Rock-Obama
Signing off from Denver after a, um, challenging day at Invesco Field, where Sen. Barack Obama charged up an estimated 84,000 people _ all of whom had to go through metal detectors to get in. Here’s the line I was stuck in for over an hour (this is actually near the end of it; it’s just as long behind this shot):
Probably should have gotten there earlier, because by the time I got in, the stadium was really filling up:
Did get there in time for Sheryl Crow:
Thank goodness for the jumbo screens. That goes double or triple for the Obama speech since the elaborate stage and the TV towers blocked the view of a lot of people in the stadium.
It was my 11th consecutive convention, one made memorable of course by the history made here in Denver _ the nomination of an African-American _ and the drama of the Hillary Rodham Clinton story. Her moment on the Pepsi Center floor stopping the roll call of the states was, like all of the convention, tightly scripted, but still worth watching.
One constant at these conventions, Democratic or Republican: delegates always want to know what you thought about a certain speech, or the convention as a whole. They’re hugely excited, of course, thrilled to have been part of a big political show.
I always hate to dampen their enthusiasm, but the fact is: Well, I didn’t have time to wave signs and cheer and dance to the music. I was working.
Michael McNutt of The Oklahoman’s Capitol bureau takes it from here. He’s heading to Minnesota for the Republican convention and will be blogging about the Oklahomans from there.
Invisible OK Dems?
Four Oklahoma Republicans are scheduled to speak at their party’s convention next week _ Sen. Tom Coburn, Reps. Tom Cole and Mary Fallin and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett _ while not a single Oklahoma Democrat has been featured on the podium here in Denver.
The state has a Democratic governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and other statewide officers. And it has one Democratic congressman, Dan Boren (though the fact that he has refused to endorse Sen. Barack Obama, the party’s presidential nominee, certainly might explain his lack of podium time).
Asked last night why he hadn’t been tapped to speak, even though many Democratic governors had been, Henry said, “I don’t have much of an ego. It’s not a big deal to me.”
He said the national Democratic Party hadn’t asked him to speak and that the ones who did appear are “either in key swing or battleground states or aggressively pursued a speaking role.”
Demos and Dinosaurs
“You’ve got a lot of great dinosaurs in Oklahoma,” famous paleontologist Paul Sereno told Oklahoma Democrats at their convention breakfast today.
Some of the Democrats may have thought he was referring to Sen. Jim Inhofe, but he wasn’t. He was talking about the beasts that used to roam the earth and whose bones are now scattered all around said earth. People like Sereno find the bones and tell us things about the earth we wouldn’t have otherwise known.
Sereno, who is also a professor at the University of Chicago (and I’m going to tie this in to politics soon, I swear), discovered a “green sahara” in Niger in 2000 that is the focus of a story in September’s National Geographic magazine. The Supercroc that Sereno also discovered just ended a run at the natural history museum in Norman.
He and his wife, Gabrielle Lyon, who is also a scientist and educator, met Michelle Obama when she worked at the University of Chicago and have worked with her on public service projects in Chicago. Through Michelle, Sereno and Lyon have also gotten to know Sen. Barack Obama, who will speak at Invesco Field tonight.
“They’re some of the greatest human beings we know,” Sereno said. “We need great people in trying times.”
Sereno and Lyon wound up at the Oklahoma breakfast because they’re friends with Edmond attorney Reggie Whitten, a delegate here and a financial supporter of the couple’s Project Exploration, which works to help expose youths, particularly minority youths, to science by pairing them up with scientists in the field.
Delegate Tim Mauldin, a professor at Oklahoma City University, asked Sereno if he believes in global warming _ Sereno does _ and Mauldin suggested that Sereno tell Inhofe.
Sereno and Lyon have both spent a lot of time recently in Oklahoma, and both praised the state.
Besides having great dinosaurs, Lyon said, “It’s an extraordinarily diverse, fascinating state.”
OK Dems Get Around
Since the Democratic convention began, a couple of the Oklahomans, delegate Joe Carter and longtime fundraiser Mike Turpen, have been Zelig-like _ popping up everywhere, sometimes with famous people. And they’re armed with cell phone cameras.
Here’s Joe Carter, of Norman, with the Rev. Al Sharpton:
Carter wrote his own caption for this one: The reverend and the redneck make peace after the nomination of Barack.
A footnote: I actually saw Sharpton outside the Pepsi Center and thought of taking a picture of him but didn’t know exactly what I’d use it for. Get an Oklahoma delegate in there, though, and I know just what to do with it: Blog.
And here is Carter, sans hat (and he looks really different without it) with Gov. Brad Henry inside the Pepsi Center. It may look like a female Grateful Dead fan from the 60s slipped in behind them, but that’s actually Johanna Best, a delegate from Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, Turpen, who has raised big dough for the Clintons through the years , has been hanging out with them all week. Or else he’s conning his way into meetings they’re attending and badgering them to take pictures with him.
Definitely looks like Turpen took this one with the former president himself.
Afro Donkey
Oklahoma state Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre, on the right, who seemingly hasn’t missed a t-shirt vendor hawking at the Democratic National Convention, poses here with her sister, Syliva Dean, with their donkey with an afro shirt (the donkey being the longtime symbol of the Democratic Party). And that is apparently what used to be called a pick in the Afro.
