Some of the people I saw up close or hollered at in just one day:

- Spike Lee

- Craig Robinson (Michelle Obama's brother)

- Karl Rove (he didn't look happy)

- Rudy Giuliani (he DID look happy)

- Mitt Romney (he looked ... tall)

- Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter

- John Trasvina, president of Maldef

- Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College

- Wellington Webb, former Mayor of Denver, and his wife Wilma, a former state legislator

- Several former college classmates who happened to be delegates (go Crimson! Hah!)

- James Yee, the former chaplain at Guantanamo Bay who was accused of being a spy and later exonerated. He's a delegate.

- 100 or so high school students for a forum that will air on C-Span

- Too many members of Congress to name (sorry!)

- Every old boss I ever had ...

One of the most interesting conversations I had on the floor today was with a delegate whose name I won't mention (only because he got way deeper with me than he intended to, and I had not made it clear at the time I was going to quote him by name).

He said this is his fourth convention, his first being in 1988 when he was a delegate for the Rev. Jesse Jackson. This time he is in Denver, having supported Hillary Clinton in his state's primary. It seemed an easy decision at first -- he knew both Clintons and liked them, and knew very little about Barack Obama -- but over time it got hard. His son was mad for Obama and annoyed at him for supporting Hillary, but he decided to turn it into a life lesson.

"In this family we keep our word," he said.

But now it was his turn to be mad. There were, in fact, members of his delegation who were insisting they would not necessarily support Obama even after the first ballot. This delegate was surprised at how angry this made him. I asked him hadn't it been the same way with Jackson's folks, hadn't THEY wanted the elusive "respect" for their candidate, hadn't some members of the Michigan delegation threatened to walk out?

The difference, he told me, was that Jackson told his people to tamp it down, to support the party and that they should be proud of everything they had done and everything they had learned and their time would come. This time, the delegate told me, he could not believe that these delegates, few though they may be, might not support Obama.

And although he felt he had spent his entire adult life working to keep race out of the equation, he could not help but believe that race was very much a part of it. And yet his pride in his party and in his country was overwhelming.

His reaction to Michelle Obama's speech the other night:

"I'm 6'5 and 230 lbs and I'm embarrassed to tell you the tears were just flowing. Just flowing," he said

This is me talking now: I can't remember when I saw so many tears at a political convention -- during Michele Obama's speech, during Hillary Clinton's address ...

The pundits are all saying Clinton "did what she had to do." And, in fact, the people I talked to before the speech, both die hard Hillary supporters and Obama folks laying down markers for the speech, indicated that they understood she would make a very strong case for Obama and directly address the dissidents, and she did.

What did you think?

Fashion note: I gave up the heels today. I had to do it. A better woman would have hung in there, but my hem had to pay the price for my feet. I did NOT see any fly outfits tonight; too hot and crowded on the floor, I think.

But the "protect yourself from McCain" condoms being handed out by Code Pink ... well, that kind of made up for it.

categories: Backstage Pass: 2008 DNC in Denver

11:03 - August 27, 2008

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