Thanks...

Thanks everyone for reading about my experiences at the convention. Although I'm not a writer by far, I tried...I promise. Feel free to contact me about anything.

Go Obama!!!!!

My Denver photos

I learned a lot of things this week. One of them is that I need a new camera. Even though I was super close to the convention stage, you certainly can't tell by my photos. I think the dark lighting had something to do with it. Nevertheless, here is the slide show from my trip:

Oh what a night...late August back in '08

I'm back home, but I'm still reeling from Denver. I made it in yesterday afternoon along with a flight full of Democrats coming back from the convention, along with the reporting staff from the Star and Kevin Rader from WTHR.

As for Thursday night...man what a night. The staging, the hype, the security, the celebrities...I could go on and on. But man, that speech. The Obama campaign set the bar majorly high when it moved Thursday night's acceptance speech to Invesco Field. But man, did Obama deliver or what? Emotions were high as we all listened to every word, standing and applauding every other sentence. Sen. Chuck Schumer was weeping in front of me, along with half the crowd. We all knew that we were going to be a part of history by being there, but I couldn't have fathomed how great the speech Obama was going to give.

My two favorite lines against McCain:

You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives.

and

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but, really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time?

I don't know about you, but I am not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.

That last line, about taking a 10 percent chance on change, is priceless. Sorry lady's, this might sound a bit sexist, but it was a manly speech. It was time to be tough and take on McCain, and Obama delivered.

My favorite part of his speech overall was towards the end, when it seemed like he was comforting skeptics and pulling in those disaffected by government. Obama said:

But this, too, is part of America's promise, the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer, and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values.

And that's to be expected, because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.

If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.

And you know what? It's worked before, because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping and settle for what you already know.

I get it.

The entire speech can be read here.

Thursday night and this whole week will go down as one of the most exciting times in my life.

Signing off

I'm off to get some buttons, etc. for family and friends. I'll be disowned if I come back empty-handed.

Security is tight for tonight's event, so delegates are being shuttled in early. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again as I'm flying out early in the morning. I'll be sure to post all my photos here and give a recap of today.

Diversity on Display

Here's the list of speakers from this morning's delegation breakfast:

Sen. Dick Durbin - IL (who will introduce Barack tonight)
US Rep. Brad Ellsworth
US Rep. Andre Carson
IN Rep. and candidate for Lt. Governor Dennie Oxley

That line-up is one of the reasons that I love the Democratic Party so much. The diversity of each of these people could only happen in the Democratic Party.

Wednesday - Night

Last night's convention was again electric. The excitment started with the roll call, that not even Hollywood could script. What started out as somewhat of a controversy, ended on an unexpected and excited suspension of rules. Midway through what appeared to be a ceremonial roll call, Nebraska yeilded the floor to Illinois, which then yeilded to New York. At that time New York was called upon for its votes. Hillary then called for Barack to be approved by acclamation. Her motion passed with a roaring "aye". I'm not sure if that's happened before, but it was awesome to be there to participate.

I was so proud to hear President Clinton give such a strong speech on his support for Barack Obama. Although, it was almost like a Mad Lib where all the phrases he needed to say were inserted throughout, I thought he did a awesome job. The crowd in the arena was unstoppable in its applause and excitement upon his arrival on stage. I also noticed he was very shakey. It could have been because he dumped his planned speech on foreign policy, for the nicely blended speech he gave.

The highlight of the night however was Barack's suprise appearance following Biden's great speech. If you missed it, the clip is below.

Wednesday - Day

My day yesterday was packed with receptions from early afternoon on. The highlight of the receptions I attended would probably be a reception honoring Green Delegates who participated in the DNC's Green Delegate Challenge. Not only was the reception high on the swanky factor, but it was a nice reward for those who chose to participate in the program.

As a participant, I was given a very nice Zune MP3 player (Microsoft was a sponsor), which was unexpected but very nice. Unfortunately, I think I was the only Indiana delegate there. Indiana also wasn't a state that the entire delegation participated in the program. Those delegations that did, were honored at the convention and also had a distinctive sign placed above their state's sign on the convention floor.

The band at the reception, Bitter:Sweet was also pretty cool. I had a chance to briefly talk with the singer who was very sweet and is a big Obama supporter. She also announced to the crowd that politicians are sexy, which I appreciated.

It's Official...

