Democratic National Committee

When he was 14 and a "snot-nosed kid" as he recalls, Will Robinson was stumping in Delaware County for former U.S. Rep. Robert W. Edgar, a Democrat. Now, as campaign director of the Democratic National Committee, Robinson has moved way beyond the campaign phone banks and envelop-stuffing lines, but he still appreciates the political importance of Delaware County. Robinson, 31, returned to the county Tuesday to address the Haverford Township Democratic Committee and boost the candidacy of Allen Polsky, who is trying to unseat State Rep. Stephen F. Freind, a Republican.

Marcel Groen, chief of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee for 10 years, has been elected to the party's national committee. Groen, 58, of Abington, was given a seat on the Democratic National Committee by members of the state Democratic Committee in early June. He is one of eight Pennsylvanians chosen to serve on the national committee. Montgomery County is the third-largest county in the state in population, and Groen said he ran for the seat because the county needed representation at the national level.

Vice President Gore addresses senior citizens and local Democratic leaders at the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades hall in Northeast Philadelphia. Gore, who was in town to attend a fund-raising dinner last night for the Democratic National Committee, delivered a harsh attack on Bob Dole. Dole's wife, Elizabeth, made a brief appearance in Jeffersonville, Montgomery County.

The Oct. 30 Philadelphia debate among the eight Democratic presidential candidates will take place at Drexel University. Philip Terranova, the university's vice president for university relations, made the announcement Friday morning. Such details as the availability of tickets were not immediately available. The debate, which has been officially sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, will be produced by NBC News and televised on MSNBC.  

Whenever he needed help - financial help, at least - President Clinton could always count on Philadelphia. In 1996, when Clinton was running for reelection, Mayor Rendell and other Philadelphia Democrats raised close to $3 million for him. A year ago, when the Democratic National Committee was short of cash, Clinton picked up another half-million on a visit to town. Now, with Democratic congressional candidates around the country fighting for their survival in the wake of the impeachment inquiry that Clinton faces in the House, the President is coming again.

Following are the presidential preferences of delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions, as of Friday. Democratic super delegates - governors and members of Congress and the party's national committee - are included. DEMOCRATIC Bill Clinton 1,327.25 Paul Tsongas 529 Jerry Brown 271.25 Other 40. Uncommitted 531 Total 2,698.50 Needed to nominate 2,145.00 REPUBLICAN George Bush 963 Patrick Buchanan 54 Other 1. Uncommitted 7 Total 1,025 Needed to nominate 1,105 Fractions represent the votes of representatives from American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands and Democrats Abroad who are on the Democratic National Committee.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ronald H. Brown, whose stated goal is to win back white Southern swing voters who defected during the last three presidential campaigns, appointed a senior staff yesterday that largely represents the party's liberal wing. The only white Southerner named is Texan Jack L. Martin, who will serve in a limited capacity as a part-time adviser. All the other senior staff members are veterans of the past campaigns of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, former Sen. Gary Hart and Jesse L. Jackson.

Joan B. Kroc, the owner of the San Diego Padres baseball team, has given $1 million to the Democratic Party, the largest single donation ever. Kroc, a registered independent and an advocate of nuclear disarmament, said yesterday that the contribution was motivated by concern about the nation's direction during the Reagan administration. "I am turning to the Democratic Party for the positive, principled leadership we must have to restore America to its proper place as the foremost champion of peace and justice in the world," she said in a statement.

In a new campaign to push for Democratic mayoral victories around the country, the Democratic National Committee announced yesterday that it is putting its money and muscle behind the candidacy of John Street. Philadelphia is one of three cities - Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis are the two others - being targeted by the national committee as key mayoral races. National Democratic Committee Chairman Joe Andrew, at a news conference last evening at City Hall, hailed Street as "someone who is not only a mayor for the city of Philadelphia, but a leader for this country.

PENNSYLVANIA'S race for the U.S. Senate already has attracted the national political microscope, and that attention is sure to spread to the primary and general elections for governor. As a result, the candidates seeking to replace Gov. Rendell may spend as much time talking about national issues like health-care reform, financial oversight for Wall Street and climate change as they will on statewide topics. Attorney General Tom Corbett, the front-runner in the GOP primary for governor, took the national plunge last week on health-care reform.

