The First Morning

It is earliest morning in Zambia, the sun just starting its ascent
into the November sky, and I am on a crowded bus, already too hot, en
route to the airport.

The polls close in my beloved California in mere minutes, and with her
mighty 55 electoral college votes CNN will say that Obama has clinched
it. Or perhaps they already have.

Being so far from this campaign's center of gravity on the day it
evolves from potential to actual is quite hard. But the Africans I
encounter have made a great difference in that regard. They hunger for
some small connection to this otherwise mythical man, which I can
provide them. My cache of Obama buttons dwindles but the
conversations with their proud new owners fill the empty spaces in me.

It will more than do for now.

But soon I will need to celebrate this with the grassroots -- the
people who pushed relentlessly and with great hope to achieve this
seismic shift in America's quest to evolve into the nation it has
always claimed to be.

Today, I wish I was home.

Sent from my iPhone, please pardon the type-os!

Election day in South Africa

I've cried once already --when I told a fellow traveler how hard it is
to be away from home on this historic election day. If I was home I
would've spent the last week making endless calls to swing states, and
working in getting out the vote in my local area. You just want to
know you did all you could. You know?

All I can do at this point is spread Obama love and cheer. I brought
100 Obama buttons and five t-shirts with me to give away, and I have a
lot of fun doing that.

Win it America. Win it for us and win it for the world.

Africans Interested in Obama

I am traveling for work in nine African countries through mid November. At a restaurant in Accra, Ghana, I saw the following signs and just had to share. Imagine people wanting to buy an Obama t-shirt in Accra, Ghana. There's also an advertisement for an elections results viewing
party. THIS is how big this is.

Africa Trip: Taking a Small Piece of History With Me

In many venues at home and abroad Barack Obama is heralded as exactly who America needs as its next president. In 8 days we'll know whetherthat dream came true. Nowhere is that dream more vivid than in Kenya, the country from which Obama's father hailed, the country which expects America to elect a minority president before it is able to. (Obama's Kenyan ancestors are from the Luo tribe, which has minority status in that country.)

So when I'm in Kenya on November 11, I am going to dole out these t-shirts and 100 buttons -- the remnants of my 20 months of volunteering for the Obama campaign -- to anyone who wants a little piece of history for themselves. It's probably the closest I'll have come in a long time to feeling like Santa Claus.

Early Voting: T-Shirt Violates Law

I leave town tomorrow for an international trip that will keep me out of the country until November 14. So alongside "buy toothpaste," on my list of things to do today was "vote."

You can vote early in person in Santa Clara County, so right after my son's soccer game, off I went. The County Registrar of Voters is about 15 miles away from where I live, and I felt tears come as I made my way off the highway toward the large government office building. It was 10am on this Saturday morning. And already there was a line.

I asked the security guard to take this picture of me and he gladly obliged. Minutes later a kind but firm official informed me that under California law, campaign materials are prohibited within 100 feet of the voting booth and my t-shirt is considered campaign materials. I
said I'd heard about that but thought it was an Internet hoax. He smiled and said, "Nope, it's California law." So I said, "well it's important to follow California law" and then I scooted off to the bathroom to turn my shirt inside out. I'm not here to argue the finer points of what makes something campaign materials, I'm here to vote.

And vote I did.

It's kindof anti-climactic, at least for me anyway. The person next to me probably got a kick out of the fact that I spent just as much time photographing my marked ballot as I did voting. Corny, I know but I just wanted a record. Something to show my grandkids, "Yes, I voted for the candidate who turned out to be the first black president of the United States."

Obama. I voted for him today. For our future as a nation. For my Dad.

And for me.

The RNC: Kickin' Ass With Sarah Palin

There’s a lot I admire about Sarah Palin: Her meteoric rise in a highly-scrutinized, male-dominated profession. Her ability to be smart and tough but also beautiful and feminine. The challenges life has thrown her way and how she has handled them. My friend Andy, a republican insider on Capitol Hill, says the party has had its eye on her for years. A true rising star. She is "feisty, with grace,” as a republican delegate recently put it.

Sure, I find it pretty easy to be excited about all of that.

And, then there’s a lot I don't like about her. Her belief that creationism should be taught in public schools. Her desire to drill for more oil and build nuclear power plants instead of insisting on clean and safe sources of energy. Her belief that government should be able to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies. There’s a lot of policy to disagree about, but these disagreements are par for the course in a republican versus democratic race.

This race isn’t going to come down to any of that.

No, this race is going to be about personality and character. And it's now abundantly clear that Sarah Palin has a lot of both. The question is whether she’s got the kind of personality and character befitting a person holding the second-highest office in the land.

Or whether hers is conduct unbecoming.

During her acceptance speech I expected to hear the kind of content conservatives salivate over, just as the DNC speeches dripped with the content democrats crave. So I wasn’t surprised by the topics. Still, I heard some things that made my stomach churn.

I heard her ridicule Obama’s community organizing experience. Of course we democrats know that community organizing is what you do when government is failing to meet the needs of the people. Martin Luther King was a community organizer. So was Jesus Christ. Maybe she does not understand what that work is all about. But did she have to ridicule it?

What was with the tone she took? The attitude? I was instantly reminded of the swaggering cowboy we currently have in the Oval Office who makes clear that he thinks anyone who disagrees with him is like an animal in his personal rodeo. After hearing Sarah Palin speak, it is easy to imagine her as the new cowboy in town, with the leather chaps, metal spurs and lasso, kicking ass and taking names. This is who we want representing us in the world?

The world is so tired of an America that behaves that way.

And so am I.

We need a president who respects people – all people – who doesn’t think we are better than everybody else, and better yet who understands that while we are but a tiny fraction of the planet’s population we have a great obligation to help lift up those around the world who are enduring tragedy and hardship. We need a president who will make America America again, both around the world and right here at home. It is hard to imagine that a woman who is called a "barracuda" because of how she treats people would be one of our nation's highest leaders. It is hard to imagine a woman who had no need for a passport in the first 43 years of her life being able to be an ambassador for America around the world. It is hard to imagine such a woman being a heartbeat away from the presidency.

I am a democrat. I believe government should actively safeguard a basic quality of life for all citizens. I believe our leaders must believe in science, in global warming being greatly compounded by human behavior, in a woman’s right to choose. But even more than these things, I want the highest leaders in the land to respect people. The kick ass attitude Sarah Palin showed in her acceptance speech may be what it takes to get things done in Alaska, but in my view it is conduct unbecoming the next Vice President of the United States.

Yee haw.

Post DNC: "The Angry Left"

Driving home from work tonight I heard some snippets on NPR of the President and the First Lady speaking at the Republican Convention. George W. opined that McCain would never yield to the "angry left." And I found myself thinking, "Angry Left? Huh, yep, well, I guess that's me." Of course the crowd of adoring delegates roared their approval and I got this snarlish look on my face and a feeling of dread in my stomach which presumably is what the republicans felt and looked like listening to our great lovefest last week. It pains me that we are so divided as a country, and that this process by very definition polarizes us. Yet, it is what it is and here we are, Angry Left. Let's put this anger to good use, even if it means giving the Right something to be angry about.

