Bill and Hill get their party's show on the road

By ANDREW GUMBEL

LOS ANGELES - Politics may be a serious business, but this is Los Angeles, and the Democratic Convention shows every sign of being a chase after the biggest, glitziest, most celebrity-filled parties.

President Bill Clinton, who is a natural at these things, is having to hold back so he does not overshadow his altogether more wooden Vice-President and putative successor, Al Gore. Congressmen seeking funds to shore up their re-election campaigns were yesterday fanning out to private residences in the Hollywood hills to seek out donors and earn themselves kudos by snuggling up to Tom Selleck, or Jennifer Aniston, or Warren Beatty.

Far from discussing the niceties of Democratic policy on missile defence, or campaign finance reform, community activists were frantically calling friends, and friends of friends, to talk their way into the DreamWorks party, or the LA Weekly party (for progressives), or the Al Gore knees-up at the Shrine Auditorium on Friday.

Even the street demonstrators were planning their own version of a celebrity party, thanks to a free concert being thrown on Wednesday by the rock group Rage Against the Machine, whose latest album, not coincidentally, is entitled Battle of Los Angeles.

In a town that likes to think of politics as showbusiness for ugly people, this convention is shaping up to be uncannily reminiscent of the Oscars - an exercise in status-building, celebrity by association, and lavish spending to create buzz around pet causes.

Starting on Sunday, Clinton set the tone with the first of two lavish fundraisers doubling as end-of-presidency farewell appearances.

Limos jammed the narrow road up Mandeville Canyon, in the Santa Monica mountains, as a cast of a thousand descended on to property developer Ken Roberts' ranch for an event billed - according to the labels on the custom-made director's chairs - as a "Hollywood Tribute to William Jefferson Clinton."

John Travolta, who played a thinly veiled version of the President in the film Primary Colors, did the warm-up honours, along with Stan Lee, the cartoon-strip king and creator of X-Men, whose screen version has just been released in the United States.

Other speakers included Shirley MacLaine and Rosa Parks, the Alabama African American who famously refused to get off a whites-only bus more than 40 years ago. Among the glittery lineup of singers were Diana Ross, Cher and Melissa Etheridge, the rocker who came out as a lesbian on the 1992 Clinton campaign trail. An audience featuring newlyweds Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, Rod Steiger and Patrick Stewart were treated to giant video-screen closeups of the President visibly choking on the emotion of it all.

After giving $US1000 ($2209) each, 1000 guests enjoyed a buffet of tempura, pizza and spicy tuna while listening to Paul Anka, Michael Bolton, Patti LaBelle and Stevie Wonder.

The money raised, along with the $US25,000-per-person paid up by a more select group of 150 couples who stayed for a lobster dinner - went into the coffers of the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, and her New York Senate race.

The Clinton schmoozefest continued yesterday with a brunch at Barbra Streisand's beachside home in Malibu, this one to raise money for his presidential library in Arkansas. Hereafter, it will be Gore's turn to try to grab the celebrity spotlight, and his success or failure in doing so may well determine his overall performance in this crucial political week.

The Vice-President certainly has not done badly raising funds in Hollywood - more than $US800,000 in direct contributions to date and is certainly well ahead of George W. Bush in this bastion of liberal Democrats. But it remains to be seen what kind of reception he receives at his own concert bash on Friday, featuring Streisand, Gladys Knight, Boyz II Men, and Whoopi Goldberg as MC.

The vibes are somewhat mixed. The triumvirate who run DreamWorks, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, have all pledged support for Gore, but have expended more energy on Hillary Clinton's campaign. Meanwhile, in an embarrassing piece of scheduling for the President, the Democratic Convention delegates will hear a version of Lou Bega's hit Mambo No 5. Organisers say that the line in which the singer wishes for "a little bit of Monica in my life," has been changed to names of American states.

- INDEPENDENT