DNC Day 5

Spent most of the day going around the neighborhood (pix here as well). Walked
a few miles with Jan to find a TMobile phone card to get me up to 100 minutes
of air time.

After I got back I got a really pleasant surprise around 7PM or so: there was
an extra Delegate Pass to the convention floor (Fleet Center) : would I like
to go?

Are you KIDDING?

So I trucked down to the center with my Kucinich gear on (T-shirt and
cap) and various buttons.

Security was definitely tight. I didn't bring my camera 'cuz I was told it might
be taken at the door.

I got in just as Jimmy Carter was introduced. He was OK, said good things, endorsed
Kerry & Edwards, etc. [ my impressions only. High-quality speech methods, just
no particularly new message(s) or flashy delivery).

For JC and the other speakers (there were three as I recall: a Congresswoman
from Cleveland, a Reverend who served under Kerry in Vietnam) and a
Congresswoman from Minnesota (as I recall). These were all from memory
since I didn't bring anything to write with and had no recording devices).

The crowd clapped at all the right places and basically did the "rah-rah"
thing ... supportive and appreciative but not consistently or wildly
expressive.

On the flip side, at 10PM Hillary came on and the whole place went mildly
crazy. Not raise-the-roof stuff, but very well received. Again, she was an excellent
speaker, but no particular new insights that I could discern.

But when she introduced Bill the place went nutz.

I'm not a political speech expert, but I do pride myself in trying to absorb
many different information sources and have seen speeches before.

IMHO (in my humble opinion) this was an incredible piece of political
discourse. His delivery was flawless, and again while the message(s)
weren't particularly new, the nuances were incredible.

Two major examples:

1) He made a point of mentioning the tax cuts to the top 1% and
said he was grateful that he was now in that category and therefore
received a tax cut. He went to write a thank-you letter to Washington
but decided not to send it because he "knew that the rest of you had
to pay for it".
2) While talking about Edwards and Kerry, he praised Kerry's choice of VP
and said that this was evidence of good judgement. He then spoke
of Kerry's public service starting with Vietnam and his senatorial
stands.

The phrase he used with great effect was:
"Wisdom and Strength are not opposing values"

[ If you're interested you really should see the video ... very very powerful ]

So I got on the floor! Thanks to the Kucinich campaign for giving me the
opportunity. It was a one-day pass, but it would be hard to top the live
experience of the "Hillary and Bill Show".

All 4 tonite. The campaign desperately needs people to distribute flyers
in the morning to delegates, and those who know me know that I'm NOT
an early riser. But I will this time (I can sleep until noon after that and I don't
have to drive to my destination).

Ah well, that's what caffeine is for.