Convention is done! What a crazy experience! Events, parties, great people great fun. I strongly encourage people to get involved and run for a delegate spot in 2012. As dorky as it sounds, it was one of my dreams and it's great to have lived it. Hopefully I'll do it again.
Now I'm in Rangely, CO, visiting my old roommate Jim. Back to Raleigh (boo!) Monday. I'll find a way to post a ton of pictures and I'll put the link on here.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday pics
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at breakfast Wed.
Delegate Service Day.
Texas del. Barbara Rosenberg, Hillary, Philly Mayor Mike Nutter
Hilldawg
Hillary's nomination speech.
Sen. Salazar seconded Obama's nomination.
Roll call of the states - Hawaii.
Rebecca Gwatney, wife of Arkansas Democratic Chair Bill Gwatney, who was recently killed at their state headquarters.
Hillary at the New York delegation's moment in the roll call where she made her motion to nominate Obama by acclamation.
Again, fast and blurry picture. Not sure what he was doing here!
App State grads, minus Rep. Ty Harrell. L-R, Betsy of Cleveland County, me, Tasse of Mecklenburg Co., Drew of Asheville, Judy of Lincoln Co.
Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri at breakfast Thursday morning, talking up Kay Hagan. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana was supposed to also come, but with Gustav on the way, she returned home to New Orleans.
Wednesday
I’ve almost forgotten what day it is – this is a non-stop marathon of events. This is the first time I’ve spent in my room outside of sleeping at night. Wednesday was a lot of fun, except MY CAMERA DIED! Fortunately, I still got some good pictures, just not when Obama came out at the end along with Joe’s family.
Breakfast began with Gov. Easley and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, both of which did a great job. Immediately after that we headed to Delegate Service Day and then immediately after that we headed downtown to hear Hillary speak to her delegates. Then immediately after that, they wanted us in our seats at the Pepsi Center by 3:15 for the nominations and roll call. Then after all of the convention proceedings end, the parties begin.
At Hillary’s event, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Texas Delegate Barbara Rosenberg spoke before Hillary. It was awesome – so much so that I chose to cast my vote for Hillary. However, at the roll call of states, it never even got to us – we lost our doggone moment! I wish New York had passed until the end. Alphabetically, we are right after New York who is right after New Mexico. New Mexico deferred to Illinois who had passed earlier. This is most likely because New Mexico’s votes could have put Obama over the top. Illinois deferred to New York where Senator Clinton made her motion to nominate Obama by acclamation. That was great – a lot of fun and celebrating after it passed. It just stinks because we were standing up ready for our two minutes of fame!
It was right about then that my phone started to die, so I saved it up for one shot of Bill and a few of Joe Biden, which I got, barely. Bill did awesome, as usual. The Clintons are some of the best speakers in the country and I heard he did it with no teleprompter and few notes.
If I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again; take a look at Joe Biden. You’ll come away impressed. He is the most real, normal candidate I’ve seen in my lifetime and also one of the most accomplished public servants. Definitely the best choice Obama could have made for VP.
After it was done, we hit up the combined NC/Oklahoma party and then went to the “Voto Latino” party. Leave it up to Kansas Chris to try to get us into the VIP line. Then we went to a club called “the Church.” William and Chris loved it – me, not so much. It was complete with freaky house music and nasty girls with glo-sticks in their mouths. All for just $25!!! Absurd.
We just did our delegation photo, an App State group photo, and a 5th/12th District group photo. Soon it will be time to head to Invesco!
Breakfast began with Gov. Easley and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, both of which did a great job. Immediately after that we headed to Delegate Service Day and then immediately after that we headed downtown to hear Hillary speak to her delegates. Then immediately after that, they wanted us in our seats at the Pepsi Center by 3:15 for the nominations and roll call. Then after all of the convention proceedings end, the parties begin.
At Hillary’s event, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Texas Delegate Barbara Rosenberg spoke before Hillary. It was awesome – so much so that I chose to cast my vote for Hillary. However, at the roll call of states, it never even got to us – we lost our doggone moment! I wish New York had passed until the end. Alphabetically, we are right after New York who is right after New Mexico. New Mexico deferred to Illinois who had passed earlier. This is most likely because New Mexico’s votes could have put Obama over the top. Illinois deferred to New York where Senator Clinton made her motion to nominate Obama by acclamation. That was great – a lot of fun and celebrating after it passed. It just stinks because we were standing up ready for our two minutes of fame!
It was right about then that my phone started to die, so I saved it up for one shot of Bill and a few of Joe Biden, which I got, barely. Bill did awesome, as usual. The Clintons are some of the best speakers in the country and I heard he did it with no teleprompter and few notes.
If I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again; take a look at Joe Biden. You’ll come away impressed. He is the most real, normal candidate I’ve seen in my lifetime and also one of the most accomplished public servants. Definitely the best choice Obama could have made for VP.
