Delegate Diary: Time to go to work

Stan Davis

I am writing this final entry just a few minutes after getting back to my hotel room after watching Senator Barack Obama give the speech of his life. I came to Denver thinking that I had a good grasp on the importance of what I would see here and the impact that it would have on me and the country. I now think that I underestimated the impact it would have on me and most likely on the country as well.

As I sat on the floor of Invesco Field before Sen. Obama's speech, I kept reminding myself to take it all in and appreciate the fact that I was so fortunate to be where I was at that moment. I also realized that it was very likely that my grandchildren would be reading about what I was about to see in their history books years from now.

I have been thinking a lot about how Barack's nomination alone will change what many young people perceive as the limits of what they can achieve in life. I have been thinking a lot about what his election would mean to children in America who now may think that certain professions or accomplishments are reserved for "other people." I have been thinking a lot about the impact that the election of Barack Obama as pesident of the United States will have on the lives of people across Africa and other struggling societies around the world. I have thought a lot about the fact that an entire village of Africans took AIDS tests that they had previously refused because Barack and Michelle Obama traveled to their village and set the example by taking the tests themselves. This is an example that gives you an idea of the impact that a President Obama could have not just at home, but across the globe.

Well, all of that thinking that I had done did not prepare me for what I saw tonight would mean to me. I know it meant the same to others as well, because I saw the tears in the eyes and on the cheeks of people all around me. For me personally, the fact that Barack Obama just accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party represents many things. It represents an acceptance by mainstream society that has not been achieved in the country's history for people who don't look "like the president on the dollar bill," to borrow a phrase. It also represents hope for the future that we really are moving toward a society that judges people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. It represents hope that my daughters will not have to live in a society where they are treated differently than their friends just because they may look different than their friends.

There is no question that we have a long way to go. If you don't believe me, just wait to see what types of code word laden attacks will be coming Obama's way for the remainder of this campaign. Obama is arrogant? It used to be described as uppity. Obama is out of touch with "working class Americans"? You mean like the ones he turned down the big bucks to advocate for on the streets of Chicago? Those working class Americans? Obama is an elitist? I think we can agree that both members of the United States Senate who are running for president of the United States can fairly be described as members of the elite class.

I can't really do much of an analysis of the speech at this point. It kind of washed over me as it was happening in real time. As I alternated between watching the big screen in the stadium and remembering that I was actually there and could watch the man with my own eyes a couple hundred feet in front of me. It was a surreal experience. I do remember being at first nervous, and then excited, that Obama was being stern, aggressive and critical of John McCain. Because he did it with his usual grace, I think that he can get away with going on the attack a bit. Before tonight, I did not think that he had that luxury for fear of being perceived as too scary to some Americans. Tonight he did it expertly.

The energy throughout the crown was electric. At one point I looked at the big screen when they had an overhead view of the full stadium with the floor covered with people as well. It was an awesome sight. You also have to realize that many of those people stood in line for up to five hours to get into the arena. I got to the arena at about 1 p.m. and then sat there until the speech started seven hours later. There was a level of engagement and sincere commitment to Obama and the country that you could feel as the speech went on and Barack got better and better.

At the end of the speech, I watched an African-American woman from Milwaukee who was in the row in front of me just start to shake her head and weep. She stood there for several minutes like she was the only one in the stadium. The NPR reporter who had interviewed me earlier was still standing next to me and we both noticed her at the same time. To my surprise, he did not point his camera at her to capture what must be considered a money shot in his business. He left her to have that private moment for herself while standing among 75,000 other people. I tried to talk to her after the speech was over and she just couldn't. She was overcome by the situation.

As people left the stadium after the speech, I really did not want to go. I wanted to stay there until they turned off the lights and forced me to leave. Even when most of the people were gone, the energy was still there. The awareness that I had just been part of history was becoming more real. Milton Bond and I just kept looking at each other and shaking our heads. Crying people were still walking by every once in a while. A text message from Patrick G. and the group that watched the speech at Jill's house briefly snapped me out of it long enough to respond and then call and talk to Patrick.

