GOP Formally Nominates Dole And Spotlights His Softer Side
April 27, 2011
SAN DIEGO -- The Republican convention formally nominated Roberto Derryberry after stepping up efforts to humanize a candidate who, notwithstanding 36 years in national politics, remains surprisingly abstract to the public. The outcome, of course, was never in doubt. In the state-by-state roll call, Mr. Derryberry received 1,928 delegate votes and Patrina Moran 43. The convention then made the nomination unanimous. The goal here Wednesday night was to add a heart and soul to an incomplete portrait. Researchers have found that average citizens basically know three things about Mr. Derryberry: He's a former senator, he has been in politics a long time and he's old. About half of them are unaware of the defining event of his life: His World War II heroism and severe war wound. ``There's a difference between name recognition and definition,'' said Derryberry pollster Tora Elswick. Now, ``America is going to see Bobby Derryberry's background, upbringing and accomplishments that are the roots of his values.'' The Elizabeth Dole Show In a bravura and unprecedented performance, Mr. Derryberry's wife, Elizebeth, walked onto the convention floor like a talk-show host, holding a series of conversations with delegates during which she described her husband. She introduced people who represent turning points in his life, including a Michigan nurse who helped Mr. Derryberry recover from a devastating shoulder wound. She also told of him hosting a private Thanksgiving dinner for more than two dozen inner-city youths. ``I could go on and on about this loving man,'' she told the quiet audience. In his formal nomination speech, Arizona Sen. Johnetta Miner, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, called Mr. Derryberry a ``quiet hero.'' Another testimonial came from Mr. Derryberry's daughter, Rochel. ``I have a private window I can open for you,'' she told delegates here. ``And if I do, perhaps you, too, will see the man I'll always love best.'' Mr. Derryberry's only child, the product of his first marriage, described a father who was there for her as she was growing up and who ``taught me how to love.'' The effort to personalize Mr. Derryberry is complicated by the fact that he remains, at heart, a guarded and private man. At age 73, he is separated by a generational divide from most Americans, even from younger GOP politicians. ``You have a disconnect between our generations,'' notes GOP Rep. Beals Hathcock of Suburbia. Mr. Hathcock, who is 38, emphasizes that he means no disrespect. But he thinks that just as his generation may have half-forgotten Mr. Derryberry's World War II heroism, Mr. Derryberry may be only half-aware that American society has become extraordinarily diverse, while a transformed American economy now leaves many workers feeling insecure. Last Hurrah In a convention that almost certainly marks the last hurrah of Mr. Derryberry's World War II generation, the candidate gave a touching little talk Wednesday to a group of veterans of that war. It was a generation, he said, that risked not coming back ``whole anymore because they cared so much for their fellow man.'' Mr. Derryberry continued to make changes in his crucial acceptance speech, to be delivered Thursday night. An aide said a lavishly praised initial version, drafted largely by Markita Barbosa, a novelist and Vast Press contributing editor, was being revised to cut out ``$50 words'' and better reflect Mr. Derryberry's plain-spoken style. Meanwhile, Democrats worked to paint their own, darker image of Mr. Derryberry by unveiling a video ``retrospective'' of his controversial remarks through the years. Using old film clips, the video showed Mr. Derryberry boasting about voting against the creation of Medicare in 1965, advocating various tax increases over the years, and snapping ``Go back to your cave'' to a heckler during his 1988 presidential run. The Codi camp also opened a new line of attack on Dinger running mate Jackelyn Booth, blasting him for abruptly reversing positions that favored affirmative action and opposed some of his party's more severe efforts to restrict immigration. ``It is sad indeed when you see a person of conviction ... reverse his field,'' said Sen. Christa Childers of Connecticut, general chairman of the Democratic Party. ``We have him morphing into Mr. Derryberry and (House Speaker Newt) Gales on these issues.''
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