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The stadium speech
After
giving his acceptance speech. Sen. Barack Obama,
D-Ill., waves to the crowd as he exits the podium at
Invesco Field in Denver during the final day of the
2008 Democratic National Convention.
(AP Photo/Rodolfo
Gonzalez - Rocky Mountain News)
By JOHN K. HARTMAN
Sun Special
Correspondent
DENVER-- The first bus to Invesco Field at Mile High,
the scene of Barack Obama's acceptance speech, was full
and crowded. At 1:30 we left the holels in Broomfield.
We arrived 45 minutes later at the stadium parking to
summer heat and long lines. It took an hour to get
through security and nearly two hours start to finish to
find a seat 10 rows in front of the giant scoreboard in
the south end zone of the football stadium.
The crowd was building and I wondered if Obama could
fill the 76,000 seat stadium. It turned out yes and no.
Because thousands were seated on the field, the crowd
was estimated at 85,000, but there were several thousand
seats empty in the stands. None around me.
Obama
and his family celebrate on stage after Obama
delivered his speech.
(AP Photo/The Rocky
Mountain News, Darin McGregor)
The names of Denver Bronco greats are posted around the
stadium. It reminded me of taking my father, the late
Harvey H. Hartman, a big Bronco fan and a longtime
Colorado resident, to the last game in the old Mile High
Stadium. It was nearly a decade ago. As my father taught
me to treat all persons equally and to be rid of all
manner of prejudices, I felt he would be proud that this
event featuring the first black major party presidential
nominee was being held in Denver and that I was in
attendance.
***
Obama continued to cater to the young by inviting folks
to text message their names and states and had a
competition to see which state had the most hits. It
also gathered a list of supporters and attendees for
future campaign purposes.
***
Obama's catch phrase "yes, we can," seemed to be an
evolved version of Black civil right leader Jesse
Jackson's "I am somebody."
Unidentified people watch as Obama delivers his
speech.
(AP Photo/The Rocky
Mountain News, Barry Guiterrez)
Sheryl Crow got the crowd rocking singing about change,
winding roads and sunny days. Many folks sang along.
***
www.BarackObama.com was plastered throughout the
stadium. I guess if one is planning to run for president
some day, it would be wise to reserve one's name as a
domain name.
Obama,
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and their families celebrate
onstage after Obama's acceptance speech.
(AP
Photo/Preston Gannaway/Rocky Mountain News)
I tuned to NPR for a while. One radio reporter found it
interesting that attendees were eating stadium food like
nachos and hot dogs. Another commented on the beautiful
sunset on the perfectly clear day in the shadow of the
Rocky Mountains. An third praised the Democrats for
magnificent stagecraft, a la a football bowl game. A
black woman told a reporter the Obama would be a good
role model for black children. I think that is why Oprah
Winfrey risked her fame endorsing Obama. She believed it
would be good for the black community from a
sociological perspective.
Colorado
Delegate Vivian Stovall of Denver reacts as Obama
speaks on the final night of the Democratic National
Convention.
(AP Photo/Cyrus McCrimmon
- The Denver Post)
In front of me, a young
black man gets his picture taken holding a U.S. flag and
a "Change" sign. The pride that blacks feel in Obama was
palpable. In the basement press area after the event, a
young black male photographer threw off his veil of
objectivity and walked out of the building holding a
change sign aloft. It was a magical day for black
Americans, and for all Americans who believe that folks
should be judged by their character and accomplishments,
not by the color of their skin.
***
Somewhere, up there, Harvey H. Hartman is smiling.
(John C. Hartman is a Central Michigan University
journalism professor who is blogging about the
Democratic National Convention for the Morning Sun.)
(Editor's note: Hartman
sent this early Friday, but technical difficulties
prevented us from posting it until Sunday. Jack made his
deadline.)
Class - right from scene
By JOHN K. HARTMAN
Sun Special Correspondent
DENVER - I was able to link up through the online
Blackboard system with 29 of my students in journalism
issues class, that I ordinarily would have been teaching
in person on Wednesday nights at CMU. We text-chatted
about the media coverage of the convention. I reminded
them of their assignments for next Wednesday night. One
of them figured out how to use the audio feature and
started talking to the class. I asked him to stop. The
college students are just so far ahead of me from a
technological perspective. (But I like to believe I can
still out-think them!)
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack
Obama, D-Ill., left, speaks with Democratic vice
presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., as he
holds his grandson Hunter at the Democratic National
Convention in Denver, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Stephan
Savoia)
On the bus after the convention session Wednesday night,
the driver asked me if it was really true that Barack
Obama came out on the stage to join Joe Biden after the
latter’s speech. Some passengers were doubting the
driver. I said it was true. A few minutes later I called
up the picture of Obama and Biden together via cnn.com
on my Blackberry. The bus driver passed it around to the
doubters with enthusiasm. I guess I am closer to state
of the art technology ability on that front.
