FOREIGN JOURNALISTS LOVE L.A.; BUT THE POLITICS?

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Credit the hoopla, the hustle and good ol' American hype.

For foreign journalists and dignitaries, the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles is - hands down - the greatest show on Earth.

``In Holland, it's unthinkable that the president comes out with lights and music and (there's) clapping for five minutes,'' said Martien Leenhouwers, a Dutch TV cameraman.

``It's unthinkable.''

Unthinkable too, for the visiting foreigners, is a two-party political system spending megamillions in election campaigns that last for years.

But that's America and an estimated 150 foreign news organizations have representatives in town to cover this week's event, fully aware that what shakes out here politically will affect the entire world.

``The United States is the only remaining superpower,'' said Mouafa Harb, bureau chief for Alhayat, a leading Pan-Arabic newspaper based in London. ``The American political process is the story for the Middle East.''

``It is not your regular international story - it affects the daily life you see in the headlines every day,'' he said.

Harb said Arabs are especially interested in whether Sen. Joseph Lieberman as a Jewish vice president with a record of supporting Israel would be moderate toward Arab states.

A chief issue for Japanese correspondents watching the race is whether Vice President Al Gore would, if elected president, cave in to union pressure to limit Japanese imports of steel and automobiles.

``The Japanese people are worried about Gore's stance on foreign trade policy,'' said Hiroyuki Nakagawa, Washington correspondents for Jiji Press, a Japanese wire service.

Nonetheless, Nakagawa said he was impressed with the party's open process of weeding out candidates. In Japan, it's done behind closed doors.

``We Japanese have been trying for years to make that process more transparent,'' he said.

Ni John Fru Ndi, national chairman of the Social Democratic Front in Camaroon, said he won his country's vote in 1992 but was robbed of the election and put in jail. The visitor to Los Angeles had a temporary pass to the convention. He said he was impressed by a free American press and wishes Africa could follow suit.

Some, however, see in America a land of contradictions with issues lurking in the Dark Ages.

``The American political process is strange,'' said Jolanda Polderman, 30, an editor for TV station SBS6 News from Amsterdam, Netherlands, bemoaning her greasy American breakfast.

In Holland, she said residents don't discuss welfare, drugs and hospital care. They have them all. And forget taxes. ``It's really funny for us,'' she said, ``because Dutch people rarely discuss taxes because if you're rich in Holland, you move abroad.''

``Americans are nuts,'' said Margriet Van der Linden, 30, an SBS6 television reporter who witnessed the Republican convention in Philadelphia. ``They dress up in elephant hats and yell for a guy who is for the death penalty.''

Whatever their political leanings, foreign visitors all seemed to love Los Angeles, its glamour, sunshine and beaches.

``I think it's terrific,'' Polderman said. ``Even the traffic in the morning, turning the radio on, we listen to Britney Spears the whole day.''