Democratic National Convention, Day One
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Aug 26, 2008 Posted by Bill Luckett
Actually, I'm writing this at the beginning of Day Two. As a special bonus part of the whirlwind of activity known as the Democratic National Convention, your tireless executive director has the dubious honor of being the designated Credentials Collection Agent for the Wyoming Democratic Party. This means I have to be in our hotel lobby between 4:45 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. every day to meet the nice folks from the DNC who deliver the credentials for our state delegation for that day. To their credit, both mornings the DNC folks have been here at 4:45 a.m. sharp, which leaves me with some down time I can use to appreciate the value of a full night's sleep - as a concept, but certainly not as a reality.
Truth is, it's hard to go to sleep at bedtime when you've just spent six hours at the Pepsi Center for the first National Convention of your life. My personal highlight of the night was when Ted Kennedy took the stage in an unscheduled appearance. I mean, he wasn't on the evening's agenda, but rumors circulated widely that he was in town and might even say a few words. Still, the crowd erupted when the 76-year-old senator, recovering from brain surgery, took the podium and delivered a forceful, emotional speech. Without remembering his exact words, I for one could certainly feel the magic of the proverbial torch being passed from one generation of Democratic Party heroes to another in Barack Obama.
When Barack's brilliant wife, Michelle, took the stage a while later, the crowd exploded again, while we all waved towering vertical signs that read "Michelle." A fantastic speaker in her own right, she struck the right chord with her observation that we can't just sit back and accept the world as it is, with its injustices and imperfections. Instead, we have a shared obligation to fight to make the world what it should be.
To cap the night off, Sen. Obama himself joined the convention via satellite. We all chuckled when he told the crowd that, given his wife's brillian speech, we would all understand why he kept asking her out, even though she kept saying no. "You want a persistent president," he pointed out.
In about 55 minutes, our delegation will meet for breakfast at a restaurant across the street from our hotel, and the circus will start again. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is scheduled to deliver some wisdom and wit at the breakfast, and Chairman Millin and I (and any delegates who have taken the time to study the issue) will try to offer some helpful advice to our group as to how we should use the shuttles and the light rail to make it to our events today. We have a luncheon event with Gov. Dave Freudenthal, and then we have an early afternoon event with former Vice President Walter Mondale, the party's presidential nominee in 1984. Tonight at the convention, Hillary Clinton will be the headline speaker, and we're looking forward to hearing her perspectives on this year's historic presidential election. Stay tuned.