***
Delegates carry placards and pole signs onto the bus and
keep them as souvenirs. A fresh set is issued the next
night.
***
I boarded a cab to take me back to the Pepsi Center from
a restaurant in downtown Denver, but the driver could
only get three blocks before he encountered barricades.
Cost me $5. Should have walked.
***
Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s husband, Dan Mulhern, was
master of ceremonies for the Thursday morning Michigan
delegation breakfast. He said the Democrats must have
“message discipline” in order to win in November.
Speakers included Gov. Phil Bredensen of Tennessee, Gov.
Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, U.S. Rep John Dingell
and his wife, Debbie Dingell.
The congressmen told the crowd not to send him to
Washington by himself and added, “Things that bring us
together are far more than things that divide us.”
Mrs. Dingell echoed Mulhern, “We must stop letting other
people (Republicans) define us (Democrats).”
***
Granholm headlined Thursday’s press briefing. She said
President Bush would not help manufacturing and would
not enforce trade agreements (that have hurt Michigan)
and that John McCain would be “more of the same.”
***
State chairman Mark Brewer answered a question directed
at Granholm about the effect of the controversy over the
possible removal of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
He said the matter, which Granholm could resolve by
removing the mayor as early as next week, would not be a
factor. Other political observers are no so confident
because if substantial numbers of Detroit’s largely
black population become unhappy and stay home Nov. 4, it
would affect Obama’s chances of carrying Michigan.
***
Six of my students emailed questions for Granholm. I
gave them to her aide and asked for responses. Tiffany
Brown, her communications assistant, promised answers.
***
A former student of mine at CMU from a decade ago, Jason
Ellenburg, is making it very big in politics. He is
managing the re-election campaign of Sen. Carl Levin. We
got reacquainted Thursday morning.
***
The driver, a middle-aged African-American man, who
shuttles me between the Omni, where I am staying, and
the Renaissance, where the Michigan delegation meetings
are held, told me he grew up in the “projects” eight
blocks from Invesco Field at Mile High, the scene of
Thursday night’s acceptance speech by Obama. He said he
was hoping to attend the historic speech of the first
African-American ever to be nominated to run for
president by a major party. You could tell he was proud.
(John C. Hartman is a Central Michigan University
journalism professor who is blogging about the
Democratic National Convention for the Morning Sun.)
After Hillary's speech, Michigan Dems
come together for Obama
By JOHN K. HARTMAN
Sun Special
Correspondent
DENVER -- I failed again Tuesday in my quest to obtain a
floor pass so that I could interview delegates and
dignitaries firsthand and describe the atmosphere.
I finally found an out-of-the way press office filled
with desks and reporters that had a line for temporary
floor passes.
Even though Hillary Clinton's speech was about to begin,
I got in line and took my chances. When I got to the
head of the line, the person in charge told me that I
was in the wrong line and give me directions to a locale
elsewhere in the Pepsi Center that I had been to four
times before, finding no line.
I will keep asking, but the folks stationed throughout
the building who are supposed to know the answer to
questions, usually don't. They need a toll-free number
for us to call.
***
After the latest rebuff I headed upstairs to Section
372, where my credentials say I am supposed to sit. Bad
news. All the seating areas were full and closed. Big
turnout for the Hillary Clinton speech.
I exited the building and walked halfway around the
Pepsi Center to the familiar white tent known as
Pavilion No. 2, where reporters have open work space.
I joined a small crowd gathered around TV monitors in a
hospitality area sponsored by Captain Morgan, the rum.
It offered free food and drinks.
Many in the crowd were reporters shut out of hall
seating like I was. The feed from CSPAN on one TV was
slightly out of sync with the feed from CNN so Clinton's
speech had an echo. Eerie, to say the least.
***
Across the way was the LexisNexis booth, where free
water was given out earlier. To buttress the research
data provider's reputation, a big screen offered
LexisNexis Dashboard, a listing of "share of voice,
share of coverage" of key political figures: the Obamas,
the Clintons, John McCain, and Joe Biden. Barack,
Michelle and Hillary had up arrows, Bill was about even
and John and Joe were in decline. Another screen showed
the top issues as energy and health care.
***
Former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard, a Hillary Clinton
campaign co-chair turned enthusiastic Obama supporter,
kicked off the Michigan delegates' breakfast Wednesday
morning. He said the bad things that have happened to
the United States under the Bush Administration could
have been avoided if Democrats had pulled together and
elected Al Gore in 2000. He urged Clinton supporters to
join him in the Obama camp, hinting that their failure
to do so could lead to more bad times.
