TONY COX, host:
From NPR News, this is News & Notes, I'm Tony Cox.
It is the second day of the Democratic National Convention. Hillary Clinton will address the crowd tonight. But last night, Michelle Obama and Ted Kennedy took to the microphone. How were they received? Plus, which voting blocs will help elect the next president? Joining us from Denver with an update are NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving and national reporter Audie Cornish. Hi, both of you.
RON ELVING: Good morning, Tony.
AUDIE CORNISH: Hi, Tony.
COX: Let's start with this. Let's listen to a clip, first of all, from Ted Kennedy. This was last night.
Senator EDWARD KENNEDY (Democrat, Massachusetts): As I look ahead, I am strengthened by family and friendship. So many of you have been with me in the happiest days and the hardest days. Together we have known success and seen setbacks, victory and defeat. But we have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world. And I pledge to you - I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate when we begin the great...
(Soundbite of cheering and applause)
(Soundbite of laughter)
COX: So Ron, his appearance, was that the key moment of the night?
ELVING: It was certainly the kick-off point for the prime-time hour, and that was of course what the organizers of the convention had in mind. They wanted to bring out their big emotional moment with Teddy Kennedy, of course, suffering from brain cancer, a very uncertain diagnosis, a very uncertain future. They wanted to bring him out and really galvanize the room, and in their minds at least, hopefully get people around the country emotionally involved in that final hour of the broadcast.
COX: Audie, of course the other prime-time speaker was Michelle Obama. Here's what she said.
Ms. MICHELLE OBAMA (Wife of Senator Barack Obama): We've committed ourselves to building the world as it should be. So tonight, in honor of my father's memory and my daughters' future, out of gratitude for those whose triumphs we mark this week and those whose everyday sacrifices have brought us to this moment, let us devote ourselves to finishing their work. Let us work together to fulfill their hopes and let's stand together to elect Barack Obama president of the United States of America.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
Ms. OBAMA: Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America!
COX: Audie, of course many people in the audience had tears in their eyes during her speech, but there were also those who felt that she fell short of the mark. What's your sense of how that speech was received?
CORNISH: Well, I think I agree with Ron in that the Senator Kennedy speech was so well-received and so emotional that it did kind of kick off a level of emotion for the night. And I was certainly standing in a section where there were some women who were wiping tears from their eyes while Michelle Obama was speaking. But I think that a lot of people that I spoke to after seemed really cognizant of what the perceptions of Michelle Obama are, and what her speech attempted to do to combat those.
So I heard people say things like, I was really glad she talked more about the family, I was really glad she made jokes, I was really glad that she tried to show people that they're like us. Or another big thing was people saying I was glad that, you know, she is patriotic, and that she is showing that. And I think this speaks to a sense of that maybe a lot of these party faithful are kind of acutely aware of what the criticisms of her have been, and they wanted her speech to combat that, and I guess we'll see if it did.
COX: you know, we had two important speeches last night, but none compares in importance, perhaps, to the one we are anticipating tonight from Hillary Clinton, Ron. What message does she have to deliver, or maybe it's how she delivers the message?
ELVING: Yes, exactly, how she does it I think will be critical. This is the speech that contains what suspense this convention really has. We expect big emotional highs from some of those speeches, but tonight is the functional speech. What will Hillary Clinton say to try to bring around some of those supporters of hers - quite a number of them, according to the polls - who are saying at this point they're not committed to voting for the Democratic nominee unless it's Hillary Clinton? What is she going to not only say, but what is she going to communicate? What is she going to do in terms of tone and body language to show that she really has turned the corner and really is ready to support her primary opponent?
COX: Audie, has she given any clues as to what she might do or how she might go about doing it?
CORNISH: Well, Senator Clinton did speak before, I believe it was a Latino caucus yesterday, and so there were some hints there in terms of her being very straightforward about her support of Senator Barack Obama, and that that is where she is going to be going. I don't know if she necessarily said to her delegates, this is the way you need to vote right now. But of the delegates that I talked to who attended that, they did say that they felt she was letting go and that they felt that they really needed to hear it from her, that they're really looking forward to this speech, specifically because they want to have that moment where she says, we can let this go.
COX: Well, you know, Ron, there are other speakers tonight. The keynote, in fact, is from former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Another speaker of note is Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, a key Clinton supporter. Which raises the question, is tonight the night that we finally see party unity really take place?
ELVING: That will be up to not only the speakers themselves, but also to the Hillary supporters on the floor, the people who are down there, emotionally still absolutely contained within that primary effort that she made March-April-May, and they're still caught up in that struggle. If they are prepared to actually transfer the enormous emotional attachment they have to their candidate to this party unity drive - big question mark if they are - then we'll see this convention come together and be what the Obama people have been hoping it would be.