The Oct. 30 Philadelphia debate among the eight Democratic presidential candidates will take place at Drexel University. Philip Terranova, the university's vice president for university relations, made the announcement Friday morning. Such details as the availability of tickets were not immediately available. The debate, which has been officially sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, will be produced by NBC News and televised on MSNBC.  

A dispute between the Democratic National Committee and Florida Democrats shows how broken the presidential primary system has become. The DNC ordered the Florida Democratic Party to move back its planned Jan. 29 primary or lose the state's 210 delegates to next year's party convention in Denver. The action is intended to prevent Florida and other states from leapfrogging ahead of traditional early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. If the Florida Democratic Party doesn't comply, it would turn the presidential primary in the nation's fourth-largest state into a meaningless "beauty contest.

Things seem fairly bleak for the Republicans. Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been hobbled, at least temporarily, by an indictment. Karl Rove may soon be indicted. Bill Frist faces an investigation of his stock sales. George W. Bush isn't getting any credit for the successes in Iraq, and his nomination of a certain Supreme Court nominee has been troubled from the get-go. Republicans and conservatives are bickering as never before. The Merlot Man, however, is another story. You may know him as Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Republicans and the Democrats broke fund-raising records this year, but for the first time since the mid-1970s, the Democratic National Committee raised more money than the Republican National Committee. The DNC reported yesterday that it raised $389.8 million from Jan. 1, 2003, to Nov. 22, 2004, compared with $385.3 million by the RNC. At least $23 million of the DNC's total comes from presidential nominee John Kerry's leftover primary money, while the RNC's total reflects $11.3 million that President Bush transferred to it from his primary campaign fund after the election.

Marcel Groen, chief of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee for 10 years, has been elected to the party's national committee. Groen, 58, of Abington, was given a seat on the Democratic National Committee by members of the state Democratic Committee in early June. He is one of eight Pennsylvanians chosen to serve on the national committee. Montgomery County is the third-largest county in the state in population, and Groen said he ran for the seat because the county needed representation at the national level.

He isn't the only man running for the Democratic presidential nomination who seems destined to lose, but no one stands to gain quite as much in defeat as the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York. The 48-year-old preacher, who has never won an election, is already being treated as a peer of candidates who have spent decades in national politics and elective office. And if he fares well, he could emerge as a leader of black Democrats and a national power broker, much as Jesse Jackson did two decades ago. Yet Sharpton also could aggravate tensions within the party and force its eventual nominee to navigate a racial fault line, paying heed to Sharpton while also coming to terms with his controversial past.

The skies above Jersey Shore towns such as Ocean City, Avalon and Cape May could be filled with airplanes towing "Rendell" and "Casey" banners this summer as Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaigns reach for vacationing voters. That's one small potential effect, some say, of a federal district court ruling last week throwing out the state's congressional redistricting map and the subsequent decision by Republican legislative leaders in Harrisburg to begin preparing to push back the May 21 primary.

Exploiting what regulators called a "gaping hole" in New Jersey's public-finance law, the Republican National Committee won the right yesterday to run campaign commercials supporting GOP gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler - potentially giving the GOP the edge in spending on TV ads in the governor's race. The state Election Law Enforcement Commission reluctantly ruled that national party committees, unlike state party committees, are not prohibited from making so-called independent expenditures that advocate the support or defeat of a gubernatorial candidate.

Upstaged by his cochairman, already thinking about his next race, Edward G. Rendell relinquished the general chairmanship of the Democratic Party yesterday, leaving the party grateful for his raising millions for Al Gore and resentful over his early call for Gore to concede the 2000 election. Rendell gave a brief speech at the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting, in which a Bill Clinton confidant and fund-raiser, Terry McAuliffe, was anointed the new chairman. Rendell spoke of his "wonderful memories" as titular head of a party that his late father - an Adlai Stevenson Democrat - so admired.