| Earlier today I had the pleasure of seeing Michelle Obama and Jill Biden speak at the Women's Caucus. They followed a whole series of speakers including Lily Ledbetter. The air was truly electric. Prior to that, I had the pleasure of meeting Congressman Jim Clyburn. I was eating breakfast, and he sat at a table nearby. I approached tentatively, not wanting to disturb him and his staff, but he received me warmly and graciously. I explained that I was a fan, and thanked him for all he has done, and continues to do, to move our country forward. We spoke about voting rights in Pennsylvania, and it turned out he had recently been in the Chester County area with Manan Tivedi and Kathy Bookvar. We spoke about the Voter ID law and what we on the ground were doing to insure compliance and turn out our voters. What a wonderful treat. As an aside, yesterday I saw Robert Gibbs walking up the street, and he let me take a photo. I was gushing about how great I think he is, and a woman stopped and asked "who are you?" I couldn't believe she didn't know, but there it was. I also attended today's daily blogger briefing at the convention center. The speakers included Brad Woodhouse who pointed out that when the question is asked "Are you better off now then you were four years ago?" it pays to remember that four years ago, Lehman was failing, the banks were about to go under, and the election had not yet happened. In addition, he made the point that the Democratic Party is in North Carolina to stay. "We won four years ago by what, half a point," he asked, "I don't really care. We won last time, we're looking to win this year, and we intend to grow our map going forward."  A lot of the talk on the street is what people are going to do tonight. There are watch parties, including a large one at the Charlotte Democratic Headquarters. Many of the hotels are setting up for the people who will fill the bars and open areas to watch the speeches. There are disappointed people, but also people who feel that they've had a great time this week, they understand the weather concerns, and they're glad they came, even though they'll be watching the speeches on tv.
Im off to the arena in a little bit to get set up there EARLY, and will be tweeting, and possibly posting, later today. |
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