SEEING DAN RATHER IN ACTION WORTH THE RED-EYE FLIGHT.

Byline: Richard Katz

I guess good things come to those who fly ``red-eye.'' First, when you arrive at any city at 5 o'clock in the morning, there are no lines for baggage claim, cabs or hotel check-ins.

Second, the humidity in Chicago is just as bad as, but at least not worse than, in the San Fernando Valley.

And third, upon arrival with really red eyes, I was treated to a public policy seminar hosted by Walter Shorenstein and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

The session involved a debate about media information technology and its impacts on politics.

The moderator was Marvin Kalb, former CBS correspondent and now head of the Shorenstein Center for Media and Public Policy, and participants included Dan Rather and the CEOs from MCI and Time Warner, two of the largest multimedia corporations in the world.

The premise of the corporate chiefs was that the public should have endless options in obtaining news, and that they were just the people to provide them.

But Dan Rather cautioned of the necessity for accountability.

He gave the example of an international company doing business with China: A reporter for one of the company's media subsidiaries does an unfavorable story on China.

The parent company wants the reporter to apologize. What and who in this scenario serves the public interest?

Rather's point was well received by other media types in the audience, including Larry King and Bernard Shaw of CNN.

Following the seminar, I had the opportunity to meet with Rather. If I were to describe him in a word, it would be ``poised.''

The big noontime concert Sunday was the talk of the convention. Headlined by Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Bonnie Raitt, it was best described as a great big flashback, starting with the cast from ``Hair'' performing ``Let the Sunshine In.''

Hosted by our own state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, many saw this as a massive media event focused on Tom's search for the meaning of life in Chicago 28 years later.

I also attended a reception in the afternoon with Vice President Al Gore, sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

I ran into several friends from home, among them Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who told me that he's impressed with the unity, focus and determination he is seeing at the convention.

Zev is a veteran of numerous conventions, so that's no small tribute.

He said our delegates are exuding a strong sense of confidence in our ability to win both congressional and state legislative races this year.

Veteran Congressman Henry Waxman and I also chatted for a short time at the AIPAC event.

He applauds the stand President Clinton took last week against the tobacco industry. Henry has been a longtime anti-smoking advocate and was, in fact, thanked for all his efforts in the president's speech Friday.

Henry and I are both looking forward to issues that will be discussed, including the president's expansion of the Brady bill, which is expected to include a ban on handguns for those who have been convicted of domestic abuse.

I always like to contrast Clinton's goal to put 100,000 more cops on the streets and Bob Dole's aim to put more assault weapons on the streets.

I can't remember the last president so willing and aggressive in taking on the nation's most powerful special interests: from his move to crack down on the tobacco industry last week to his expected announcement today to take on the NRA.

Once again, he proves that he is fighting on behalf of the public's safety.

Last night, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange hosted a huge special reception just for the California delegation.

I'll be speaking to the California delegation first thing this morning, and we have just heard that Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, whose district includes the San Fernando Valley, has been added as a speaker at the podium on Wednesday or Thursday.

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