Wednesday night, for example, Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) emerged from the Government Affairs suite and scurried toward the delegate area. "I just came by to see an old friend," Bliley told Mother Jones. That old friend, he said, is Capital Cities/ABC Inc. lobbyist Bill Pitts.

As chair of the House Commerce Committee, Bliley was responsible for ushering this year's sweeping telecommunications bill through the House. One issue Congress has yet to resolve is whether broadcast networks such as ABC be allowed to retain public airwave space valued at an estimated $70 billion.

Throughout the evening, traffic at the ABC suite included everyone from House Majority Leader Dick Armey to caterers carrying 12-pound turkeys on silver trays. (Armey declined to give the reason for his visit to ABC.)

An ABC employee who would not give her name also refused to comment on what took place in the heavily guarded suite, saying only, "We're not doing news." When asked if the suite was being used for lobbying, she replied "No comment."

How did the lobbying arm of ABC get such a prime location on the convention floor--in an area supposedly reserved for journalists and delegates? David Holmes, director of the House Periodical Press Gallery, who has worked at every Democrat and Republican convention since 1976, says the Republican National Convention is responsible for accrediting the network news organizations and C-Span. "Instead of news gathering, corporate affairs is located on the floor of the Convention. I'm amazed that they've allowed it," says Holmes.

But how did ABC lobbyists get the difficult-to-obtain floor credentials required for entry to the convention? "I assume," says Holmes, "that the network is passing the news credentials on to [the lobbyists]. I don't know that for sure, but they had to get on the floor somehow." (The Republican National Convention did not return phone calls by presstime.)

The split between the network's lobbying and news gathering operations is being highlighted by the efforts of Brian Ross, an ABC News investigative correspondent at the convention. Ross is working on assignment for ABC, investigating how companies, including Big Media, use the convention to lobby for corporate interests. Last night, his investigation led him to the ABC Government Affairs suite. "ABC News asked me to do this story," Ross says. "This is my best judgment as to what the story is."

Ross was greeted at the ABC suite with the same tight-lipped security faced by this reporter. "I'm as locked out as you are," he says. "They won't talk to me."

Ross did, however, succeed in ambushing ABC's lobbyist and pressing him about the network's lobbying presence at the convention.

Ross and his producer, Sarah Koch, claim that ABC will air their story tonight--including their revelations about the network itself. In the segment, ABC will be shown "eating our own," as Koch puts it.

"I believe I'm fully backed by the management of ABC News," says Ross. "There's a lot at stake for the broadcast industry. It's one of the principal industries that has a need to lobby members of Congress."

ABC may not be the only network accommodating its lobbyists on the floor of the GOP Convention. Just across from ABC, although less conspicuous, is what appears to be the CBS lobbying suite. Asked if the suite was being used to lobby lawmakers, a woman standing guard at the entrance would not confirm, but said, "We're not saying no."

The use of prime convention space by network lobbyists may be most disturbing to the independent television organizations present at the convention. Unlike the giant, two-story structures allotted to the networks, with a perfect view of the main stage and speaker's podium, independents such as Fox have small peripheral booths, some as far as 430 feet back from the convention floor, with virtually no view of the stage.

This perhaps is the only thing more obvious than the Dole/Kemp confirmation at the 1996 Republican Convention: Those with the most bucks get the best view.