Something else that stood out this week ...
Watching Joe Biden's acceptance speech the other day capped off quite a day. Supervising producer Teshima Walker and I were on the floor talking to people during the roll call. We were in the Ohio section because I wanted to talk to the governor (I covered him when he was a congressman) and also because Ohio had been a big victory for Sen. Hillary Clinton. This was one of the places where voters have been willing to admit that race is an issue.
All of a sudden there was this ... energy shift. I can't describe it any other way. We started wandering over to the New York delegation, security kept pushing us back. Something was up. What was going on? Then we saw her. This roar went up.
It was Sen. Clinton making her way to the microphone at each delegation. She asked the convention to suspend the roll call. She asked the body to nominate Sen. Barack Obama by acclamation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly grabbed the gavel. Was there a second, did the body agree?
Another roar went up. I looked around. There were so many tears in so many eyes for so many different reasons.
And then, just a few hours later, Bill Clinton took to the podium with an ovation so long he had to order people to sit down. And then ... Joe Biden.
It was so interesting to watch the emotions shift throughout the hall. It was almost like a wake and a wedding on the same day -- the intense sadness of some of the Clinton supporters, the euphoria of the Obama supporters as he claimed the nomination ... the relief and pride in President Clinton's embrace, and then the happy warrior spirit with which Joe Biden closed the night. It was almost too much to take in on one day
More sightings:
The Rev. Kirbyjon and Suzette Caldwell (he officiated at the wedding of Jenna Bush ... and supports Obama), actors Jeffrey Wright, Kerri Washington and Sheryl Lee Ralph, the Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes, Gail King (ok, Teshima saw her, I missed out), The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, Karl Rove (again) and my college classmate Cindy Robbins (I couldn't talk to her, though, because I was on the air ... sorry, Cindy!).
Smootches!
categories: Backstage Pass: 2008 DNC in Denver
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