Tag: DNC

Kamala Harris will accept the nomination tonight. She'll be her own best champion. I'm already on board.

Update: Kamala Harris nailed it. She took on unity, the border, the Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, respect for our military, Nato, Iran, individual freedom, the housing shortage and everything else in the kitchen sink. She called out Trump (no need to rehash that). Her delivery was impeccable: passionate, measured, joyous with a "but don't cross me" undertone.

A transcript of her speech is here.[More...]

I tuned in too late for Bill Clinton (and will watch later) but after several subsequent speeches I did hear and was not impressed by, on comes Oprah Winfrey. Okay, she is a professional entertainer. And only a few of these speakers write their own speeches. But wow, Oprah just knocked their socks off. Kamala should make her Secretary of State.

The only thing Oprah forgot was to credit Bon Jovi for her opening line, "Who Said You Can't Go Home"?

It was Oprah who impressed me the most towards the end of Hillary's campaign, when she came out and mocked people who didn't want to vote for her because they said they didn't like her. Her retort: "You don't have to like her. She's not coming to your house for dinner". (Video here)

Some of the unimpressive speakers: Kamala Harris' very handsome brother-in-law. Maybe it's his background in the Department of Justice. But he came out with an example of Kamala, as a prosecutor, working over a weekend to get a judge to let a woman who she believed to be innocent out on bail, because she wondered, who would feed her children if she spent the weekend in jail. He said, "That's Kamala, standing for justice" or something like that.

Look, Kamala is a career prosecutor. She didn't become one to change the system and reform it for people of color or lesser economic means.

Listening to the next speaker was a head-shaking contrast. It is hard for me to believe this speaker is an elected Democratic Senator. I never heard of her before. And I will mute her from now on should she appear on my screen again. [More...]

It's Day One of the DNC. Among the prominent speakers tonight are Michelle Obama,Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, will not open the convention (she resigned this weekend.) The opening, at 4pm, will be done by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, secretary of the Democratic National Committee.

The online streaming coverage seems messy, with intrusive comment feeds, live pundit commentary and multiple video frames. The You Tube channel for the DNC is here. [More....]

The Denver Host Committee, under a contractual deadline to raise $40.6 million by today for the Democratic National Convention in August, has confirmed it fell $11.6 million short of that amount. So, what now?

Barack Obama has raised $265 million for his campaign so far. Will he now assist the Host Committee in obtaining contributions for the convention?

The Obama campaign has broken all political fundraising records largely by mining the Internet for small contributions, collecting some $265 million. A fundraising pitch to those donors could vastly boost the convention's fundraising, several observers said.

While the Host Committee is confident the money will be raised one way or another, Committee Co-Chair Steve Farber addressed that possibility today:

"There are discussions occurring. We could definitely use the help of the Obama campaign," said Steve Farber, a Denver lawyer and leading member of the host committee. "The fact that we have a candidate now does help."

Today in Michigan, Al Gore endorsed Sen. Obama. He even sent out an e-mail to readers of his own website asking them to contribute to Obama. [More...]

Chris Bowers at Open Left has been numbers-crunching:

Obama needs 471.5 of the 875 remaining delegates, or 53.9%, in order to reach the magic number.

Clinton needs even more, 489.5 of 875, or 56.0%. Both scenarios are extremely unlikely.

Those numbers are very close to each other. Put another way, Hillary is only 18 delegates behind Obama in the race for the next 875.

Chris then makes predictions. But they all start with his (probably educated)guess that the credentials committee will refuse to seat MI and FL because it will have more Obama supporters than Hillary supporters on it. But these committee members like superdelegates can change their support at any time, and not all of them have declared, so I'm not prepared to agree with that. That said, here's how Chris sees it playing out:

Hillary Clinton released a statement today asking her delegates to support the seating of the Michigan and Florida delegates at the DNC in Denver.

She also says she will abide by the no-campaign pledge the candidates signed and expects the other candidates to do so as well.

"I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election, and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan. I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision. But I hope to be President of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention. "I hope my fellow potential nominees will join me in this.