COX: Let me ask both of you...
CORNISH: And Tony...
COX: Go ahead.
CORNISH: I just want to say I also agree with Ron, because you know last night in Michelle Obama's speech, one of her biggest applause lines was a reference to Senator Clinton. And so that energy is still there. And I talked to countless delegates, and I mean you couldn't throw a stone without hitting a Hillary supporter, a Hillary delegate. And it is important to know that the crowd response tonight is going to be the true indicator of where this potential for party unity lies.
COX: One of the things that I found interesting in watching last night, and I'd like to get both of you to respond to it, is the fact that at this particular convention, the Republican presence is perhaps more than it's been in the past. And it seems as if the old rules of staying mum while the other, your opponent is putting his or her convention together is no longer the case. Could you tell whether or not that dynamic is having any impact at the convention? Did you even notice it at all?
ELVING: Not so much, not so much I would say at the convention, Tony, but I do think it's having an impact in the media in general. If you watch a lot of the cables, if you're out on the blogs, you're going to see almost as much about the Republican spin on this as the Democratic spin on this. And I suspect it will be the same way the other direction next week when the Republicans are having their convention. The old Marquis d'Queensbury rules by which the two parties left each other alone while they had their conventions are in the past.
COX: Is that your observation as well, Audie?
CORNISH: Yes. Inside the convention center, where I'm spending the most of my time, it is all about the Democrats, and I'm not necessarily seeing this other chatter or conversation going on on the outside.
COX: All right, well it's certainly coming across on television in some places. Let's talk about one more thing in the time that we have left. That's the battleground states. My question is to you, Audie, and it's this, which states do you think Barack Obama is able to bring to his camp? Are there any that he is particularly targeting? And I say that because for instance last night, he was in Missouri, which is a battleground state.
CORNISH: Yes he was, and I think the way that I've noticed it, and obviously with the primary season, there's been a lot of hints, but down on the floor of the Pepsi Center, the seating arrangements, you know, you have a state like Virginia way up front, a state that the Obama campaign has made very clear that they hope to put in play. I talked to delegates in Georgia, a state that, you know, arguably it's not decided if it really is in play, but the Obama campaign has certainly had their eye on it, and their delegates said, you know, we used to be in the nose bleed seats, because they're always going to the Republicans in the general election. And they had a much better view this time around. So, you know, when you're watching at home, keep an eye on those state signs and see what's up front and what's highlighted, because those are the visual clues as to what this campaign is focusing on.
COX: You know, the swing states from the 2004 election are pretty much in play again this time. There maybe a few that are in, that weren't and a few that aren't that were. Ron, how much of the battleground states, how many of the battleground states do you think Barack Obama thinks he has to pull in order to win?
ELVING: Tony, you will see lists of 18 battleground states, 12 battleground states, eight or seven. I think we're basically looking at five, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida. Now, most of those states have been Republican states in the last couple of elections, Ohio, Virginia, Florida. If Barack Obama can win two of those three, Barack Obama will be president.
COX: What about turnout? How significant is that? Because the polls have shown consistently that McCain is creeping up on, and in some cases perhaps, has passed Obama, and yet the Obama camp's argument is that they're not polling the people who are participating now for the first time in the electoral process. Ron?
ELVING: You know, I do think there has been a certain amount of back-and-forth about whether or not first time voters can be accurately polled. And the reason that in the past that hasn't mattered too much is because first time voters don't turn into voters. They are people who would be first time voters, and they become non-voters in November. And this year, if the primaries are any indication, we may see record turnout among under-30 and first-time voters, and they are a little tougher to poll. I don't think there's much evidence to suggest that that's really skewing the polls at this point. I think Barack Obama was opening a little bit of a lead, it's closed up a little bit again. It's pretty much a dead heat and all that's going to matter when we get to November is what has happened between the conventions and November.
COX: My final question is to you, Audie, and it's this. Briefly, do you find that what we're talking about in terms of first-timers, is there a real presence of first-timers at the convention?
CORNISH: There certainly are. There are a lot of people out there who, they've got their homemade signs, they're saying, oh, this is the first time I've even been to anything like this, and I'm so excited, it's so big. And it really is a special, I guess, experience for them, especially being introduced into this process that for a while, I think, people saw as something maybe just for the super party faithful or elders in their state.
COX: Audie, Ron, thank you both for taking time and talking with us.
ELVING: Thank you, Tony.
CORNISH: Thank you.
COX: Ron Elving is NPR's senior Washington editor. Audie Cornish is a national reporter for NPR. They both joined us from our special NPR studios in Denver.
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