Just a couple of thoughts on yesterday before day 3 kicks into high gear.
- The roll-call of states is awesome. Listening to representatives of every state and territory talk about their home as they cast their delegation’s votes for president … well, it’s political junkie heaven. And if you haven’t watched Bernie Sanders’ brother Larry cast his vote for Bernie, watch it now. It was among the most moving moments of the entire convention. There literally was not a dry eye in the house.
- Bernie Sanders’ motion at the end of the roll call, after every other state had cast their votes (the delegates were not informed when Hillary went over the top, which I think was after South Dakota voted) to nominate Hillary Clinton by voice vote was exceptionally gracious. There were some audible “no” votes, but the ayes vastly outnumbered them.
- Bill Clinton’s speech was the other big event of the evening. I wouldn’t call it electrifying, as some of his past speeches have been. But, of course, his role at this convention is very different: to introduce and make the case for his wife. He did that at length (there were many Twitter comments along the lines of “oh God, we’re 20 minutes in and only up to 1980!”), and I thought effectively. A good setup from the more personal side, in preparation of what we can expect tonight from President Obama and VP Biden.
There was far, far less audible protesting inside the hall tonight than there was last night. I heard very little in the way of boos, or even “Bernie! Bernie!” chanting. However, a number of delegates left the floor after the roll call, and there were protests outside the arena. Here’s a photo of one of them (click for larger). The woman closest to me is an elected Bernie delegate from Oregon.
Please share widely!
I’ll never forget the woman who ran it in 1992. I have no idea who she was, but she wore a red jacket and had an awesome whiskey voice. She broke into a big smile when she called “New York!”