I officially casted my ballot today for Barack Obama to be our party's candidate for President of the United States. The first opportunity to vote was this morning after our delegation breakfast while picking up our credentials. The ballot had each delegate's name with a check box below each candidate. As each delegate picked up their credential, we would check off who our vote was for and the next delegate would do the same. Hillary will be officially releasing her delegates today around 1p, so look for a lot of her delegates to follow her lead and cast their ballot for Obama.

*people with blank boxes next to their name hadn't voted yet.

Ladies' Night

Last night was Ladies' Night here in Denver. A lot of women leaders in our party spoke throughout the day leading up to Hillary. Hillary's appearance last night brought down the house. It was by far the loudest the Pepsi Center has been so far. I think Hillary did a great job recapping her amazing accomplishments in this past Primary and at the same time reassuring her commitment to helping elect Barack Obama. I haven't had a lot of time to watch the talking heads while here, but before arriving the media was obsessed with their belief Hillary wasn't coming out strong enough for Obama. Hopefully that story is over after her strong words last night.

On a side note, Montana's Governor was awesome last night in firing up the crowd. If it wasn't broadcast on the networks, I'd suggest checking it out on the net. A clip of his speech is below.

Amazing Seats

Our delegation's seating on the floor is amazing. Not only are we unbelievably close to the stage, but we are also what has turned out to be celebrity row. The majority of the media are using the aisle next to us as a staging area for the floor reporters. So as a lot of the celebrity's enter the floor they come down our aisle. Monday and Tuesday night included Spike Lee, Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Jimmy Carter, Bill Nelson, Deval Patrick among others, along with print and TV reporters.

Indy Star's Mary Beth Schneider writes about Indiana's placement on the floor here.

Uncle Teddy

Ok, so I know I haven't posted in an eternity by blogging standards, but the combination of our hotel being far away from downtown and the limited Internet access here, it has been tough to get away to post updates.

Monday night's convention was electric. I know Michelle was supposed to be the night's keynote, but Ted Kennedy's appearance stole the show. Looking around during the fantastic video montage before his speech I found quite a few watery eyes. I felt really lucky to not only finally see Kennedy in person, but also to be at probably one of the most important night's of his long career. If it wasn't clear before, his speech let everyone know that the torch possessed by the Kennedy's has been passed on to Obama.

First Celebrity Encounter

It seems like all of the country's leading Democrats are are here in Denver. I had my first Democrat celebrity encounter earlier today.

My roommate and I were leaving the Pepsi Center and came to the security gate where you must show your credentials in order to enter the secure zone. Low and behold who was there trying to get in but James Carville. The only problem was that he did not have his media credential to enter. It turned out that he lost his. The poor young staffer with him got sent away to go find it. So in the meantime, my roommate and I spoke to Carville a bit and I had my picture taken with him. As we walked on, we saw the staffer pick up Carville's credential off the ground. The found credential I'm sure saved his job.

Go here for my photo with Carville.

Front Row Seats...Confirmed

In an earlier post, I wrote about a photo taken from inside the convention hall showing Indiana in the front row. As expected, the seating was adjusted last minute.

Most notably the Delaware delegation, in a nod to our VP candidate, has been moved up front from the nosebleed seats. Indiana, however, has made the last minute shuffle. We're still in the front row, stage left. Now, the question remains, what about those assigned seats?

The official state seating can be seen here.

Blog Coverage

So far my little blog has been getting quite a few visits. Thanks to Ruth Holladay posting about my blog on her blog site and now a mention this morning from Mary Beth Schneider at the Star, I'm getting almost twice the visits now.

Now the pressure is on to actually post often and responsibly! Unfortunately, I only have Internet access in our hotel lobby and bar, so posting often might be a challenge.

And for Today's Agenda...

Today started out with our morning breakfast that our delegation has each day. Along with handing out credentials to each delegate, there's also a speaker each morning. Today's speaker was Rep. Baron Hill. In talking about his support for Obama, Baron spoke about how he felt Barack Obama is the real deal. Baron shared a story of how Obama personally called his dying son-in-law right after returning from his European trip.

In a testament to how many events are going on this week (over 1,100) I still don't know for sure what I'm doing until the convention starts at 3p. I definitely want to catch Jimmy Carter's speech tonight.

Arrival

Well, I finally made it to Denver. My flight on Southwest this morning went great. We actually made it here 20 minutes early. The entire plane was full of Indiana Democrats.

It was nice to see all the solar panels lining the ground on our approach to the Denver Airport. Apparently half of the power for the airport is solar. The entire city seems green as there were train stations everywhere on the commute to the hotel. Also everywhere are trails for people to bike or hike into downtown. Take note Indy.

Indiana in the Front Row?