"I will of course be following the no-campaigning pledge that I signed, and expect others will as well."

If you're a blogger (particularly on state issues) and want to get media credentials for the August 25 to 28 Democratic Convention in Denver, the process begins today.

Big media goes through the Congressional Galleries. Bloggers go through the DNCC's Press Gallery. The basics are here -- 50 blogs on state issues, one from each state, will get credentialed first. National and niche bloggers will go into a second pool of applicants.

DNCC PRESS GALLERY: all other news organizations including blogs community newspapers, the publications of membership organizations, quarterlies, college media, production houses and media service organizations. Please visit the DNCC blog for more information on the blogger credentialing process.

DNCC Press Gallery
1560 Broadway
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: 720-362-2008
Email: dnccpressgallery-at-demconvention.com
www.demconvention.com

More....

A federal judge has ruled the DNC can exclude Florida delegates from the convention as a penalty for moving up their primary date.

[U.S. District Court] Judge Robert Hinkle said that political parties have a First Amendment right to set their own rules and enforce them. The national party did that, which means that Florida will not have a say in picking the Democratic nominee.

Florida's set its primary for January 29 even though the rules don't allow them before February 5, so as to maintain the importance of the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Two other states, Nevada and South Carolina, are also allowed early primaries "to add geographic and racial and ethnic diversity."

It's official. The DNCC has announced the hotels the various state delegations will be staying at for the Democrats' convention in August. Here's the list (no link yet, received by e-mail):

STATE/TERRITORY HOTEL
Alabama - Doubletree Denver Stapleton
Alaska - Four Points Sheraton Denver Southeast
American Samoa - Radisson Southeast
Arizona - Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center
Arkansas - Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows
California - Adam's Mark
Colorado - Grand Hyatt Downtown
Connecticut - Marriott Denver Tech Center
Delaware - Marriott South at Park Meadows
Democrats Abroad - Red Lion Denver Central
District of Columbia - Crowne Plaza, Downtown
Georgia - Doubletree Denver Stapleton
Guam - Sheraton Denver Tech Center
Hawaii - Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows
Idaho - Sheraton Denver Tech Center
Illinois - Marriott City Center, Downtown
Indiana - Sheraton Denver Tech Center
Iowa - Courtyard by Marriott, Downtown
Kansas - Doubletree Denver Tech Center
Kentucky - Hilton Garden Inn, Downtown
Louisiana - Radisson Stapleton Plaza

More...

The DNCC is hosting the first media walk-through for the Democratic National Convention in Denver tomorrow.

Events kick off in an hour with a reception at the Wynkoop Brewery. Tomorrow is the walk-through. I'll miss some of it as I have early court in the morning. But I will be there to hear Howard Dean for lunch.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean will address members of the media attending the 2008 Democratic National Convention Fall Media Walk-Through during a luncheon at 12:00 p.m. MT on TUESDAY, November 13, 2007, at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The Media Walk-Through is being organized by the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC).

...Governor Dean will address members of the media from international, national, local and online outlets planning their coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

This should be fun. More details when I return.

Update below:

Patrick Doyle of Denver's premier monthly magazine 5280 takes a long look at what holding the Democratic convention in the Denver means for Democrats winning the West in 2008. It's good news.

By holding their convention in Denver, they’ve signaled to the country that they’re marching, knees high, into the West. It’s a bold move, and it’s long overdue: The last time the Dems held a convention in Denver was 1908, and it’s been 80 years since they held a convention west of Chicago or east of California. Over the next six pages, we’ll look at what the West means to the political left.

Among the Topics:

Woo-hoo! Via the National Journal Hotline, Howard Dean and the DNC have chosen Denver to host its 2008 national convention.

A Democrat who was briefed said that chairman Howard Dean made the final decision yesterday, weeks later than planned. DNC comm. dir. Karen Finney declined to confirm the choice.

Colorado is a marquee states for Democrats, who have, in the past two years, gobbled up the governor's mansion, control of the state legislature, and two congressional seats.

How excited am I?

More from the Denver Post. The decision will be announced this afternoon.