Photos from the Convention..

http://hudoneit.smugmug.com/gallery/5856435_3zWtp (Sat. and Sun.)
Samantha Powers, AAPI Caucus, Disturbing protest photo, police equipped with riot gear, Howard Dean gala

http://hudoneit.smugmug.com/gallery/5802652_dxmpt (Day 1)
Jim & Emy Thurber, more pictures of riot police, Ted Kennedy, Michelle Obama

http://hudoneit.smugmug.com/gallery/5852707_ZafVs (Day 2)
Owen Byrd talking with Joe Trippi, Anna Eshoo's event, Hillary's speech

http://hudoneit.smugmug.com/gallery/5852727_RZzL5 (Day 3)
Roll call, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Beau Biden, and Joe Biden

http://hudoneit.smugmug.com/gallery/5829613_Nb6AP (Day 4)
Invesco Field

Post DNC: Stoking the Fire With My Kids

Against my better judgment, when I arrived back home from Denver at midnight on Friday night, I woke my daughter up with kisses. Six, seven or eight, of the deep nuzzle in the face and neck variety. I knew I shouldn't wake her -- she's the one who at age seven still has trouble going to sleep every night -- but after my longest trip away from home ever, I just had to reconnect with her scent, her texture, her sweetness. Thankfully, after a brief conversation she nestled back into her pillow and within a few minutes fell asleep.

By the time I made it to the next door down the hallway, I had regained some sense. So when I climbed the ladder to my nine year old son's elevated bed, I went in for the strategic kiss of the non-waking kind. In his sleep his arm was outstretched toward the ladder, so I started there and then gave a quick peck on the forehead while murmuring "I love you baby." He stayed asleep.

Finally, I was home.

As busy as I am -- or should be -- with work, given my week's absence at the DNC, I am not going into the office this weekend. Instead I am reconnecting with the little people in my life. The ones who are the only two references on my motherhood resume. The ones whose start of school this week while I was in Denver left me bawling at the California delegation breakfast.

So yesterday was an intense baking session with my fourth grader, whose teacher had the great sense to read "The Case Against Homework" this summer, and the great wisdom to apply its principles to her classroom pedagogy. This means that instead of homework packets that ask them to do endless repetitions of what they did in school, the "homework" is going to be "work at home" meaning projects that bubble up from a child's own imagination and curiosity. For my son, it is an examination of 5 different sugar cookie recipes to determine by taste test which is the best. From combining the ingredients, to rolling the dough out between sheets of wax paper, to preheating the oven, cutting the cookies, and gingerly transferring them from spatula to cookie sheet, this was a race against time. The delicate dough started refrigerated but softened with each touch of a finger or roll of the rolling pin. It was a real triumph to get the 1/8" thin slices onto those cookie sheets, and then to get them safely into and out of the hot oven.

For my second grader, today was a trip to her hair and nail salon, where, draped in towels to soak up the water, I got all kinds of products massaged into my hair, followed by a facepainting design on my forehead ("Obama" -- her idea), followed by a manicure of alternating green and blue polish. I returned the favor by doing her nails and toes to complement the eyes and cheeks facepainting her daddy had already done for her.

I call this kind of interaction "stoking the fire." Connections that nurture the heart and the soul. That let them know there's no place else I'd rather be right then than in their world with them.

I couldn't have gone to Denver, of course, without a great support system already in place at home. My husband, one of his generation's greatest feminists, is already extremely involved in the kids' lives. As the one in the family who works part time, he is the one they can count on to be there for a performance or a game and he knows their routines better than I do. The other great factor in the equation is my mother, with whom we co-own our home and live a life of intertwinedness. So while I was in Denver, the family was just fine. The one who was missing, who missed out, who missed important things, was just me.

Of course, the Obama campaign hasn't ended now that I'm back, in fact it's stronger than ever. And the trick after a week of intense Obamaing is to re-integrate my volunteer work with the campaign into my home and work life. Both kids' teachers have asked me to come and talk about being a delegate at the convention. The second graders even prepared a list of questions in advance, including, "tell us about the music and fireworks," "how many people were outside on the last night," "were you visible on TV," and my favorite, "do you think Obama is good at math?"

They're old enough to know about Harriet Tubman, Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr. and that Obama's candidacy is the realization of millions of people's dreams over three centuries. They also know about Hillary Clinton, and the great significance of her candidacy. One day they will treasure the pictures I've taken of them in Obama garb, at Obama events, with Obama stuff.

For now, though, they'd rather see the pictures of the cookies, the facepaint, and the green ball.

Such is motherhood.

Photo gallery from Day 4

More to come, but here's Day 4..

http://hudoneit.smugmug.com/gallery/5829613_Nb6AP

The DNC: The Convention is Over But the Connections Continue

Speaker Nancy Pelosi struck the final gavel of the Democratic National Convention last night, signaling an immediate and inevitable end to the four days of frenzied activity, intense emotion, and the constant sense that what you are doing matters. Quite frankly, I'm relieved it is over. There is only so much exhilaration a person can take all at once.

I spent the night last night with old friends who live in Denver. This morning, they shared with me this reaction from a neighbor to Obama's speech: "I didn't like the speech. I mean, why should we help the poor?"

Ahem.

What a lovely opportunity to discuss the role of government from a Democrat's perspective, that is if you can stomach any further engagement with one so minded. And of course, you have to engage because hearts and minds don't change any other way. Still, it was trying if not alarming, leaving my friend to contemplate why she is living where she is living and how in 2008 we still have so far to go.

From my friend's house I came to the Denver airport which seems to have mopped itself up from the flood of visitors that came in for the Convention. I was uncharacteristically early, so had some time for a breather at the Food Court where I checked my much-neglected email, and had the kind of fast food meal I don't let myself eat much anymore.

Quite deliberately, I wore an Obama t-shirt to the airport today. I hoped to invite conversation by wearing it, and it served it's intended purpose. A woman named Genie came over to me with a wry smile and said, "it was pretty great, huh?" A Political Director for the SEIU union in Illinois, she is from Obama's home district and proudly told me that her support pre-dated his senate run.

She then went on to tell me that her boss was a speaker at Invesco so she and a few coworkers got tickets. As she stood in the long line approaching the stadium last night, a guy walked by with a concert or sporting event-style sign saying "I need a ticket." Though it had to
have been the hottest ticket on the planet, she just gave him one. Later, when she was at guest services trying to recharge her cell phone, she lamented to the clerk that she was up in the nosebleed seats, and the clerk gave her a ticket in a better section. This kind of generosity kept paying itself forward throughout the event.

Genie, a Caucasian, told me that she was sitting with her male African American coworker. At the end of Obama's speech, a White male stranger came up to the coworker and gave him a full embrace. Then the stranger pulled back, looked the coworker in the eye and said, "I didn't think
I would ever vote for a Black man."

This was a week for hearing that kind of thing, for watching people step gingerly or leap across lines they had drawn, and to see them seek --and usually find -- embrace on the other side.

Genie and I were soon joined in conversation by Randy, a baggage worker here at the airport. He asked us what we thought of McCain's VP pick. And then Randy talked about how he usually gets three days off in a row, and how he would use those days off to do voter registration right here in Colorado.

That's what these final 67 days will be about. Talking to strangers, crossing lines, reaching out, engaging. All of it hard work, all of it essential.

Something tells me there's more fast food in my future. But I hope also more people like Genie and Randy.

Day Four...

