Posts tagged ‘Convention ’08’

Nominating Barack Obama

A Trickle Down Effect

I agree with the comments from my previous post on Hillary Clinton that, from the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, there is no divide. Nor is there a divide in the states where Obama won. Where the battles took place and where questionability remained were in the states where Hillary won. I can’t even begin to describe to you the amount of fighting and the amount of time wasted at the breakfast for the South Dakota delegation on Tuesday morning. I walked away from the breakfast feeling absolutely awful and almost disappointed in my delegation. That being said, any doubts about unity that remained on the lower delegate levels were completely gone by the time Obama was officially nominated this afternoon and part of that is due to the way delegates vote.

The official roll call is televised but that is not considered the official vote. Tuesday afternoon, the State party chairs were given manilla envelopes with the ballots and GPS locators in them. By 3:00 this afternoon, all delegates had to have voted, publicly signed their names next to Obama or Clinton, and collectively turned in their votes to the DNC. This means that nearly everyone voted in their pajamas at breakfast this morning. How’s that for a visual? As of Tuesday night, over half of the delegates were Hillary supporters and just under half were for Obama. Today’s vote, from the South Dakota delegation however went 17-5 for Obama.

What changed? A) Some people waited to vote until after Hillary officially released her delegates this afternoon and B) the delegate chairman realized that if, twenty years from now when he’s talking about when the first African American president was nominated for president, he didn’t want to say that he didn’t vote her him. In other words, it took a couple of days, but the message of unity eventually trickled from the top down, which is interesting since the campaign this year is supposed to be run from the bottom up.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight was arguably her best to date, and I encourage everyone to watch it, multiple times. In most of the video replays and news coverage you will see of her speech, there are a couple of things you might not pick up on.

First, the Denver Fire Marshall closed down the Convention Floor at 8:30. People could go out but no one could go in without permission from the Secret Service.

Second, the stadium was so packed that celebrities were mingling with any delegation who had seats. Ellen Burstyn, for example, saw an open seat with the SD Delegation and held onto it for dear life throughout Hillary’s speech.

And finally, when Hillary’s speech started, nearly everyone in the convention was holding a Hillary signature sign. By the end, those same people (myself included) were holding “Obama/Unity” signs. This did not happen by accident. On cue, after Hillary said “No way, no how, no McCain,” the Obama/Unity signs were dispersed, forcing everyone to put down their Hillary signs (for it’s nearly impossible to clap, cheer, yell, whistle AND hold two signs). I find this almost forced display of unity interesting because, even though I believe in it, there is no unity in the SD delegation. Tempers are flairing and, contrary to what it may seem, Hillary is not giving her delegates a clear message on what to do.

Anyway, there’s a little extra perspective to add to your viewing of Hillary’s speech tonight. Tomorrow is the voting which I’m going to try and live-blog. Interestingly, however, in an effort to maintain a facade of organization and, again, unity, the actual voting will not be taking place on the floor tomorrow when it is televised.

-Emily

(You can view photos from all of Day 2 HERE.)

Navigating the Convention

I quickly found out today that getting into the Pepsi Center, the primary location of the Democratic Convention, is no easy task. Unless you’re Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, you have to find a street that happens to lead to the center, pass through one credential check, walk the equivalent of about 6 city blocks, go through another credential check, take out and turn on all electronic devices, go through the metal detector, walk into the Center and then go through at least two more credential checks to make sure you’re in the right place. (Credentials, by the way, are the passes everyone who gets even remotely near the Pepsi Center has to wear on his or her neck that indicate the locations they can access. )

Interestingly, Wolf Blitzer and Katie Couric may sit on the Convention floor all day, but a majority of the delegates do not. In fact, the thing to do is to see how many other events one can make it to outside of the Pepsi Center prior to 5 PM and then compare notes in between speeches at night. Some of today’s events included the National Women’s Political Caucus, the big EMILY’s list demonstration and presentation, the Hispanic Institute’s forum on race and gender, and numerous other events and protests for groups like Oxfam and the Human Rights Campaign. Most events today required some sort of RSVP, usually by email about a week ago, and even then it wasn’t guaranteed you could get in so, to some extent, it paid to be resourceful. Nevertheless, I think everyone from the South Dakota delegation returned to the hotel tonight exhausted and the blisters on their feet to prove it.

The Democratic National Convention

With stellar and moving speeches from both Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Michelle Obama, the Democratic National Convention successfully completed its first day in Denver, Colorado. As part of Midd Blog’s plan to start covering more topics and adding more editorial content and as part of my introduction as a Midd Blog contributor, I’m going to be covering the Convention all week.

I’m in Denver as a page for the South Dakota delegation. From what I can tell at this point, that means I have complete Convention floor credentials and am basically “errand-girl.” After campaigning in New Hampshire, Vermont, and South Dakota for the presumptive nominee, Barack Obama, I’m thrilled to witness this stage of the game, to watch the efforts from the individual states come together. The South Dakota delegation is very small and, in the grand scheme of things, rather unimportant. That means that my role here is going to be much more that of an observer than a participant. However, since SD actually voted for Hillary, it could prove to be a very interesting lens from which to view the proceedings. In fact, I see the two hot topics of the week being the Clintons and security. Obama and Biden are going to have to give some pretty strong performances to put themselves into that equation.

What I want to know, to start off, is what your thoughts are about the Convention. Did you watch any of it on TV? Are you in Denver, too? Also, how would you like to see it covered on Midd Blog? With such tight security, live blogging is difficult and internet connection is slow. (The Reuters bloggers had to move to a bookstore 7 blocks from the Pepsi Center to get their stories in on time, and the Microsoft bloggers were at Starbucks.) I’ll do my best to give at least daily updates and coverage of the speeches, the protests, the concerts, the voting on Wednesday night and then, most importantly, Invesco on Thursday night. I am also posting on my own blog as well as writing for Middlebury College Democrats, so I encourage you to go to both of those places for more commentary and photos. For now, it’s to bed and then on to Day 2.

- Emily