A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Vice President and Beyond!

Wednesday is always my favorite part of any Convention. As I attended a health disparity policy briefing in the morning, I received notice that there was going to be a televised rollcall, however earlier than expected, at 3:15 Mountain Time.

I love the RollCall. It gives each state (or at least the ones in the first half of the alphabet) an opportunity to showcase their elected officials, and rising star candidates. First time delegates were confused when California "passed", but I knew then exactly what was going to happen. And then the floor was shut down by Secret Service, and I thought "How nice for the party would it be for Hillary Clinton to push Obama over the top on delegates". New Mexico's Bill Richardson yielded to Illinois, and although the home state typically puts the candidate over the number of votes needed for nomination, the Illinois delegation yielded to New York. The floor WENT WILD and Hillary Clinton, in a classy move, personally put Obama over the top.

The floor was much more harmonious that I expected, and I would guess that about 25% of Hillary delegates chose to still cast their votes for her. And the way the nomination was handled, made that just fine. I did, earlier in the day, pass a small group of 10-15 Hillary holdouts who were marching to Pepsi Center, but the sentiment in the last 24 hours had clearly turned in the direction of party unity.

There was a nice salute to the female Members of Congress, a segment on defense and veterans, and then Bill Clinton went on and did exactly what he had to do. The hall loved it, and loved him. I headed out of the hall quickly to my friendly pedicab driver who was waiting for me. (I discovered quickly on the first day in Denver that this was the only way to travel), and hoofed it back to the hotel, through some pro-life protests, and what turned out to be an Obama motorcade, just in time for the Biden speech.

Well, the Democratic Party officially has a Vice Presidential nominee in Joe Biden, and can I say, I was pleasantly surprised. My colleagues know that I was a Jack Reed person, a Tim Kaine person, a Mark Warner person, even a Hillary Clinton person, but never said I was a Joe Biden person. However, the Joe Biden I saw this evening was human, humble, and confrontational without being overbearing. If he can be that way on the trail for the next three months, the Democratic Party has a dynamic duo.

Tomorrow is Invesco Field, and I am psyched. SS is encouraging people to get there by 1pm. That many hours in the sun will turn me Republican red, so I'm trying to find a way around that. If I can get a password, I'm going to join the other bloggers, and try to bring the day to you live.

Party Unity

Day two could have gone a lot of ways, and thank goodness it turned out to be the demonstration of party unity that this Convention needed. I came over to the Convention Center fairly early, because I had heard that there were still some issues surrounding the rollcall vote for tomorrow. It looks like it will go one of three ways:

1) Normal rollcall vote. Clinton and Obama delegates vote their respective ways on first "ballot", then Clinton calls for a uninamous endorsement of Obama

2) Illinois votes first (The homestate traditionally puts the nominee over the top of the number of votes they need for the nomination, so this would be a deviation), New York votes second, with Clinton as the "voter", and asks that Obama be nominated by acclamation.

3) There has been some rumblings that the vote will take place before the convention goes live at individual delegate hotels. This is clearly controversial.

I had some concerns going in the Hall today. Today was the 88th anniversary of the day women were given the right to vote, and there was a march of 1000 or so delegates and others who marched to the Convention center on Clinton's behalf. Once inside, there were a handful of delegates in Clinton paraphenalia, and they were definitely getting all the media attention and spot interviews.

The celebration of women continued with a salute to the female Senators, a carryover from the last convention that I found touching and appropriate.

Primetime coverage involved some ups and downs. I thought that Warner was only so-so, and I think the hall agreed with me. He didn't seem to capture the crowd at all. There were quite a large number of political and entertainment celebrities on the floor today. I met one of my favorites, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. The floor was closed by fire marshalls at about 715 our time, about 90 minutes before Mrs. Clinton would go on. This is the first time I've seen the floor "closed" before Wednesday evening.

A close runner up for best of the evening when to Governor Schweitzer from Montana. He could not have been better received by the crowd, who on large part, didn't even know who he was. He was extremely captivating, and had the crowd roaring. Having a moderate Western governor in prime time = good move. I think this was a nod to the "rising star" role that the Tuesday night speeches are intended to have as a focus

There was supposed to be about 15 minutes of "dance set" before the Clinton speech to warm up the crowd, but that was dropped from the program. I'm not sure if that was because of east coast primetime limitations, or because Schweitzer had amped the crowd sufficiently, but the Clinton speech was up next. The crowd LOVED IT. It was appropriate, motivating, inspiring, and unifying. I said to the person sitting next to me that this could be the single most important speech of Barack Obama's race, and I think that if that's the case, it was a resounding success. Obama and Clinton delegates alike brought the house down. It was, for lack of a better adjective, awesome.

Night one!

