By Emily Pierce
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 54

Delegates: 435

Chairman: Gov. Gray Davis

Hotels: Westin Bonaventure (213) 624-1000

1996 Election:
Clinton – 51%
Dole – 38%
Perot – 7%

California's delegates to Los Angeles have the distinction of being both the hosts of the Democratic National Convention and the party activists who will be expected to bring home the state's prized 54 electoral votes for this year's presidential nominee, Vice President Al Gore.

President Clinton's 1992 and 1996 victories in the state were crucial to his national victories.

Aware of these mammoth duties, California delegates said they are prepared to be the energizing force in the convention hall. By their sheer size - there are 435 of them - they may be able to do it.

"We're the most important vein in the Gore campaign. We are the reason Gore will be elected president," said California Democratic Party political director Bob Mulholland.

"As I see the California delegation, they're totally behind Gore. Whatever we do here could become infectious" at the convention, said San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano.

And Ammiano, a gay activist who ran an unexpectedly strong challenge last year to San Francisco Democratic Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr., is not even a full-blooded Gore supporter.

He is a delegate for former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, who ran to the left of Gore in the primaries, took 18 percent of the vote in the March 7 California contest and received 39 delegates - not all of whom would agree with Ammiano's upbeat assessment of party unity.

The delegation is primarily made up of long-time party activists and includes representatives from organized labor, women's groups, gay and lesbian rights groups, the Hollywood entertainment industry, the Silicon Valley high-tech establishment and a host of state and local lawmakers.

Gray Davis, whose lopsided 1998 victory reclaimed the governor's office for the Democrats for the first time in 16 years, is heading the delegation, is the honorary chairman of the convention and serves as Gore's campaign chairman in the state.

The importance of California to the Democrats' presidential victory strategy was evident in the fact that Davis - who only became governor last year - received frequent mention as someone Gore might consider as a vice presidential running mate.

Also prominent on that list - and leading the group of women said to be under consideration for the second spot - was U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who also is favored for re-election to the Senate this year but faces a competitive challenge from the Republican nominee, Rep. Tom Campbell.

Feinstein, who as mayor of San Francisco played host to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, is a co-chairman of this year's convention along with her California Senate colleague, Barbara Boxer. California is the only state represented in the Senate by two Democratic women.

Their state's delegation represents a cross-section of California's racial and ethnic diversity.

Nearly a quarter of the delegates are Latino; their ranks include Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante, state Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres and state Sen. Hilda Solis, who virtually guaranteed herself a seat in Congress by easily defeating nine-term 31st District Democratic Rep. Matthew G. Martinez in the March 7 primary.

African-Americans make up nearly 17 percent of the delegation, with San Francisco Mayor Brown, a former longtime state Assembly Speaker, the best known.

The delegates of Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicity include former U.S. Rep. Norman Y. Mineta, recently named by Clinton to succeed Gore campaign chief William M. Daley as Commerce secretary, and state Rep. Mike Honda, the Democratic nominee in the key race for the 15th Congressional District seat left open by Senate-bidding Republican Campbell.

Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, a delegate, said in early July that voters watching both the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia July 31-Aug. 3 and the Democratic convention two weeks later would see a stark difference on their convention floors.

"When the camera from CNN focuses on the audience [at the GOP convention], their audience will be 85 percent white," Bauman contended. "Our convention will look like America."

Most delegates said the party's challenge at the convention would be to get its message out to Americans and give them a clear choice for president.

Roberta Achtenberg, senior vice president of public policy for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and former Clinton administration assistant housing secretary, said the convention must "establish in the public mind the leadership of Al Gore and the lack of leadership in George [W.] Bush."

Despite their professed unity behind Gore, California - which has been a hotbed of liberal activism over the years - could reflect some of the dissatisfaction many party activists have with Gore.

"People in the progressive wing are very concerned and want to make sure that their hopes for the future are incorporated into the [party's] platform," said Gloria Allred, a prominent women's rights speaker and lawyer who is on the party's Platform Committee.

Allred's wish list for the platform included a plank that would encourage the president to choose Supreme Court nominees, of both sexes, who reflect a broad array of races, ethnicities and sexual orientations. She also said she would like to see a plank urging the Food and Drug Administration to approve a controversial drug, called RU-486 and known as "the morning-after pill," that induces abortions.

Allred argued that Gore has fallen down on the job in courting key constituencies such as organized labor and feminists. "Some of these people need to be recaptured back into the Democratic Party," she said.

Miguel Contreras, a delegate and head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, expressed similar doubts about Gore's ability to keep the party's base energized about his candidacy.

Of labor activists in California, Contreras said, "They're not as enthusiastic as they should be." Contreras said many union members are still smarting from the Clinton administration's aggressive push to approve legislation establishing permanent trade relations with China, a move Gore supported.

Ammiano said Gore shouldn't have too much trouble with the liberal wing of the party, but that it would take some effort on his part to make them feel included. "No one is asking Gore to be a saint on progressive issues," he said, "but he needs to be very hands-on with them."

Party stalwarts played down any divisiveness. Bauman said that at a party executive committee meeting in July attended by "hundreds of activists from the most progressive to the most moderate," there was no dissension in the ranks.

"There are always going to be folks trying to pull the party to the left and always going to be people trying to pull it to the center," he said.

CALIFORNIA NOTABLES: Gov. Gray Davis, the delegation chairman; former Rep. Norman Y. Mineta, recently confirmed as the Clinton administration's new Commerce secretary; Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante; California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres; San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr.; state Attorney General Bill Lockyer; state Assembly Speaker Antonio R. Villaraigosa; California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski; L.A. County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Miguel Contreras; Roberta Achtenberg, former assistant housing secretary under President Clinton; San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano; Barbara Kerr, vice president of the California Teachers Association; Hilda Solis, who defeated nine-term Democratic Rep. Matthew G. Martinez in the March 7 primary in the 31st Congressional District; Mike Honda, Democratic nominee for the 15th Congressional District seat left open by Republican Rep. Tom Campbell; Rudy Favila, long-shot Democratic challenger to Republican Rep. Gary Miller in the 41st Congressional District; Paramount Pictures Chairwoman Sherry Lansing; Steven Westly, deputy CEO of the E-Bay auction Web site; Gloria Allred, radio talk show host and women's rights lawyer.