The Delegates

5:48 PM: In keeping with our growing international readership, Lauren and I have just done interviews with her Columbia classmate Matthias Bernold, US political correspondent for the Wiener Zeitung and a blogger himself. His thumbs are fleet upon the Sidekick, so we may have him do a type-off with one of the Slutsky boys on their Blackberries.

5:41 PM: Okay, a little break there to calm down and eat a “buffalo burger” the size and density of a hockey puck. The driest formed snout slurry west of the Pecos, for a bargain $8. When you’re pouring Xtreme Journalism-Flavored Beverage down the bloghole, like we are, food becomes mere nutritive input and not a source of joy.

Firefighters are currently making their beefy presence felt on the stage.

5:02 PM: Things calm down in the hall as the crowd thins out a bit. Tom Udall is at the podium. Freedom’s Watch has wall-to-wall TV spots on cable and the local channels savaging Colorado’s Democratic senatorial nominee at every opportunity, but he is not exactly a gripping personality.

4:53 PM: Nancy Pelosi announces Obama’s pre-acceptance and tomorrow’s Invesco Field speech. It’s like a pre-approved mortgage where you get to move into Mile High Stadium afterward.

4:51 PM: The O’Jays’ “Love Train” goes up. In Philadelphia, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff are smiling.

4:48 PM: People whoop and holler and scream. Mild-mannered DNC types tremble and clap themselves red. Hillary’s move is seconded with a full-throated cheer and the ayes have it as the band strikes up. Dude.

4:47 PM: I am one of the only people in here who dares to sit down. Hillary moves to suspend the further roll call to name Obama the nominee. He will be acclaimed.

4:46 PM: Here we go. Hillary is at the nexus of mic booms and cameras, with everyone around her oriented towards her like metal filings at the end of a magnet. Flashes all over now, but it’s dead quiet as Hillary speaks.

4:45 PM: Shocker! Illinois yields to New York! Hillary makes her way to the floor to cheers and flashbulbs. People are on their feet. New York will put Obama over the top, in a nice display of unity.

4:43 PM: Illinois gets ready to vote. Other states have been yielding strategically so that Obama’s state can put him over the top. Richard Daley chairs the delegation, if I’m not mistaken. Daleys at conventions: bad mojo.

4:41 PM: A neat filip of bilingualism from the New Mexico delegation chair, describing his state as “la tierra de twenty-two American Indian tribes”

4:39 PM: NJ governor Jon Corzine gets a huge cheer and a standing ovation for its unanimous vote for Obama. It launches an enthusiastic round of yes-we-cans.

4:37 PM: The hall is stuffed; every seat is either filled or reserved. Al-Jazeera’s broadcast booth is immediately above us, opposite the hall from Fox News. Someone has a sense of humor, or of propriety.

4:34 PM: We’re in the stands in the hall at the Pepsi Center. The DNC has graciously allotted ten seats, complete with ethernet, to the unstained wretches.

Nebraska senator Ben Nelson is bigging up the Cornhuskers. His hair is a cap of woven pewter.

4:27 PM: Colorado IMC says that 2000 people have followed the intolerably shrill rap-rock hybrid Rage Against the Machine — the politics are right on, but the music hellish — in their attempted march to the Pepsi Center.

4:19 PM: We’re up to Maine. Delegation chair John Knutson is one of the rare men in modern politics with a beard.

4:15 PM: Hillary released her delegates and will herself vote for Obama and Biden tonight.

4:09 PM: We’d like to welcome two of our mothers to our growing community of blood-relative commenters. We invite relatives by marriage, distant cousins, and people we just mistook for relatives while drunk at weddings to comment as well.

4:02 PM: According to our rooftop pals in the Secret Service, Rage Against the Machine is approaching the intersection of Speer Boulevard and Market Street to play an impromptu show and attempt to approach the Pepsi Center.

Eleanor Holmes Norton leads the DC delegation and never misses a chance to promote DC statehood. At least they can vote in November for the man they’re voting for tonight.

4:00 PM: Un shout-out super à nos amis du Figaro, à côté de nous et en direct de Denver ce soir.

3:55 PM: Roll call is going forward, giving small states and miscellaneous territories a nice chance to shine. American Samoa’s delegation chair is speaking in Samoan, which is hella cool and will probably rankle the Official English troglodytes. Me, I hate it when they make me press 1 for English and 2 for Samoan. It’s like I don’t even live in America anymore.

All 9 of American Samoa’s votes go to Obama. It’s a reminder of his primary strategy to rack up big majorities in places Hillary barely bothered to organize.

3:49 PM: We’re in the Pepsi Center as the nominations and roll call roll out. The line to get in is long but security is hustling and people are moving along at a remarkable clip. Maybe we’ll have a fire law situation, like last night. We’re down in Los Blogeles, and Peter is on the BBC.

In the outside world, we hear that they named a hurricane “Ho” and that Suge Knight got arrested. The latter will undoubtedly have an impact on the Convention. Developing…

Key quote from Cameron here in Bloglyn: “I wish we could hear James Carville’s voice. It just makes me feel good.” Okaaaaaaaaay.