Debate, PARTY!

By TOMÁS DINGES, Correspondent

A line of impeccably dressed partiers waited on the red carpet to get in to Bobby Van’s restaurant on the corner of 11th and New York Avenue in Washington, D.C. The bars were open on both floors and near the fountain in the courtyard. Vested waiters in tan uniforms wiped their harried faces of sweat and hustled, pressing their way through the tightly-packed, hot crowd. There were maybe 100 people on the dance floor and 500 elsewhere. It was around one a.m. Apparently the R.I.A.A. party was even better.

Many people were young, some had southern accents, some were from south Jersey. The women were elegant and striking. Most wore black. Some wore pearls. One wore a deep- red blouse and her name was Ashley. I saw Marilyn Monroe. She was leaving. Men towered routinely over six-foot-one. They wore fitted suits, pressed shirts. Some ties remained tight. There wore argyle sweaters. There seemed to be more fraternity lapel pins than Obama Hope ones.

A high-school friend, a 30-year-old commercial real estate lawyer specializing in loss mitigation, introduced me to her friends and acquaintances that she seemed to encounter every other five minutes. She pulled business cards out of a gold container and talked to other lawyers. It was a networking event. Sometimes, she would cut off conversation and eye passing men, who stopped quickly to talk. It was a meat-marketing event. At other times, she tugged at a pin on her shirt strap and showed them the JFK likeness silhouetted behind the face of Obama.

It was a political party put on by The California Project, one of a few parties for the thousands of attendees of the 38th Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus this weekend. The CBC is a group of 43 U.S. legislators who work as a group to promote policy and leadership in Capitol Hill on issues pertinent to African Americans, and D.C. is a site for the black establishment.

Hours earlier, in Mississippi, the first campaign debate of this presidential election had finished in a draw, according to people I spoke with, at this party and others.

At the Republic Garden on U Street, a Washington institution, cuff links were flashed amidst the 400 or so people who had accumulated to watch the debate. One particularly well-informed viewer cried out every time there was a purported misstatement of Obama’s record. The crowd’s volume rose as Obama delivered a series of one-liners questioning the wisdom of assertions by McCain that ended in, “You were wrong.” A woman excitedly pummeled the air from her position on the couch.

At dinner afterwards, an author and a fellow at The Nation Institute, Amy Alexander, called it a draw. She wondered where Obama’s bite was. He always gets framed by McCain and is unable to fight back sharply, she said. But, then, she thought, if he did, he would be characterized as an angry black man “with grievances.”

Then we talked about Florida (where she lived for years), the www.thegreatschlep.com and all of the elderly Jewish Floridians who should, but won’t vote for Obama. “I want fresh, not fresh frozen,” intoned the author imitating the Jewish grandmother subculture, which she became familiar with while reporting in Broward County. The presumption that the Jewish vote would not vote for a black man for President is a “fucking hangover from Farrakhan,” and his view that Jews have been part of the oppressor class in America, despite their contributions to arts and science, according to him and even Farrakhan’s declared genealogical tree.

But other states were of greater concern to Alexander. Michigan, Idaho, Indiana. Militias, cults and the Klan. There are many white people out there, she said, that would be threatened by a black president.

“I don’t think it’s imprudent to worry, or wonder if someone out there is plotting to take him out. Just based on our history, it is not unrealistic,” she said. Assassinations of political figures in her lifetime are numerous. “Wallace, King, two Kennedy’s, Harvey Milk, George Moscony and an attempt on Ronald Reagan.”

“I don’t think you have to be a conspiracy theorist, either,” Alexander added.

Tomás Dinges can be reached at tdinges@gmail.com.

