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The nominee's show must go on

Politico-producer team out to make convention a hit with media, voters

By Lisa Bornstein, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 6, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Ricky Kirshner, executive producer of the convention, left, and Mark Squier, Democratic party political strategist, in the control room that will become DNC central at the Pepsi Center.

Photo by Linda Mcconnell / Special To The Rocky

Ricky Kirshner, executive producer of the convention, left, and Mark Squier, Democratic party political strategist, in the control room that will become DNC central at the Pepsi Center.

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The Democratic National Convention Committee didn't wait for candidate input before designing the huge podium to be in the Pepsi Center in August.

Good choice. They had the podium design ready in February, while the Democrats continue to sort out who will be the party's nominee.

"In this world we're in, where we don't know who the candidate is as of today, it's really helped," said Ricky Kirshner, who has produced every national convention since 1996 for the Democrats.

This year, he'll be joined for the first time by a co-producer. While Kirshner handles the production end, party strategist Mark Squier is responsible for crafting the political messages.

"This is my first sort of gig actually working in the guts of a convention," Squier said during an interview in the pair's downtown offices. "Whenever you're putting together the show, it sort of helps to have a political eye for the as- yet-unnamed candidate."

So far, they say, the partnership is mutually beneficial. "He'll e-mail me and say 'This band is coming,' and I'm like, 'I don't know who this is,' " Squier said. "And Ricky calls me after a primary and says, 'What does this mean?' "

The details of the convention spectacle - from concerts to gee-whiz technical bits - is kept under wraps until the last possible minute. But a big component of this summer's event will be the attempt to make it interactive.

"We're looking for ways to bring down the walls," Kirshner said.

In addition to the professional bloggers who have applied for media passes, a 50-state "blogger corps" will allow one blogger to sit with each state delegation.

The convention also will incorporate text messaging, Squier said, in an attempt to create "a two-way street."

And, much like Howard Dean did last week on The Daily Show, they insist that the lengthy candidate selection process is a bonus. The timing of the convention is now being cast by Squier as a kickoff for the fall. And because it runs adjacent to the Republican convention, he said, it helps the Democrats to "avoid swift-boating," or being sabotaged during the time between conventions.

The reality, though, requires double- planning the convention. One scenario assumes that a nominee is in place before the convention begins. The other assumes a convention where the business includes picking a nominee, which makes it difficult to fine-tune the message.

"That's a big imprimatur from the nominee," Squier said. "But you can pretty much guess that change will be in there."

Either way, it'll mean plenty of business for local theatrical production. In Boston, more than 50 percent of production money was spent locally (the committee will not release any Denver financials). At least one local scene shop will be used, although the contract hasn't been offered yet, and the convention will use 25,000 hours of labor by local stagehands.

Alvarado Construction is doing the Pepsi Center build-out - it gets access to the Pepsi Center on July 7 - much of which involves providing tents and infrastructure for the 15,000 journalists expected.

"No matter how good a convention you do," Kirshner said, "if the media is not happy, you didn't have a good convention."

bornsteinl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5101

The producers

The Democratic National Convention will have co-producers for the first time, one for production, one for political message. A look at their backgrounds:

* Ricky Kirshner: If it was a live show on TV, chances are Kirshner produced it. His work includes Prince's performance at the 2007 Super Bowl halftime show, Tony Awards, Rose Parade and every Democratic National Convention since 1996.

* Mark Squier: The media and political consultant has worked on Democratic campaigns for Tom Harkin, Bob Graham and Ann Richardson, among others. He also worked on Howard Dean's presidential campaign and DNC chairman campaign. Squier has a master's degree from the American Film Institute.