The Delegates

• Westword is shocked that mass sign-waving during carefully planned events requires the prior distribution of said signs. Who knew? They visit Chiblogo and find the couches “ugly” and the lighting poor. Our DNC online outreach people told us the couches were the envy of others with less desirable postings.
• Square State dislike their coverage on NPR and build a mighty tower from their indigation.
• The Denver Post’s Ross Kaminsky issues a Limbaughian chuckle about those protesters and their cra-zee ideas. He appears to have been making fun of people who act funny all week on his “People’s Press Collective” site, where he shakes his enlightened head and tells us that “the things that the leftists will say or agree to when they think they’re among friends are truly remarkable”, i.e., Communists Say The Darndest Things.

I’m squeezed into the blogger area in the Invesco Field press box, our aerie on the 25-yard line between the 400 and 500 levels. All of us are utterly wedged into the space, and latecomers are stymied.

The building is three times as large as the Pepsi Center, the staff myriad, the distances inside and outside the building greater. The metal mesh maws of freight elevators clank up and down and disgorge lumbering dollies piled with pallets of styrofoam cups. Giggling teenage volunteers carry bundles of flags across the concourses. Impassive uniformed army personnel walk by in dusty desert camouflage. The sun is heavy on the parking lots where thousands of people are lined up waiting to go through the metal detectors.

This is the first day of our visit when Denver’s famous smog is fully in evidence, and the crowd that is slowly entering and filtering into their seats is absorbing fine particulates and nitrious oxides at an alarming rate. The haze is creeping in from the horizon. Down on the field, Obama’s greek-temple set with its thrust stage is awaiting its moment. Word is that Springsteen will indeed be playing tonight.

We’d also like to welcome commenter “sally schuster”, who marks a number of firsts for us. She’s our first non-relative commenter, our first negative commenter, and our first bafflingly inarticulate commenter. She has “one thought” for us about the “rool call”, which is to “get with the program and get used to living in the real america”. We don’t know what a “rool call” is — our Dutch is rusty — and we are equally ignorant of Sally’s “program” and the “real america”. But we treasure each of our commentators, so we’re glad Sally is on board.

• We did an interview with Colorado Springs CBS affiliate KKTV. I yammered on and on. Hence our smiling faces are used as b-roll (that’s documentary talk for “stuff you use to fill the gaps between your important stuff”) in their Convention day 2 report.
• Read German? Able to muddle through a bit of German, half-remembered from high school? Good then, you can read Matthias Bernhold’s coverage of our searing revelations:

Dan Casey aus Philadelphia, der eine Dokumentarfilmcrew mit einem Blog begleitet, sieht das Ganze dennoch kritisch. „In Wahrheit sitzen hier vier Dutzend Blogger und machen das, was sie auch daheim könnten: Abschreiben, was sie im Fernsehen sehen.“

• The Denver Post has its blogger Claire Martin on the scene, reporting the brave struggle of the citizens of the city of Golden against Al-Jazeera, the foreign cable network that is trying to depict their home as a pleasant American town. Martin counts “about eighteen” protesters outside the Buffalo Rose bar where the Jazeerans are set up, and quotes one of the mouth-breathing Jazeera-opposers as saying “I get my research from life experience”. We don’t doubt it, buddy. Golden mayor Josh Stevens is there and offers some conciliatory comments, saying that he’s “learned a lot about Al-Jazeera” in the past week. To cap it off, Claire offers an interview with Josh Rushing of “Control Room” fame and now of Al-Jazeera.
• The Iraq Veterans Against the War march — the same as the Anger At the Gadget protest, or a different one? — went off rather well, or at least not disastrously. The Los Angeles Times includes a police estimate of 4,000 marchers in its brief report. The vets’ demand was to deliver a letter to the Convention or otherwise communicate their grievances; eventually representatives of the Obama campaign defused the situation by the simple expedient of listening to them.
• NewsHour has a substantial web presence, of which I (and I suspect most others) are totally ignorant. It’s slick and well-done, and they came around last night hyping a scoop: New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is leaving the Convention to head back to his city, which is in the sights of another hurricane.

9:02 PM: They save the Springsteen (taped) and Sister Sledge (covered by the house band) for last. Word is the Boss won’t be there tomorrow night; instead we’ll get Stevie Wonder and Will.I.Am. I.Hope.Not.

Biden fawns over his grandchildren during the family waves, the old softie.

8:54 PM: And there he is.

8:52 PM: After Kerry’s pointed critiques, Biden peppers McCain with hits like a hailstorm of golf balls. Feel free to use your own metaphor about a torrent of hard, round objects impacting things.

