Yesterday, I had to be queen of the hustle. I was determined this was going to be a make-or-break day. The goal was to get that “credential” to get into the Pepsi Center and see the hall of delegates, state signs, the funny hats. And YES! I got in.
Somehow, on this mission, I got side tracked by a Hillary Clinton press conference in the Colorado Convention Center where she released her delegates – 1,920 committed delegates, according to CNN, she mentioned in her remarks along with stating she won’t “tell anyone what to do.” Her core message was party unity, beat John McCain following up on a great speech from the night before. I talked with one of her delegates at the CBCF (Congressional Black Caucus Foundation) party the night of her speech who said he and other delegates were prepared to make a symbolic visual transition to Obama on the convention floor Thursday during the roll call. Somehow that roll call didn’t happen. Delegates cast their votes Thursday afternoon. I’m trying to chase down the real tally because one thing I’ve learned here is the news I’m getting on cable and network television and radio is often wrong and intended to build on hype. I’m still on news black out btw. Best to put my ear to the ground, talk to people, and observe. More on that press conference in a later wrap up post. I detected a bit of a wink in the remarks. Hopefully I can share the audio from the Flip camera I had.
I was happy to say that press conference led me to the Gulf Coast people. Lauren Anderson with the Equity and Inclusion Campaign and Jacques Morial of the Louisiana Justice Institute. All eyes are on hurricane Gustav at this time. Lauren and Jacques were very worried about what this will do to the modest Katrina recovery efforts made to date and the people along the Gulf. Please visit their sites for more information.
But Thanks to the DC Delegation (DC4ObamaBeatsMcCain), I got a “credential” to get me into the Pepsi Center for the final night at this location before Barack Obama makes his acceptance speech at INVESCO Field. How did I do it? After a bit of lecturing by a friend, I had to put myself in the right place and hopefully the right time and person would present itself. Ask people. The magic moment happened on the 16th Street Mall bus. Frank Smith of the African American Civil War Museum in DC invited me to join several other DC delegation members at the “drop off” point inside corner pizza joint/bar. Kudos to Arrington Dixon, former DC City Councilmember-At-Large. Apparently Arrington Dixon’s mission was to get as many DC delegation and DC folk into our section of the hall for the BIG Thursday Night. Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Biden were on the bill. And for those of you who didn’t stay up after Biden’s Vice Presidential acceptance speech, a surprise appearance by the candidate himself, Barack Obama.
Apparently, I was not the only one on a search. PBS’s The NewsHour found me. I was a brief face in the crowd on the national convention broadcast. A message on my cell phone confirmed it. Yes. I was there. Today’s goal: INVESCO field for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. I heard DC, VA, and MD ticket requests were shut out in a snafu. If I get into INVESCO field tonight that, and all the craziness and hassles of this week will be forgiven 😉