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Painting the town red, white, and blue
BY CHRIS WRIGHT

A starlit lobster dinner in the Boston Public Garden. A ball game at historic Fenway Park. A private, early morning shopping spree at famed Filene’s Basement.

Top city and state officials are pulling out all the stops this week in an effort to lure the Democratic National Convention to Boston in 2004. — AP, June 25

Top city and state officials pulled out all the stops to entertain Democratic National Convention attendees yesterday. Tom Harkin and Joseph Lieberman met at the Bull & Finch pub to guzzle free Sam Adams served by sexy Cheers cast member Kirstie Alley. Later, Harvard ROTC cadets took Harkin, Lieberman, and the guy who plays Norm rappelling down the side of the Green Monster. Meanwhile, Tom Daschle enjoyed unlimited Coolattas and scratched complimentary Set For Life tickets at the Davis Square Dunkin’ Donuts before being taken on a whirlwind tour of Heather Kahn’s wardrobe.

Celebrity chef Todd English prepared a special Boston Baked Bean brioche for Dianne Feinstein before whisking her off to Suffolk Downs, where she was invited to ride Papahoho in the fifth race, coming in a respectable seventh. Tom Menino played extreme frisbee on the MIT campus with members of the Ways and Means Committee, while Tom Birmingham took Jeanne Shaheen shopping at Frugal Fannie’s. That night, Dick Gephardt and David Bonior let their hair down with rocker Peter Wolf at ManRay’s Fetish Night. Toward the end of the evening, Gephardt was seen devouring Boston cream off the toes of local dominatrix Lavinia D’Fellaté.

Jane Swift put aside partisanship and took Jesse Jackson for a ride in a State Police helicopter. Meanwhile, Tom Finneran escorted Barbara Boxer to CMGI Field in Foxborough, where Boxer was happy to rub Ben-Gay onto the calves of New England Revolution defensive midfielder Rusty Pierce. The Appropriations Committee had tea at Matt Damon’s mother’s house, with each committee member receiving a free pair of boxer shorts autographed by the actor.

Edward Kennedy hosted a raucous cocktail party at the John Hancock building in the morning, and went on an all-expenses-paid "fact-finding mission" to the Golden Banana that afternoon. While on a tour of the Big Dig, Hillary Clinton fell headfirst into a hole and had to be rescued. Later, she picnicked at the Arnold Arboretum with members of Aerosmith. Christopher Dodd met with Bernard Law at his official residence for a lunch of Fenway Franks.

Al Gore spent much of the afternoon with Michael Dukakis, stuck on the Green Line between the Arlington and Copley stations. Later, the Gores met up with Seiji Ozawa, Mitt Romney, and Nomar Garciaparra at the avant-garde gallery Mobius, where they watched a nude-mime proto-feminist production of Oklahoma! Finally, rowdy conventioneers gathered at the FleetCenter to see Bill Bradley lead a Democratic XI to a 104-92 victory over the Boston Celtics.

Issue Date: June 27 - July 4, 2002
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