The lines for tickets outside Invesco Field really did seem ridiculous today, but many people connected with District 14 managed to get some type of credential to attend. Even 12-year old Shahab and his dad who flew in today got a few upper section seats. I tried to call those of you who I knew would be in town. We weren't informed until Thursday morning that there would be extra Invesco tickets, and most of us requested only 1 or 2 additional tickets.

The performers included will.i.am, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Wonder. Day 4 felt like a combination of a rock-concert, college graduation, and political rally. Obviously the Democrats have learned to drill home the main points about McCain, so just about every speaker echos similar ideas, including the testimonials from people from different Battleground states.

All the delegations were placed at the floor level, and we were seated right behind Colorado this time. I've received reports that Molly, Elspeth (Mari felt ill and gave her pass to her), and Bob Petit were filmed dancing to music. Bob especially seems to get the cameraperson's attention on the big LCD screens, as I think it's been at least 2 or 3 convention days where I've seen him on the screen.

I'll try to post a photo gallery later for everyone soon....

The DNC: Brilliant

This strategy to have real folk talk about their experiences is
brilliant.

The woman who received the republican smear email just told millions
of people why it was trash.

The former republicans with horror stories were more compelling than
dems with the same stories would have been.

And now we're singing "Born in the USA" and people are waving not only
the small flags we were given, but huge flags brought from home. The
Republicans' claim of ownership of the flag is over. These are
patriots in this stadium and we're taking our country back.

When has there ever been a convention with 70,000 people shouting in
Spanish?

Sent from my iPhone

The DNC: The Wave

It is 7:05 MDT. Gore just finished and we must be on commercial break
cuz nothing is happening. Nothing, that is, until the audience in the
bowl started doing a very energetic wave around the stadium. And now
Michael McDonald sings...

Sent from my iPhone

The DNC: I Found Electricity!

A chance encounter between me and NBC's Ann Curry led to a connection
to a tech guy named Jimmy which led to a budding relationship with
Joop in a media tunnel. Joop has a power strip and I'm renting one
plug for the price of an eager smile and gratitude.

It is 3:21 pm and a bluegrass band just started playing. The stadium
is about twenty percent full. People are dancing, kissing, getting
water for the weary. Hillary people are talking about feeling so much
better. My friend Bob from cd 15 is dancing a ridiculous dance and
is getting all kinds of media attention.

Now that's just something I'm not gonna do!

Sent from my iPhone

The DNC: How to find California

Our huge delegation, 441 strong, has fantastic seats right behind the
home delegation. If you're watching on TV, we are on the right as you
look at the stage. Colorado is in front of us, right up against the
blue barrier separating the audience from the stage, but they only
take up 3 rows, so look for us behind Colorado, from the fifth row all
the way back to the media tents. The California sign is actually at
the very back of our delegation.

Sent from my iPhone

The DNC: Its 1:30 and We're Inside Invesco!

They told us to take the delegate bus, but three days at the DNC have
shown us that even weary feet get you where you need to go fastest.
An hour's walk in the noonday sun was no problem for us intrepid Obama
delegates from silicon valley. We are among the first few hundred
people here, and we are on the silken edge of history unfolding.

My batteries will run out long before this glorious day turns to
night, presaging an historical dawn. But know this: as this arena
fills, the mood is euphoric and awed. We Democrats, united and on
fire, are going to take our country back and restore for the world the
America it so achingly needs, in 68 days.

Unexpected Matters

Things have been absolutely crazy.

Yesterday, some delegates and I went to Manual High School in Denver to talk with some students about the convention, being a delegate, and politics in general. There were some students that were incredibly interested in the process. Overall, they expressed an overwhelming support (out of the ones that had an opinion) for Obama.

And then the convention.

The roll call became epic when New Jersey, New Hampshire, and ARKANSAS voted unanimously, with all of their delegates, for Senator Obama. The crowd went crazy; it was such an expression of unity. None of us were expecting Illinois to pass its delegates on to New York, and further, Senator Clinton's appearance on the floor to propose we nominate Senator Obama by acclamation was a complete surprise. People all around me were in tears.

Bill Clinton: he inspired like his wife did the night before.

And then Joe Biden spoke. And I'm not even going to go over how amazing it was because all of America watched it intently on television.

When the convention was let out and I was going down the stairs, I saw a group of guys in suits yelling upwards at the crowd. As I walked closer, I realized it was the entire team of news correspondents from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. They were incredibly friendly and didn't have much of a crowd surrounding them. Quite a shame I forgot my camera charger.

Well tonight is the speech that will affirm everything that has happened this past week. I almost worry about it sometimes because the expectations are astronomical. His 2004 keynote is how he acquired national recognition so quickly. And 4 years later, he is back to accept the Democratic nomination.

But, given how this whole week has been, I'm sure he'll surprise us all.

The DNC: Practical Realities of the Big Day

Today is the big day. Although yesterday was an unbelivably big day and it's hard to imagine any day -- even a day on which Barack Obama accepts the Democratic Nomination for President -- being any bigger. Yesterday was THAT big.

The rumor is that we need to get to Mile High/Invesco at one, and that we will be there until 9pm MDT. We will walk the two miles to get there because the buses have to slog through traffic. I've been doing all of my live blogging from my iPhone which I was able to recharge while in the Pepsi Center but I'll have no such luck down on a football field. To conserve my phone battery, I'm going to take my laptop and record stuff there. It has no wireless connection, but at least I can record stuff real-time and post it later.

The other practicality is the fancy outfit I brought is going to feel like a straitjacket under Denver's August heat in the afternoon. This may be the most important speech I will ever attend in my lifetime, and of course I want to honor that by looking the part, but practically speaking I may be indistinguishable from a tourist on a summer day. Or a fan on a football field.

The final practicality of the morning is checking out of the hotel and packing for home. Today is about endings and beginnings for our party, our campaign, our nation and for me. Try as I will to stuff everything into boxes and bags -- the buttons, posters, goodies, business cards -- there isn't a bag in this world big enough to carry all of these precious memories home.

Roll Call and Today

Roll call from today....



And the result...

The DNC: Dreams of My Father

The California delegation had a party planned for tonight but I needed to decompress after tonight’s monumentally moving speeches brought us to the inexorable conclusion of Barack Obama’s nomination as our candidate. So I’m sitting on a street corner alone with my thoughts as the city’s pulse beats strong into this life-sustaining night.

When Joe Biden paid tribute to his mother tonight, and said how much he wished his father was still here, my thoughts turned to my own father, gone 13 years. He would have been 90 this year, and in his lifetime the events of this week were unimaginable. I know there must be millions of people for whom this historical moment is like oxygen, the sweetest music, and the warmest light.

I never saw my father cry. But tonight it felt that my tears were coming from somewhere other than me.

Overcome

Near the end of his remarks, President Clinton started to turn when he spoke of also being criticized for being too young and inexperienced. You could finally see the connection to Barack in his eyes.

Then came the astonishingly compelling Kerry--how did we fail to elect that great man? How?

Then Beau Biden. What parent wasn't moved to tears by that son's tribute to his father?

Yeah, we were so moved in the Pepsi Center we seemed to give Joe Biden a quiet welcome. We wanted to shout and cheet but after the beautiful video about our veterans, the powerful female Major, and then Beau, we were overcome, plain and simple.

Overcome.

This ticket is extraordinary. I cannot believe I am witnessing this.

