Dem
51
GOP
49
Reports from both of our reader-delegates today. First up, A.S. in Fairfax, VA:
I didn't provide a lot of my impressions on the speeches from night one as I figured (V) and (Z) had all that covered, and I must say that your reaction to the whole first night was right in line with my perspective. "Best speech of his career" (referring to Biden) was said several times by people riding the bus back to the hotel.And C.L. in Boulder, CO:
To start Day Two, we got to hear from both of our Virginia Senators, Tim Kaine (D) and Mark Warner (D), a couple of our Representatives, and some of our party leaders. It is fun to hear the banter between politicians when they are in a comfortable setting. We also heard from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD). I've been in the room for his speeches a few times now and he always gets the crowd going. So much so that I believe he also spoke to another state's delegation in the next room, and they were cheering and laughing so loud that it interrupted part of our program.
People were skeptical of the logistics because of the issues on Day One, but everything ran much better today. I wasn't able to go to any of the daytime events at McCormick Place because the Virginia delegation had a luncheon near the hotel. We were also told to make sure we were at the United Center by 5:30, even if we had to skip other daytime events to get there on time. That created some major buzz about what surprises were in store. Getting through security was much easier, though still a long wait. Word of a Patti LaBelle appearance had leaked to some delegates, but many of them were totally surprised.
Speaking of surprises, I cannot say much more about the roll call ceremony other than "Wow!" Lil Jon walked right past me on his way to Georgia; the lighted bracelets were a beautiful touch, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) came through our section and took a picture with us before heading over to Pennsylvania; and being in Virginia, I learned: (1) It takes way longer to get through all of those states than you initially think and (2) very few people can actually put the states in alphabetical order as there were several times we failed to identify which state was next.
We were instructed to remain in place for the entire roll call because: (1) We need to be ready for our state's turn and (2) it is pretty much the biggest duty we have as delegates. Having to stay in place for that hour-plus ceremony then led to a lot of restlessness and commotion during the next several speakers as delegates went to the concourse for food, bathroom breaks, and started conversing about what we'd just experienced. The Virginia delegation also got distracted when we got to meet Iain Armitage, star of Young Sheldon, who is originally from Virginia. He was incredibly kind and took a bunch of pictures and videos with some starstruck delegates.
But Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Michelle and Barack Obama completely captivated the audience. I'm sure you will say plenty about their speeches. Through two nights, Hillary, the Bidens, and the Obamas left this crowd energized and inspired, and now the torch is passed to our official vice-presidential and presidential nominees.
Former Colorado governor Roy Romer is a DNC delegate, in the Distinguished Party Leader category. He has been to every Democratic National Convention since 1952! A longtime politically active person, who is more than 3 billion seconds old, can accomplish this amazing record. I amused him tonight by reminding him of the time he was getting on a flight and had left his ID behind, but he had a newspaper and showed the airline staff that his picture was on the front page. They let him on the plane. You don't see many physical newspapers these days.
On Day One, I felt like the evening experience was not necessarily much better than just watching it on TV. Today, the energy of the ceremonial roll-call vote and the participatory nature of each state—some close to us, others on the far side of the arena—made the in-person experience very much worth it. I detected extra cheers for certain states—of course, for California and Minnesota, home states of the nominees—but also for Illinois (hosting the DNC), New York (where Donald Trump was convicted), and Florida (where Trump lives).
Colorado is in the middle of section 110. New York is below us, including some delegates on the floor. Louisiana is in section 109. Washington state is in section 111:
I haven't seen a complete seating chart for the state delegations.
A surprise highlight of the night was soon after the roll call, when we saw a live stream of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at a huge rally in Milwaukee, and Harris spoke to us in Chicago about the honor of being nominated. I really appreciated the power of technology at that moment.
Michelle Obama gave a great speech, and it is a rare event, since she has been trying to avoid politics in recent years. (Her husband started his speech by saying, "I am the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama.") In her speech she asked, "Who's going to tell [Trump] that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs'?" "Black jobs" is a big theme here. I've seen five different t-shirts. Today, shirt #4 had a definition of "Black Job." Then I saw three women with identical shirts that read, "Our Black Job is to VOTE."
At our 7:00 a.m. breakfast, some of our speakers were:The surprise speaker making the rounds of the daytime meetings today was Gwen Walz. The Rural Council is very excited about a rural guy like Tim Walz being on the ticket; his wife also had a small high school graduating class—bigger than Gov. Walz' but smaller than 45 people. She identifies strongly as a teacher and may have been trying out material for her speech later in the convention! The crowd warmed up with these speakers before hearing from the Minnesota First Lady:
- Lynne Fox, first female Chair of the Board of Amalgamated Bank, a financial sponsor of the convention. I learned that the bank is a labor-union-owned bank.
- Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), who wants to fight for H.R. 1 (a democracy bill) if the Democrats win the House and keep the Senate and White House. Later, in the elevator, I said to him that I would like to talk with him about proportional representation sometime, and he was agreeable.
- Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who fought the insurrectionists on January 6, went on to run unsuccessfully for Congress, testified in support of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) when the Republicans tried to impeach her, and was gut-punched when the U.S. Supreme Court declared that Trump has immunity for actions while president.
Today, I was interviewed by three different radio organizations. First it was Swiss journalists based in Washington, DC, who work for SRF and RSI. The interview will be translated into German and Italian and will air in a couple of days. In college, I babysat some Swiss children once a week and spoke French with them so the reporters wanted me to share that story on the air. The female reporter had lived in Durango for a while, and was appreciative of my Mesa Verde National Park t-shirt; we were supposed to wear something that showed off Colorado for the roll-call vote. I also told the Colorado Democrats Executive Director that I had been interviewed by SRF and RSI; she wanted them to contact her! She was born Swiss and told me that they wouldn't find any other Swiss people at the convention.
- Former U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), who lost reelection because she voted against confirming Brett Kavanaugh.
- Andy Beshear, who was a contender in Kamala Harris' veepstakes.
- Rev. Chris Jones, chair of the Dirt Road Democrats—a Black man with a Ph.D. from MIT and who ran unsuccessfully against Gov. Sarah Sanders (R-AK) for Arkansas governor.
- Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS), who inherited the leadership of the Democratic Governors Association when Tim Walz stepped down this month.
- Caroline Gleich, a professional ski mountaineer and candidate for U.S. Senate in Utah.
- Deputy Secretary of Agriculture and former representative Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM).
Later in the afternoon I asked Joel Heitkamp, brother of Heidi, about the politics of passing the Farm Bill. He had been part of a discussion in the Rural Council, which prompted my question. He also is a talk show host whose show airs on several rural radio stations. None of the stations are in Colorado (but a heck of a lot closer than Switzerland). After answering my question, he interviewed me, first for one minute (a test?), then for longer.
Finally, at the arena this evening, Colorado's KOA 850 AM radio interviewed me and a delegate from Grand Junction and asked us about our experiences in the arena.
If I hadn't had COVID a month ago—my first time—I'd probably be wanting to wear a mask all the time, but it's nice for talking in a very loud arena or to reporters to not feel the need to wear a mask!
Thanks again to both of you! (Z)