August 19, 2008 7:59 AM
Lessons of 1992
Today we present chapter seven of the Rocky Mountain News' "Unconventional Wisdom" series, featuring some notable characters of past Democratic National Conventions offering their advice for Sen. Barack Obama, convention organizers, the city of Denver and average voters watching at home.
To follow the entire series, bookmark this link HERE. And keep checking back.
Part 7 of 10
Jerry Brown, New York 1988
The story by M.E. Sprengelmeyer is HERE.
The video by Judy DeHaas is HERE.
The transcript of the Brown interview is HERE.
Portraits are by Chris Schneider.
Below is a bit of the back story on the making of the 1992 chapter.
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One of the more surprising challenges of the "Unconventional Wisdom" series was getting the fast-moving Jerry Brown to sit still long enough to talk to us about the 1992 Democratic National Convention.
He's a man in motion, a human electron.
And we wanted to ask why it took the unseemly spectacle of his supporters chanting "Let Jerry speak! Let Jerry speak!" for him to be given even a few minutes at the podium following his runner-up primary campaign in 1992.
Some people mistakenly think Jerry Brown retired to the "Where Are They Now?" file after that, his third run for president -- or perhaps after his stint as Oakland's colorful mayor.
But his famously eclectic resume now includes his current job as Attorney General of California. And when we caught up with him this spring he was in the middle of a buzz-storm over his flirtation with another possible run for Governor in 2010.
Yes, that's right. Brown might try to become both the once and future "Governor Moonbeam."
So when we caught up with him in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., he kept getting pulled away, this way and that, by others who also wanted to let Jerry speak - to them.
We finally dragged him into a makeshift studio for a rapid-fire interview. He had so little time that I tossed out all my carefully written questions.
"What's this about?" he asked.
"Let Jerry speak," I said. "We want to hear about 'Let Jerry speak.'"
"Got it," he said. "Go."
And then, much to my surprise, this very distracted, veteran politician and activist, focused like a laser beam - or maybe it was like a moon beam.
He started talking - quite rapidly - about the events of 1992. He anticipated every one of the follow-up questions that had been on my discarded list of pre-scripted questions. I jumped in a few times. But mostly we just watched him vamp.
Although Jerry Brown was the only one of our interview subjects who didn't sit still for a full hour - it was more like six minutes - it turned out to be one of the more focused, on-point interviews we conducted.
And when the video camera stopped, he bolted out of his chair, slowed only long enough for photographer Chris Schneider to fire off a few frames, and then he was gone - down a hallway, up the stairs, and back to the lobby where everyone, it seems, wanted to let Jerry speak.
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