President Clinton Speaks

President Clinton is addressing us, but while his words sound right,
his facial expression on the large screen suggests he is not
completely cool with all of this. His big smile came out only while
he spoke of Joe Biden.

The shouts of the crowd urge him on, and the words are strong.

But I'm worried.

Maybe he's just really tired.

Does it look this way on TV?

Sent from my iPhone

Teleprompter

How are they actually able to keep eye contact? Well it turns out there's an LCD projector being used as their teleprompter.

Twin Towers

My twin brother Stan received press credentials for the 2004 DNC Convention in Boston. I found Associated Press Senior White House Photographer Ron Edmonds again and asked him to take a picture. I'm not sure if he quite remembered me -- or perhaps he was confused.

Unfolding Drama

So the whip who told me CA would go last was wrong, or probably not wrong, but just preserving the great deal that had been worked out? Or perhaps CA was in the dark about what New Mexico, Illinois and New York had planned.

When I realized what was happening, when I saw that Hillary was about to speak, I thought she was going to cast all of the votes for NY for Obama. That alone would have been dramatic.

Then she did the truly unanticipated, ending the roll call and proposing that Obama be declared the nominee, and in that gracious and generous act she knit us tightly together as democrats as only she could.

The drama has been breathtaking. I don't know how it looks on TV but here inside the Pepsi Center, it was magic.

Classmates on the Convention Floor

As I walked back from the Pepsi Center last night someone tapped me on the shoulder -- turns out it was Monisha Merchant, a Truman Scholar and President of the Democrats Club at MIT ('99). We hadn't seen each other since we both graduated but I found her on the convention floor tonight.

California tally

Even though we voted by acclimiation the votes are still being tallied. Apparently Barbara Boxer said that the California tally is fluctuating...the reason California passed on the vote was that they wanted to give the alternates that were brought down had a chance to vote. Our vote is going to be recorded nonetheless, we think.

California will go last!

It has been confirmed by a whip on the aisle that CA will go last in
the roll call to put Obama over the top. He can't get there without
us! We will be sooooooo fired up!

Sent from my iPhone

Roll Call Underway!

And California just "passed"... And we are freaking out. We think it is because they end the roll call when the requisite number is reached and if CA went in alphabetical order our votes would be so many so as to end the roll call before every state had a chance to go. So we think we're going last. This is nerve wracking!

Roll Call!

It's happening. They are about to call California!

Sent from my iPhone

The DNC: The Chills Up My Arm

I'm in the Pepsi Center. The Color Guard just brought in the flags, we just said the Pledge of Allegiance, and sang the National Anthem.

The candidates' names are being put into nomination. Clinton is being presented first. Then Obama, then we'll do the roll call.

It's very official, much, much, more so than the first two days. I've said the Pledge a thousand times since I first learned it as a little girl, all of which now seem to have been a preparation for today, when I will cast my vote for Barack Obama on behalf of the great people in California's 14th Congressional District.

The chills, oh the chills. When they call California.

Oh my gosh they just put Obama's name up for nomination.

It is happening. It is happening!!!!

The DNC: My Brush with the Secret Service and the Trojan Condoms Man

Two Stanford undergraduates -- Kalvin and Aly -- are here reporting for their respective newspapers -- The Stanford Daily and The Progressive. They are not official press, so they don't have credentials to the big events. Like so many others they crave access to more.

I was lucky enough to get some extra tickets to last night's "watch party," which, situated in a large convention hall in Denver with a huge screen, is sortof the next best thing to actually being in the Pepsi Center if you want to experience the magic that is unfolding in Pepsi.

We have an email distribution list for all Bay Area folk here in Denver, so I immediately posted the news of my watch party tickets to that list. Within less than a minute, people were calling to claim the tickets. Kalvin called first, and so they were his.

All of this was unfolding as I was running off to find the shuttle to the Anna Eshoo (D-CA14) event being held yesterday afternoon. Anna is my congresswoman and I didn't want to be late for the event. But I didn't know quite how to find the shuttle. Moreover, I needed to go straight from the Eshoo event to the Pepsi Center, which meant I had to think through what I was going to need to have with me, such as my iPhone charger, without which I would be cut off from the blog and the world for much of the evening. So, I was really exasperated and not thinking clearly. Instead of leaving the tickets in the hotel lobby for Kalvin to come and get, I took them with me.

Plan B was for Kalvin and me to do the ticket hand-off near the Pepsi security tent. Trouble is, there are multiple security tents. Trouble is you have to show your credential as you enter the perimeter, well before you get to the security tent. Trouble is, Kalvin didn't have the credentials to get that far. As we zeroed in on each other's location, it became clear that we were missing each other. I should have waited for him at the perimeter but again, not thinking it through, I went through security. The trick was getting back out.

I found a kid named Dan in an official golf cart who agreed to drive me as close to the perimeter as we could get. He was nervous, I could tell. We got to the limit of Dan's allowable jurisdiction, but Kalvin was still blocks away, separated from us by sort of a "no fly zone" if you will, between the perimeter as the outer circle and the security tents as the inner circle.

I had to take matters into my own hands. At least that's the exasperation-fueled wisdom I could summon at the time.

I approached a secret service guy about my dilemma. Could he get me out to the perimeter? As politely as possible he informed me that while he'd really love to help me, 6,000 people had already made similar requests, and he had, well, slightly more important things to do then help me get two watch party tickets to some college students. Yep, got that. Apologized profusely. Was thinking I was going to have to call Kalvin and say I just couldn't make it happen.

Then I looked to my left and saw the Trojan Condoms folks in a seemingly random product placement display inside the no fly zone, separated from me by a high metal fence. I went to the fence, called "hey Trojan guy" a few times, until one of them -- Aaron -- came over. Through the bars of the metal fence, I told him my dilemma. Asked him if he could get out to the perimeter -- he could -- told him Kalvin was waiting at a certain intersection on the perimeter, and, getting $20 from my wallet, asked him if he would take the tickets to Kalvin -- he would -- and then asked him if I could give him Kalvin's cell number so in case they couldn't find one another they could connect. Aaron wanted to charge me more money for that. I declined. I called Kalvin, described Aaron in his shiny shades and orange Trojan t-shirt, and gave it up to the universe to get it right. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in the golf cart with Dan.

And then a different secret service agent came up to me.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST PASS THROUGH THE FENCE?" he demanded, haltingly.

"Oh my goodness... " I stammered, and proceeded to tell an abridged version of the tale. I tried to sound so upright and honest, so non-terrorist like, whatever that means. After a seemingly interminable 60 seconds of verbal blather, I just shook my head and sighed and said, "I'm so sorry. I'm an Obama delegate, I didn't intend to do anything wrong. I'm just trying to help some college students see this at the watch party." And then I shut up.

He looked at me hard for 5 seconds. Five long seconds. Then he broke into a half smile, and said, "OK. No more passing things through the fence." I shook my head, humiliated, regretful, embarrassed, and said "I promise."

Dan was mortified. He looked like my accomplice but of course he was just some kid trying to be helpful. And he was. Polite as ever, he proceeded to ask me where I wanted to go next (fearful, I'm sure, of the answer.) And I finally went inside the Pepsi Center.

Of course I was dying to know if Aaron and Kalvin connected. If the Trojan man came through for me and for Kalvin. An excruciating 30 minutes later, I finally got an email from Kalvin. He had the tickets. I finally caught my breath, and gave a little thank you to the Trojan man.

