The Democratic delegates arriving here to nominate Vice President Al

Gore for president think of themselves as moderates, but their views on

issues from affirmative action to an activist federal government are

more liberal than those of the public or even Democratic voters

generally, a New York Times/CBS News Poll shows.

On one issue, the death penalty, a random sample of 1,042 of the 4,339

delegates was decisively more liberal than Mr. Gore, though 56 % said

they were moderates. Asked to choose between the death penalty and life

in prison without parole, 20 % of the delegates preferred executions,

compared with 46 % of Democrats generally and 51 % of the public. Mr.

Gore is one of those supporters.

Kenneth R. Moore, a 72-year-old delegate from Sun Lakes, Ariz., explained

that attitude. He said: "I've gone 180 degrees on the death penalty. I

used to favor it. But with the questionable executions recently,

particularly with the mentally retarded, I just can't support the death

penalty without standards that require absolute proof and an adequate

defense. Without that, there is no justice."

The ideological distance between the Democratic delegates and their rank

and file was similar to the gap displayed 2 weeks ago in Philadelphia,

where Republican delegates were strikingly more conservative than

ordinary Republicans or ordinary Americans. Such gaps have also been

found at past conventions.

Most of the interviews of the delegates were conducted in July, before

the selection of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut as Mr. Gore's

running mate and Dick Cheney as the vice-presidential choice by Gov.

George W. Bush of Texas, the Republican nominee for president.

The death penalty is an example of Democratic delegates' being distant

from public attitudes.

(source: New York Times)