HILADELPHIA - If 90 percent of life is showing up, then score a big one for Guam and American Samoa.
The Republican National Committee may talk pretty to them, but the delegations from these two Pacific hiccups made the 20,000-mile round trip to the City of Brotherly Love on their own nickels, lots of them. It took Tony Unpingco, speaker of Guam's unicameral legislature, 32 hours to make it, and he is still waking up at 4 a.m.
Once here, this gang is not exactly in the eye of the storm. On Sunday night, when all of the state delegations held their opening receptions, Guam and American Samoa were sandwiched between the Etruscans and Ancient Greeks at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. There were no lines at the food table, no cross body blocks for positioning in front of the bar. They could have been a small poetry group discussing Eliot.
And while they have American passports, these people can't vote for George W. Bush, their candidate, in the general election. ''We're the forgotten ones,'' said Unpingco. ''We have no leverage.''
So why come? The weather must be sublime in the Pacific and there are no metal detectors there.
''Politics is our favorite pastime,'' explained Fred Castro, Guam's delegation leader. ''Tip O'Neill said that all politics is local, and this is our island culture.''
The man has a point. Turnouts for Guam's gubernatorial elections routinely approach 90 percent, he said. American Samoa, by contrast, comes in around 50 percent. When apprised of the gap, the head of the American Samoan delegation, Tautai Faalevao, replied, ''Good for Guam'' and headed for the food.
In the past, conventions have been the closest thing to presidential voting for Guam. (It, like American Samoa, has four Republican delegates.) This year, though, Guam is hatching a plan to ape Dixville Notch, the New Hampshire hamlet that unveils the first votes in that state's primary.
In November, Guam will include a presidential straw poll with a plebescite over its future status as an unincorporated territory and plans to trumpet the results 14 hours ahead of the mainland.
American Samoa, by the way, is an unorganized, unincorporated territory. Asked what that means, Faalevao replied, ''I have no idea.''
Both Guam and American Samoa have a warm spot in their hearts for the Republicans. Unlike the Democrats, who recognize them at their conventions after all of the states have been heard from, the Republicans include them alphabetically with the herd, explained Castro. American Samoa comes after Alaska, and Guam comes after Georgia. While such distinctions may appear trivial to others, they loom large for these folks.
''It's a matter of respect,'' said David Sablan, Guam's Republican Party chairman.
The Bush people apparently harbor a soft spot for them as well. For the first time, the Pacific pair combined their offshore electoral muscle with the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in ''Super Weekend,'' held in late February after the Michigan primary.
Guam and American Samoa are proud of the 26 delegates delivered to Bush and maintain that the bloc stemmed the McCain tide after he upset Bush in Michigan. ''We were the firewall,'' Castro said proudly. ''Our vote meant a lot to George Bush.'' Added Faalevao, ''We put the territories on the map.''
Sort of. Bush is a magic name out there anyway, due in part to the World War II experience of Bush the elder. ''His plane went down in the drink near Guam,'' Castro noted approvingly. And Bush the younger was the only Republican to run campaign ads in Guam newspapers. ''McCain didn't organize out here,'' he added, unaware perhaps that McCain didn't do much on the mainland either.
All such political palaver will fade tomorrow night week when the pro wrestler known as ''The Rock,'' who is of American Samoan descent, introduces House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, a former wrestling coach, at the convention podium.
For one brief shining moment, the islands will rule. Now that's worth a trip halfway around the world.