The DNC: Now I'm the One Making Assumptions

There's a lot of room for misunderstanding here, and I've just discovered I'm guilty of it.

The guy in this picture is Ray, a Clinton delegate from San Diego California. Ray was next to Gloria Allred at the California Delegation breakfast I blogged about yesterday. He and Gloria were making the point that the Clinton delegates were being silenced. As I said in my post, Gloria had a scarf tied around her mouth as a gag.

Ray was next to her, wearing the mask you see in this photo (it was over his nose and mouth, covering half of his face). I assumed the mask was part of the protest. Ray was the guy last night at the Pepsi Center who got angry that an Obama delegate wouldn't take a Hillary/Unity sign, and he expressed that anger while wearing that mask. I assumed Ray was still in protest mode, and I'll admit to you now, embarrassedly so, that I began to think of Ray as a wacko.

Well, I just ran into Ray here in the lounge of the hotel. Since he was still wearing the mask, even though this is "down-time," i.e. nothing official happening, no audience for protest, I asked him about the mask. He sat down and said, "Thanks so much for asking. I have a medical condition..." which he proceded to describe. And then he said he has lived in NYC and a republican stronghold in SoCal, and in neither place have people made an issue of his mask. But here at the DNC with liberal democrats as far as the eye can see, he is encountering ridicule.

So I told him that I had jumped to conclusions about the mask, because my first encounter with him was connected to a protest about Clinton delegates being silenced. The mask looked like a prop. We then discussed how the Obama/Unity and Hillary/Unity signage at the Pepsi Center actually fueled the polarization, and how unfortunate that was. We talked as human beings, not as delegates from a particular camp. Ray was in tears because I was giving him an opportunity to be heard, about his medical condition, and about how he has felt as a Clinton delegate. I was in tears because I'm always in tears here in Denver, it seems.

Since the end of the primaries, Ray has longed for the Obama crowd to reach out to him and try to bring him into the fold. That finally started to happen for him last night after the speech.

And it continued in our conversation this morning.

A Quick Update

We're at the breakfast right now, and the whole California delegation is singing happy birthday to Steve Westly. A happy 52 years to him.

Last night, Clinton fully and completely delivered. Her speech was brilliant, much-needed, and the crowd reacted with a centralized enthusiasm. They gave out signs that said 'unity' on one side, and 'Hillary' or 'Obama' on the other. As she came out, the entire crowd turned into a sea of blue signs. Quite the scene.

I can't wait to see what happens for Joe Biden. I don't even know what the Delaware delegation will do to top what they've been doing for the past two days. He always stood out in the debates: a man of genius rhetoric and clear intelligence. No doubt that that will translate into quite the speech tonight.

Drama at Breakfast?

Something happening today at breakfast? An unconfirmed report has it some type of floor vote may tried to be forced. We're going to be there to stay on top of it....

Just signed-in to get credentialed today and voted! The ballot is just a list of all delegates' names. Here's the proof:

Inside the Convention Hall

Want to know what it's like inside the convention hall? Here's a clip with the crowd dancing to I'm So Excited. The room was definitely more packed on Day 2 but I suspect it may have to do with people finding a loophole in the credential system. Because there's no photo ID, you can pass your credential to someone else, who can then go outside and pass it to someone with only hallway clearance.



Hillary definitely had her night. I thought the DNC printed way more of the redesigned Hillary poster boards than most other ones (there definitely was a surplus), so I took a whole stack back with me. We also took the Hillary/Obama/Unity vertical signs wrapped in long cardboard rolls back home, but those are probably going to have to be shipped home.


It seems that some people from our section who are getting camera footage are those that are either wearing something distinct (i.e. turbin, T-shirt) so I've decided to wear my San Francisco 49ers hat tomorrow. That might prevent me from sitting in another delegation's section, but since there's roll call tomorrow we may actually have to show up on time (tonight some of us attended Anna's event so I personally got seated around 6:45 pm).

Mary Ann Ostrom from the San Jose Mercury News says these postings are all tech-related, but I'll just have to point out that there are some serious policy postings included in this blog. So there.

My Brush with the Secret Service

It is 1:49am in Denver and two heart-pounding days of the DNC are
behind me. I'm dying to write one final post tonight about my brush
with the Secret Service, but I am exhausted. I'll try to write it up
tomorrow.

Don't worry Mom, I'm not in jail.

Sent from my iPhone

The DNC: Democrats Going for McCain

I was lucky enough to get one of the coveted purple wristbands at the "Women Count" event put on by a newly-formed PAC of the same name. The PAC was founded after the primaries, seemingly in response to the outcome for Hillary Clinton. It didn't take a genius to know I was out of place. But Senator Clinton herself was reportedly going to make an appearance, and, never having been in her presence I really wanted to be there to see her up close.

The eight Obama-related buttons on my jeans jacket drew a lot of attention, and I wanted not to appear confrontational -- after all, though I'm an Obama delegate I have great respect for Hillary Clinton and all that her campaign achieved -- so I removed all but one of the buttons. But then I found myself feeling incognito, like I was lurking or infiltrating.

Try as I did not to stand out, I did stand out for reasons I cannot hide. Of the 600 or so people gathered, 15 or 20 tops were of color. It was the whitest event I've been to in a long, long time. Maybe the women of color had other places to be. Maybe the ticket price was out of the range of a lot of women of color. Maybe the outreach to those communities just hasn't happened yet. But no matter the reason, the fact was incontrovertible. And I felt it. And it made me wonder.

The speakers were all good, and the crowd was upbeat, but as the minutes wore on I was struck that, though we were in Denver and the Democratic National Convention is taking place all around us, no one was mentioning Barack Obama. The urging was toward electing women, for the sake of electing women. The loudest cheer came when a speaker referred to the "sexist caucus process." I'm not even sure what that means. But the crowd knew, and cheered their hearts out.

About 20 minutes into it, my friend Elspeth whispered that the guy next to me was wearing a "Noobama" sticker. I turned to look and saw it on his upper left lapel. I asked him if I could take a picture of it, and he let me.

When Senator Clinton finally came on, she spoke of the importance of unity and of the need to ensure we don't have four more years of Republicans. It was so much more unifying than anything to that point, and it was perhaps as much as those gathered could take. But, infiltrating incognito that I was, it wasn't enough for me.

At the end I went up to the "Noobama" man and his wife. They are from Houston, TX. We talked. I asked them if the "Noobama" concept meant they would vote for McCain. The woman responded, "Well I'm not voting for Obama, ever." We then had a pretty lengthy conversation, one which I will not relay here except to say it is so clear that this woman and I come from such different perspectives that we will probably never agree. I tried to bring up the issue of race with the woman and was promptly informed that she has black grandchildren and that black people need to stop acting like victims. I hope those black grandchildren saw Michelle Obama speak last night.

After the woman from Houston, I encountered two Oregonians who are going to vote for McCain. (One, historically an Independent, the other, historically a Democrat.) They said Obama has zero experience and is a "racist radical" due to the church he was affiliated with for 20 years. We reached an impasse quickly and they just turned and walked away. To her credit, the woman from Texas was much more cordial.

