The Democrats

By Margaret B. Carlson

NEW FACES. John Kennedy Jr. At last, a third-generation Kennedy who is easy to embrace. He had the grace to be nervous and the good sense to be brief . . . Jesse Jackson Jr., a natural speaker and compelling presence. When Jackson says, "I may not get there, but my children will," this is what he means . . . Sandra Perlmutter, the hot-pink sidekick to Madam Secretary Dorothy Bush, became the Vanna White of the Omni during Wednesday's roll call. She had trouble with some numbers, but no one seemed to notice.

FACE-LIFT. Edward Kennedy, finally looking 20 lbs. lighter and free of the burden of presidential speculation. His speech lacked the soaring "The dream shall never die" high of 1980, but his antiphonal "Where was George?" may become the refrain of the Democratic campaign.

MOST SUCCESSFUL RESURRECTION. Jimmy Carter, although geography more than emotion drove Democrats to embrace him. The illusion of Carter was much better than the reality: his speech got less of a response than the mention of his name or his dancing the fox-trot with Rosalynn. Most frequently uttered line by former aides who claimed to have worked on the speech: "You should have seen the first draft."

BIGGEST SURPRISE. John Glenn, not known for his humor, slammed Reagan's top aides. Instead of serving four more years, said Glenn, some are looking at ten to 20.

BIGGEST BOMB. Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton will be remembered for The Speech That Would Not End, turning the Omni into the hall of the numb and the restless. Clinton stuck with a 19-page snoozer of a nominating speech through signals from the chairman to stop, through a flashing red light and through index fingers drawn across the throat, the broadcast symbol for "Cut it short." His humor returned the next day: "It wasn't my finest hour. It wasn't even my finest hour and a half."

BEST DWARF COMEBACK. Bruce Babbitt seemed to be everywhere in Atlanta, cracking jokes, hosting parties, making sense. Ironically, the candidate who said of his poor early television performances, "If they can teach Mister Ed to talk, they can teach me," was convention correspondent for two TV stations.

WORST THEME SONG. Although intelligently conducted by Kitty Dukakis' father, retired associate director of the Boston Pops Harry Ellis Dickson, Fanfare for Michael Dukakis was a freeze-dried composition by Corporate Composer John Williams, also responsible for NBC's bloated theme song. Dubbed Fanfare for a Son-in-Law, the piece brings to mind Mark Twain's crack about Wagner's music being "better than it sounds."

BEST LINE BY A COMEDIAN. Mark Russell on Lloyd Bentsen: Ted Turner would like to colorize him.

BEST SPEECH BY A NON-KEYNOTING TEXAN. Jim Hightower, who called George Bush a "toothache of a man" who takes his privileged upbringing for granted. "George Bush," he said, "was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple."

MOMENT MOST LIKE A JERRY LEWIS TELETHON. Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon (where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average) gave a syrupy rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, complete with children, adorable on cue.