On Background: Web Browsers Can Attend Conventions Online

ByABC News
July 25, 2000, 2:58 PM

W A S H I N G T O N, June 15 -- Nearly 7,000 Americans are packing their bags to attend the national political conventions this summer as delegates. But delegate credentials also are being issued to anyone with a Web browser who wants to take part in the action.

Credentials are available starting today for the Republican convention, which opens in Philadelphia next month. At gopconvention.com, political junkies can sign up at the delegates desk then wander backstage behind the podium where Republican National Committee chairman Jim Nicholson is waiting on video to give a quick tour of the convention plans.

At the last convention, Republicans had their own television network, GOP-TV, broadcasting convention action, interviews, and commentary by Republican anchors. This time, the Web is taking over and providing a much more interactive experience.

The Democrats also are emphasizing their interactive possibilities at dems2000.com. The site offers personal planning calendars, virtual tours, and whats called the DNC411 where delegates can communicate with each other.

Building a Platform

And when it comes to building a party platform, voices of the armchair delegates at home are being heard at the Democratic platform hearings run by Speakout.com. Platform writers register and send in suggested language on the issues of their choice.

Republicans are doing their platform the old-fashioned way in person. Republican chairs of the platform committee will hold public hearings next week in Dayton, Ohio, and Billings, Mont., to hear suggestions on issues.

The actual platform drafting sessions are held the week before the convention itself, and Republicans, who meet in Philadelphia July 31 to Aug. 3, expect such harmony that the weeklong platform work has been shortened to barely three days not far from the site of the convention hall itself.

Sweltering Strike

For Democrats, who will convene in Los Angeles Aug. 14-17, there is a complication on the ground that poses something of a problem. The local Operating Engineers Union, which controls air-conditioning and lighting at the Los Angeles convention hall, has still not signed a labor contract, raising the possibility of a troublesome strike during the convention. Of course, cyberdelegates attending from the comforts of home wont be inconvenienced.