Why are only the eminences grises permitted to go after McCain?

8:43 PM: We are lapping Biden up here in Blogijuana, laughing and clapping in all the right places. Gaffes, jokey counter-gaffes and all.

Maaaan, why didn’t I get to the blogger seats in time? Dave Winer hasn’t twittered a thing in over an hour. Stupid punctual Dave Winer…

8:38 PM: God, he’s good. There are good politicians in this party. They are good at making speeches. This is perhaps obvious — how do you think they got where they are? — and telling stories about your tough, white-haired mom is going to be a winner every time, but still.

8:36 PM: Hot tip from our feedwatching soundman Josh: Marc Ambinder hints that Obama will make a surprise experience.

Biden shouts out his mom, a wizened and beaming woman who chokes up. For the first moment during the convention, I’m just a tiny bit verklempt.

8:31 PM: A couple of references, in the video and Beau Biden’s speech, to the complexity of Joe Biden’s family: Joe he says he has four children (implicitly including his lost daughter in the tally), and Beau refers to his stepmom as his mom.

It’s not an unusual situation by any means, certainly. But contrast the appropriately respectful reception given Biden’s family story, which is seen as the combination of beauty and tragedy that it (and indeed any family) is, and the way that Obama’s mixed family and bevy of half-siblings is seen as a profoundly alien and unfortunate circumstance.

8:26 PM: A troubling note from the Biden introductory video: he says that “most of the guys in my neighborhood didn’t like the term ‘working class’”. He goes on to explain that they called themselves middle class because they were “proud”.

There’s a PhD thesis or two on how “working class” became a dirty word in America, how a frank admission of rank in hierarchical workplaces became synonymous with a lack of “pride”, and I know three or four people who would love to write it. Interested grantmaking agencies, feel free to drop us a line and we’ll hook you up.

8:19 PM: An anti-domestic-violence activist to introduce Biden. Nice highlight for an insufficiently prominent part of his legislative history.

She nominates Biden with a Kermitesque cheer that gets a big laugh here in Poggibloggsi.

8:15 PM: You know, when I mentioned “Hurricane Ho” earlier tonight, I think I was misreading a CNN graphic talking about “Hurricane HQ“. Nobody in Coral Gables is that waggish. In a Suge Knight update, AP has the mug shot and reports that he’s out on bail.

8:08 PM: I found Edwards to be kind of a dud, BTW. Why put him in the hot seat?

Rick Noriega is also a congressman, also a retired general, and also from Texas — except he’s running a tough race this fall, against the odious senator John Cornyn. He could have made far better use of a platform like this.

8:05 PM: The video about vets is genuinely affecting and interesting, but voiceovers, effects, soundtracks, and agendas detract from the stories to be told.

7:58 PM: The conservative Texas congressman Chet Edwards is said to be, inexplicably, Nancy Pelosi’s protege and a future House leader. Wags say that Obama vetted him at Pelosi’s behest, to get her surrogate into the headlines (if not into serious contention). This is his coming-out party; let’s see how he does.

7:55 PM: Breaking it up a bit again.

Rear Admiral John Hutson, an ex-Republican who recently made the Folger’s Switch, lets loose with a zinger on his former party: “No longer grand, just old.” Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!

7:47 PM: Where was this John Kerry when we needed him in 2004? He sounded like a righteous liberal, firmly parrying attacks on service and patriotism, unambiguous and direct.

7:42 PM: Kerry is slow to get going, but he slows down, and gets a nice reception, for his hits on McCain. These are some of the only direct shots taken on McCain tonight, and they aim right for at military and foreign policy. He calls Obama a “true friend of Georgia”.

7:35 PM: John Kerry makes the Democrats’ version of the Obama/Osama slip and says “Bush” when he means “McCain”. He seems to be rushing; Bill’s overlong reception likely ate up some valuable time.

7:30 PM: Stay-at-home Virginian and Marine wife Beth Robinson gives forth a mangled “hoorah” and elicits cackles of pitiless mirth from the furrowed brows of blogodelia.

7:27 PM: I forgot how good he was, really. Once he got warmed up, even Michelle, whose smiles seemed strained and applause pro forma when the camera cut away to her, is nodding by the end.

After all these months of grumbling about his maneuverings to support Hillary, Obama supporters are remembering why they liked Bill back then and have to give wily Willie his due.

They’re playing him out of the hall with “Addicted to Love”. How waspish.

