Atlanta often has hosted the Shriners, and, once every two years, Clemson fans come to town to watch their football team play Georgia Tech. 

And here's another thought: The Democrats long have been noted for their disorganization, and Atlanta isn't screwed on that tightly at the moment, either. 

We've got a mayor who spends more time in Africa than he does at City Hall, we've got taxicabs that couldn't qualify for the demolition derby and the city is growing so fast it looks like Sherman came back and this time he had bulldozers and jackhammers. 

And personally, I'd much rather cover a Democratic convention in Atlanta than a Republican convention. 

Republicans, compared to Democrats, are dull. At the Republican convention in Detroit in 1980, I noted all the Republicans seemed very happy and looked a lot alike. 
 

Boring GOP wears Guccis
 

The way I could pick out a Republican delegate was to see if he was wearing a sweater with the name of a country club embroidered on the front, or if she carried a Gucci bag and had a tan. 

The only real excitement at the Republican convention in 1980 was when a group of women, who didn't have Gucci bags or tans marched inprotest of the fact the Republicans hadn't included a pro-ERA plank in their platform. 

I didn't cover the march because I was afraid to, but my colleague, John Keasler, of the Miami News, did. 

When he returned, he had a hole in his jacket. 

"What happened to your jacket?" somebody asked him. 

"I was interviewing one of the marchers and she dropped her cigar on my jacket and burned a hole in it," he explained. 

Later in the summer, in New York, the Democrats got together and made the Republican gathering look like a Tupperware party. 
 

Skater runs into hairless man
 

Among the groups shouting and protesting and looking very unhappy were the no-nukes, gays-for-Kennedy, and defenders of baby whales. There was also a guy with orange hair who was roller-skating in front of the Statler Hilton Hotel - on behalf of roller skaters' rights, I presume - and crashed into a guy with no hair at all who was handing out Jews-for- Jesus pamphlets. 

I got a little crazy, too, and decided to interview a delegate from Guam who was wearing a straw hat. He didn't say anything that made very much sense, but he did thank me for being the first newsperson ever to interview anybody from the Guam delegation. 

I heard Jimmy Carter say "Hubert Horatio Hornblower" when he meant to say Hubert Horatio Humphrey; I saw Rosalynn Carter give Teddy Kennedy, who had challenged her husband for the nomination, a glare that would have put Kennedy in traction for six months, if looks could maim; and I paid $14 for a cheeseburger. 

Atlanta will have something like that for the Democrats in '88, too. 

Local restaurants will offer the same special for conventioneers they put on for Clemson fans: All the fried chicken you can eat for $69.95. 

Y'all come.