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MARK LEE AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTION

Editor's Note: Mark Lee was one of two Asian American delegates from Texas to the 1992 Democratic National Convention. The following is an interview with Mark about his experiences as a delegate.

Mark, I know you made being a delegate to the national convention one of your personal objectives this year. The delegate selection process took up the first part of the year. We were never really sure you would get selected. What part was the most nerve-wracking in terms of whether you could make that next hurdle to become a delegate?

Initially, as you know, we suspected the hardest part would be to move from the senatorial to the state convention. That was fairly easy. I was able to lobby most people individually to vote for me. The hardest part was moving from the state to the national. I knew hardly any of people at the senatorial district. I went to several caucuses, shook hands, announced the fact that I was going to run. And then when I showed up at the state convention and we had our caucus meeting, I was a little disappointed there was five other men running for the single male Clinton spot. I had my doubts I was going to win. I don't know if I was lucky or not. Perhaps, the other people were a little reluctant to speak in public and weren't quite as loud as I was.

When you were selected as a delegate at the state convention back in June, was the euphoria there greater than being in New York?

I think the sense of personal achievement was more at the state convention. I think I was just overwhelmed by just being at the national. The fact I was able to do it gave me a lift and a charge.

The convention lasted four days. Were you there at the convention hall most of that time? As a delegate you're not required to attend during the day time, just in the evening?

The convention basically started around five o'clock every evening and lasted until one. During the days, I would get up around eight in the morning and go to the APAC (Asian Pacific Advisory Council) breakfasts. They were sponsored by different Asian politicians from around the nation. They were at the Hilton. Then I came back and went to the Texas delegation breakfast. A couple of days I went to campaign forums, basically showing you how to campaign, get out the vote. I went to a couple of caucuses. I went to the Black Caucus one day. I attended the Asian American Issues forum one day.

So every day in the morning there was a delegation breakfast? What kinds of issues or topics were discussed?

Basically, they were like pep rallies. The delegation met every day at nine-thirty, three days at Days Inn and one day at Tavern on the Green. The first day was a reception sponsored by Arco. Basically, they went over the ground rules over how the convention was going to work. They told us what was going to happen on a particular day. Generally, there was a guest speaker. On Monday, Hilary Clinton came. Then the Clinton people had a caucus after that. The Brown and Tsongas people also had a caucus. On Tuesday, the breakfast was sponsored by Dan Morales at the Days Inn. Jay Rockefeller spoke. Alice, of course, got his autograph. Wednesday was sponsored by Bentsen. They had a lot of congressional people talking. Thursday, we ate at Tavern on the Green and Tipper Gore came by.

You were at the convention four evenings. Which one was the most exciting?

The most exciting evening was clearly the last evening when Gore and Clinton gave their acceptance speeches. There's a lot of electricity in the air. There was a lot of people packed in the hall. The first couple of days it was fairly easy to get a guest pass. In fact part of the hall was somewhat empty. The third day it was very difficult to get a seat or get a guest pass. The last night the convention basically let in all the staffers. There was no room. People were in the aisles. People were all charged up.

One of the things about the convention are the speeches they have every evening and during the day also. Tell me your impressions of the speeches. Besides the Clinton and Gore speeches, which ones were you most impressed with? Which ones did you find disappointing?

The two speeches I found most impressive were Mario Cuomo's speech, when he nominated Bill, and I also found Jesse Jackson's speech very moving. In my mind, they seemed to hit all the right notes. They fulfilled the soul of the Democratic Party. Among the disappointing speeches, I think, was Bill Bradley. Although I am a big fan of Bill Bradley, I was a little disappointed in his lackluster performance. He had good ideas, but he tended to drone on a little bit. I also was a little disappointed in Jimmy Carter's speech. I expected Jimmy to come back and be the elder statesman of the party, but I have a little difficulty remembering what Jimmy talked about.

It's ironic that you were most impressed with the Cuomo and Jackson speeches, since they represent the progressive wing of the Party which played somewhat of a minor role at the convention. Did you feel that the rest of the delegates were equally moved? Did they have the same impressions?

I think so. Those two speeches were the most roundly impressive speeches.

Do you think that was because Cuomo and Jackson are just good speakers oratorically? Or were the delegates responding also to the substance?

A little bit of both. Obviously, they are both very good speakers. I think the convention tended to be somewhat more progressive than the normal population. So I think they were moved by the message as well.

Definitely the Party wanted to project an image of unity. Tsongas came out and endorsed Clinton. Were there any hard feelings between the Clinton and Tsongas delegates?

Pretty much not. The media was looking for some area of controversy. But there really wasn't too much. The only controversial or more exciting part of the convention was the platform on Tuesday night. Basically, there were four Tsongas planks. There was some effort to lobby the Clinton people to sway over to those planks. But pretty much they went down the tube quickly. The other interesting aspect of the convention was the ruckus the Brown people were making. They had six hundred delegates there. Kind of rowdy.