7:11 PM: Bill hits hard on foreign-policy themes, and confirms Obama’s suitability for the job more emphatically than Hillary did. It’s substantive, direct and effective. Remember when a president could speak in complete sentences?

Why am I not in there, watching Bill get his swerve on like only he can? Dave Winer is up there with an Asus Eee, a laptop the size of a Peanut Chew, twittering. What does this convention have to do with RSS, for chrissakes?

7:04 PM: Bill enters, smoother of face than he has been in some time. He has angered many of the people in the hall over the past six months, and he gets only a few claps in blog-sur-mer, but it’s all love now. A long a throaty cheer; they won’t let him speak.

7:01 PM: As good a time as any to go over some pre-acceptance-speech worries from the UK press. Gerard Baker of the Times of London thinks that the convention has become all about the Clintons: “this has not been the launchpad for his campaign that he could - and should - have expected”. Toby Harden and Alex Spillius of the Telegraph say that Obama has recieved no detectable poll bounce yet from the Convention, and report that “Mr Obama’s advisers concede that he needs more than soaring rhetoric to win over swing voters and are concerned that the glitzy evening could be seized on by Republicans as evidence of a lack of substance”.

6:54 PM: I returned to the blogger seats up in section 244, to try and get into the hall before it is locked down for the big-ticket speeches coming up, but there was no room at the inn. A fellow “blogger” in a white linen suit has been posted up there for hours, taking calls on his Bluetooth headset, and not filing a thing. I mentally gave him the gas face.

It’s not just us that are scrambling to upgrade our access before the big show. The 200 level, around which the skyboxes and club seats are ranged, is jammed with well-coiffed types busily gladhanding and trying to get better seats. Blond and gelled leans into grey and dry-look and murmurs: “You wouldn’t happen to have any places left in your box, would you?” We pass Chuck Schumer, who is bearing his customary mischievous grin and gladhanding an enthused acquaintance. “And where is your wonderful husband? Who you convince to write checks for us?” Tiered carts of fresh hors d’oeuvres wheel past a Lexus sign and a cluster of camera light that surround Charles Rangel.

6:31 PM: Friend of The Delegates, Philadelphia congressman, and delightful taker-to-task of bigots Patrick Murphy is speaking. Northeast Philly inna haaaaaaaaaawse.

6:14 PM: I’ll take the opportunity to cruise through another underwhelming speaker — this time, the dismissably timid Harry Reid — with some Reader Outreach.

My sister appropriately chides me for missing an opportunity to link to a go-go video about DC statehood. As far as go-go goes, we are Rare Essence fans here at The Delegates, and take particular joy in the fact that they can take an Ashlee Simpson tune and turn it into a solid banger.

6:05 PM: The Guardian’s coverage of US politics has yet to reach the generally high level of its other international reporting, despite mighty effort. Steve Bell, however, continues to represent. As today’s cartoon shows, he’s not afraid to switch media either, headfaking to pastels in a departure from his usual watercolor.

On stage, Melissa Etheridge performs a gruntily earnest medley to little discernible effect.

6:00 PM: Some updates on the the Fury Counter to the Mechanism protest: they continue to march. Their destination may be a place called Cuernavaca Park and not the Pepsi Center.

5:51 PM: Breaking it up a bit. Scroll down to get yourself up to speed.

Hillary just moved to have Obama nominated by acclamation, and for the first time all convention the blogging lounge erupts into sustained cheers and clapping.  High fives all around.  The band breaks into an enthusiastic version of “Love Train”, by Philadelphia’s O’Jays.  Love train indeed.

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.

Colorado Indymedia reports that Denver police are currently raiding the Convergence Center, which Westword says is a “ballroom” on Denver’s west side that is being used to coordinate protest activities at the Convention.

This comes after Civic Center Park, a centrally located green space near the state capitol that has been a staging ground and meeting point for protesters throughout the Convention, was fenced off in the wee hours of the morning, ostensibly for a gourmet festival of some kind.

Colorado IMC follows up their earlier report saying that police are surrounding the building until they can get a search warrant to enter it.

tomcasey’s comment on last night’s Hillary liveblog, about the difficulty women have in effectively displaying power, brings to mind another argument that connects Hillary Clinton with Bette Davis in “Jezebel“.

Johann Hari made a similar analogy in an essay from back in March, in writing about the contrast between our need to view women, particularly Hillary, as vulnerable, and the “prehensile spirit” freely exhibited by Davis in 1938:

What were the two moments when Hillary - for a flickering second - was actually liked? It was when we found out her husband was cheating on her, and in New Hampshire, when she cried. When Hillary is strong, we loathe her. When she is weak, we warm.