There is now an on-line gallery of photos I took at the Democratic Convention. It's not particularly edited or labeled, but all of the photos are available,  They are organized by day. I'll label more of the photos over the next few days.

Bill Clinton at the DNCBill Clinton has just taken the stage, to by far the biggest ovation that has been seen (though I'm sure tomorrow is going to be completely nuts).  The hall is crowded beyond belief - everyone on the floor appears to have just gotten engaged - well, anyway, they're pretty close to each other.  The security guards are trying to keep everyone moving, but there's not much of anywhere to move to.

Clinton is in criticizing Bush mode, as I would have expected, and is asking everyone who supported Hillary to throw all of their work behind Obama. I think that any doubt people might have had that Bill Clinton would sound half-hearted in his support of Obama is gone. I have to say - he has the audience in the palm of his hand. This all feels a lot like a revival meeting - let's hope the revival happens.  I'm always amazed by Clinton's ability to talk to a room full of this many people and to have most of them feel he is speaking directly to them.

The world has always been more impressed with the power of our example than the example of our power.

My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that - And Barack Obama will do better than that.

 Read More »

Wisconsin Delegation Celebrates NominationAs I more or less expected, when the roll call reached New York, Hillary Clinton asked to have Obama declared the candidate by acclamation. So basically it's over, and we never got as far as Wisconsin.  All the votes will be tallied and made available later. The crowd has gone nuts.  Obama has accepted the nomination. Film soon.

Governor Mark Warner of Virginia has taken the stage to deliver tonight's Keynote Speech.  Some highlights:

This president never tapped into our greatest resource -- the character of the American people.

John McCain promises more of the same -  a plan that would explode the deficit and leave the debt to our kids.

In just four more months we will have an administration that actually believes in science.

This race is all about the future, and that's why we must elect Barack Obama.

Tammy Baldwin speaks at ConventionTammy Baldwin, speaking at the Democratic Convention this afternoon

Her speech supported Obama's presidency on the basis of his commitment to health care issues. 47 million people in the US are now un-insured, including over 9 million children. Health care will certainly be a major issue in the presidential campaign.  Most Americans support some form of universal health care, and the next president will certainly need to be supportive of that in a meaningful way.

This is for Borges - a rundown of the celebrities I've seen here at the convention so far - sorry, I didn't notice what kind of lipstick any of them were wearing..  But everyone looked happy to be here.  And in case you're wondering, Tammy Baldwin is a celebrity to me.

Dan Rather at the Big Tent

Dennis Kucinich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darryl HannahArianna Huffington

Ted KennedyTammy Baldwin, Monday AM Breakfast

I'm here in Denver.  I've been spending the day learning how to get around Denver, picking up my credentials, getting my pass for The Big Tent, and sweating. It's been incredibly high-altitude sunny, And hot.

ProtestsThere are a lot of small and big parades and protests cropping up around town  Today there was a big anti-war march which shut down a number of streets around the Convention Center.  It was more interesting seeing the reactions of the people in Denver than watching the protests.  I'd say that the people in town were to a large extent reacting by saying "if they don't like it here and won't support the US, they should leave".  I heard some slight variation of that in the crowd over and over, so if you REALLY think that mainstreet America all wants to see the war end right now, it's clearly not universal  But we knew that. 

 Read More »

Well, we're down to the wire here.  For the last few weeks there's been a lot of work here at Casa Cruiskeen to pack up and get ready for the Democratic Convention.  I've finally reached the point where time is running out, and everything that is not done just isn't going to happen.  This afternoon all of us bloggers have a final conference call together, and then we're all heading to Denver.

I'll be seated in the Wisconsin delegation at the DNC, and will be bringing you updates of what is going on at the convention as it progresses. Some of this will be in the form of blogging, some will be photo and video updates.  And there may be a few exotic posts from my cell phone as I go along.  This is all dicey, since there are a lot of unanswered questions about what sorts of Internet access I'll have along the way. 

You may have noticed the Zannel box on the bottom of the pages.  This is where I'll be bringing you photo and video updates from the convention. We're providing video feeds to Zannel, and I'd like to thank them for helping to defray some of the costs of going to the convention.  At the moment, scroll through the pictures in the box, and you'll find a short video tour of our farm, where all this stuff originates.  I've noticed that there are several credentialed bloggers at the convention who live on farms, so, as my friend Borges says, look for more news from the back 40.

 Read More »