Barack Obama wins the nomination by acclamation.

Some pics from the Tennessee delegation...

Congratulations to Sen. Obama!

Get ready. The job has just begun.

How's the crowd, Randy?

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.)

Attending the convention last night, the excitement was felt throughout the Pepsi Center. Anticipation grew as the great speakers fed the crowd's need for hope and change. In walking through the center, from the Tennessee delegation down to Florida, over to New Mexico and New York, everyone appeared to be ready to work together to win the presidency in 2008.

The Pepsi Center was packed. For most of the delegations, there were limited seats and the overflow sat in the nosebleed sections. The sound of 15,000-20,000 people with a common political interest was exhilarating. Notes to attendees, arrive early to avoid long lines for entry and don't leave the main arena area after 8 PM, you may not get back in.

As time got closer for Hillary Rodham Clinton to speak, the people on the convention floor were closer together than people on a New York subway at rush hour. I'm not sure those on the floor vying for a close spot cared, they just wanted to be near the action. I felt the same way until it got so close it felt like cattle going to slaughter. Time to head back to the Tennessee delegation.

Some of the Tennessee delegates were gracious enough to give me a few minutes. I just happened to find a group from East Tennessee. Dan Lawson, from Maryville, was there as a delegate from the 8th district. He had also attended the 2000 convention for Al Gore. Sylvia Woods and her husband, Harold, were there in their Hillary Clinton regalia. Both are hard working Democrats and members of the AFL-CIO. Sylvia is the recently elected Chair of the Knox County Democratic Party. Harold has been a leader in the AFL-CIO for 25 years. They have been married 47 years and still a very happy couple. Their advice, "A family that sticks together can get things done." Mrs. Woods also attended the last Democratic Convention in Chicago and Mr. Woods attended the last Democratic Convention in San Francisco. They worked and campaigned really hard to attend this convention together. I also spoke briefly with a delegate from Pulaski (Middle TN). He and his wife were both there as TN delegates. The Mrs. is a Super Delegate and a big HRC supporter. She traveled throughout the country with the HRC campaign. All of the delegates I spoke with said it was hard work campaigning for a delegate spot.

The Tennessee delegation seats aren't too bad. Only a couple of delegations back from the floor and there was a decent view of the box seats for Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, and other political dignitaries.

The speakers leading up to HRC were great. I especially enjoyed Mark Warner (Governor of Virginia) and Brian Schweitzer (Governor of Montana). Word is Lilly Ledbetter's address to the convention was great. I somehow missed it trying to break from the crowd.

What more can be said? Hillary Rodham Clinton was awesome. Standing between the Tennessee and Texas delegations, you could tell there were still a lot of people wishing she were the nominee. Ms. Clinton is willing to step aside for Unity. She obviously still has an agenda, as many of us expect. She wants to work together to achieve the goals to turn around our great country, to bring us back to prosperity, to make us all equal, to provide healthcare for all, and more. Many thanks to Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is a true inspiration. Now lets get our candidate, Barack Obama, elected President of these great United States.

More photos in this Tuesday slideshow

I think even Hillary's detractors would have to agree that her speech rocked the DNC tonight and was exactly what the Democrats needed: a great message and a masterful speech, delivered by a pro.

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.

Lot's of activity outside the DNC. Civic Center Park is about 1/2 to 1 mile from the Pepsi Center. The US Mint, the State Capitol building, the Denver Art Museum, and the Colorado History Museum all border the park area. Think World's Fair Park and KMA, oh the potential.

Finally, protesters. Oh, wait, you can't see the protesters. What you see are the press and/or lookie-loos.

More after the jump

The State of Tennessee Democratic Party DNC delegates met for a breakfast meeting (sponsored by AT&T) this morning at their hotel. Gray Sasser opened the meeting and introduced the featured speaker, Fabian Bedne. Mr. Bedne is the President of the Middle TN Hispanic Democrats and an Obama Alternate Delegate for TN to the convention. He discussed the traditional Hispanic community's distrust of the media, the importance of word-of-mouth sharing of information, as well as too much government power disrespects the constitution. Video of excerpts of his speech are at the end of this post.

