Day 4: Thursday, August 28

10:45 am Attended the last Massachusetts delegation breakfast this morning, sponsored by Cong. Ed Markey. Again, a roster of terrific speakers: John Podesta (pres./CEO of American Progress), Lt.-Gov. Tim Murray, Sec. of State Bill Galvin, State Rep. Diane Wilkerson, and -- the coup de grace -- Sen. George McGovern, who's just as salty and spry as ever in his mid-80s. It was a thrill to shake the hand of the man who was the candidate for President in the first election in which I could vote (he got mine, too).

Channel 7 thrust a camera and mic in front of me and asked questions about my reactions to last night's speeches. So as not to let a local news broadcast "scoop" my own blog, I'll give you those impressions below.

A word about logistics. Our hotel, the Renaissance, is situated in Stapleton, some 20 minutes' drive from downtown Denver. This means that, once you head downtown, you're there for the duration. The Pepsi Center, where all of the convention's formal business was conducted, is actually not very large -- smaller than our own Fleet Center -- and (thanks to exremely tight security all around its perimeter) kind of isolated on its own "campus." Buses take delegates everywhere we need to go (the delegate's credential is like a ticket to heaven around here), but guests, press and other folks here in Denver just to be a part of it all are at considerably greater difficulty to get in to things and get around. Many of the "unofficial" meetings and caucuses have been held at the Colorado Convention Center, another large venue downtown. The various parties and social events, from luncheons to teas, cocktail parties and late-night bashes put on by each of the state delegations, are held downtown in various large restaurants and clubs that line 16th Street, the owntown dpedestrian zone. Now, having been here a few days, I have a general sense of how best to navigate the city. But I'm leaving tomorrow!

Commentary on last night:
The roll call
I arrived at the Pepsi Center, as on other days, for the 4 o'clock gavel-down -- but yesterday, the proceedings had already begun. From the delegates' perspective, and because most of us had availed ourselves of the early-voting option in the morning, the rollcall of states' votes was very much an afterthought. And that's how the campaign wanted it. Every delegate got to vote -- we all got literally to sign our names and place our x'es on the ballot next to our candidate. We all felt heard. The culmination of the rollcall on the convention floor last night, then, could become the focus of some real drama -- and the convention's best opportunity to unite us all.

It worked. And it was the highest point of the convention for me so far.

When Illinois ceded to New York and Hillary Clinton made the announcement to suspend the roll call's rules and nominate Barack Obama by acclamation, the loudest shouts of the week echoed through the hall. It was extremely moving for supporters of both camps, who felt this was the best possible result and a stroke of theatric genius toward party unity. For my part, I thought Senator Clinton was a really classy act.

Miscellanea:
I was thrilled that all 30 of New Hampshire's votes went to Barack Obama! I heard this news on one of the arena's TV monitors in the outer hallway as I was making my way to my seat. It vindicated slogging around in February slush. (Note: for the record, the Massachusetts roll call ended up as: 65 for Obama, 52 for Clinton.)

The speeches: Miscellaneous observations
* Seeing all the women of Congress on stage with Nancy Pelosi was just terrific.
* The remarks of Tammy Duckworth -- the Iraq war veteran from an Illinois military family and a likely appointee to complete Senator Obama's Senatorial term if he is elected President -- were especially incisive.
* One of the other minor speakers who made an impression was a retired Army general from New Hampshire (that part of his introduction caught my attention), who recently dropped his life-long registration in the Republican party to become a Democrat. Before we even knew why he had been chosen to speak, I turned to my seatmate, Worcester City Council Chair Rick Rushton, and said, "That guy's a Republican."
* Many of us wished that Senator John Kerry had spoken so forcefully as he did last night, during his own campaign for president four years ago.
* Bill Clinton, of course, did what he set out to do: the torch has officially been passed from the wildly popular (with the delegate crowd) former president to Barack Obama. He put Obama into an important historical context that blessed him with the mantle of success in the presidential role Obama hopes to earn on Nov. 4. Clinton was magisterial: his command of facts, his intellectual wattage and the extremely personal way he delivers his message wowed us all.
* In my book, the real star of the evening, even more than VP nominee Joe Biden himself, was Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, in his moving and heartfelt introduction of his father. Through his words we all came to see Senator Biden in a new light -- and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
* And how about Joe Biden's mother, and Barack Obama's uncle? The playing of Sister Sledge's popular tune "We Are Family" at the end of the evening was a suitable sentimental choice. The evening was one big group hug.

A funny moments of the evening --

Boston Mayor Tom Menino was sitting in front of me last night, patiently suffering being poked by the kid next to him with the American flags we all were waving, and braving an occasional blow from me, too, with the myriad of placards that we were given to wave. When Bill Clinton generously praised Barack Obama's VP choice of Joe Biden by saying, simply, that he "knocked one out of the park," Hizzoner turned with a look of surprise and said loudly to anyone who would listen, "He stole my line!"