Barack Obama wins the nomination by acclamation.

Some pics from the Tennessee delegation...

I'm here at the Pepsi Center, getting set up for the 3:00 nominations. All (or most) of the Tennessee delegation votes have been cast. The votes will be entered into the computer at 3PM, and the roll call is scheduled to commence at 4PM. Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Gray Sasser will cast Tennessee's votes.

We spoke briefly with delegates Brenda Ables from Fayett and Angelia Cannon of Nashville, both Clinton delegates. Brenda said that their instructions were to vote for whoever they wanted, and they had until 3PM to change their mind, or they could wait until 3PM to vote. There was no pressure for anyone to change their vote.

Brenda said that she voted for Clinton because that's what voters in her district sent her to do, but she will support Obama. She said there was "lively discussion" at this morning's Tennessee Clinton caucus meeting, and that Clinton whip Betsy Reid announced that she was voting for Obama.

Angelia Cannon noted that this is a historic nomination either way, with our first woman and our first African-American as serious candidates, and that Democrats had good choices and either will make history. Angelia expressed frustration that when Hillary Clinton was First Lady the conservative media was all over her for being too strong and too tough, and when she ran for President they said she would be too weak and turn everything over to Bill.

Anyway, state delegations, or at least the Tennessee delegation, have not been advised on how the nominations and roll call will proceed, or even if every state will be called.

Stay tuned....

In totally unrelated news, we are told Doug Horne is here and may be running for Governor.

Tonight's program (Wednesday) features Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton being placed in nomination and the historic vote. Details are apparently still being negotiated about who will vote in what order.

There are lots of distinguished speakers, including Bill Clinton and John Kerry among others. Finally, Joe Biden will be nominated for VP and will close tonight's program with his remarks. Full schedule after the jump...

Unedited video clips taken by the Mrs. from the Convention Floor last night give you an idea of what it's like being there among all the chaos and excitement...

(Use the "watch in high quality" option if you see it.)

I'm seeing and hearing some chatter that last night's program was a snooze fest because Democrats didn't come out swinging against the GOP. My impression was that last night's program was not for that. It was to pay tribute to some great Democrats and to introduce the Obama family to America.

In that respect I thought it was a huge success.

Jimmy Carter was well received and got some long-overdue respect. And Ted Kennedy, well, it was quite a remarkable moment when he walked out on the stage, and his courageous speech was moving and inspiring.

Michelle Obama's speech was pitch perfect for what they wanted to accomplish. She is an excellent public speaker and will be a tremendous asset for the campaign. And their kids are as cute as they can be. If people were paying attention, they heard and saw that the Obamas aren't a couple of scary radical socialists with funny names or any of that other stuff. They are committed to public service and share the same concerns for their family and our country as other Americans. And judging from the overwhelming reaction, every Democrat in the hall was united and 100% on board.

In that light, going on the attack would not have been appropriate. I predict, though, that tonight will be different and the gloves will come off. That should make the pundits happy.

Speaking of pundits, it's been nice not watching this unfold through the media filter. I didn't miss all the jabbering and made up controversy. It was a warm, respectful, celebratory night in a place where it was safe to enjoy being a Democrat for a change.

My overall impression is, in a word, overwhelming. Not just the speakers and the programs, but the frantic schedules (which two people can't possibly cover), trying to get around with all the security and closed streets, the huge crowds, too much to see and do, and on and on.

Walking around inside the Pepsi Center is pretty amazing, too. You never know who you are going to see next. I saw lots of media personalities (including Dan Rather), the Daily Show crew, Mark Warner, Dennis Kucinich and his wife (they said hi), and lots of others I can't even remember. And when I say "saw," I mean just walking around, sometimes right next to you. The first lesson I learned is always have a camera.

Getting around is complicated. The security perimeter extends way out around the Pepsi center. There are lots of closed streets, and it's about a one mile walk (or more) from any open streets. Even without all that, there are a lot of one-way streets, and a lot of the street design seems random. A GPS is an indispensable time/sanity saver.