Members of the Tennessee Federation of College Democrats are attending the Democratic National Convention. The two young ladies drove straight through from Tennessee, no overnight stops. Such dedication! The group is very excited about the election and will do everything they can to get out the college student vote, including annoying students so much they'll vote just to get them to shut up.

Apparently the forefathers could stay awake.

Lumpy's complaint on the County Commission forum about how long the meetings go on brought a response from Commissioner DeFreese. (after the jump)

As Bubba would say, ok then.

This week's Sunday roundup of Tennessee liberal bloggers is devoted to the selection of Joe Biden as Obama's VP candidate. Reactions run the gamut, and they're collected here.

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...

Saw it on the CNN crawl.

The O-Mail arrived at 4:45 AM. A Huffington Post item with an AP release arrived at 1:45 AM.

Knoxville blogger Katie Allison Granju recently left WBIR for Scripps; fortunately, they've given her a new blog at the KNS site called "Because I Said So." Her introduction to the new blog includes this welcome:

As the blog tagline notes, I'll be tackling issues both personal and political here, because as the iconic feminist slogan notes, the two are especially intertwined for those of us who are both female and actively politically engaged.

I'm looking forward to it.

Can you remember how many homes you own? If necessary have a member of your staff check it out and get back to us?

Link

With permission from the author who is a student at South- Doyle High School in Knoxville, TN. This was a class writing assignment. Content has not been altered in any way. These are his words. What are your thoughts?

Peace of Nations

What does it take to bring forth peace of nations? Loyalty from the people and from one nation to another is a necessity. Confidence, a nation needs confidence and pride in itself, to not back down to a stronger nation, for peace of nations to work, one nation can not push another around. Humanism, people must remember that though we may look different and sound different, everyone is a human, all the same.

A following of the people is necessary in order to maintain a stable nation and a healthy time of peace.

People who are loyal to their nation not only strengthen it, but also provide a safe melting pot for other nations. Loyalty is not only a thing for followers to show to the nation, it shows an allied nation that it can be trusted as well as supported in future efforts. A collaborated effort united by loyalty is one of the most influential groups of people around the globe. This virtue is one of the most important for any man or nation, having this virtue is a most for global peace.

Faith in a nation’s power or people is needed for a sense of belonging among other things. As a nation progresses forward to make itself more predominant in a growing world. Confidence brings forth a feeling of strength and power, yet for a smaller country of the world give it a sense of pride to project to a larger country that may be trying to break a world peace of sorts.

Without the confidence to stand up for a nation you believe in it may secretly fall from the inside. A virtue that many aspire to have, confidence is that which would prove difficult to a nation.

Humans, all humans are just that, humans, yet many wish to believe that all humans are different. In a world without violence, a peace among nations, there would, above all no racism. A world without racism, in itself would make all peaceful. Racism is the heart of all violence in humans, but at heart a human is just the same as another human. As a nation without racism all things violent would become shut out, from the nation.

Peace within nations is possible, but only with a few select qualities. Virtues such as confidence and loyalty make a nation strong, yet compassionate. Without racism, the world itself, all the world, would be free from the grip that is violence. Peace among the nations of the world is a possible feat, yet only at the will of the people throughout the world.

Note: I am proud to be a part of this young leaders life. He inspires me daily. The gene pool doesn't fall from the tree. Thank you for the forum to express young American's thoughts and dreams.

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

Ed McMahon, the development issues expert, not the professional sidekick, returns to East Tennessee this week with a symposium on sustainable development Thursday at the Knoxville Convention Center.

The event starts at 4 p.m. and is open to the public. I urge you to turn out. McMahon's a great speaker and a font of good information.

Regular KnoxViews readers will recall that McMahon spoke about development last year in Blount County, an event covered extensively by Randy here and here.

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...

Sylvia Woods wants to give a 19-year-old the boot for supporting a Republican:

Link...

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If you missed last night's interviews* with the presumptive nominees, you missed the upcoming election in a nutshell. It's going to be a replay of 2004, with the same manufactured wedge issues plus a side order of fear mongering, and both candidates said all they are going to say about them between now and November.

When is Kos going to denounce Obama for saying he does not support gay marriage, like he did Harold Ford Jr. ("I want Ford to win. But I won't cry when he doesn't.")?

