands on stage without saying too much,'' Gore said.
''There's going to be a lot of surprises at the convention,'' he said. ''We're going to concentrate on substance instead of the balloons and the confetti.''
As he accepts his party's nomination, Gore said, he will talk about a tax cut for the middle class, and Social Security.
Gore aides say he will also pledge to continue his town-hall meetings with voters across the country if he is elected.
Polls show Bush with an edge over Gore at the start of the convention. But campaign chairman William Daley said he hopes Gore will draw even by the end of a week of intense media attention.
Despite a year and a half of relentless campaigning by Gore, Daley said, voters are only beginning to take in the election activity. ''Most people don't pay attention to this stuff,'' Daley said.
''Al Gore has to convey to the American people that as the next president of the United States, his history qualifies him to be that,'' he said.
Daley noted that in 1988, Vice President George Bush was in a quandary similar to Gore's despite serving under President Reagan for two terms.
''Most people didn't know who George Bush was,'' he said. ''He had to introduce himself in '88 and talk about his history in the war, his heroism, and what he did in all those offices.''
Democratic officials have mocked the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, where blacks, Latinos, and women filled the stage even as the party advocated policies that Democrats hold to be at odds with the needs of those groups.
Nevertheless, Democratic organizers will make liberal use of imagery too. The roster of speakers includes members of almost every Democratic interest group, from the National Education Association to the AFL-CIO and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
Devine said the difference is that the speakers are linked to Gore and Lieberman's plans to fight for families.
Campaigning in Cleveland yesterday, Gore hosted a policy-heavy chat about children's health care, taking pains not to criticize Governor Bush for his record on children's health care in Texas.
Gore didn't need to bring up the issue. He had actor-director Rob Reiner on hand, and Reiner blasted Bush for not insuring all eligible children, and for presenting the Republican Party as wide open to diversity.
''I just want to get this off my chest,'' Reiner told parents, health care workers, and ill children at the Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.
''The other side talks about being the party of diversity and the party of inclusion. How do they figure this, unless they define diversity as two guys at the head of the ticket who are from different oil companies?''
Reiner was referring to the fact that both Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, worked for energy companies.
Cheney received a $20 million retirement package from the Halliburton Co. when he resigned to run for vice president, The New York Times reported Saturday.
The vice president outlined his plan to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which pays for health care for children in poor families.
Two million children are now insured under CHIP. Gore's proposal, at an estimated cost of $42 billion over 10 years, would make another 1 million children eligible.
There are now 11 million uninsured children in the United States, and some of them are already eligible for CHIP, but states are not reaching out to them, Gore aides said.
States have a great deal of latitude in administering the program, and some states make it harder for families to get the help, Gore said. States are required to pay for part of the program.
Texas has enrolled more than 12 percent of eligible children in the CHIP program, said Bartlett of the Bush campaign.
The state got a late start, he said, since its Legislature meets only every other year. The federal CHIP legislation passed in summer 1997, but the Texas Legislature couldn't address it until January 1999, he said.
Ann Scales and Anne E. Kornblut of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