I don't think Hillary would have been comfortable with any of this. I am certainly not trying to attribute these opinions to her. But it was interesting to meet and hear from people who are probably the fringe element of Clinton supporters. It brought to mind Hillary's self-proclaimed triumphant victory in West Virginia which John Stewart and others have caricatured as being "proud to have the white racist vote." I couldn't tell if any of that was present today. There was a lot that was really unclear.

On the way back to the hotel in the free trolley bus that takes you from one end of the main thoroughfare to the other, while wolfing down a dry sandwich, I met Carl, also from Texas. Carl, an African American, is an actual Clinton delegate (the others I've mentioned above are not delegates). Carl is in fact a proud Clinton delegate. But he is also a Clinton delegate who believes in the importance of Democratic unity, and who will be supporting Obama through this convention and into November. I thanked Carl, having learned in these past two days not to take such things for granted.

I wanted to get this out quickly, but now I'm late for the Pepsi Center, where after hours of other people speaking Senator Clinton will finally get her turn. I want to be in my seat for that historic moment, so, I'm signing off for now.

The DNC: Hillary's Big Moment... Unity?

It had been hyped like crazy, predicted, wondered about, and in some corners, feared, but tonight Hillary outdid even herself, saying what needed to be said to unify this fired up but fractured party. You've seen the TV coverage, but let me give you a little backstage color.

The blue signs you see in this picture were handed out just as Senator Clinton started speaking. The "whips" for each state come through the aisles Santa Claus style doling signage out to eager delegates. I was no exception. You may not realize that the states nearest the speaker, on the flat part of the convention "floor," are the swing states, and those that are solidly blue or red are relegated to lesser seats. With Obama comfortably ahead in California, we are relegated to the background. But we're the biggest and often the loudest. We make our presence known, and I'm leading the way.

So pity the poor guy who came up to our whip to wrestle California's bag of treats away. He had a good argument -- for the sake of TV more signs were needed in the swing state area -- and he did get away with it once. But when he came back a second time he was verbally stoned by Californians defending their turf. The impostor deterred, our whips started to dole out our signs, three and four at a time, to a hungry crowd.

And then it got complicated.

You see, the signs said "unity" on one side and either "hillary" or "obama" on the other. Can you see where this is going? Sure, we believe in unity but we were fighting for the signs! Hillary people wanted the Hillary signs. Obama people wanted Obama signs. As if that wasn't bad enough, an Obama delegate next to me passed over a Hillary sign, greatly angering a Clinton delegate two rows back (wearing a gas mask -- part of the "silencing" protest crowd), who said, "You don't want a Hillary sign? Fine, I'll take it." So I tried to quell things by taking a Hillary sign. But soon after taking it I unrolled a sheet of Obama stickers from my bag, and stuck them to the Hillary sign. A show of true unity, I thought. And I started urging people around me that the way to show unity was to to take the sign of the person we had not initially supported. Sadly, that great wisdom did not catch on.

So we remained polarized in our unity, but unity is was, nevertheless. I heard two Hillary delegates exchange a "she's come so far" whisper between themselves. I nodded, and reached out to the one I did not know, and squeezed her hand. She wiped away tears throughout the speech, and I felt great compassion toward her. The shoe could so easily have been on the other foot, and it would have been me adoring my fallen hero instead of anticipating Thursday's great speech. It is not hard for me to envision "us" as "them."

The pundits are saying she pulled it off, and the Hillary folk I've bumped into in the street since then have said the same. Perhaps tonight was exactly what they needed.

I sure hope so.

The DNC: Local Color the TVs Aren't Showing You

I'm not watching TV at all while here in Denver, but I'm guessing there are a lot of images you are not seeing.

The first two photos depict a small contingent of about 25 peace protesters in outrageous pink outfits, stationed immediately outside the Sheraton where the CA and NY delegations are staying. The cops are stoic but somehow happy. The mood is playful, almost as if everyone knows the role they are supposed to be playing in this free speech drama.

The third photo is of a young man dressed in a prison-style orange jumpsuit and a black cloth bag over his head. He wasn't shouting, nor was he silent, instead he sortof half mumbled, half preached his way along the main thoroughfare, 16h street. When I asked what point he was trying make, and whether it was geared toward Guantanamo and Abu Graib or something else, he said he felt imprisioned by the government that had relegated him to a small 'free speech' zone that seemed to violate the very notion of free speech itself. He told me he was not sure which candidate he was supporting, and that he was inclined toward the "Constitutionalist" party. Is there such a thing? As I strode away from him, I found myself exclaiming to the crowd, "Welcome to America. You can't do this in Beijing."

The fourth photo is missing -- too blurry to post -- but one of my favorite encounters. The protesters are out in full force as I've said, and tonight was no different. As we exited the Pepsi Center -- picture hundreds upon hundreds of folk streaming out and around various traffic related road blocks, like water flows around stones in a creek -- the anti-abortionists were there with their grotesque photos, and the religious zealots were there with their firey rhetoric and megaphone. As I passed by the religious megaphone guy, he was admonishing the nearby women that they needed to "submit" according to the bible. Soon after when he said, "we don't believe in homosexuality -- this isn't San Francisco" I got all riled up and shouted, "SAN FRANCISCO! I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO" and before I knew it a TV camera was on me. The man continued, "you are lower than low worshipping Obama, when who you should be worshipping Jesus," at which point I screamed, "Jesus loves Obama, and he even loves YOU" to the man making the accusations. Again, the TV ate it up. I have no idea if I was on CNN or some local podunk station but someone got an earful and eyeful of my attempt to counteract hateful speech not with restrictions but with more free speech. I then led the flowing crowd in an "O-Ba-Ma, O-Ba-Ma, O-Ba-Ma" in an attempt to drown out the voice on the megaphone. His words repulsed me, but striking back the way I had gave me a spring in my step as I walked back to the hotel.

What a great country this is. And what a great, and exhilarating experience. So far I've shouted, cried, debated, argued, persuaded, conceded, even apologized. I am having the time of my life. And it is only Tuesday.

Day Two...

Live blogging from the convention...it's much more crowded today in the convention hal today. A few of the Sacramento delegates are sitting in the Missouri section, and I'm right smack with the Minnesota delegation. There simply aren't enough seats left in the California section.

The fortunate part of being in this aisle seat is that there's a nearby power supply. A lot of people's Iphones are running out of batteries because they're trying to blog and stay in contact with everyone. The noise level is so high in the convention hall that most of us are relying on text messaging to communicate.

Yesterday each delegation section had phones ringing off the hook from the control centter trying to make sure there were enough rally signs being passed around. Now there's a bit flashing light that goes off to signal the person to answer the phone. People on TV probably didn't hear it but it was definitely was pretty noticeable yesterday.

They started passing out More of the Same McCain signs....we're not supposed to hold it up until Deval Patrick gets to talking about him....

Two Million Strong, and Growing

Joe Trippi (former campaign strategist for John Edward's presidential campaign), Peter Greenberger (Director of Google's Politics and Issue Advocacy Team), and Joe Rospairs (New Media Director for Obama for America) are hosting a presentation about the use of technology in political campaigns at the Westin Hotel. Trippi reminds everyone that there are 300 million people in this country but only 2 million people have contributed to the Obama campaign, so there's an incredible room to grow. "It's the network, stupid", he says.

There always will be negative campaigning, but one thing that has changed is that online usage is now on par with TV viewership: 14 hours/week watching TV and 14 hours/week watching on-line. Whether or not the Internet can be used for persuading voters still needs to be determined. Joe Trippi mentions that it's word-of-mouth of your friends may be more powerful than Sony trying to launch a multimillion advertising budget to convince you to watch a movie.