Anyway, it was a pretty good format. McCain gave short and to-the-point party line talking point answers. Obama gave more contemplative and thoughtful answers. Both were given plenty of time to answer and the absence of barking and jabbering by preening network TV moderators was nice. For the most part, both performed well, both did their share of pandering to the religious right audience, and both likely scored points with viewers in their respective camps.

P.S. Who is Rick Warren and why does he get 120 minutes on CNN to interview candidates for President of the United States?

(*CNN will re-broadcast it tonight at 8PM.)

The Sunday roundup of Tennessee liberal bloggers is here. Go check out what everyone's been saying this week.

Welcome to Denver, part two?

Denver has set aside holding pens inside a dilapidated warehouse with no toilets, no water, no fire sprinkler system.

The location was determined unfit for storing voting equipment.

What the heck, they're only protesters. Not really human.

What's Denver doing about these types of activities?

[Denver] Officers also are antsy about the recent death of a man found dead in a Denver luxury hotel on Monday near a pound of cyanide.

Who do you think should be next Knox County Commission chair and why?

There are lots of comments on KNS site about the possible sunshine violation of Leuthold's phone calls letting his fellow commissioners know his intent, but there is little discussion on who and why should get this post. This spot is next in line to be Mayor in the event of a resignation or removal from office.

So I am coming to the folks who read KnoxViews for their insight as to who would make the best Chair.

Someone please translate:

First of all, am I supposed to know who Chuck Williams is? I thought I'd kept up pretty well with local politics, but I don't remember hearing about him before.

Second, this sounds like Rob Frost is resigning from or otherwise leaving Council. I thought his term wasn't up until the end of next year.

Third, can Mr. Williams just announce he will replace Councilman Frost? Don't the voters of the 4th district get to say something about that?

Fourth, Rob Frost, liberal? As far as I can see there's exactly one liberal on City Council - Bob Becker. The rest are moderates or conservatives (not that it matters much when it comes to City business).

I guess I just don't speak Hornbackian.

"Rudimentary, crude, and unscientific" - but it got me on tee vee!

Yesterday's News Sentinel had the most amazing letter to the editor that I have read in a while. In a love letter to Bush entitled "Many thanks given to Bush administration," the writer enumerates all the reasons he's thankful, including gems such as:

• "Thank you for the freedom to choose not to have health insurance. All 47 million without health insurance do have access to health care."

• "Thank you for creating the business environment that has led to unprecedented prosperity for seven years. It is disappointing that your administration has not opposed the Democrat-driven spending spree."

• "Does anyone remember The New York Times, commissioned unofficial recount that showed the Florida margin for Bush to be much larger than the official count?"

It's difficult to imagine a more uninformed citizen, even if said citizen were to be fed a steady 7/24/365 diet of Fox Limbaugh News only. Take that last one about the Florida election, for example:

NYT

A statistical analysis conducted for The Times determined that if all counties had followed state law in reviewing the absentee ballots, Mr. Gore would have picked up as many as 290 additional votes, enough to tip the election in Mr. Gore's favor in some of the situations studied in the statewide ballot review.

[..]

If all the ballots had been reviewed under any of seven single standards, and combined with the results of an examination of overvotes, Mr. Gore would have won, by a very narrow margin. For example, using the most permissive "dimpled chad" standard, nearly 25,000 additional votes would have been reaped, yielding 644 net new votes for Mr. Gore and giving him a 107-vote victory margin.

But yeah, if you just read the Fox News crawl that the limited recount requested by Gore wouldn't have helped him, then sure, you might get a different impression.

As for the seven years of prosperity, we're not sure what planet this guy has been living on but here in Tennessee we just recorded the highest unemployment rate in over 20 years (and that's based on books cooked by the Bush administration), and foreclosures are up nearly 30% in Tennessee and 55% nationwide. As for the "Democrat-driven spending spree," remind me again who turned a $250 billion surplus into a trillion dollar deficit? The stuff about health insurance is just way over the top, even by the craziest wingnut standards.

I can't figure out if the letter was a parody, or if the KNS just published it to be all edgy and stuff. Either way, it was certainly entertaining. The problem is, this same kind of bullshit propaganda regarding the 2008 election is polluting the brains of otherwise rational people and clouding their thinking. Not sure how any candidate is supposed to overcome that.