SAN DIEGO (AP)--Offering himself as a "bridge to a time of tranquility," Bob Dole accepted the GOP presidential nomination last night vowing to restore heartland values of faith and trust to a White House he called captive to elitists "who never sacrificed, never suffered."

In a dramatic Republican convention finale, Dole described himself to 1,990 delegates as the "the most optimistic man in America," and a candidate tested by poverty, war, disability and public service.

"Age has its advantages," the 73-year-old Kansan said, suggesting that, at the dawn of the new century, the cure to the nation's moral and social problems was a return to the values of his modest prairie upbringing.

"Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth," Dole said. "Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquility, faith and confidence in action. To those who say it was never so, that America has not been better, I say, you're wrong and I know because I was there. I have seen it. I remember."

Dole's address was the signature moment of a Republican National Convention that opened with a pointed abortion platform fight but closed in an atmosphere of nervous unity. His vanquished primary foes sat together in a VIP section, and joined Dole and running mate Jack Kemp on the podium at the close of his 57-minute speech.

The boisterous celebration sent Dole into the fall campaign against President Clinton with a jolt of enthusiasm but still as the underdog, an often uneven campaigner against a polished Democratic incumbent at a time of peace and low unemployment.

Looking to turn the tide, Dole delivered a scorching critique of the Clinton administration, faulting the president for raising taxes after promising to cut them, sitting idly by during an explosion of drug use and crime by America's youth and being captive to teachers unions at

SAN DIEGO, CALIF.--Ted Koppel succinctly summarized this week's Republican National Convention with a brave statement Tuesday night.

"This is a wonderful event for the Republicans, but it's not news," Koppel told a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter after announcing his decision to throw in the towel and go back to Washington for the rest of the week. Would that all journalists at the convention had the power of Koppel's convictions. But since they didn't--and since I got paid by a San Diego newspaper to stick around and watch--here's a sampling of the oddities you could find, media and otherwise, in and around the San Diego Convention Center this week.

Perks for the press appeared even before the convention began, in a blow-out party Saturday night for 5,000 on a peninsula jutting into San Diego Bay. This gala lasted from 6 until well after 11 p.m. The food never ran out, and the drinks flowed freely.

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