Anthony York
Blogging from Denver
Capitol Weekly editor Anthony York has been keeping a blog during his time at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Below are portions of his commentary. To view the entire blog, go to www.capitolweekly.net.
On the road
Monday, August 24, 10 p.m.
DENVER, Colo.-The flight is about two-thirds full, less crowded than I thought a non-stop from Sacramento to Denver would be the day before the Democratic National Convention is set to begin. Maybe the empties are from all the legislators who cancelled their trips. Maybe it’s because it’s Sunday night, and the party’s already started without us.
There are a few Capitol types on the plane. There are assorted lobbyists, vaguely familiar political faces, and at least one elected official. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is on this last flight into the Mile High City, with his wife and body man, prepping for his four days in Denver.
For pols like Garamendi, and others, conventions are prime schmoozing time, a time to introduce, or reintroduce, yourself to activists and potential donors. And the fact that Garamendi comes into Denver as the only declared candidate for governor (Gavin Newsom is still ‘exploring’), it allows him to speak about 2010 with a bit more clarity – to more openly make the ask.
Barack Obama may be the main story, but there are thousands of pols gathered in Denver to write the next chapter in their own political narratives. And Garamendi hopes Denver will be part of the two-year road that launches him into the governor’s office in 2010.
The Credentialing process
Monday, Aug 25, 7:40 a.m.
DENVER, Colo.-The Democratic National Convention is sort of like Studio 54. There is a clear status-oriented hierarchy that determines exactly where you can and cannot go.
As with Studio 54, some of these entitle you to more booze, or free food. Sometimes it just allows you to get closer to the stage.
Of course, that’s where the similarities between this convention and Studio 54 end.
But better access means credentials. Dozens of different credentials, each of which entitles you access behind one new trap door, or velvet rope, or, perhaps, access into one new circle of hell.
These credentials are not handsome. They are large, obnoxious, rectangular contraptions – some with holograms, some that look like they were run of at the neighborhood Kinkos. They hang from yarn, or metal lanyards. They are all, in their way, important, if not as important as their keepers would have you believe.
This morning, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton speak to the California delegation over breakfast. Entry requires the nice, lime-green credential issued by the California Democratic Party. Which we’ve got. Later in the day, it’s off to get the credential for the main hall, which should be a barrel of laughs.
This California delegation is strongly pro-Clinton. And the New York Senator is likely to receive a thunderous ovation this morning as she says thank you, and goodbye for now, to hundreds of her supporters. It is one of the most interesting psychological subplots of this week, and today’s breakfast will offer the first round of clues of the internal temperature of the delegation, and the convention hall, this week.
Why we blog
Monday, Aug. 25, 1:15 pm
It becomes abundantly clear why there are 8 zillion bloggers swarming like little gnats around downtown Denver this week. If ever there was an event made for blogging, it is a major party political convention.
Because, in case you were wondering, there is no news here.
But there is plenty to see, to observe-plenty of sketches to draw, snapshots to capture. There is no shortage of color. It’s news that’s in short supply.
Blogs are notorious for elevating the mundane. That’s the only way to survive a week like this one in Denver.
For example, when you walk by a “gentlemen’s cabaret,” across the street from the convention center in Denver, and the marquee reads: “Welcome Democrats. Who ever heard of a nice piece of elephant?” (It took me a little while, but I finally got it) it might be worth a mention, but it’s hardly news.
When you see a delegate open up their schwag bag and pull out an Antonio Villaraigosa bobblehead with a slightly horrified look on her face, it’s not news, but it might be worth a mention in a blog post. A Gray Davis sighting in the lobby of the Sheraton-where the California delegation is staying-looking pale, rested and ready (jeans, jacket, no tie, thank you very much) – not news, but maybe something to blog about.
Even the “big stories” this week are armchair psychological meta-stories – Will Obama and Hillary really make up? Will Ted Kennedy speak tonight? Interesting, sure, but not exactly hard news.
And in the absence of news, what are we to do? Do we despair? Do we realize that our expensive journeys here are largely meaningless in the grand scheme of things?
No, that kind of self-reflection would be suicide. We must persevere, we must soldier on.
And so, we blog…
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
Tuesday, Aug 26, 8:35 a.m.
Last night, I slept enough to be tired today, drank enough to have a headache this morning. Of course, I’m going to attribute it to the mountain air-‘Mile-it is,’ I’ve heard it called. That sounds a hell of a lot better than a hangover.
Meanwhile, an anxious media is ready for tonight’s sideshow. The media here is spoiling for a fight between the Clintons and the Obamas, and they’re determined to get it. Frankly, outside of a long, passionate Al and Tipper-style kiss in front of thousands of conventioneers, there’s just nothing Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton can do about it.
Monday night was about Barack Obama as a family man. His wife, Michelle, was his primary character witness in this four-day case Democrats are making for Obama’s candicacy.
But it was a night of determined hand-offs and, indeed, this seems to be an emerging theme of this convention.
Monday was the gray eminence hand-off. Ted Kennedy spoke, and gesticulated Germanicly. As he did, the new party elder, Joe Biden, rose to salute him at every turn. It may not have played that way in the convention hall, but watching the replay on TV, the storyline was clear. Kennedy was imploring Biden to carry on the fight. Monday was also Biden’s first as a stand-in for Obama, there to receive the message from Obama’s Senate mentor and early, prominent endorser. Camera’s panned between the two every time Biden rose to applaud his ailing colleague
Now for the next hand-off. This week, somewhat reluctantly, the Clintons will hand the mantle of Democratic Party leadership off to Barack Obama. Will it happen tonight? Will Obama appear on stage to embrace Hillary Clinton, in hopes of setting a supposedly tense convention at ease? That seems unlikely.
Team Obama has a script for how this week should play. The Clintons will get their say, both tonight and Wednesday, when Bill Clinton addresses the convention hall. And however graceful or clumsy, that is the real hand-off that is coming in Denver. It is the passing of the leadership of the Democratic Party from Bill Clinton, the former president, to Barack Obama, the Democrats’ new standard bearer.