Google's rolled out a lot of analytical tools, mentioning YouTube Insights as a way to measure who's viewing your videos, from what geographic region, and what age, etc.

FYI -- Craig Newmark (of Craiglist) is sitting right in front of me.

National Security Panel and Coors Field

Joe Klein is about to moderate a discussion with former Secretary of Navy Richard Zandig and former Secretary of Defense William Perry called "The Next Administration's National Security and Defense Priorities." There's an overflow room, and it's starting to fill.

First question posed by Joe Klein: We've seen counter-insurgency tactics work in an urban environment where there are lots of people. Do you think these same tactics would apply in a rural setting such as Afghanistan? Both respond in the context of broader cooperation with our allies.

Zandig talks about the trip to Afghanistan and watch Obama's schedule to Israel from 7:30 am to 1:00 am at night. He's never really seen him lose his balance. He thinks it's an extraordinary quality for a leader.

"Do you want people to disagree with you?" Zandig once asked to Obama. "I want him to disagree with me...Ive seen him talk to people in the military and they come back incredibly impressed."

Joe Klein relates a story about John McCain. The two were recalling the Cuban Missile Crisis and how Kennedy chose to ignore the first bellicose message and take the second. Klein says, "You would have taken the first message. McCain responds, "You're probably right."

Joe Klein: Define what you consider a high-value target. Zandig says that there are delicate lines that have to be drawn and there are serious emotional and political considerations.

Question: It seems like we need two armed forces: one to fight a war and another to do peace-keeping. Zandig says that the discussion has to occur between the different military leaders. Perry believes there has to be one armed force but differentiated and specialized in different ways (gives the example of Bosnia and how we had specialized training for a few weeks). "It's not a pickup team," Perry says.

Atlantic Monthly reporter: How do deal with Russia and Georgia situation? (besides the fact of showing more respect to Russia). Do we construct a new containment strategy? Zandig and Perry both think what the Russians did was appalling. The U.S. role is most appropriately to dampen the propensity for the Georgians and Russians to engage in armed conflict. The fault was in the failure to work with the Georgians close enough would not be aggressive and to work with Russians that they would understand there would be heavy costs.

On a side note, I just visited Coors Field. They are having batting practice from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, but you need a ticket to participate. How do you get one? Contact your local Congressman (that's what the ticketperson said to me.)

The DNC: Anarchy and Other Protests

While we were feasting on the edifying remarks of Jesse Jackson, Jr., Ted & Caroline Kennedy, and Michelle Obama in the Pepsi Center last night, the story beneath the story was being served up a few miles away and was far less palatable.

A bunch of so-called "Anarchists"-- perhaps upwards of 500 according to unsubstantiated rumors I've heard -- hell-bent on disrupting the convention with a protest of some kind, caused a complete "lock down" of the Sheraton Hotel where the CA and NY delegations are staying. This meant no one could go in or out of the hotel from approximately 6:30 pm until 10pm. Now, they didn't disrupt the convention because most of us were already at the Pepsi Center or the nearby watch party, but it instantly led to a debate on the rights of the protesters and the role of the police.

Today's local papers suggest the police overreacted by spraying tear gas among the Anarchists and making arrests. Others ask who can blame the police in this kind of high threat, high stakes environment. Keep in mind that the police appear to have thwarted a potential Obama assassination attempt on Sunday (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/25/obama-assassination-plot_n_121293.html). With fringe wackos out there, and most of the country's Democratic leadership milling about, I have to say I'm glad security is tight.

Anarchists and wackos aside, there's another piece of protest going on with a much more mainstream group of folk -- the Clinton supporters who have not embraced the notion of unity. As recently as this morning at the California delegation breakfast there were folks including the well-known anti-discrimination attorney Gloria Allred protesting that Hillary delegates have been silenced. Allred appeared to be using a scarf as a gag in her mouth in support of this point. (I could have taken a picture to show you, but I didn't want to give her the attention she's craving. You'll have to take my word for it.)

I tell you, I just don't get it.

But I do know that if Obama had come in 2nd, I'd be feeling a little protestish (protesty?) myself right now. And others Obamans would as well. So it remains our job as Obama delegates to respect and value where the Hillary folks have been, and help bring them to the point of unity that we must achieve if we are going to beat McCain in November. So yeah, the picture I'm showing isn't of Allred, it's of the hottest button in town -- the one that reads "36 Million Votes for Democratic Unity/Barack & Hillary 2008." Geez, can't Allred and the others see that they are playing right into the McCain hands? That this is the "Nadar" issue of 2008, the issue that could end up handing the victory to the Republicans. Some say Democrats hate to win and I've never quite understood that until today.

I'm headed over to a 12:30 MDT event called "Women Count" which I hear will offer more of this type of fare. Senator Clinton will be there, and I will applaud her heartily. In my own right and as an Obama delegate I am intending to take the high road. But if I feel Barack Obama is being maligned, it could be hard for me to contain myself.

I'll try not to get arrested or sprayed with tear gas. And I'll be sure to let you know what happens.

The DNC: What Would I do Without my iPhone?

You'd think that in 2008 in a city as sophisticated as Denver there would be wireless access in the Pepsi Center. To my dismay, there is not. I carried my laptop there and back for nothing. It was heavy -- just ask my weary left shoulder -- and as it turns out, useless. No, there would be no laptop-style blogging for anyone other than those with official press credentials, who get access to the closed wireless network. What's a grassroots blogger to do?

Pick up her iPhone, that's what! From the ease and comfort of my iPhone I can write up my blog post (as if it is an email) and send it via email to the blogs for which I write (I'm posting here and on MOMocrats.com). I can even include pictures! I'm no tech wiz so I can't really tell you how this works, except to say I was using my cell network instead of a wireless network -- sure it's a bit slower (I don't have the new G3 iPhone), but it WORKS.

And when history is unfolding all around you, that's what matters.

The only downside to using my iPhone for everything (in addition to blogging, I'm checking three email accounts, and sending and receiving calls and texts) is that its little battery is running down pretty quickly. So I'm making friends with the folks in disabled access where electric outlets abound, so I can juice my phone up at least once if not twice at the Pepsi Center.

Yay Apple! You're enabling me to bring my convention thoughts to the people back home in real time. Your little iPhone is exactly what I need it to be.

The DNC: How Michelle Made Me Feel

My cell phone died mid-way through the convention tonight, so I didn't get to do the play by play for the blog that I had hoped to. This means you, the reader, now have *heard* on TV or *read* in the newspaper someone else's account of Michelle's speech. And if you've heard what I've heard then I want to counteract it right now.

To me, Michelle's speech struck the perfect balance of issues and took the perfect tone. She told stories to illustrate who Barack is and why we should vote for him. She made him three dimensional, in contrast to the figure who has been on a pedestal for 19 months. She spoke beautifully, smoothly, thoughtfully with candor and humor, and she told it like it is. She gave us a clear sense that the "change" the Obamas believe in is deeply rooted in family values born of the struggle they each experienced personally which gives them tremendous authentic compassion for those who struggle.

