From Harvard Yard to Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK--Harvard has long been a nurturing womb for fledgling politicos and power brokers. And judging by the number of Harvard affiliates in attendance in various capacities here in New York, the Crimson political tradition is as strong as ever.

Students and graduates of the University are helping to shape the Democratic National Convention here this week in roles ranging from vice-presidential nominee to "shep-herd."

Former Dunster House resident Albert A. Gore, Jr. '69 will share the Democratic ticket with Bill Clinton in November. The vice-presidential nominee will deliver an acceptance speech shortly before Clinton's speech Thursday night.

Another convention bigwig is Robert E. Rubin '60, chair of the New York '92 host committee. Rubin's committee has been organizing welcoming events for the conventioneers, among them a Broadway Street party and Saturday's media greeting party in Bryant Park. Rubin, who studied economics at Harvard, is co-chair of the investment firm Goldman Sachs and a director of Harvard Management Company. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Harvard Board of Overseers this spring.

Among the more powerful undergraduates here at the convention is James N. Harmon '93-94. One of the 772 "superdelegates" at the convention, Harmon has been pressing the flesh and eagerly issuing invitations to various College Democrats of America parties from his office at Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Hilton. As president of College Democrats of America, Harmon is a member of the DNC and there-fore a superdelegate who can vote for any candidate in tomorrow's first ballot. Other delegates are pledged to vote for particular candidates.

Ethan Zindler '92 is another of the highest placed Harvard students here. An assistant press secretary for the Clinton Campaign, Zindler has coordinated press pools and traveled with the candidate.

This week, Zindler is "filling gaps" in the press office. His name appeared yesterday as the press contact on Hillary Clinton's schedule.

As the campaign progresses, Zindler thinks he will eventually be coordinating some kind of "outreach to younger voters through media," which he sees as an important endeavor.

"We've been heading in the right direction, doing MTV, the Arsenio Hall Show and other things," Zindler said.

Further down the ladder of Convention prestige (which hinges less on impressiveness of job title than on the lavishness of the parties the conventioneer can enter) is Brian J. Shortsleeve '95, a volunteer doing security work. Shortsleeve, who is working in Massachussetts Sen. John F. Kerry's office this summer, was given a blue blazer and told to direct traffic on the convention floor. Sean M. Becker '94 and Neil A. Cooper '91 are also working in convention security.

"It's not a big deal job," Cooper said. He said he hopes to join the Pennsylvania Clinton campaign after the convention.

While most Harvard students working here are attached to the Clinton Campaign or the National Democratic Party, Justin P. O'Brien '94 is with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' delegation. O'Brien is a summer intern with the Massachusetts Democratic Party and says he is doing "general interntype work" at the convention.

"It's crazy, but it's a lot of fun," O'Brien said of the festivities.

As the volunteer convention jobs get less important, the titles become more euphemistic. Jason M. Solomon '93, deputy magazine editor of The Crimson, said he is at the convention as a "shepherd." The job, according to Solomon, has nothing to do with sheep, but involves traveling with Clinton aide Bob Hattoy and making sure he gets to the right places on time.

Down there with the "shepherd" task is "visibility." Amy L. Busch '93 is "in visibility," one might say in coventionspeak. Although it sounds more like an attribute than a job, "visibility" is actually a task here at the convention. Busch's responsibilities consist of making sure the "Clinton for President" signs are not too bunched up in any one corner, but well distributed throughout the convention floor.

While Busch distributes the signs inside the convention arena, Stephen R. Kempf '92 will be selling T-shirts outside. In business with his brothers, Kempf has ordered 1200 shirts in eight different variations on the "top ten" theme. He expects the biggest sellers to include shirts listing the "top ten reasons Republicans are losers" and the "top ten lies told by George Bush" (lie number one: "I am not a wimp.").

With the different people and the various jobs come varying degrees of idealistic and material interest in the convention.

Gore and Harmon say they are driven by nothing less than a heartfelt desire to improve America.

"I'm here for one simple reason: I love my country," Gore said when Clinton announced his choice for the vice-presidency.

Gore went on to say that he wants to be part of Clinton's efforts toward "getting the country moving in the right direction again" through "responsible change."

Harmon has a mission almost as high-flown. He said he sees the convention as an opportunity for showing people that politics can be positive. Politics, Harmon said, are "a way to really change things."

Ideas are also what moved Cooper to get involved in the convention. "I'm attracted to Clinton and I'm attracted to the issues he's talking about," Cooper said.

"I had to do something to get Bush out of here," said Cooper, a former president of College Democrats of America.

Less politically driven is Solomon, who said he is shepherding because he is "just looking for an excuse to hang around."

Solomon said he has "no ideological motives." What brought him to New York, he said, was an attraction to the "weird sort of excitement in the air."

And, as any economist will confirm, money can be a motivation. If they sell enough of their T-shirts, Kempf and his brothers stand to make a $9000 profit in the next four days. That's enough to lure Kempf temporarily from his regular job at Salomon Brothers ta Wall Street investment firm.

Ideology is not a factor for Kempf, either.

"It's just business," he said.