Campaign Central : Dole to Respond to Clinton at County Fairgrounds Today

COSTA MESA —  A crew of 50 was finishing the transformation late Thursday of the rodeo arena at the Orange County Fairgrounds, turning it from a setting for horse play into one for political showmanship.

The Republican presidential ticket of Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, their wives and Gov. Pete Wilson will climb into the 8,000-seat horse ring this morningto respond to the acceptance speech President Clinton delivered last night before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The selection of Orange County as the response site for the national GOP campaign says something about the power of the Republican Party here and its ability to draw a loyal crowd.

“If they can’t get 8,000 people here, then there’s no use running,” said Aaron Goffman, who was putting together the special effects for the rally. Goffman, and his Hollywood-based Special Effects Unlimited, are behind the two “sky sox” that will rise 30 feet into the air, spewing multicolored confetti at the climax of the Dole presentation.

While the rally is politically crucial to the GOP ticket, it is just another show business venue to the crew, much of them drawn from the entertainment industry. They were busy in the blazing sun all day Thursday, setting up lighting, sound systems and stages, hanging bunting and flags and calculating the precise position of the sun when Dole speaks sometime between 8:45 a.m. and 9:15 a.m.

“The Dole campaign told us they wanted something big, incredible,” said Detra Palmore of Abbey Rents, which was hired by the campaign to stage the event. “They wanted a red-white-and-blue, ring-out-the-band kind of look.”

The key to that, of course, was festooning the white arena with red and blue bunting. The sky sox--similar to the dancing human figures used in the Olympic closing ceremonies--will also be in patriotic colors.

Members of a five-person campaign advance team arrived early this week to begin the planning for the rally. Orange County’s Republican Party, given the task of turning out the faithful, organized a phone tree in an effort to reach every one of the 15,000 activists and volunteers on the database at the county headquarters and urge them to attend, said Executive Director Bill Christiansen.

The local GOP has asked all Republican elected officials to turn out supporters on their own lists and the Dole campaign is buying time on talk radio to publicize the event, Christiansen said.

“We are trying to catch folks before they get out of town for Labor Day,” said Christiansen. “The response has been overwhelming.”

Dole himself put in a phone call to County GOP Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes on Wednesday to spark Republican troops, Fuentes said.

Preparations at the arena were painstaking as well. The stage was placed at the west end of the ring, facing east, so the sun will rise in Dole’s face. To ensure that the lighting will be perfect, Buster Akrey of Buster Lighting design in Thousand Oaks set up a sundial at 7 a.m. Tuesday to track how shadows would fall during Dole’s time on stage.

To aid the natural light, Akrey also has added a bank of lights on dimmers that will be timed to fill in the shadows as the morning sun rises.

The show will cost about $40,000, organizers said. Original plans to release balloons were abandoned because of the proximity to John Wayne Airport. Instead, there will be a skywriting show during the two-hour event. A seven-piece jazz band will add to the festivities.

Dole and his wife, Elizabeth, arrived in Orange County by plane Thursday evening after a campaign stop in San Luis Obispo. Kemp and his wife, Joanne, are staying in Laguna Beach at the home of Kemp’s brother, Tom.

Gates open at 7:30 a.m. and seating is open. In addition to the 8,300 seats in the stands, there will be room for 2,000 more people in the horse ring. The event is scheduled to run from 8:15 to 10:15 a.m. Parking is off of Fair Drive.

After the show, Bob Dole will head to Albuquerque, N.M., for an afternoon rally and Elizabeth Dole flies to New Orleans for an evening event. Jack and Joanne Kemp were scheduled to remain in Orange County with no additional campaign events today.