by Eric Pryne
Seattle Times staff reporter
Opening night of the Democratic National Convention?
Impressive, said Daphne Fernandez of West Seattle.
Maudlin, said Mike Doner of Everett.
Safe, said Melanie Cannon of Auburn.
Fernandez, Doner, Cannon and their spouses are watching the Chicago convention on TV this week and sharing their reactions with Seattle Times readers. They did the same during the Republican National Convention earlier this month.
Daphne Fernandez and her husband, Chico, went into the GOP convention leaning toward repeating their 1992 votes for Bill Clinton but came out of it willing to consider Bob Dole.
Chico, a real-estate salesman, said the themes that dominated the Democrats' first night helped to remind him why he had voted for Clinton four years ago: "I voted for Clinton because I was tired of the violence, tired of kids dropping out of school."
He liked the speakers' emphasis on community, and thought paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve compared well with the Republicans' featured opening-night speaker, retired Gen. Colin Powell: "They're both heroes."
"I expected him to practically get out of his chair and walk," Daphne Fernandez, a medical-data technician, said of Reeve. "Wow."
She liked the Democrats' emphasis on "real people," and on issues she considers important: gun control, education, health care, help for those who really need it.
Both Fernandezes said the Democratic convention didn't seem as choreographed as the GOP convention; they liked that. So did Melanie Cannon, who runs an insurance business with her husband, Rob.
Cannon, a Republican whose doubts about Dole were dispelled by the Republican convention, didn't find much on the Democrats' opening night to object to. But she didn't hear anything to push her away from the GOP.
"It's kind of hard to throw stones at what they put out there . . ." she said of the prime-time speakers. "They were safe people to put up . . . they all could have been at the Republican convention, too."
Cannon did hear more partisan speeches on cable TV from Democrats before prime time. "It's not that they like Clinton," she said, "it's that they hate (House Speaker) Newt Gingrich. I don't love him myself."
But both parties seemed to soft-pedal partisanship on their conventions' first nights, Cannon said, and she found that encouraging.
Cannon also was impressed with the appearance of handgun-control advocates James and Sarah Brady. She supports the Brady Law, which imposes a five-day waiting period for buying handguns. But Cannon said that issue alone isn't enough to prompt her to switch her vote from Dole to Clinton.
Deborah Doner, a homemaker, also liked the nonpartisan prime-time speeches: "They touched a lot of bases, talked about a lot of things that do need to be acknowledged and taken care of," she said.
But her husband, Mike, a Snohomish County health inspector leaning toward repeating his 1992 vote for Ross Perot, said he wasn't moved much by the appeals.
"They're definitely going after me and the guys like me," he said of the Democrats. "It's a tough sell."
The budget deficit is Mike's top issue; he was disappointed the Democrats said little about it.
He also saw another side to Reeve's plea for more federal money for health research: higher taxes or cuts in other programs. "As much as you'd like to do it, you're going to have to gore somebody's ox."
One prospect did cheer Mike's evening, however: "I'm sitting here thinking, `Next Monday, it's Monday Night Football.' "
Excerpts from the speeches
Sarah Brady: The wife of Jim Brady, former White House press secretary, said: "Every year in this country, nearly 40,000 Americans are killed with a firearm. More than 100,000 more are wounded. Every two hours, another child is killed with a gun. And with each death and each wound, another American dream, another American family, is shattered.
"This must stop. Jim and I decided that we should do something about it. Not as Republicans, but as Americans. I became chair of Handgun Control, and Jim and I joined together in speaking out against gun violence.
"(President Clinton is) a hunter and he's a sportsman, but he understands the difference between a Remington rifle and an AK47. And he knows that you don't go hunting with an Uzi. Mr. President, you deserve our thanks."
Actor Christopher Reeve: "Over the last two years, we have heard a lot about something called family values. . . . Since my accident, I've found the definition that seems to make sense. I think it means that we're all family. And that we all have value.
"Now if that's true, if America really is a family, then we have to recognize that many members of our family are hurting. And just to take one aspect of it, one in five of us has some kind of disability. You may have an aunt with Parkinson's disease, a neighbor with a spinal cord injury or a brother with AIDS.
"And if we're really committed to this idea about family, we've got to do something about it."