Later in an interview, Blanchard told me that he is
discouraged by the skyrocketing cost of higher education
(CMU's tuition has more than doubled in six years) in
Michigan. He said he was proud of his administration's
efforts to keep tuition low and hold down increases.
***
Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon told the delegates
that Hillary Clinton's campaign for president showed
that the "door is open to every woman" to aspire to the
highest office. He said Democrats must come together
around Obama because of "our shared sense of values."
***
AFL-CIO executive Richard Trumka told the delegates that
race is being used to divide Democrats. "We must educate
voters as to who Obama is and who McCain isn't."
***
Another prominent Democrat who originally supported
another candidate for president but is now on the Obama
bandwagon spoke at the press briefing after the
breakfast. Former U.S. Rep. David Bonoir was John
Edwards’ co-chair until Edwards quit the race. Now he
serves as a "whip" for Obama in Michigan. He said Obama
is right on the environment, energy, jobs and "the need
for the U.S. to open dialogue with other nations."
***
One of my CMU students wanted to know how social web
sites such as Facebook and MySpace have affected the
presidential race.
Bonoir said those two sites, along with YouTube, will
play big parts in Obama's victory.
"If there is a drop-off in the vote of traditional older
Democratic voters, the young will make it up," he
suggested.
Elizabeth Kerr, the young press spokeswoman for the
Michigan Democratic Party, said, "The Internet is how
young people talk to each other about why they should
vote for Obama, and other like groups are doing the same
talking to one another (about the presidential race),
too."
(John C. Hartman is a Central Michigan University
journalism professor who is blogging about the
Democratic National Convention for the Morning Sun.)
Clintons vs. Obama - what will it
cost?
Delegates hold up
signs in support of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
D-N.Y., at the Democratic National Convention in
Denver, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
By JOHN K. HARTMAN
Sun Special
Correspondent
DENVER – The convention is still buzzing about the
Clintons withholding just enough support to cost Barack
Obama the presidency.
I have some questions for Bill Clinton that I will never
get to ask unless I run into him in the cavernous
halways of the Pepsi Center.
Question No. 1: People gave you the benefit of the doubt
when you ran for president. Why won't you do same for
Obama?
No. 2: How long did it take you to "get over" your loss
for re-election as governor of Arkansas way back when?
No. 3: Would you feel better if you could blame
Hillary's loss to Obama on a "right-wing conspiracy?"
No. 4: Do you think Hillary would have gotten as far as
she has if her last name were not Clinton and you were
not a former president?
No. 5: Do you think the media and sexism (such as
prejudice in favor of women) ever helped Hillary?
I guess I'll go roam the hallways at the Pepsi Center
for a while.
***
There are facilities for the working press in Pavilion
No. 2 outside the Pepsi Center. It is a big white tent
cordoned off inside by dark curtains. The cloth is in
constant motion from the fans blowing the cool air
around. Denver pushed 90 again today so it took a lot of
fans to keep it comfortable.
The floor is plywood and crunches a bit if you hit it
wrong. Big news organizations like Business Week and USA
Today are housed in the tent, one of at least 5
surrounding the venue.
***
Dance of the Diesels in Denver
By JOHN K. HARTMAN
Sun Special Correspondent
Getting in and out of the Pepsi Center might well
be called the dance of the diesels as hundreds of
buses come and go, letting delegates and other
participants off in the afternoon, then picking them
up after the festivities.
***
The Al Jazeera cable-satellite news channel,
displaying a bright, colorful sign and an Arab
point-of-view, has a prime location between CSPAN and
ABC News at the convention. This is interesting
because few cable and satellite systems carry its
telecasts in the United States for fear of being
accused of being unpatriotic.
***
My press "Hall pass" gets me in the nosebleed section
at the Pepsi Center so that I can see the side and
back of speakers' heads from afar.
But I can see the teleprompter that the speakers read
off of. It includes a reverse time clock that blinks
red if they exceed their allotted time.
***
The tip-off that Sen. Ted Kennedy was in the house
Monday came from running into several Kennedy
relatives in the press hallway. Spotted were Joseph
Kennedy III, William Kennedy Smith and Maria Shriver,
among others.
***
While Kennedy's courageous speech while under cancer
treatment is to be admired and his efforts to unify
the convention around Barack Obama appreciated by
Democratic partisans, one cannot forget that in 1980
he ran unsuccessfully for the nomination against
incumbent President Jimmy Carter and offered only an
"arm's length" embrace of Carter, who subsequently
lost, not unlike the shyness that former President
Bill Clinton continues to exhibit regarding Obama, who
appears to have defeated Hillary Clinton for the
nomination.