At one point she talked about driving home from the hospital after Sasha was born, with Barack driving at a snail's pace presumably out of the most over-protective fear new parents have with a newborn. She said Barack wanted to give Sasha what he never had: a strong father, and when she said that, the white man next to me wept out loud. Later I learned that his own parents divorced when he was young, and Michelle's tender statement struck a chord deep within him.

Frequently, I found my hands pressed open-palm against the lower part of my face, holding the emotion in and expressing awe for the woman in front of me. I wept openly at the sight of a strong black woman addressing a live audience of thousands and a television audience of millions, with a good chance of being the First Lady in a few months. I wept for the black children watching tonight, who might as a result of this Obama experience begin to see that they can in fact be anything their little hearts and minds tell them they want to be. At the end I was overcome with relief and amazement that the future we envision is on its way to being here, and I sobbed out loud against the shirt of the man next to me, so much so that I had to remove my glasses and wipe the water from my face. It was a cathartic, optimistic, uplifting, transformative speech.

And then Barack came on at the end via live feed from Missouri and addressed us all in the background as he interacted with Michelle, Sasha and little Malia. And in the less than five-minute glimpse we had into the lives of the Obamas, we saw a man who adores his wife, and a playful, proud, loving father. Millions of American women do not have the former. Millions of American children do not have the latter.

I hate that CNN and NPR are criticizing Michelle's speech. All I can think is the people they interviewed came with a different perspective and heard different things. But I'm not sure how anyone could have watched what I watched, and heard what I heard, and not have been transformed.

Michelle redeemed me. And that is something worth weeping over.

More DNC tidbits...

Most of the swing states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Pennyslvania get the prime spots up front, though we're also seated right next to Georgia and Missouri towards the left-center from the podium. We're the biggest delegation, but there was a slide that read, "Which State Has the Best Cheering Section? Text DNC & Your State Initials to 62262 (Ex: DNC DC). The text messaging drive just never stops...

The schedule feels a lot like a freshman orientation week. There's always a list of scheduled events occurring during the day and evening that you can choose to attend, and every morning we have a scheduled breakfast with the entire California delegation. It's a bit of a surreal feeling though to cross a bridge with the pedestrian entrance blocked by a fence, cement walls, and Secret Service agents asking you for your credentials.

Congrats to Jenn Pae (CD-9), who was pulled aside by someone from the Daily Show because she was eating nacho's. She may also be interviewed by MTV, and the Korean press seems to spend 45 minutes interviewing her since she's the only one of her ethnicity they seem to be able to find.

Stay tuned for the lockdown that happened at our hotel earlier in the day. The details are sparse, but I'm sure the local press will start to pick up on the story.

Political Stimulus

Finally, I’m in Denver.

And quite unexpectedly, internet is hard to find.

I arrived yesterday in the morning and headed straight to a College Democrats and Students for Barack Obama joint luncheon, although I was late and missed the food thanks to my ridiculously ungifted sense of direction. Apparently the taxi driver also gets confused when you invert two numbers of the address and wonder why you don’t end up at a restaurant. Let’s just say that I involuntarily got an expensive tour of downtown Denver. The taxi-cab driver and I talked politics on the way. He’s an Obama supporter from Ethiopia who got his citizenship a few years ago, and since, has voted in every single election. It’s amazing what kinds of stories you run into through making conversation with strangers.

Later, I met up with Ben Goodman and Adam Scholl, the former Maine High School State Director and National High School Developmental Director, respectively. Ben is the youngest delegate of Maine, and Adam is here as a page with the Maryland delegation. We met in person for the first time back in November in Des Moines, Iowa when all of the high school state directors met at a summit in the Midwest.

The highlight of the night was hearing Deval Patrick speak at a College Democrats event. It was an intimate event of only students, but they used a huge theater, so only about 1/15^th of the seats were filled.

Day numero dos: This morning was the first breakfast for California’s delegation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi were the highlights. I met up with Roger, Julie, and Matt, and we sat with some delegates from neighboring districts.

I then headed over to the University of Denver to be on a panel with a few other delegates to discuss the delegation process, my experience, and answer questions for the Junior Statesmen of America.

I flagged a cab down and headed to the Convention Center. I had to do a live radio interview, so I just positioned myself into a corner and hoped that my cell reception would suffice. No idea how that turned out.

After a 40-minute bus ride to go 2 miles, I’m currently sitting in the Pepsi Center as Howard Dean begins the convention business. Art Torres is a few rows down working the computers under the recognizable California delegate sign. The delegation of Delaware is quite the scene. They’re standing at the front of the floor and chant “YES WE CAN” anytime there is a mention of Joe Biden. They’re wearing bright costumes and wave signs like it’s their job. The delegations, in general, have such distinct personalities. At the video on New Orleans and the Katrina aftermath, the Louisiana delegate held up American flags as they watched the screen intently and said nothing. It was pretty moving. When Ted Kennedy came out, the Massachusetts delegation began to jump up and down. After every few speeches, the DNC stops everything and starts playing live music. The Pepsi Center actually turns into a huge democratic dance party. Barack Obama and dance parties? Did they plan that for me?

Nancy Pelosi just walked on to the stage, and as the California delegation stood up and went crazy, she gave us a shout-out. There are reporters everywhere; Fox News, CBS, CNN, PBS, Associated Press, BBC, ABC News, and C-Span makeshift studios surround the arena. When I went further down on the ground, I turned around and saw Anderson Cooper standing right in front of me by the CNN stage on the convention floor. He talked to me for a sec and let me take a picture with him. Wolff Blitzer is avoiding the crowds off on the stage. The CNN Political Team is comprised of demigods. Basically.

Well I’m here, hyper-politicized, and most likely over-stimulated due to the mixture of bright lights, well-known politicians, and my cell phone that goes off every five minutes.

This convention has made me look back a lot at the year-and-a-half of work we've done to make this nomination happen. Seeing each state delegation reminds me of every single primary we went through. From South Carolina to Nevada, Pennsylvania to South Dakota. What hit me the hardest was seeing the delegation in the front, right-hand corner of the floor. Because of this campaign, this nomination, and this convention, I feel forever indebted to Iowa.

And, as Ted Kennedy said tonight, “This is a season of hope.”

And so it is.

Joe Biden...

Each time Joe Biden's picture was shown on the big LCD screens, he always seemed to get the biggest applause.

This morning we were told that if you lose your credentials, you can't get them replaced. The plastic attachment to the metal clip is easy to tear, so I wonder who did the stress testing with these things. Earlier in this morning they also said not to laminate these things, and it turns out there's some radio tag embedded in the credential that they check.

We spotted Bill Maher walking through the floor....Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Donna Brazille, and James Carville are just sitting in the CNN studio on the convention floor. Not sure exactly if they're really paying attention....

We're being passed around different rally signs: first was Change We Can Believe In, second was Kennedy, third s One Nation. What's next?

The DNC: The Great Ted Kennedy

I'd heard people say he probably wasn't well enough to come, but come he did, saying nothing could have stopped him, and that he would be there in Washington in January too.

So here he was, inheritor of all our expectations, purveyor of hope in the face of despair. He invoked his late brother JFK, and the great triumph of his dream to put a man on the moon.
He ended saying, "And the dream lives on."

Some say charisma, inspiring talk and dreams are trivial, but I know them to be the oxygen that fuels our American spirit. The end of slavery, the civil rights movement, putting a man on the moon, electing Barack Obama president... All the fruition of our wildest dreams.