LOS ANGELES -- The Democrats' convention week boiled down to a family affair - rather, four serial family affairs.
Day One: Clinton & Clinton. Day Two: The Kennedy Clan, unto the Fourth Generation. Day Three: Say hello to Happy Joe Lieberman, whose old man sold bakery rolls and later liquor, and his 85-year-old mom. Day Four: The Gores.
Fighting this uphill battle on the terrain appropriated by the Republicans, i.e., faith-and-family-and-the-moral-high-ground, the Democrats under their just-promoted field commander Albert A. Gore assembled in their final state caucuses yesterday morning. At the Beverly Hilton, the fractious-and-often-feuding Democratic Party family brunched on bacon and eggs and once-more-into-the-breech speeches. The ringmaster was Ed Markey, the Malden congressman, who presided over a three-ring circus of political talent.
The morning after Joe-Joe-Joe Lieberman's better-than-expected and well-delivered speech, which was short, funny, and mistake-free, the Bay State delegates were ripe for some rip-snortin' rhetoric. As in Philadelphia with the GOP, the podium pronunciatos from the Dems are strictly scripted. Snarling and gashing the other side is out-out-out; piety and lifting-up-the-downtrodden are in-in-in.
But when the Democratic clan gathers in its caves - in this case a handy cavern of the marbled Hilton - the speeches are meatier, gnawing closer to the bone. Barney Frank was hailed by Markey as the Howitzer of the House, and Markey expansively predicted Barney will be ''the first Jewish speaker of the House.'' You get the feeling there's going to be a lot of ''the first Jewish fill-in-the-blank'' after Lieberman.
Frank proceeded to unload on Ralph Nader, hammering the consumer crusader for ignoring guns, abortion, gay rights, and a lot of other divisive social issues as the third party alternative. Nader won't cost Gore Massachusetts in November, Frank said, but he'll drain votes elsewhere with his siren song to disaffected liberals. Frank will be the designated Nader-basher, off his acid-etched portrait of Nader as a narrow-minded opportunistic hustler who would ''hijack'' votes from Democrats and ''severely undercut our efforts to do something'' on social policy. Ralph's going to be getting an earful from Barney in the next 10 weeks.
On came Michael Whouley, the Gore camp insider, Dorchester's own, who ran Kentucky for Mike Dukakis in 1988 and became a player with Clinton in '92. ''We're going to win this election,'' said Whouley, and he ran down the polling and electoral vote situation for the audience of insiders.
He derided Bush's double-digit polling lead as ''footsteps in the sand,'' based on an illusory appeal to ''values, personality, integrity,'' that can be whittled down by expert attack. Gore's been only ''a two-dimensional'' figure because ''he stood behind a larger-than-life president,'' said Whouley, while Bush built his lead as ''the anti-Clinton, throw-the-bums-out, I'm a nice guy'' crusader. ''Bush is playing with the house money,'' which he defined as ''nominal Democrats, persuadable voters.''
Whouley ticked off favorable portents and recent successes in key Midwestern states, and predicted more gains ''once we move this thing to archery range.'' The Dems will scorch Bush for colluding with polluters in Texas and ''turning them into regulators,'' with sacrificing interests of uninsured children and elders to big money contributors, he said.
Then, wearing a Hawaiian shirt that one of his old pals said ''looks like it came from a yard sale,'' a smiling and expansive Mike Dukakis came on to a standing-O. ''If I knew anything about presidential politics I'd be here in another capacity,'' grinned the 1988 nominee. He joked about Kitty getting her hair done on Rodeo Drive, but his message was simple: Gore cannot sit there and let the Republicans attack without returning withering fire.
Dukakis mocked George W. Bush's vow to restore ''honesty, integrity, and decency'' to the White House. ''You can't just sit there'' was the lesson he learned to his rue. ''Over 100 figures in the Reagan administration were forced to leave office'' in scandals, he said. Iran-Contra was a scandal of massive proportions, he continued. ''And George Bush (Sr.) pardoned every single person who was indicted or convicted after he lost the election and before he left office,'' he jibed. And what about ''No new taxes''? The crowd hooted as Dukakis called Bush Jr.'s morality pitch ''a lot of nonsense.''
Forget the polls, urged the Duke. ''I was never 17 points ahead of Bush (in '88), but that's what the polls say. This race right now is about 35-35, with 30 percent undecided.'' Then, with a quick plug for the high-speed train between Boston and New York, which Amtrak-fan Dukakis has been pushing for years, he was off to pick up Kitty at the hairdresser.
The delegates then heard from Bill Bradley, who would have nipped Gore in New Hampshire last winter had not Whouley and his spear-carriers pulled out a four-point win in the final furlong.
David Nyhan is a Globe columnist.