Security getting in is also complicated as you can imagine, but despite that it flowed smoothly yesterday. They have Secret Service, local Law Enforcement, and the TSA searching and/or x-raying everything going in. But they kept the lines going and it wasn't too bad. Not nearly as bad as the hike in. The Mrs. is going tonight, and I advised to pack light. I probably won't take the big camera and lenses any more, and will scale back my notebook kit if I even take one.

The DNC provided a power outlet and Ethernet internet hookup right there at the Tennessee seating area. Unfortunately, it's under a kiosk type deal where they have the delegation voting PC, a video monitor, and phones for mission control to communicate with the delegation. So of course, party officials need to be in that space, not bloggers. Most of the time I sat directly in front of the kiosk one row down in the Kansas section. I lost my seat for a while when I went out for a break. Then I got yelled at by a Kansas official when they were passing around a petition to sign and I said I wasn't with Kansas.

Speaking of the phones, the whole program is carefully choreographed. Before each speaker, they bring out signs for that speaker with strict instructions on when to wave them. If a delegation isn't waving properly, the phone lights up. The party officials have to act as part stage director and part cheerleader. It's a lot of fun for everyone though, and the Tennessee delegation did their part to raise the roof.

Between speakers the house band plays (which is a killer band by the way, which you can't really appreciate watching on TV). People go wild dancing, and roaming camera crews single out entertaining delegates and put them up on the big screen. Gray Sasser told me these were "spontaneous" demonstrations, with emphasis on the quotes around spontaneous.

Getting in was relatively painless compared to leaving. They funneled most of the 20,000+ crowd down four escalators through one entrance and out off the grounds through one twenty foot fence opening, causing massive congestion. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen, and scary at times. Everybody was complaining, some forcefully. Not sure what the security concept was, but they certainly had everyone all bunched up into an easy mass target. Plus, any kind of incident could have set off a disastrous stampede. Then, after all that you still had to walk about a mile or more to catch a ride. I was not a happy camper.

Anyway, it's been an awesome, overwhelming, sometimes stressful, but totally amazing experience so far. My heartfelt thanks to the DNC for the opportunity and my sincere appreciation to the TNDP for their gracious hospitality.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Memphis delegate Henry Hooper this morning. Mr. Hooper is a former Green Beret and Vietnam veteran and a retired Secret Service agent. He started his Secret Service career in the Nixon administration, and worked for the Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations, with White House assignments during the Ford and Carter administrations. He retired from the Secret Service after 24 years, although he said a Secret Service agent is never really "finished" and that he's active in a national organization of former Secret Service agents.

I asked what he thought about security for the convention, and he said they are doing an outstanding job. He said that given the current climate, and the depth of threats of terrorism and disruption, the Secret Service and local law enforcement and emergency responders have teamed up to do a fantastic job. He said he is impressed with the manpower on the streets, at hotels, the convention centers, and other venues.

Mr. Hooper also commended the City of Denver for the outstanding job they have done with their support effort. He said he was also pleased that the Mayor was there welcoming people at the airport. He noted that this isn't something you see every day and that it goes beyond expectations.

Regarding the convention, Mr. Hooper was happy to see his former boss at the convention last night, and really enjoyed the well-deserved tribute to President Carter.

Mr. Hooper noted that he is a Clinton delegate, and he is not sure what he will do if her name is put in nomination, even if Clinton releases the delegates. He said the Clintons are important assets to the party, saying "How can you argue with eight years of success? The Clintons led us through the most prosperous time we've had, and we're not going to honor that?" He said that Hillary Clinton needs to play a part in the convention.

Regarding the Vice Presidential choice, Mr. Hooper believes there may be a faction in the party that is concerned about having women in two of the most powerful jobs -- Speaker of the House and Vice President.

As Sr. Vice Commander of the Tennessee Veterans of Foreign Wars (and Commander next year), Mr. Hooper has a keen interest in veteran issues and support for the military. He noted that McCain did not support the recent G.I. bill, and instead promoted a watered-down Bush version. McCain only got on board with the full bill "once he saw the votes coming down," according to Mr. Hooper.

