Democrats' extravaganza, as seen from living rooms across the US

There are plenty of rave reviews in southern California for the Democrats' spectacular up north, but not many are coming from the increasingly influential Latino community here.

Some Hispanics, in fact, bore cynicism toward the party - despite the fact that there are 345 Hispanic delegates at the convention and Hispanic leaders are more prominent this year than ever before.

A real estate broker on the east side of Los Angeles, who is a Mexican immigrant, sums up what many Latinos are saying: ''I'm really disappointed with the Democratic Party for not stopping Simpson-Mazzoli,'' the proposed immigration reform bill moving through Congress.

''I think this is one of those conventions that isn't very exciting to our community,'' says Pete Moraga, news director at KMEX-TV, a Spanish-language Los Angeles station. ''There is really only one issue that the Latino community is interested in, and that's Simpson-Mazzoli.''

Does the San Francisco gathering put a united face on the Democratic Party?

''They look unified,'' says Daniel Saenz, a Los Angeles city employee and a Latino neighborhood activist. ''I don't think in actuality they are unified. It's a show, and a lot of things are rehearsed.''

Newsman Moraga says it wouldn't surprise him if Reagan carried 50 percent of the Latino vote in California.

A Los Angeles television producer had a very different response. ''I'm a Democrat. I was going to vote Republican'' until after Jackson's speech Tuesday night, says David Goldsmith, a senior vice-president with Gaylord Productions.

''It got my vote back for the Democratic Party, because it was not about issues, but about the idea of what the Democratic Party is all about, which is why I'm a Democrat in the first place.''

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