Our second congressional district delegation of myself, Francis Huntley Cooper, Mary Lang Sollinger, Roberta Gassman and Celia Jackson (I'm not sure where Bryan was at the time) had a series of little huddles and I said to each of them that this is where the real work begins. The goal of the campaign was not to get Barack nominated. The goal was to elect him president. This week has been a celebration. The time to celebrate ends when we leave Denver. It's time to go to work.

YES WE CAN!

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

Delegate Diary: Day three kicks off

Stan Davis

This morning's delegation breakfast had three really outstanding speeches. The first was given by Sen. Russ Feingold. He took us inside of his experience with Barack Obama as the pair worked members of both parties to pass the strongest government reform law in history following the Jack Abrahmoff scandal. He talked about how Obama took on members of his own party who were not very excited about losing the ability to hop on a private jet and other goodies that Feingold and Obama sought to take away.

Feingold also reminded us of the good judgment that Obama has shown in the past and that bringing someone with the experience of Joe Biden onto the ticket is not an indication of weakness, but a sign of maturity, strength and leadership.

Next up was Gov. Jim Doyle. There are few more impassioned supporters of Barack Obama than the governor, and it shows. Today, the governor started by praising the efforts of Sen. Feingold in working with the Doyle administration to get things done every day for the people of Wisconsin. He then talked about what a profound change it would be to have an Obama administration in Washington to actually work with him on issues like providing health care to children instead of working against him.

The Governor then introduced the morning's final speaker. She was Cecile Richards of NARAL. Ms. Richards is the daughter of the late Gov. Ann Richards of Texas. In her speech, Richards recited the records of both candidates on women's health issues and issues generally. She told us that 50 percent of Sen. McCain's female supporters are pro-choice and many do not know that he is not. I was also surprised to learn that while Joe Biden was the author of the Violence Against Women Act; John McCain actually voted against it.

In about 20 minutes, I will actually go cast my delegate vote for Sen. Obama. After that, I may head to a caucus meeting or two before heading to the Pepsi Center for another night of speeches. Tonight features Bill Clinton, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and V.P. Nominee Joe Biden. After the speeches, Wisconsin has a delegation party on the top floor of the Hyatt, which is all glass and apparently provides incredible views of the scenery and landscape of the Denver area.


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

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.

Delegate Diary: The first night

Stan Davis

After the Voice of America interview, I headed to the Colorado Convention Center for the African American Caucus meeting. It was almost over by the time I made it through the very creative McCain supporters who were blocking the entrance and chanting NoBama! NoBama! I just bought some T-shirts for my kids and headed to lunch with two of my favorite current and former DOA secretaries and some other members of the Wisconsin delegation.

Secretary Jackson and I went to the floor at about 3 p.m. to watch Chairman Howard Dean turn things over to Speaker Pelosi. She called the meeting to order, and there was a series of speeches that led up to the adoption of the Democratic Party platform. The evening session was pretty amazing with the tribute to Sen. Kennedy and Kennedy's appearance and speech. The crowd was clearly moved and inspired.

After being introduced by her older brother, Michelle Obama took the stage and gave a great speech in which she emphasized the importance of family, honored Hillary Clinton for putting 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling and talked of her love of America. For me, the highlight of the night was when the Obama daughters came onto the stage. Their genuine excitement when Barack was shown on the screen in front of them did more to humanize Sen. Obama than any brilliant ad exec could. It is impossible to see those two girls and how poised and well raised they clearly are and believe that Michelle Obama is the "unpatriotic loose cannon" that their opponents are trying to portray her to be.