He also noted that active duty military personnel have donated six times as much money to the Obama campaign as they have the McCain campaign. "Why do you think Iraq veterans are demonstrating at the convention?" he asked. "It's not against Obama, it's against the war. This is just a platform to get their message out."

Mr. Hooper wanted folks to know that this is the most critical time and most critical election in a decade and that we need to make a change. He notes that with few exceptions, McCain's voting record for the past eight years proves that he is a strong advocate for Bush's policies.

Mr. Hooper's involvement in politics began after he retired from the Secret Service. "After leaving a government job standing by the door watching the process, I wanted to become more involved," he said. He is a former Memphis City Council member, and is now involved in mentoring and tutoring inner-city kids. He is a member of the Tennessee Democratic Party State Executive Committee. In his spare time, he owns a State Farm Insurance agency in Memphis.

My impression of Mr. Hooper is that he is a patriot, a successful businessman and an active, engaged political activist committed to public service. Above all, despite his calm and soft-spoken demeanor he is a Democrat not to be trifled with.

I arrived late and missed Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s talk, but to recap, he talked about unity and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the context of today’s 88th anniversary of Women's Suffrage and the right to vote. He noted that McCain has voted twice against equal pay for women.

Gov. Rendell talked about the Democrat's platform on health care and energy policy. On health care, he noted the similarities between Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton's plans. He urged the Tennessee delegation to take the facts back home to their constituents.

He said Democrats are going to take the fight to Republicans, and that no matter what the polls say the Democratic Party is going to work equally hard in every state, including Tennessee.

Next up was Rep. Bart Gordon (TN-6). He said this is an important and historic presidential election, but said we shouldn't lose sight of how important the down-ticket races are. He noted the state House and Senate seats up for grabs, and without a Democratic majority we lose control of constitutional offices and we'll get slaughtered in redistricting.

He talked about the importance of health care, energy, and education in terms of U.S. global competitiveness. He noted that more than 60% of our math teachers don't have a major or minor in math, and more than 90% of science teachers don't have majors or minors in science.

On energy policy, he said Republicans in Congress have been blocking any meaningful progress. As an example, he noted a recently passed bill to implement high-risk, high-reward alternative energy research programs in the Department of Energy. He said the bill couldn't even get a hearing until Democrats gained a majority in the house, and then in passed in six months.

He said this is an example of why it's about more than winning and losing, it's about moving the country forward with good public policy. His final advice to the Tennessee delegation: "Early to bed, early to rise, work like heck, and organize!"

Following the program, I met up with Tennessee Democratic Party Communications Director Wade Munday. He's a sharp, super-nice young man and it was nice to finally meet him in person.

I also had the pleasure of speaking with Memphis delegate Henry Hooper, which I'll cover in a separate post.

More Monday photos here...

We had scheduled a server migration/upgrade for last night but I now see that it is still in progress and has not completed. Any comments or other content posted here will likely be lost when the IPs are switched over. I will let you know when we get the all clear. We apologize for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: The migration to the the new server was not completed, so we will limp along and try again tonight. Carry on.

The view from Tennessee

Chairman Howard Dean gaveled the convention into session just a little after three. There are lots of empty seats, but people are trickling in. There are a dozen or so delegates from Tennessee. Next door, Texas has a full house.

This part of the session is mostly introduction of convention officials and presentation of official reports. The main event starts a 7PM MT.

Was talking to a Clinton delegate who said she would cast her vote for Clinton on the first roll call because that’s who the people in her district voted for. She hopes other pledged Clinton delegates will do the same. She said there has been no pressure from the Obama campaign and the TNDP has not provided any guidance or instructions one way or another and delegates are free to vote for whoever they want.

In unrelated news, Rep. Lincoln Davis held a luncheon for delegates today. We are told that Davis will announce for Governor in January.

