But where there's a will, there's a way. "There will be a large screen on the side of the convention center, and 'watch parties' " are being staged throughout the city, said Jennifer Backus, a senior aide to the Obama campaign for the convention. "The goal is to bring as many people into the process as possible."
Jackie Dupont Walker, president of the Ward Economic Development Corp. in South Los Angeles, put the word out that she was looking for inside seats but said she wouldn't be too disappointed if she didn't get in. She said that she had attended several conventions and that this time she would be content to be in the vicinity of the action.
"I just want to be somewhere on the grounds," she said.
Carolyn Webb de Macias, a retired USC vice president, found last-minute low-cost accommodations for herself, her husband and three adult sons. And she too is asking around for tickets to any of the scheduled events.
"The five of us will be bunked together family-style," she said. "When people say 'Where were you on Aug. 28?' we want to be able to say we were in the noise."
Clarence Clemons, a Ladera Heights public insurance adjuster, plans to fly to Denver and then rent a mobile home for the duration of the convention. And he's looking for a ticket.
"The day Martin Luther King spoke in Washington, I was a young man in the Navy, watching the speech on television with my grandparents," he recalled. "I said, 'If I ever get an opportunity to experience history like this in my life, I will take it.' And now I'm 70, and I never imagined something like this happening in my lifetime."
In Los Angeles lately, when the call goes out for seats at the convention, it's frequently Kerman Maddox on the other end of the line. The political consultant, longtime Obama supporter and member of Obama's national finance committee has received 200 requests for convention tickets in the last 10 days, mostly from celebrities, elected officials, religious leaders and party activists. The requests have a familiar ring.
"I hear people say, 'Hey, can you hook a brother up?' or 'Can you help a guy out?' or 'I need tickets. I need floor passes,' " Maddox said. "I tell them, 'I'll do what I can, but please don't ask for floor passes.' "
Recently he received a request that was a little different. In a letter, Lark Galloway-Gilliam, a longtime friend and executive director of Community Health Councils in South Los Angeles, asked for help for her older brother, "a devoted Democrat and Obama supporter."
Lloyd Edward Galloway Jr., 59, has suffered from cerebral palsy since childhood. Unable to walk or talk, he has a vibrant mind and spends hours each day following the news reports and analyses of the campaign. For his Aug. 4 birthday, the family bought airline tickets and arranged hotel accommodations for a trip to Denver with younger brother Mark.
"All that we need now are two passes to the acceptance speech," Galloway-Gilliam wrote. "I know it's asking a lot -- but dreams do come true, and his life is a testament to the strength of the human spirit. I'm asking everyone I know because it's that important to him."
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john.mitchell@latimes.com