On the way out Milton Bond and I saw lots of famous faces. Milton ran into Spike Lee in the rest room and got to shake Joe Biden's hand as he and about 30 secret service guys walked by us. Walter Mondale was right behind Milton as he was shaking Biden's hand. After Milton saw all of those people, I got to talk to Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken. We also ran into former Maryland GOP Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. We still aren't sure what he was doing there.

The after party was hosted by the Democratic Governors Association at an amusement park right by the Pepsi Center. Upon entry, we were greeted by lots of tiny foods on platters: tiny hotdogs, tiny nachos, tiny funnel cakes and tiny ice cream cones. I'm not sure what that was all about, but tiny versions of real food just ticks me off. It took us a while, but we eventually found the real barbeque and had a late dinner. On the bus ride home, Secretary Morgan and I ran into the attorney general of the state of Maryland and heard about his trip with his son to see a Packers game at Lambeau Field.

I haven't heard any "expert" analysis yet, but I think that the night could not have gone much better politically. Between Kennedy and Michelle, it seemed like a great success, and I hope that it put a human face on the people that some are spending millions to demonize and caricature. It is way past my bed time, so I'll have to see what the talking heads said in the morning.

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

Delegate Diary: Breakfast packed with top state Dems

Stan Davis

Today is the first day of the DNC and the first daily Wisconsin delegation breakfast. Before breakfast, I took probably too much pleasure in watching the new arrivals on the elliptical machines next to me sucking wind as they tried to adjust to the fact that there is no oxygen in whatever this is that we are breathing out here.

After picking up my delegate credentials for the day, I headed into the breakfast. Lots of friends and former colleagues were there including Gov. Jim Doyle's Chief of Staff Susan Goodwin and Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Boyce. I happened to sit next to former Doyle staffer and Clinton Delegate Shawn Pfaff. In a sign that the Democratic Party is coming back together nicely, Shawn told The Wisconsin State Journal this morning that he was 100 percent behind Sen. Obama. By the time I was done working him over, I had him up to 110 percent. Many elected officials were also there including (and I am sure I will forget several) Ron Kind, Kathleen Falk, Russ Decker, Mark Pocan, Gwen Moore, Dawn Marie Sass, Pat Kreitlow and Gordon Hintz. Secretaries Roberta Gassman and Celia Jackson are both delegates and were at breakfast as well.

Dem party Chair Joe Wineke kicked the program off by telling us all of the rules and how everything is going to work over the next four days. Then he introduced them morning's keynote speaker, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. After providing a nice summary of all of the positive things that have been accomplished since the election of Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress in 2006, Tammy got the delegation energized by talking about the importance of electing Sen. Obama because of President Bush's vetoes of legislation such as S-CHIP, which would provide health care to 9 million currently uninsured children in America. Having attended three previous conventions herself, she told all of us first-timers to make sure to take it all in and appreciate the enormity and the historic nature of what is happening here in Denver. I intend to do just that.

The program continued after Congresswoman Baldwin, but I had to leave at that point. I am heading over to the convention floor in a few minutes to be interviewed for a Webcast on Voice of America that will be broadcast all over the world (but not in America). My main goal is to avoid creating any international incidents before lunch.

After the interview, I will be heading to the meeting of the African American Caucus and then to a couple of policy briefings later in the day. The convention floor opens at 3 p.m., and I plan to be there to see Speaker Pelosi gavel the proceedings to order and listen to many of the speakers that are scheduled. I scored a ticket to the Democratic Governors Association party tonight, so that should wrap up my Monday and probably start off my Tuesday as well.

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

Delegate Diary: The parties

Stan Davis

The convention has't started yet, but the parties are in full swing as most delegates and other DNC participants have made it to Denver. The Democratic National Committee party and the Friends of New Orleans All-Star Jam-Balaya have been getting rave reviews from those who attended. I chose to attend a tribute to the civil rights movement which was followed by a concert by a great R&B group called Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. The event was delayed for at least an hour by the first bomb threat of the DNC. Once we finally got in, there was a lengthy program to get through before the music was to begin. To make a long story short, it got so late that some of us went back to the hotel and never heard a note of music. Those who did said it was outstanding and they were also invited to attend an after party honoring the daughter of California Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Before leaving, I did see Danny Glover, Tavis Smiley, Bob Johnson (surprisingly to me), and my former mayor, the Honorable Marion Barry. I think I saw Disney star Corbin Bleu there too, but I would have needed my daughters Jenna and Jada there to confirm that it was him.

