Day 3 at the DNC
I want to say right off the top… full disclosure here… I’m a registered Independent. I believe members of the media should be open about their party affiliations — especially when covering politics.
That having been said, yesterday at the Democratic National Convention was amazing in many ways.
First there was high drama surrounding Hillary Clinton delegates. We’ve been talking to her supporters all week — and let me tell you, a lot of them remain very angry.
We caught up to a group of women protesting in downtown Denver; they are actually going all over the country raising as much commotion as possible. Basically they feel the Democratic Party ripped them off.
It wasn’t quite clear what was going to happen when all the states’ delegates hit the convention floor. Some thought the Hillary delegates were going to refuse to stand and support Obama. Hillary Clinton herself put an end to that. She showed up at the convention and basically said to everyone, hey — let’s move on. Barack Obama is the nominee.
I have to say, Hillary Clinton showed tremendous class throughout the entire week.
Here is a woman so scrutinized — what she’s wearing, whether she shows too much emotion or not enough… I mean it goes on and on. But she really showed what she was made of this week. And the crowd here gave her big props for it. I talked to a woman last night who said she came to Denver not at all a fan of the Clintons. She found them, in her words… to be selfish and self serving. But then she went on to say this week changed everything… she has new found respect and fondness for both Hillary and Bill.
President Clinton spoke to the crowd last night. He’s famously long winded but a gifted speaker to be sure. There was no doubt that he came here to get the job done, to leave no doubt about where he stands. Differences are being put aside, he’s supporting Barack Obama.
The crowd loves Bill Clinton. No matter what happened in the past, he has rock star status among Democrats. He got a standing ovation that lasted a good five minutes when he came to the stage last night. I watched the look on Chelsea Clinton’s face, it was sweet to see. In that moment, she just looked like a daughter who was proud of her father. Not a girl who grew up in the White House.
Later in the night Barack Obama made a surprise appearance, he was introduced by Joe Biden’s wife Jill. Apparently Senator Biden didn’t even know that Obama was going to join him on stage. Well… I can tell you that something seemed too suspicious early in the night. The security seemed to be especially tight. We had been told early on, when Barack Obama is in the building that there would be somewhat of a lock down. That’s what happened last night, just before Bill Clinton came on stage. Secret Service locked the doors leading to the seats inside the arena. So anyone who was out getting food, going to the restroom or just standing around chatting — well, they were pretty much out of luck. Many delegates who got locked out had to stand around and watch Bill Clinton’s speech on the televisions in the pavilion. They weren’t real happy about it.
After Clinton’s speech, I caught up to Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson and asked him if he was worried about security risk tonight at Invesco. Already there have been three guys arrested for allegedly plotting to kill Barack Obama. Reverend Jackson answered by talking about the day Dr. King was killed. I have to say, it was chilling to be having this conversation with someone who was there when we lost one of our nation’s greatest heroes.
We are on our way now to begin work on a story about the significance of this day, August 28th: The anniversary of Dr. King’s Dream Speech. Let me leave you with this, the other day I spent some time with a beautiful and spirited 80 year old African American woman who said, no matter what your politics, you can’t help but to be moved by the significance in what is going on here in Denver this week. She said, “Dr King would be looking down and would be very proud.”