When they were yelling "Let Jerry Speak!," what was the reaction on the floor from the other delegates? Were you just sitting back and letting them have their say?

I think people were saying let them vent their energies. I think a lot of the reaction of the delegates was let Jerry on. Let's get it over with.

Was there any change in atmosphere at the convention before and after Brown spoke? Whatever tension there was between the Brown and Clinton people . . .

That fairly well dissipated after Brown spoke. He didn't come out and endorse Clinton. But he got his say in. The Brown people were happy with that. They just wanted the candidate to have his say, get his message across. After he spoke and going into the fourth night, the Brown people were pretty quiet.

In encountering Asian Democrats from the other states, did you get a sense of how well they were organized in their respective states and can you make any evaluations as to how Asian American Democrats of Texas compare in terms of organization, where we seem to have some strengths or weaknesses?

I think the primary state where Asians are any force whatsoever was California, which had a very large Asian delegation. Maeley Tom (DNC member), Michael Woo is from out there, the individual from Cranston's staff--I don't remember his name right now-- they had a very large and well organized Asian delegation. Probably the reasons are they have a large Asian population out there and they also have politicians who are Asians elected out there, Mineta, Matsui, Michael Woo. In New York, there was not that many Asian delegates. I think Jacqueline Loo told me there were only ten Asian delegates from New York, which is surprisingly small. I would think it would have been much larger. Seemingly the Asian population in New York is no better organized than we are. There were eight delegates from Illinois. And they seemed fairly well organized. Texas was organized only because Bob and I knew each other.

You also mentioned that throughout the week of the convention there were Asian Pacific American functions that you were attending. Can you talk a little about them? Who organized them? What kinds of activities were going on?

There were Asian Pacific Advisory Council breakfasts every morning. The first morning was a breakfast hosted by Norm Mineta and Bob Matsui. Basically, we got together and laid out what the Asian agenda was for the convention. The second day March Fong Eu hosted a breakfast. Then the third day Michael Woo, city councilman from L. A., hosted a breakfast. David Dinkins was also there.

A couple of other interesting things that went on as far as Asian Pacific Americans went: There was an issues forum on Monday afternoon discussing the place of Asians in the Democratic Party and politics in general. I was a part of a roundtable discussion with the World Journal on Asian issues.

At the issues forum did the speakers come to any conclusions about what the status of Asian Americans was in terms of the political system?

I think the basic conclusion of the group was that Asian Americans really haven't found themselves in the political system. And they really need to get more involved in the system. That was the same discussion we had at the roundtable discussion. Michael Woo, myself, a delegate from New York was there, somebody from Cranston's staff was there, and Nancy Chen from Simon's staff was there. And the basic question the reporters were asking was what was the unifying issue for Asian Americans. I think everybody was struggling with what was the unifying issue. We mentioned things like glass ceiling, hate crimes, basic civil rights issues. We pretty much decided Asian Americans didn't have a unifying issue and maybe that was a part of the problem. We didn't have a unifying issue that moved people to get involved in the process.

How did Asian Pacific American delegates feel about the convention? Did they feel they were being included or did they feel they were still on the sidelines observing?

From the delegates I talked to and I did not talk to that many Asian American delegates, they were pretty much like myself. Everybody was pretty much mainstreamed, involved in the party already, so we didn't feel like we were being catered to as a group. There was a lot of Asian involvement, there was a lot of minority involvement in the Party. That's one of the contrasts I want to see when I observe the Republican Convention.

I'm talking to you in late July, early August. The readers of the newsletter won't be reading this interview until early October. I want to put you in the role of prognosticator. What do you see as any enduring significance of the convention over the next few months until October and the election?

I think the convention has set the tone for the campaign. Our party has been viewed as overly progressive in the past and this convention has moved the perception of the party toward the middle a little bit. Secondly, I think the other enduring thing is that they set out quite a few campaign themes that we will see up through October. Things like change. We're trying to portray ourselves as the party of Kennedy. We have a new generation of leaders. That is the role we see the party going. As opposed to the Republicans who are status quo and haven't got much done.

So do you come out of the convention relatively optimistic or somewhat ambiguous about the ticket?

I'm quite optimistic. Perhaps it's just a convention high. I think we have a real good chance in the fall. I'm personally real hopeful about our chances.

Personally, in terms of your own experience, what was the most valuable thing you brought back to Houston with you in terms of the convention experience?

Quite a few things. I learned a lot about how the party apparatus worked and that was very meaningful. Another thing, I met a lot of people and that networking and just getting involved with politicians and other people, who were politically active, was real important.¨