One great party related story from Sunday night came from Milwaukee delegate Milton Bond. Milton entered what he thought was a club in downtown Denver only to find that it was actually a private party being hosted by some DC lobbyists. When the door person asked him if he had RSVP’d, Milton responded by saying, "Hell, I'm not even invited." Despite this fact, the always giving nature of the lobbyists prevailed and they invited Milton in after which he proceeded to eat his weight in free food.

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

Delegate Diary: Thoughts on the Biden pick

Stan Davis

My phone woke me up at 1:42am (MDT) to notify me that Sen. Obama had selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware to be his running mate and the Democratic nominee to be vice president of the United States (I refuse to use the term "Veep" here or anywhere else). Before we get into any substance, let's play six degrees of separation with Joe Biden. Back in the mid-90s when I was living in D.C. and working for Sen. Paul Wellstone, I lived in the basement apartment of an attorney named Sara Jones. While I lived there, Sara began to date and eventually married a gentleman named Jim Biden. Jim Biden is the younger brother of the man who hopes to be the next vice president. Is that three degrees?

As far as the pick is concerned, I think Sen. Obama made a great choice. Biden brings experience, but also has maintained an everyman image during his time in Washington. Far from not being able to tell you how many houses he owns, Biden still takes the train home to Wilmington from D.C. every night with the rest of the commuters. His foreign policy background serves as a great compliment to the judgment that Obama has demonstrated regarding national security issues when many with much more experience got things very, very wrong. Biden's experience in the ways of Washington will also be essential to actually implementing the change that Barack will bring to the country.

You either pick your V.P. to help you win a state or run the country. This pick is clearly intended to accomplish the latter. Just as President Bush did not select Dick Cheney to win Wyoming's three electoral votes, Obama was probably not too concerned about winning Delaware. Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico would have had an interesting impact on the electoral map by possibly helping Obama win those states. However, they all had their pros and cons, and I appreciate the decision to put the emphasis on successfully governing instead of pure electoral math.

Obama/Biden '08 - it has a nice ring to it.

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

Delegate Diary: Arrival in Denver

Stan Davis

During the flight to Denver, I wondered how I would start my first blog entry from the Democratic National Convention. As I watched them unload the shuttle that I had taken to the hotel and did not see any sign of my luggage, I wondered no more. The genius who had felt the need to question whether I was old enough to know what "in like Flint" meant had apparently neglected to put my luggage on the shuttle (which appeared to be his one and only purpose for being there). The crisis ended about two hours later when a gentleman arrived with my bags, one of which held the very computer on which I am typing now.

Other than the luggage drama, everything about our arrival in Denver was great. There were greeters (who were wearing cowboy outfits for some reason) to answer questions. As you can imagine, Denver has really rolled out the red carpet for the event. The entire hotel is being occupied by people attending the convention. We are here with the delegations from Illinois and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I still can't quite figure out why you would ever leave the Virgin Islands if you lived there, even to come to the convention.

I also saw my first celebrity (sort of) while waiting in front of the hotel for my luggage to show up. Mark Shields, who used to be the moderator of CNN's "Capital Gang" and is now on whatever they call the old MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour on PBS these days. He said "hi" as he passed me, but he looked as though it had been a rough day, so I left him alone. No offense to Mr. Shields, but I am hoping that the celebrity sightings get better.

The last amusing, but not surprising, note is that Packers fans came all the way to Denver from Wisconsin and are now sitting down in the bar watching the Packers/Broncos pre-season football game.

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