UPDATE: The tribute to Sen. Kennedy was moving and the reaction when he took the stage was overwhelming. Even more moving was his speech, in which he promised to be there in January when Obama is sworn in as president. It was the best moment of the night so far.

Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Gray Sasser said that he has spoken with every Tennessee delegate and they are all unified behind Sen. Obama, regardless of whether they vote for Clinton on a first ballot as a show of support. Delegates Tammy Bradford of Jackson and Anthony Lamb of Ripley noted that Clinton said today she will release her delegates, and if so they will vote for Obama as instructed because "she’s in charge."

Delegate Jack Cunningham of Milan is looking forward to hearing Obama talk about the economy and getting us out of the war. When asked how rural voters feel about Obama, Cunningham said "they don’t know him yet."

If their enthusiasm is any indication, we’re sure that after the convention the Tennessee delegates will be "fired up and ready to go" talk to voters in their communities, rural and otherwise, about Sen. Obama.

UPDATE: Michelle Obama hit it out of the park and the crowd went wild.

Tonight's featured speaker is Michele Obama, along with a number of other dignitaries. For those of you watching from home or on the DNC's gavel to gavel online streaming video, the full lineup of speakers and events is after the jump...

Haven't seen this many cops on the streets since Operation Aquarius. Check the guy there on the left. I saw some others with rappelling gear. Not sure what kind of trouble they are expecting. Did they get some kind of intelligence that Osama bin Laden is in town?

Even the horses wear riot gear:

There are also lots of black helicopters. And some green military helicopters, too, with troops hanging out the open side doors.

I wasn't too worried before. Maybe I should be. The Mrs. has been going on about emergency plans and escape routes and coordinating communications and rendezvous points. Maybe I should be paying more attention.

On the other hand, this may be one of the safest cities in America right now. Either way, I bet local law enforcement is racking up some serious overtime.

(Photos courtesy of the Mrs.)

Bloggers converge on Denver, and here's what some of them are talking about:

• Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis (Alaska) on the Media Welcome Party

• Everyday Citizen (Kansas) asks about the youth vote at this morning's press conference

• Square State Net (Colorado) has more on this morning's press briefing

• DCIst (DC): Inside the DNC swag bag

• Turn Maine Blue (Maine, of course) has some interesting and entertaining first impressions

Progressive Illinois Politics (Illinois, of course) has an interesting answer to the question "what's the point of a political convention?" (hint: it's not to nominate a candidate)

• Jeralyn at Talk Left (general pool blogger) reports on the Cool Kids party

• Finally Square State Net (Colorado) has another report on the media welcome party

(Note: some of that last post squares (pun intended) with our experience so far in re. blogger credentials, i.e. some officials and event personnel are aware of "blogger credentials" and others aren't, and it creates some confusion from time to time. I'm sure it will all get sorted out, and everyone has been most helpful and welcoming so far.)

For the latest from all 50 State bloggers and the general pool bloggers, be sure to check the TennViews Convention Central.

Remarks from two of several committee members who spoke in support of the resolution, and the vote.

PREVIOUS: Live blog of the committee meeting.

Convention Co-Chairs Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin officially kick off Convention week.

I barely made it over for the end. Here's a YouTube video of Speaker Pelosi wrapping up the press conference with remarks about the upcoming election. (Apologies for the poor quality.)

The DNC has released the Pepsi Center delegate seating chart. Tennessee could have done worse, but I might need a longer lens to get any photos. Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Colorado are center court.

Howard Dean: Thank you to Barack Obama for picking Joe Biden.

Thanking Obama people and Clinton people for getting together to work out things that could have been a problem. Special thanks to Sen. Clinton for stepping up.

Roll call…

Tennessee delegation Credentials Committee members are Jerry L. Maynard (Nashville), Thomas Moore (Dresden), and Martha Perry (Pegram), all present.

A quorum is present.

Proposed rules. When a person is making motions, come to microphone to be recognized. Line up according to supporting or opposing the motion. Each speaker gets one minute.

Rules adopted as printed.

