by Eric Pryne and Lynne K. Varner
Seattle Times staff reporters
When they deliver their speeches at the national political conventions this month, Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Ross Perot and the other politicians won't really be talking to the delegates who pack the convention halls.
They'll be aiming their remarks at you.
Over the past half-century, political conventions have been transformed from substantive business meetings to elaborate, orchestrated events, scripted to present the parties' personalities and ideas to television and to America in the best possible light.
The conventions are extended infomercials, and we're all potential buyers. The key decisions won't be made in Long Beach, San Diego or Chicago, but in millions of American living rooms.
With that in mind, The Seattle Times has asked three Seattle-area couples to watch the Reform Party, Republican and Democratic conventions on TV, then share their thoughts and reactions with us each day.
The men and women will be both television critics and political analysts.
They'll tell us what they liked and didn't like, what bored them and what inspired them, what they agreed with and what they found objectionable.
Introductions are in order. Meet:
Rob and Melanie Cannon
Rob and Melanie Cannon, both 41, own and run an insurance business, travel frequently and are rearing two children, ages 12 and 14. In their busy lives, there's not a lot of room for prolonged contemplation.
"Wishy-washy" is the first word that comes to mind when the Auburn couple thinks of likely Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole.
"Dole is just too doggone `wishy-washy,' and it just doesn't seem that his heart is into it," Rob says. "And his age (73) bothers me."
Melanie worries that if Dole could be outmaneuvered so easily on his effort to insert the word "tolerance" into the Republican platform's abortion plank, what's going to happen when Democrats come after him?
Make no mistake, the Cannons are committed Republicans. They are far from ready to embrace President Clinton, although they concede he's managed the economy well and would perform far better in a debate than Dole. And a vote for Ross Perot or another third-party candidate would be a throwaway vote, the couple believes.
Yet Dole's recent proposal to give tax breaks to the middle class makes the couple uneasy. "Who is going to pay for that?" Melanie asks.
And so the Cannons have come to a point where this week's Republican convention is paramount because it will give them a reason to stay with the party or a reason to go.
A president who understands that large government giveaways are not the answer, that abortion is a personal and individual matter and that a complicated government is not efficient, is the Cannons' pick.
Chico and Daphne Fernandez
Chico and Daphne Fernandez resented having to indicate a party preference to have their votes count in Washington's presidential primary last March. So they flipped a coin.
Chico voted in the Republican primary; Daphne in the Democratic contest. That way, they say, they knew they'd get on the mailing lists of both parties and get more information on which to base their votes this fall.
The Fernandezes live in West Seattle. Chico, 41, who was born in Hawaii, switched careers from telephone repair to real estate 15 months ago. He's already one of his office's top producers.
Daphne, 39, a West Seattle native, is a data technician at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. They have a daughter, 14.
Both voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and are inclined to support him again this year.
Daphne likes the way the president dealt with last month's TWA plane crash. Chico says Clinton has accomplished a lot, especially considering the Republican Congress and its emphasis on Whitewater.
But the couple's votes aren't cast in stone.
She doesn't like Bob Dole's position on abortion, and Ross Perot is out of the question. "He's a bigot," she says.
The Fernandezes are concerned about health care and crime; their home was burglarized last year.
And they're concerned about Medicare - Daphne's father, who lives with them, receives benefits.
They like term limits. They don't like to see able-bodied adults getting food stamps.
Daphne thinks the most fervent opponents of gun control have gone too far. "It's OK to bear arms," she says. "It's not OK to bear automatic arms."
What are they looking for in the conventions? "To see who makes a fool of himself," Chico says with a laugh.
Deborah and Mike Doner
Mike Doner still isn't sure why he voted for Ross Perot in 1992. He knows why he's leaning toward supporting the Texas billionaire this year, though.
A president from outside the two-party axis might break the gridlock in Washington, D.C., and force Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together, he says.
Deborah Doner doesn't like anyone in this year's presidential crop. "I don't trust them," she says. "I just think the whole system is bad."
The Doners, both 46, live in Everett. Mike is a Snohomish County health inspector.
Deborah, who worked for years as a bank cashier, now is a full-time homemaker.
She grew up in Omak, Mike just down the road in Okanogan.
The Doners have two grown children and four grandchildren.
Mike cites the continuing struggle over the federal budget deficit as one example of the gridlock he'd like to end.
"The ability of these people to compromise seems to be gone," he says of Clinton and Congress. "A lot of these politicians are getting hung up on their own rhetoric."
But there's no need for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, he says: "Just do it."
Same for term limits: "Term limits already exist at the polling place," he says.
Mike and Deborah both say government spends too much money on prisons. Mike likes the idea of exempting the federal government from prisoner lawsuits.
Deborah supports welfare reform: "There's too many abusing it."
Both think Dole and the GOP are expending too much energy wrangling over abortion. They're ambivalent about the issue themselves. They don't like abortion but don't like government intruding on individual privacy.
Deborah worries about Dole's age. It's not a problem to Mike.
It's fine with Mike that Pat Buchanan won't have a featured role at the GOP convention: "Pat Buchanan is over the edge." But he doesn't like "all the grandstanding and rhetoric" that goes on at both parties' conventions.
"It's disgusting," Deborah concurs.