Being the geeky detective that I am, I started looking through the DNCC's Flickr slide show (which has shots of the stage at the Pepsi Center) to see if I can find where Indiana is sitting. Well, check this shot out. If going by the Indiana sign located in the bottom right corner, it appears the Indiana delegation is in the front row. Very cool.

Now I wonder, is there assigned seating?

***Update***

I've caught wind from a friend working for CNN in Denver that the seating may be rearranged now that the VP pick has been announced. Somehow I have the feeling Delaware may not be staying up in the rafters along side Texas anymore.

Obama / Biden

Although the delivery was a little botched, the announcement of Sen. Joe Biden as our pick for Vice President was still pretty cool. You couldn't have asked for a better match to Obama. I think a lot of Democrats, me included, had him on our short list of early candidates in the primary, but wrote him off due to the lack of fundraising. However, he's back and I couldn't be happier.

There aren't many people Obama could have chosen that can match Biden's knowledge and experience on foreign relations. Heck, even Republicans like the guy. Our very own Republican Senator Richard Lugar praised Biden in a written statement. David Brooks, who isn't exactly a full-time friend to Democrats, praised Biden yesterday in a glowing Op-Ed for the New York Times. Brooks highlighted Biden's working-class roots, honesty, loyalty and experience.

I think Biden will be awesome in debates and will add some spontaneity and even more excitement to the campaign, not to mention he will be a great VP. I'm definitely looking forward to nominating Biden on Wednesday night.

Pepsi Center Unveiling

The Pepsi Center podium has been unveiled. Very slick looking indeed.

The first photos are below:

For those Katie fans

For that tiny majority of you out there that still watch CBS Evening News, a web page has been set up at cbsnews.com/conventions to showcase Katie and the gang's take on the convention every night after gavel. CBS News will also have a feature where viewers can submit questions about the convention, etc and they will answer them in their on-air coverage beginning at 10p.

Here's the cutesy intro from Katie:

I get letters...lots and lots of letters...

So apparently I've finally made the mailing lists this week of every caucus, interest group, organization, etc. etc. I've received over 30 mailings this week alone for meetings, forums or parties happening during the convention. The mailings range from a letter from a Rabi Michael Lerner to an invite from the AFL-CIO.

My roommate has the right idea on approaching what he's attending. So far his week is filled with meetings and parties that have free food.

Delegate Service Day

I have officially signed up to participate in the delegate service day on Wednesday of convention week. The service day is a joint venture between Democrats Work, Metro Volunteers and Volunteers of America that will bring delegates from every state and territory together to work on community projects in the Denver area.

The particular project that I'm volunteering for is coordinated by Volunteers of America. Indiana, along with delegations from Alaska, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, New Jersey, Kansas, North Carolina, American Samoa, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island will be sorting and packing food for Meals on Wheels.

DNC Gives Drinking and Driving New Meaning

The DNC never ceases to amaze me. Not only does the party continue to make this a trend setting convention by making it the most environmentally-sustainable ever. They also find a use for all of the Coors that smart people choose not to drink.

Purchased carbon offsets? Check.

So my carbon emissions for the convention have been neutralized...sort of. For those of you not familiar with the concept, a carbon offset is a carbon emission reduction that helps decrease the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that otherwise would be in our atmosphere.

Through an initiative it's calling The Green Delegate Challenge, the DNC is encouraging delegations from every state and territory to help make the convention this year be the most environmentally-sustainable ever. By doing so, the DNC is "offering special rewards for the delegation or delegations that demonstrate the highest level of commitment to offsetting their carbon footprint from attending the Convention. As part of the challenge, delegations with the highest percentage of members offsetting their carbon will be recognized in their seating section on the floor of the Pepsi Center during the Convention. Each delegate, alternate and super delegate from that state will also receive a limited edition "green" prize. Any delegate who offsets their travel will receive a unique wearable "green item" for Convention week, available only to these delegates, and be recognized individually on DemConvention.com."

The approximately 1.5 tons of carbon that I am creating by participating in the convention has been offset by the $12.00 I paid to nativeenergy.com. That $12 is then invested in renewable energy projects that reduce the amount of power generated by burning fossil fuels. According to Native Energy my offset went towards:

• The Wray, CO, School District Wind Turbine in Wray, CO, a community-owned utility-scale wind turbine built in January, 2008 in reliance on exclusive carbon funding from NativeEnergy (10% of blend).
  