We are getting to the point in the Convention when people at home get to see much of what we do. I haven't watched any of that coverage, but have been inside the hall. The convention gaveled in at 3pm MST, and spent some time on Convention business before getting down to the business of speech giving. What everyone at home may not get to see is that the podium is a parade of 3-5 minute speeches until we get to prime time. Prominent Members of Congress, big city mayors, labor leaders, etc all take a turn, and are supported by a huge "podium operations" department backstage. I'll try to get a picture from back there tomorrow, but picture something not unlike a movie set. Green rooms, practice rooms, makeup rooms, etc all make up the backstage.

The Kennedy package tonight was particularly moving. To many Democrats, the Kennedy family IS the democratic party, and having Ken Burns produce a video package caused many a tear in the Convention Hall. I had heard this morning that he wasn't even sure he would be able to make it on stage, so I was impressed to see him deliver his thoughts with enthusiasm, thoughfulness and inspiration.

Delegates LOVE Michelle Obama. I don't know if I've seen anything quite like it. I'm not sure the populist message came all the way through, but I enjoyed her speech. I thought the family moment at the end with Obama coming in on a satellite feed was fantastic. Whoever thought that one up deserves a raise!!

As for protesters, there aren't a lot, but they are being controlled quite a bit. I was caught in a tear-gassed crowd trying to make my way back to my hotel this afternoon. There are police/swat units at every major corner, and the security perimeter around the Pepsi Center is HUGE. It's probably a good 15 minute walk from the checkpoints to the actual arena.

Tomorrow is batting practice at Coors Field, and then off to hear Hillary. I'll be at the women's caucus in the morning, and will let you know the tempo. I feel like some of the cracks from the primary season are beginning to close.

Credentials Committee, and More

Today was the Credentials Committee meeting, the last Standing Committee stop before the
Convention gavels in at 3pm MST on Monday. This Committee is responsible for resolving all the credentials challenges not previously handled by the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the DNC (RBC).

I'm sure most people turned in for the late May meeting of the RBC which determined the delegations of Michigan and Florida should be penalized for violating the party rules of when they could have their primary/caucuses. The Committee decided today, in the interest of party unity and "one person one vote" that the entire Michigan and Florida delegations would be seated with full votes. The word on the street is that Ms. Clinton will "release" her delegates on Wednesday evening, which is historically when other presidential contenders have done the same. The "roll call" for the Convention is Wednesday evening, I believe.

Tonight's big social events were a fundraiser for Katrina victims, sponsored by assorted Louisiana interests, and a celebration of Blue Dog Democrats. The tempo has definitely picked up in the city from even 24 hours ago.

Little talk one way or the other on Biden. I think for many it was a foregone conclusion, and a positive one. The most enthusiastic response I have gotten is from some very proud Delaware delegates!!

Rules Committee: Check!

Well, today's activity involved participating as a volunteer in a largely unremarkable Rules Committee Meeting. The Rules Committee is one of the standing Committees of the Convention (the others being Platform and Credentials). This 180-member Committee is charged with electing the officers of the Convention, establishing the Convention Rules, and recommending any rules change they see necessary.

The meeting kicked off with a welcome by Governor Dean (Current DNC Chairman) and Reverend Leah Daughtery, the CEO of this year's convention.

The main item on the agenda was a resolution jointly offered by Governor Jim Hodges (SC, Obama delegate) and Craig Smith (Fl, Clinton delegate) to establish a "Democratic Change Committee" in the upcoming year. This resolution, which passed unanimously, will take a unique look at the issues around the primary and caucus process. In particular, the Committee will work to find ways to keep the primary process from starting the first week of 2012, examine ways to reduce the number of superdelegates; and study and reform the caucus process.

Much of the meeting was "inside baseball", but it was interesting to see a great demonstration of unity amongst all the Committee members, who were close to being evenly divided between Clinton and Obama. It should be interesting to see this demonstration of party unity grow in the coming days.

Tomorrow, the Credentials Committee meetings, where the Members will decide on the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations. Stay tuned.

Arrived

We have finally arrived in Denver, after a roundabout flight through Houston. We are clearly on the early end of Denver arrivees, as everyone else at this point seems to be Convention staff or eager volunteers. We are staying at (name hidden for security reasons) hotel about 3 blocks from the Pepsi Center, and the hotel's employees are clearly nervous and gearing up for a big week. When I was grabbing breakfast this morning, it is clear that some Denver-ites are nervous that the Convention is going to change the tempo of their city. I think the exact quote was "I hope people don't think we are New York or Chicago, or try to act like we are that way"

We are starting to see information booths in the lobby of the hotel; National Journal is publishing their "Convention Daily" starting today. One interesting tidbit. They are really being true to this sustainable convention at all levels. Even my special Convention room key is 100% biodegradable!

I'm off this morning to staff the Standing Committee Meetings of the Convention. I think today is Credential and Resolution. I'll provide some more thoughts on those this evening!

Tata for now.