Republican National Convention

You just have to spell it out for some people

TAMPA -- Republicans know, don't they, what GOP really means: Grand Old Party, the Republican Party's 125-year-old nickname.

But at least one major newspaper has nixed GOP. In a recent memo sent out to its staff, the Wall Street Journal said it will no longer use the term GOP on its pages: "Because the short form may seem baffling (or even spin-doctored) to some new readers, we want to avoid its use in articles and headlines."

Which brings up this question: If the Republicans bring their national convention to Tampa in 2004, will the letters GOP be DOA, or A-OK?

Tampa's resounding answer: Huh?

In a random, very unscientific sampling by a Times reporter of 20 folks walking the streets of Tampa, only six knew what the initials GOP stood for. Math teachers will tell you that six out of 20 equals 30 percent, and civics teachers will tell you that 30 percent is lousy.

Jen Shamro, a 20-year-old, pink-haired clerk at Borders Books & Music, jokingly guessed Good Old People.

Mike Michelle, 34, guessed Government Of the People.

Why? "It's not the name that makes a difference; it's the people," he said.

Ryan Tyler, an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of South Florida, was close. "I should know this because I'm a political science major," he said. "I know it's Government and Party. I'm just trying to figure out what the O is for."

Told what it actually stands for, Tyler groaned. "That doesn't make any sense," he said.

The poli-sci student has a point. Exactly what does Grand Old Party mean?

The term dates back to the 1870s, when the phrase "this gallant old party" was entered into the Congressional Record. A newspaper in Cincinnati is said to have first used the term "Grand Old Party" in 1876.

Ironically, the Republican Party is less the GOP than it is the NKOTB -- the New Kid On The Block. The GOP was founded in 1854, some 22 years after the modern Democratic Party.

Throughout the years, Republicans have adopted several new, but not necessarily improved, meanings for GOP. Among them: Get Out and Push, Generation of Peace, and even GO Party.

Of the 20 people surveyed, none thought it made a difference whether Republicans were known as the GOP.

"It's like Classic Coke -- everybody knows Coke," said Rhonda Kitchens, a librarian at the government reference desk at the John F. Germany Library downtown, who of course knew what GOP stands for. "It's kind of superfluous.

"Now the Democrats," she said, "they might want to think about a change."

April Schiff, president of Tampa Republican Women Federated, wasn't shocked by the ignorance surrounding GOP.

"To some extent, that doesn't really surprise me," Schiff said. "I think it is archaic, and I think that because it doesn't get used as much as it used to, normal people who aren't really involved in the party wouldn't know what it means."

It does all seem to be ancient history to today's voters, even the ones like Sam Hayes, who knew what GOP means.

"They're all liars," Hayes, 70, said of both Democrats and Republicans. "I just vote for the one that tells the better lies."

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