Wednesday Morning Papers Didn't Come

Oh yes they DID! Fact Check on that title: Pants on Fire! Every morning there was a stack of them for us: Washington Post, Charlotte Chron, NYT, USA Today...we just didn't have time to read them all! I took them and saved the front sections for later. Here they are, all laid out on our ironing board. Our rally signs went in our window at the end of every day. Rather festive, eh?

Our Wednesday morning meeting ended up running long, included a group photo. I had scheduled a morning health care session but had to be there early and it wasn't possible. So we took it a little easy, knowing we'd have a busy and long night. My roommate Tanisha's camera crashed, and she needed a bag to tote stuff home in, so we walked to the nearby Costco and took care of that. Good thing I brought my card. Good deed for the day, Check.

We took the DNC bus to the event tonight, and got some seats that weren't directly in front of the Puerto Rico delegation, who talked to each other and on their phones nonstop during speeches. Had some wandering around time. Saw Michael Steele being interview, one of our delegation, Azziem The Dream Underwood being interviewed by Comedy Central Indecision 2012.

Then I walked over to the Texas section and found Don and Susan. Met their new State Chair Gilberto Hinojosa. Another small world moment. He told me his daughter Xochitl worked in WA for Hillary in 2008. Now that's a name I'll never forget! I was her area contact for the campaign and we spoke quite a bit during that year.

My favorite speakers early that night included our Sen. Patty Murray, Union leaders Richard Trumka (AFL-CIO) and Bob King (UAW)-our neighboring MI delegation went wild, Black Caucus Rep Al Green from TX, who I always enjoyed hearing when I lived there, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II from Missouri, the women of the Senate with Barbara Mikulski, Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood, Sister Simone Campbell from Nuns on the Bus, Kamala Harris-Atty Gen of CA- keep your eye on her, Dream Act Activist Benita Valiz, Sandra Fluke, and of course, Elizabeth Warren.

But we were all there to hear the Big Dog. Love him or hate him (or both), Bill Clinton is one of the most excellent orators of our generation. I heard him once before, in McMinnville OR with my sister Mary, during his stumping for Hillary. If you missed his speech, you should take the time to listen to it. He was off script for a good 2/3 of it and was obviously in the zone. That man loves an audience! If you are a Democrat, watch it, you'll love it. If you are a Republican, you should watch it. You'll hate it...he passed the fact checks. If you are an Independent, a disenchanted Democrat, or apolitical, you REALLY need to watch it.

When President Obama came out, the crowd went wild.

After ALL that we had Roll Call, where each state delegation declares their votes. It takes a while. Alabama started about 11:30. We didn't get to Washington until about an hour later. The arena was empty by the time we left, the light rail was done for the night, so we caught the late night bus shuttle back to the hotel, arriving at 2 am (when the bar closed). Oh well, that 6:30 wake up call comes early!