After it was done, we hit up the combined NC/Oklahoma party and then went to the “Voto Latino” party. Leave it up to Kansas Chris to try to get us into the VIP line. Then we went to a club called “the Church.” William and Chris loved it – me, not so much. It was complete with freaky house music and nasty girls with glo-sticks in their mouths. All for just $25!!! Absurd.
We just did our delegation photo, an App State group photo, and a 5th/12th District group photo. Soon it will be time to head to Invesco!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday/Wednesday
I'm finally got just a few minutes to update. We just got back from Delegate Service Day where we worked with Alaska and Minnesota to pack emergency food boxes for Meals on Wheels. I met a Korean War Veteran, Mr. Anderson, from Albert Lea, Minnesota.
This morning we had to vote - at least initially. I'll be completely honest - it was a very tough decision. I won't reveal it yet because we have the opportunity to change our minds before this afternoon's session. I'm leaving shortly for a meeting of the Hillary delegates with Hillary, so hopefully that will cement my thoughts one way or another.
Rest assured, I'm all about party unity. My vote for Hillary, should that be the case, would be to uphold an obligation. No matter what she says, I was elected by folks who truly wanted to vote for her for president. I feel more obligated to them than to her. At the same time, I feel she has not been given her due by the press. She has done everything she can to demonstrate unity, yet the message being delivered is that she's not whole-hearted or trying to undermine Obama. So a vote for him would hopefully show that she and her delegates are trying to present a united front.
Anyway, back to yesterday. I met up with Fran Santagata of the Denver Urban Area Security Initiative. I met her through my new boss and with that connection I got to go visit the Emergency Operations Center, where folks in emergency management are staked out 24/7 to make sure this convention is safe. After that, we had lunch, but on the way I got interviewed by Fox 9 TV, and interestingly enough, it was about the safety and security of the event.
Once I got to the Pepsi Center, we were told to go sit in New York's section, as their new governor was about to speak and none of them were there! So I figured with so many of them coming to be North Carolinians, we can go pretend to be New Yorkers. The convention starts at 3pm, but the real meat of the session isn't until prime time.
Last night Mark Warner and Hillary spoke. Mark Warner was a great governor of Virginia and will be a great senator, but he sure is a flat speaker. Hillary on the other hand was awesome. She demonstrated why I decided to back her in the first place - she's collected, she's smart, she conveys her message well. If you think negatively of her, I ask you to study up some more and reconsider. You'll come away impressed.
William, my roommate, showed up last night and we went to the NC after-party at Coors Field. It was cool - sitting out on the deck of this nice bar overlooking the field.
Ok, time to try to get some pics up before I head downtown.
This morning we had to vote - at least initially. I'll be completely honest - it was a very tough decision. I won't reveal it yet because we have the opportunity to change our minds before this afternoon's session. I'm leaving shortly for a meeting of the Hillary delegates with Hillary, so hopefully that will cement my thoughts one way or another.
Rest assured, I'm all about party unity. My vote for Hillary, should that be the case, would be to uphold an obligation. No matter what she says, I was elected by folks who truly wanted to vote for her for president. I feel more obligated to them than to her. At the same time, I feel she has not been given her due by the press. She has done everything she can to demonstrate unity, yet the message being delivered is that she's not whole-hearted or trying to undermine Obama. So a vote for him would hopefully show that she and her delegates are trying to present a united front.
Anyway, back to yesterday. I met up with Fran Santagata of the Denver Urban Area Security Initiative. I met her through my new boss and with that connection I got to go visit the Emergency Operations Center, where folks in emergency management are staked out 24/7 to make sure this convention is safe. After that, we had lunch, but on the way I got interviewed by Fox 9 TV, and interestingly enough, it was about the safety and security of the event.
Once I got to the Pepsi Center, we were told to go sit in New York's section, as their new governor was about to speak and none of them were there! So I figured with so many of them coming to be North Carolinians, we can go pretend to be New Yorkers. The convention starts at 3pm, but the real meat of the session isn't until prime time.
Last night Mark Warner and Hillary spoke. Mark Warner was a great governor of Virginia and will be a great senator, but he sure is a flat speaker. Hillary on the other hand was awesome. She demonstrated why I decided to back her in the first place - she's collected, she's smart, she conveys her message well. If you think negatively of her, I ask you to study up some more and reconsider. You'll come away impressed.
William, my roommate, showed up last night and we went to the NC after-party at Coors Field. It was cool - sitting out on the deck of this nice bar overlooking the field.
Ok, time to try to get some pics up before I head downtown.
whoa tired
It's 1:30 here, 3:30 there and we just got in. Today was once again alot of fun, especially Hillary's speech. I also got to visit the Emergency Operations Center. All are stories for tomorrow when I'm hopefully a little more rested and have a little more time!
Thanks again for reading and I'll update tomorrow.
Thanks again for reading and I'll update tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
one more pic
Just another cool picture that I had in the post just below but accidentally deleted and didn't want to try and re-format to fit into it. I think it's just a really cool shot of the crowd reacting to Michelle Obama with one of our many, many convention signs.
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