What it Takes to be a Cosmo Girl

By EUGENE MULERO, Correspondent

Katie Glueck is 18, likes journalism and she’s very cosmopolitan. So much, in fact, that CosmoGIRL! magazine has turned her into its political correspondent. Glueck was hobnobbing with high-profile politicos, Beltway power brokers and Hollywood celebrities during both national conventions. Among her key interviews were a chat with Sen. Hillary Clinton and heart-to-heart with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She loves fashion, yet adds that politics is her calling. She is taking on political science at Northwestern University and hopes to come to Washington, D.C., soon to emulate the careers of other strong-minded and witty ladies, such as Maureen Dowd or Helen Thomas. Taking Back Politics sat down with Glueck at the Rock The Vote party at Bar Fly during the GOP convention.

 

 

TBP: What do you think about the Convention?

KG: I’ve covered both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, and it’s been interesting to watch the parties cultivating their messages that will define both campaigns through November. Participants at both conventions are energized and seem to really believe in their candidates.

 

TBP: How would you describe your blog and CosmoGIRL! news?

KG: I try to cover the election from an angle that young women would find interesting. I focus on the youth vote and on engaging young women and girls in the political process. In that vein, I’ve interviewed Sen. Clinton and Pelosi, and spent a lot of time talking with young people at the early primaries and caucuses (i.e., Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina), and now at the conventions. We’re non-partisan, so I make sure to talk to young people from all kinds of ideological backgrounds. I’ve got a weekly blog at www.cosmogirl.com/election2008, and I publish a column in the magazine.

 

TBP: Where are you from and tell us how you got involved with CosmoGIRL!

KG: I’m originally from a suburb of Kansas City. I just graduated high school and will be a freshman at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in about two weeks. I’m CosmoGIRL! magazine’s political correspondent, a position I came into by winning a contest. Last fall, the letter from the editor in CosmoGIRL! said that the magazine wanted to send one young woman to cover the major events of the election. They were looking for someone who could synthesize these huge political issues in a way that would be engaging for young readers. I wrote an essay to apply, and last October, found out that I was one of five finalists. I did a 40-minute phone interview, and was fortunate enough to be selected for the job.

 

TBP: Describe the experience of reporting from the conventions.
KG: It’s been amazing! This election is historic on so many levels that are of interest to CosmoGIRL! readers — we’ve seen the first woman get close to clinching the nomination of a major party, the first African-American receive that nomination … unprecedented youth involvement — so covering both conventions and being in the middle of all this excitement has truly been an honor.

 

TBP: What has been your favorite moment during the Republican National Convention?

KG: So far, Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) speech. Regardless of my personal political views, I think he’s got a real point on the issue of partisanship. I think that the majority of our country is pretty moderate, and it would be nice to see those in Washington moving past party lines to actually achieve some tangible results for the American people. That’s what we elected them to do.

Beautiful Strangeness

BY MATT KENNARD, CORRESPONDENT

In the evening I accompanied my colleague Eugene Mulero, who was being mistaken for my Mexican intern (he’s Puerto Rican) by many of the less refined Republicans, to a party at Bar Fly in Minneapolis, which is about a 20-minute cab drive from St. Paul. It was organized by the strange and boring Rock the Vote organization, and again had a free bar, which, again, got fully taken advantage of.

The irony of the whole event was that while I supped free whiskey and cokes and nibbled on pecorino cheese and salami, we were informed that this party was now a fundraiser for hurricane Gustav. The MC made sure that we knew that federal government wasn’t the answer and that we needed to donate because private charity was the only way to ameliorate the suffering of those affected.

I felt like screaming “KATRINA!”

As the night wore on, we were greeted with the entrance of Megan McCain, John’s daughter, who has been blogging her way around the campaign at McCainbloggette.com.

Then we had a nonentity country singer who sang songs that no one knew the lyrics to, although he thought himself quite famous. During his set a midget started dancing on stage and singing along to the lyrics. It seemed like part of the plan, but no one explained the significance; it was just more of the same beautiful strangeness that this convention seems to specialize in.

Next was a three-piece Southern sister band. Less said the better, although they did make a heart-rending appeal for donations for Gustav before they unveiled their new single, Different Breed, a weird and grotesque exploration of ennui in late capitalist America, or something like that.

Matt Kennard can be reached at MattKennard@gmail.com