Biden Their Time
Two bad puns in a row using the word Time. Sorry.
Turpen Time, by the way, was actually his campaign slogan when he ran for state attorney general in 1982.
The headliner at the Democratic National Convention tonight is, of course, Sen. Joe Biden, the vice presidential candidate. Before him, though, is former President Bill Clinton (reportedly not happy with his slot because it’s national security night themewise and Clinton wanted to talk about the economy).
But before all that will be the traditional roll call of the states, when some designated person from each state gets to shout out what the state is most proud of being “home to” before shouting out how many votes they’re pledging to the nominee.
Gov. Brad Henry did the shouting for the Oklahoma Democrats in 2004 but I couldn’t find a copy of his remarks in our archives. Apparently they had something to do with education and putting kids first, according to an aide to the governor.
In 2000, at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, former state party chairman Mike Mass, did the honors in remarks that perfectly represent how jumbled and incoherent these things can be. Here’s what he said:
“America’s heartland and the land of America’s state of Oklahoma, home to the honorable Joe Lieberman’s little sister, also home to some future Democratic congressmen in keeping with the rich tradition of Robert S. Kerr, Mike Synar and Speaker Carl Albert, we’re mighty proud to cast all 52 votes for the next president of the United States of America, Al Gore.”
Mass, a former state representative, pleaded guilty last year to a federal conspiracy charge unrelated to that rambling statement.
It’s Turpen Time
Mike Turpen _ Oklahoma City attorney, former state attorney general, television talk show host and fundraiser extraordinaire _ was walking by the press stand at the Pepsi Center last night, and he graciously stopped for a picture.
Turpen is a longtime fundraiser for the Clintons, a loyalist who badly wanted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to get the nomination. But he said he doesn’t understand the people who have been reluctant to accept Clinton’s defeat and get fully behind Obama.
Turpen said that after Clinton conceded, he met with her and Obama in Washington. Clinton introduced Turpen to Obama and told Turpen that she wanted him to work as hard for Obama as he had for her. Turpen is now on Obama’s finance committee.
While, he was visiting with us at the press stand Turpen showed a picture of him with Gov. Brad Henry and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at a convention party here.
Turpen said he had been asked to raise money to help retire the debt Richardson accumulated while running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I told him it was the hardest $20,000 I ever raised,” Turpen said.
Mugging Anderson Cooper
First, here’s a picture of state Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre, who is attending the Democratic National Convention as a guest and has hit all of the souvenir shops near the convention center in downtown Denver (she also bought a dog scarf that says Bark Obama).
Eason and state Rep. Jabar Shumate, a delegate here from Tulsa, told a story this morning about how Shumate and state Rep. Anastasia Pittman essentially mugged CNN anchor Anderson Cooper last night in the Pepsi Center, site of the convention proceedings, to get a picture with him. Despite Cooper’s protestations that he had to go, Pittman grabbed him for a pic, and Shumate quickly squeezed in.
Media types _ the place is swarming with them _ are, to some, celebrities here.
I’ve been meaning to post my Dan Rather story on this blog for awhile. I’ll get to it.
Day Two: Waiting for Hillary
Oklahoma delegates to the Democratic National Convention pose this morning with their friends and family members (and some seemingly random kids on the floor _ I don’t think they belong here) at the Embassy Suites in Denver. Delegates from Nebraska are also staying at this hotel and, so far, not one fight has broken out _ and I haven’t even heard anyone say Boomer Sooner to the Nebraska folks (though I’ve been tempted).
This morning, the delegates heard from California Congressman Mike Honda, who kissed a baby and opened his talk with an off-color joke. Probably a few double takes in the room after that one. Honda is scheduled to address the convention today, though not in prime time, and if he repeats that joke, he’s going to get yanked off the podium. These conventions are well-scripted.
Haven’t seen much of either Gov. Brad Henry or Congressman Dan Boren since arriving here Saturday. Did see Henry briefly last night after Michelle Obama’s speech, but, as you can see, he didn’t make the group photo.
Tonight’s story is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will be the last speaker of the evening (look for her about 9:30 central time). You may remember the former first lady battled Sen. Barack Obama to the bitter end of the primary season in June. And some of her delegates haven’t gotten to the acceptance part of the grief process.
Kay Floyd, a Clinton delegate from Oklahoma, and some others were wearing t-shirts this morning that read “Thank You Hillary.”
Tim Mauldin, a professor at Oklahoma City University and a delegate here, pitched a bumpersticker that says “Jesus Rode a Donkey,” the donkey being a long-time symbol for the Democratic Party.
“I’ve never seen an elephant in any manger picture,” Mauldin cracked, referring to the symbol of the Republican Party.
After breakfast, the delegation headed off to a brunch sponsored by Union Pacific Railroad. You can do a lot of eating at these conventions _ and if you’re a delegate, you never have to pay.
BTW: I wrote yesterday that Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairman Ivan Holmes said there was a Conoco-Phillips sign in the Pepsi Center, above where the Oklahomans were seated. I looked for it last night and didn’t see it. Maybe all of the corporate advertising was removed before the convention began in the center that normally hosts the Denver Nuggets basketball team, concerts and other events.
A Proud Redneck
Joe Carter, a horse vet from Norman, finds the perfect label for himself outside the gates of the Pepsi Center in Denver, where he is serving as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention.
