Day 2 of the DNCC: 8/26/08

I've just returned to my room after another exciting and exhausting day in Denver. I woke up with a hoarse throat from all the shouting last night on the floor of the convention and a rather stiff neck from the dancing (which apparently some of you saw on CNN and CSpan last night!). Today marked the 88th (I think that's right) anniversary of women having won the right to vote. This fact permeated the whole day.

Our morning delegation breakfast was hosted by several MN companies including: 3M, Ecolab, Agribank, Cargill, and Mosaic. Representatives from each of these companies spoke briefly to us and several reminded us that corporate America does, in fact, have some Democrats! We were also treated to several rousing speeches most notably by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas who got us all on our feet hooting and hollaring. She was marvelous--had never heard her speak before. We also heard from Rep. Neil Abercrombie from Hawaii. He moved to Hawaii many years ago from New York and one of the first people he met was Barack Obama's father. He got to know both Barack's father and mother and has known Barack since he was a baby. He, too, was an energetic speaker and portended that with the election of Barack Obama, "At last our diversity will define us instead of divide us".

With a bit of confusion regarding a shuttle to the light rail station, I rushed off to attend the Women's Caucus at the Convention Center--we were to wear white in honor of our sisters so long ago who won, for all of us, the right to vote. I had one white shirt not yet stinky and dutifully donned it. Apparently, that message did not reach everyone but I did see quite a few women wearing white.

The Women's Caucus was HUGE. There was a long list of speakers touting the many women who have made and continue to make the world a better place for all of us by their tireless public service. Many of the speakers had been supporters of Sen. Clinton and honored her historic candidacy and how she has paved the way for the next woman who will run for the presidency. One by one, though, they expressed their solid support for Sen. Obama and urged unity in our party. As you might expect in a Women's Caucus, there were many present who were Clinton supporters. Yet, the vast majority have clearly made the switch to support the inevitable nominee for our party, Barack Obama. I was sitting behind a small group of women who clearly continue to grieve the loss of their candidate. Their body language and reactions revealed anger, frustration, and bitterness. I wanted to talk with them after the session was over but they left early and were no where to be found later.... Hopefully, Senator Clinton's speech tonight helped to heal some of those wounds. But, more on that later.

After this morning session, I rushed (again--there's lots of rushing this week) via a free bus to a luncheon hosted by Rep. Oberstar. It was, hands down, the best meal I will eat all week! Since I am consistently missing dinner every night, it was also a godsend! We sat at round tables and I met more Minnesotans from around the state. This whole week has been such a community building experience. I am meeting lots of Minnesotans as well as Democrats from around the United States. It has filled me with a profound sense of the multitudes of people all working hard to win back the White House. Everyone is energized to achieve this goal.

I had signed up for a panel discussion at the Colorado History Museum called, "Culture Wars: The Role of Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Religion, and Values in the Fall Campaign". It was moderated by Dan Abrams (Host of "Verdict", MSNBC). The panelists were: Gov. Bill Richardson (NM)--he answered one question and then mysteriously disappeared, our Sen Amy Klobuchar (she's REALLY making the rounds this week and appears to me setting the stage for a larger national role--just my perception...), Rep. Harold Ford (Jr DLC Chair), Richard Wolffe (Newsweek), Faye Wattleton (Center for the Advancement of Women), Markos Moulitsas (Founder/Blogger DailyKos), DeeDee Meyers (?--former Clinton press secretary), and Tucker (forgot his last name, from MSNBC). It was a facinating discussion which really focused on race and gender and the historic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. There were heated interactions between the panelists about sexism, racism, affirmative action, how far we've come and far we have yet to go. This event was dampened a bit by the fact that I had somehow lost my phone in my last rush from the luncheon to the panel discussion and was trying very hard to maintain my cool and "let go"... Meanwhile, I suspended my phone service and now the phone has been found and returned to me....

Before leaving from St. Paul, I signed up to attend an honoring ceremony for our vetrans. Part of me felt kind of funny attending such an event since I have relatively no connection to the Armed Services and am a raging pacifist. But, I do feel our vetrans are not being treated with the care and empathy they deserve particularly when they are asked to serve in such an unjust war... I attended the first part of this program but had to leave to try and get to the Pepsi Center in time for Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton's speeches.

Earlier in the day I gave my "floor pass" to Somalian man, Mohamed, who was elected an alternate to the convention. Only full delegates are able to be "on the convention floor". I knew I would be late to the Pepsi Center with all the other activities I had planned so I traded my floor pass for his "hall" pass so he could be close in to the action until I got to the convention center. As it turned out, I was quite late getting back to the convention--the lines were horrendous today! So, Mohamed got a nice long experience and then noone kicked him out of his seat for the remainder of the evening.

There was no "dance time" tonight--each speech was rapidly followed by the next, which was unfortunate. The speeches were harder to absorb as a result and I felt that the attention on them was less focused, as a result. Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana was terrific and clearly had lots of fun with his time on the stage. The clear and highly anticipated climax of the night and day, really, was Senator Hillary Clinton's speech. I know many of you saw it yourselves. She was simply incredible. We ALL gave her the fully enthusiastic reception and response she deserved and deserves. We didn't allow her to start her speech too soon but helped her bask in the respect and gratitude we all wished her to feel. It is my sincere hope that she was able, with her speech tonight, to begin to heal some of the deep hurt that many of her supporters have endured over the past months after her campaign ended. It certainly was palpable in that hall tonight, that she did.

Ok. I have skipped dinner again and it is terribly late but I hope these diaries are giving you a sense of my journey here in Denver!