Opening remarks by committee co-chairs Alexis Herman (U.S. Secretary of Labor 1997 to 2001, also co-chair of Rules Committee), James Roosevelt, Jr. (President and CEO of Tufts Health Plan, also co-chair of Rules Committee), and Eliseo Roques-Arroyo, (former Executive Assistant to Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Senate Minority Leader Miguel Hernandez-Agosto).

Jurisdictional challenges transferred to Credential Committee by Rules and Bylaws Committee. Rules committee goal was “open fair honest nominating contest.”

Formal business. Series of resolutions. Today’s resolutions will be presented to convention tomorrow at 3PM as first order of business.

First resolution: unchallenged state delegations. 56 state and territorial jurisdictions, 46 no disputes. Officially credential delegates from those 46 states. Resolution passed.

Fourth resolution: Matters re. the State of Florida. Motion to seat delegates from Florida. Necessary for unity, and to ensure Florida delegates can participate fully in convention. Discussion re. history of the issue. Origins of resolution. Obama sent letter asking for Florida delegation to be allowed to participate fully. Sen. Clinton has also advocated for restoring Florida delegations votes. RBC must follow rules, but Credentials Committee has broader latitude. Resolution passes. Florida delegations full voting rights restored.

Fifth resolution: Matters re. the State of Michigan. Motion to restore Michigan delegation to full strength. Resolution passes. Michigan delegation full voting rights restored.

Resolutions re. dismissing various other state challenges being approved...

UPDATE: Video of Florida vote

Caught the tail end of the press conference, photos and video later. Some delays getting credentials, but we're all set. Everything is running an hour or more late. One person called it Denver time. Another said, no, it's Democrat time.

We're here in Denver, settling in to HQ and getting ready for the convention kickoff tomorrow. No official business for us today.

The photo above has the Colorado Convention Center in the upper foreground, with the Denver skyline in the background. The Convention Center is where most of the daytime official convention business will take place.

The tentative plan of the day for tomorrow is 1) check in and pick up credentials (first priority), 2) a convention kickoff press briefing with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, and 3) the Credentials Committee meeting.

A few more photos from this afternoon after the jump...

Well, we made it this far. And we're still waiting for our O-mail. Castle Rock is about 20 miles south of Denver, and we're at the motel where we were originally planning to stay.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago we managed an upgrade to a converted house apartment in the Capitol Hill district where we will be setting up convention HQ about two miles from the various venues. We won't be able to move in until tomorrow afternoon, but we drove by to scope it out and the neighborhood looks nice and so does the property. Plus there's a small, fenced and shady back yard for pupster, who we are now calling "Traveler" because she's a trooper.

We're too tired to do much other than getting a decent meal and turning in for the night. Going over the schedule, there's too much to plan for and it makes me even more exhausted just thinking about it. There's no official business until Sunday when we check in to pick up credentials and maybe go to a press conference or two. So tomorrow we will be settling in and checking out the venues and trying to adjust to Mountain Time (which will be nice for the 7AM breakfast meetings).

We lucked out and scored media passes for Green Sunday at Red Rocks featuring the Dave Matthews Band and Sheryl Crow with speeches by RFK Jr. and Laurie David. But we have to take care of Traveler so we can't both go. Maybe we'll flip a coin or just skip it and rest up for the main event.

Anyway, stay tuned...

Checking for my O-mail. Nope. Even checked the spam folder.

Gotta give Obama's campaign huge credit for dominating the news cycle over the past couple of days. Nicely played.

On our to do list in Denver is to check out some of the fun activities being planned by Recreate 68:

Shake Your Money Maker, The Denver Mint Building, 5pm

It’s time to redistribute the wealth. The event will use a little magic and energy to draw attention to the issue of poverty that plagues our communities. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. Poverty and capitalism are the biggest killers in this country. Between security and corporate pay-offs, the DNC will cost over $100 million dollars. We think the people deserve that money. Join us as we encircle the Denver Mint (where U.S. currency is produced) and use our collective power to raise the mint building in the air and shake the money out of it for the people. Don’t forget a sack to put all of your loot in.