  
• The Focus the Nation Wind Turbine at the Williamson Family Farm in Rosedell Township, Minnesota, a distributed-scale wind turbine built in January, 2008 in reliance on exclusive carbon funding from NativeEnergy (10% of blend).
  
  
• The Hillcrest Saylor dairy farm methane project located in Rockwood, PA, built in early 2007 in reliance on exclusive carbon funding from NativeEnergy (20% of blend).
  
  
• The Des Plaines Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project located in Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois (60% of blend).

Although I'm not completely sold on the impact of purchasing offsets has on the environment, I appreciate the fact that the DNC is encouraging the attendees to participate in the challenge program.

Headline Speakers Announced

Monday: Michelle Obama
Tuesday: Hillary Clinton
Wednesday: Vice Presidential nominee (and probably Bill Clinton)
Thursday: Barack Obama

I love Jim Lehrer

On a news related side note, I've been contacted by PBS regarding a story they are doing on the convention. As one of the youngest delegates at the convention, they are interested in interviewing me.

Hopefully the interview happens. I'll be sure to write about it if it does.

TV Networks Competing for Who's Bigger...

Despite breaking the bank covering the extended Primary, the big three networks don't seem to be cutting back on covering the convention. It seems all three are looking to one up each other in coverage.

ABC News appears to be looking to dominate convention coverage. All of its daily broadcasts; Good Morning America, World News, Nightline and This Week will originate from Denver. ABC News NOW, ABC’s 24-hour network, will provide wall-to-wall coverage.

NBC Nightly News will broadcast all week from the Pepsi Center and from Invesco Field along with Matt Lauer and Ann Curry covering for the Today Show from August 28-29. Their news affiliate, MSNBC, is planning 20 hours of coverage daily. Live coverage will air from 5:00p to midnight with Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews handling the anchor duties.

CBS has Katie Couric anchoring the news from Denver all week, as well as Harry Smith anchoring for The Early Show. Face the Nation will air on the Sunday before the convention.

Rooming with Guam and Idaho

Showing the huge influence Indiana has with the DNC, our delegation is being housed at a Sheraton located around 20 miles away from the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. Also at the hotel are the delegations from Idaho and Guam, other states with obviously a lot of pull.

The DNC is providing free shuttles to a light-rail station near the hotel as well as a free shuttle to and from the airport. Denver (take note Indy) is considered to have one of the best light rail systems in the nation. You can go anywhere in the city and suburbs for as low as $1.75. There are even packages that provide you with rail tickets to all of the Broncos games (take note Colts). One of the 36 train stations in the metro area is located a half mile away from our hotel, so I'm looking forward to taking advantage of it fully.

DNC Platform, Built from the Ground, Up

This past month, Sen. Obama and the DNC (Democratic National Committee) again demonstrated their belief that the Democratic Party should function from the ground-up. This time the process of how our national party platform is drafted was overhauled by holding local platform meetings nationwide. The meetings are part of Listening to America, a new initiative announced by the Obama campaign and the DNC to elicit supporters’ input for the Democratic Party platform. In the past, the platform was drafted by holding hearings among party officials and interest groups. This year the platform process was turned upside down. Over 1,300 meetings were held nationwide in living rooms, barns and libraries. At each of these platform meetings, attendees discussed issues important to them that should be included in the national platform. The final product from these platform meetings were then submitted by the meeting moderators and hosts to the DNC platform committee team. The committee's final product will be submitted to the Democratic National Convention in Denver scheduled for later this month.

As an Obama delegate to the National Convention, I was chosen to be a member of Sen. Obama's policy committee. Committee members were asked to help with the platform meetings in their area by either attending or facilitating the meetings. I had the opportunity to attend and help facilitate several platform meetings around the state. One was a platform meeting held on a farm in Johnson County which was 1 of 6 in the nation on rural and agricultural issues. Portions of the meeting will be broadcast at the national convention. Another meeting held at the Hamilton County Democrat Club’s monthly meeting was also successful. It was refreshing and exciting to hear about issues and concerns from those in attendance.

The affects of the Obama campaign continue to make the party and the country better. The grassroots movement and enthusiasm continues to amaze me.

Welcome and background...

Due to so much interest in the Democratic Party's convention this year, and considering I have the privilege of attending the convention as a delegate, I thought it would be a great idea to try to post my experiences.

Just as some background, most delegates to the National Convention are elected at our party's state convention. In my case, I was elected as a district level delegate for Barack Obama from the 5th Congressional District. This will be my first convention, and I'm needless to say, very excited.

I'm flying out on Sunday, the 24th. So until then, I'll write about events leading up to the convention.