***
The warning clock was turned off when Kennedy spoke.
***
At Tuesday morning's breakfast of the Michigan
delegates, Gov. Jennifer Granholm referred to GOP
standard-bearer John McCain as the "outsorcerer," a
play on words to suggest McCain is too cozy with firms
that send U.S. jobs overseas.
***
Granholm referred to the "5 W's" that will help lead
Michigan's economic comeback: "Wind, Water, Workforce,
Wood and Waste (converging the latter to energy)."
***
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer got the delegates really
fired up with his folk hero approach, colorful
language and Western attire of blue blazer, blue jeans
and bolo tie.
***
I got to ask another of my journalism students'
questions at the press briefing after the delegates'
breakfast. A student from Rochester wanted to know how
Democrats were going to get Obama and the Clintons to
bury the hatchet.
State Sen. Gilda Jacobs of Huntington Woods said that
a unity meeting had been held Monday between the
competing factions that went well.
"Women will progress only under Obama," she added.
"Don't believe the hype,” added Edna Bell, a delegate
from Detroit. “Women not just in the United States but
around she world need Obama."
Nan Welke, a delegate from Westland, said, "Women
cannot afford more years of Bush and McCain."
(John K. Hartman is a Central Michigan University
journalism professor, offering his take on the
Democratic National Convention in Denver.)
Nuggets from Denver
By
John K. Hartman
Morning Sun Special
Correspondent
DENVER -- I arrived in Sunday afternoon intending to get
to the root of
the Democratic National Convention. I did not expect to
be dealing with
another root, but after having a sore tooth for 48
hours, my dentist
informed me by phone Saturday morning that the root in
one of my lower
molars was going bad. There was no time to begin work on
it, so he
prescribed a powerful antibiotic and some pain pills. He
will get to the
diseased root and remove it the day after Labor Day.
I am here to provide some "nuggets" (apologies to the
NBA team
headquartered here and to gold miners everythere) of
information and
commentary to readers of the print and online Morning
Sun. My reporting
will be supplementing the coverage provided by the
Associated Press, not
replacing it. I will emphasize the local angles of
interest to folks in
the Sun's coverage area.
***
I am a professor of journalism at Central Michigan
University, trying to
practice what I preach. I will be holding my classes
online Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday ... if the wireless laptop
computer I borrowed is
up to the challenge. I have asked my students to give me
questions they
would like asked of convention delegates and
dignitaries. They get bonus
points if it works out.
One student wants me to ask Gov. Jennifer Granholm her
stance on an
alleged proposal by the Bush Administration to declare
the use of birth
control pills as abortion. Another wants to know from
Sen. Barack Obama
what Sen. Hillary Clinton will have to say in her speech
Wednesday night
to win her supporters over to his bid for the
presidency. A third
student wants to know when the American public is going
to become more
important than foreign countries. And a fourth wants
U.S. Rep. John
Conyers to tell him how to advance the Democratic
Party's fortunes in
Detroit.
Sun readers are invited to email me their questions at
hartm1jk@cmich.edu
***
Visitors arriving at Denver International Airport such
as I were whisked
into motorized carts for their trip from the landing
gate to the baggage
area by friendly folks wearing carnation lapel pins.
They took our names
and promised good seats on our return flights.
At the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, security
around the
headquarters Denver Sheraton Hotel was tight with dozens
of police clad
in black riot gear in sight.
The Michigan delegation is staying 20 minutes away from
the Pepsi Center
in the Renaissance and Omni hotels in Broomfield. I will
attend their
breakfast meetings Monday through Thursday.
Job No. 1 will be helping the presumed nominee for
president, Sen.
Obama, win Michigan. A Detroit Free Press poll Sunday
gave Obama a
7-point lead over presumed Republican nominee Sen. John
McCain, but
two-thirds of the voters said they were "not sure" about
Obama.
Jobs No. 1, 2 and 3 for Obama are winning over Sen.
Clinton's diehard
supporters, helping unsure folks to feel comfortable
with him, and
overcoming the reluctance of some voters to support an
African-American
for president.
I will keep you posted. Let me hear from you.
***
By way of disclosure, my wife Kay and I were delegates
from Ohio to the
2004 Democratic National Convention, pledged to Sen.
John Edwards. He
won't be speaking at the 2008 convention after his
recent personal
scandal. I wish his wife Elizabeth Edwards would be here
and speaking.
Now there is someone to admire.
Excitement at Stadium Mall
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