OK, then. On a more serious note, the group of "grassroots people who are tired of being sold out by the Democratic Party" is planning marches, protests, street theater, and concerts. They are also providing free food and medical for participants. They seem pretty organized.

Somewhere between Lincoln and Russell County Kansas we saw these gigantic windmill farms that went on forever. Well, for at least 15 or 20 miles. There were hundreds if not thousands of them. I don't recall seeing these the last time we were through here a few years ago.

According to this article, a 100 turbine Kansas farm that went online in 2006 generates enough power for 42,000 homes.

Of course, Republicans in Kansas are opposed to them. In this 2005 press release, Frank Miller, Republican Representative for the 12th District of Kansas, complains about all the tax breaks they get (without mentioning all the tax breaks oil companies get), and cites environmental concerns (without mentioning coal fired power plant pollution or nuclear waste disposal). Maybe it's just me, but these windmill farms look a lot less harmful than a coal fired power plant.

(Rep. Miller notes in his press release that a "100 tower farm with a rated capacity of 100 megawatts running at 30 percent capacity would generate an income in 10 years of approximately $47 million." Sounds like a pretty good supplemental income for farmers.)

More photos (taken from a moving vehicle)...

Checking in after checking in at Wakeeney KS, somewhere way past Topeka but not quite Colorado yet. Decided to do a little mobile PR today:

Reaction from other motorists was mostly favorable. The funniest opposition reaction was some guy in a Camaro who pulled up alongside and hollered that we needed to turn around because we were going the wrong way. Had me going there for a minute. I actually checked the GPS to make sure we were going west.

Onward...

(Another view after the jump.)

We've been in three states and in a couple of hours will be stopping for the night in a fourth. Right now we're somewhere near Marion Illinois at a McDonalds on Prosperity Ave. where we stopped to feed and walk pupster and stretch our legs and get some coffee (or another one of their new iced lattes).

Just crossed over the Ohio River and passed thru Metropolis IL, home of Superman. Says so right their on their water tower, with a giant mural of him and everything.

Had an overdose of XM talk radio today. Switched over to Hannity to see who they were hating on today (guess who? Obama!) and heard the strangest call. Some guy from NY called in and, I believe, was making the point that the health insurance crisis is a liberal myth. He said he just had knee replacement surgery on both knees, and with surgery, hospital, rehab, and everything his total out of pocket was $50, and that was for cable TV in his hospital room and at rehab. Oh, and he mentioned he worked for the school system for 21 years, and may have said he was a teacher. So, taxpayers pay his salary and provide him excellent benefits (and if he's a teacher those benefits were negotiated by his union). Apparently logic and reasoning aren't a prerequisite for listening to right wing talk radio.

Onward...

The big adventure begins, as we hit the road for Denver this AM. Stay tuned...

The Tennessean talks to several Tennessee bloggers about the state of blogging in Tennessee.

Mrs.: You didn't mow the grass today.

Me: Yeah, I was going to wait until closer to when we leave for Denver so it won't grow up too much while we're gone. I'll mow it down to three inches just before we leave.

Mrs.: 3 inches? I don't know. I might go for three and a half.

Me: Oh, now we're negotiating? I like it when we negotiate.

Mrs.: No you don't.

Me: Yeah, I guess you're right. I usually lose.

City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation has teamed up with River Sports to offer bicycle rentals at Volunteer Landing. The grand opening is tomorrow, August 19, at 2PM. The cost is $10 per person for a two-hour rental, or $30 for all day. And here's a nice map of Knoxville's bicycle greenways.

Full press release with more details after the jump...

Don Daugherty encourages Knox Democrats to attend the nominating convention tomorrow night, but says he is withdrawing his name from consideration for Knox County Criminal Court Clerk and instead will focus his efforts on an independent "Democratic Resource PAC" and war room operation. Daugherty's full statement after the jump...