Delegate Diary: Day Two

Stan Davis

This morning's delegation breakfast featured two members of Wisconsin's Congressional delegation. Ron Kind from La Crosse did a nice job of getting the day started. A lot of people talk about him as one of the next Dems in line to be strong gubernatorial candidates whenever Gov. Doyle is done, of course. Although I regrettably missed it, Congresswoman Gwen Moore reportedly blew the doors off the room and had the delegation in a frenzy. Having seen he speak in the past, this does not surprise me.

After lunch, I went to the floor to watch Gov. Doyle address the convention. He did a great job, and the members of the delegation were vocal in their support and appreciative of the fact that Wisconsin was recognized by having our governor chosen to make the address.

What took place during the rest of the day made this my favorite day of the convention by far. I returned from the floor at about 6 o'clock having given my floor credentials to someone else and expecting to watch the speeches of Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton from my room. Instead, I ended having a great time for the next seven hours enjoying great company, dinner and music.

While I would love to get into great detail, as a temporary pretend journalist, I have to follow certain standards. Therefore, I will say that I had a great dinner with some very distinguished people, did return to the Pepsi Center to see Sen. Clinton's speech in person and attended an incredible concert by Grammy winning singer John Legend.

Regarding Clinton's speech, I thought that she did a great job of talking about her own campaign and marrying the issues that she championed to the message and strength of Sen. Obama. While she did not explicitly direct her supporters to vote for Obama as I and many others would have liked, she certainly got the point across that what matters most is winning this election. She seemed to be sincere in her support of Obama, and I hope that her supporters follow her lead and get behind him from here forward as many already have.

I have been present in person for the two best speeches I have ever heard Sen. Clinton give. The first was this February at Founder's Day. While I was not a big fan of the tone of that speech, it was still well conceived and delivered. Tonight's speech hit every point that it needed to hit to continue to unify the party and also acknowledged what Clinton accomplished during the primary campaign.

The highlight of the night was the John Legend concert. It was hosted by the Democratic Leadership Council and its chairman, former Congressman Harold Ford of Tennessee. It was in a small club, and Legend performed 14 songs and performed them well. The audience was made up primarily of people who are involved in Democratic politics, and Legend commented several times about his support for Obama and encouraged the members of the audience to remember why they got into politics in the first place and what it means to the people they serve.

Today was a lot of fun, and I think it was successful from a political standpoint. Senator Clinton hit a home rune with her speech and picked up right where Sen. Kennedy and Mrs. Obama left off. Now we will see if President Clinton and Sen. Joe Biden can keep the momentum going on Wednesday.

-- Davis is a government relations partner at Axley Brynelson LLP.