July 13, 1992

The Double Bubba ticket, as it is called, swept into New York over the weekend, determined to refashion the Democratic Party in its own white, moderate, male, youthful, smoothly ambitious image. Conventions are no longer arenas of action and decision. They are, instead, meticulous Kabuki dramas in which the candidates enact the themes they want to sell to the voters in November. In this week's coronation of Gov. Bill Clinton and Senator Al Gore at Madison Square Garden, the liberal special interests who have forced the Democratic nominee to kowtow and bargain in the past are being shoved out of the spotlight.

Delay in Russian Aid A $6 billion fund to help stabilize the ruble will probably not be set up until early next year, months later than planned, an official said. Page A8. Chips Across the Waters A bitter rivalry is turning into an alliance, with Toshiba of Japan and Siemens of Germany joining I.B.M. in developing memory chips. Page D1. Food and Tears in Bosnia United Nations trucks brought supplies to a grateful Sarajevo suburb that has been the site of a deadly siege-within-a-siege. Page A6. A Street of Despair The 5,000 people who live on West 162d Street, where violence erupted last week, offer a glimpse into the soul of Washington Heights. Page B7. Hooks's Blunt Farewell Presiding over his last N.A.A.C.P. convention, the civil rights leader assailed the Republicans. Page A10.

Two weeks ago, one of the largest earthquakes in California history slammed through the Mojave Desert, leaving one person dead, hundreds injured and scores of scientists astonished and shaken. Astonished because this earthquake did weird things, like setting off earthquakes more than 500 miles to the north, ripping across four existing faults to make a single larger fault, and helping give rise to a new tectonic system that is shearing California away from the rest of North America and nudging it toward Alaska.

Before the Camera Blinks, Convention Goes On Again As the television networks open live coverage of the Democratic National Convention, more and more viewers are skipping the blandly staged affair. Experts say this may be the last time it is broadcast live. Page B1. A New Hillary Clinton After being a lightning rod and attracting several bolts early in the campaign, the candidate's wife returns to the floodlights with her public persona fine-tuned. Page B1. New York, New York The place the Democrats chose for their convention will have on its best attire, but it may still play to images they have tried to shed. Page B5. Let the Social Whirl Begin With everything about the convention already decided, delegates are starting their days of fun. Page B3. Diary of a Convention Day 1: Plans are set, but liberal leaders feel slighted and are fuming in the corners. Page B1.

Playing in a rarified zone that kept him impervious to pressure, cigar-smoking Larry Laoretti put together the performance of his heretofore obscure life today to run away with the United States Senior Open. In the improbable tradition of underdog victors like Jack Fleck in the 1955 United States Open -- but graced for the last two rounds with the kind of unerring control made famous by Ben Hogan -- Laoretti shot an airtight three-under-par 68 on a damp Saucon Valley Country Club course. He finished with a 72-hole total of nine-under-par 275, four shots better than Jim Colbert.