DENVER – On Friday, after spending the week in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, we were congratulating ourselves for deciding to wait until Saturday to fly home.
We all managed to get volunteer assignments at Invesco Center for Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday night, which gave us great seats for the evening activities. It also meant we had to file out of the arena along with 86,000 other supporters, walk a mile to the light rail station, catch the free mall bus, remember where we parked our rental van, locate it and drive to our condo 20 minutes away in Arvada. After sharing our experiences for the day and having a midnight snack our heads hit the pillows about 2 a.m.
We all agreed that the evening was awesome and that we definitely have a winning team for November.
By now you have all watched the speeches or seen snippets of them on the news so we will just say that being in the Pepsi Center when they were delivered and feeling the passion and enthusiasm of each of the speakers and the crowd was awe inspiring and history making and we were grateful and honored to be here.
Hillary Clinton’s speech reconfirmed to her 18 million diehard supporters the reason we were on her team to the bitter end and helped to woo over many of those who were not yet on the Obama bandwagon.
Michelle Obama – as she related the values, dedication and passion her husband feels about America and the American people, particularly those without a voice – helped us to renew our desire to work harder in our own Lake County to help elect like-minded candidates.
President Bill Clinton’s address reminded us of a better time in America when we could afford to fill our tanks and buy groceries without the need to use monies from our savings to do so. His five-minute standing ovation was a testament to his ongoing popularity with Democrats.
Sen. Dennis Kucinich whipped the crowd into a frenzy as he spoke of the need for social change in our country.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, giving perhaps his last address to a Democratic National Convention, stated that nothing could keep him away from this one. Speaking with a clear voice he assured the crowd, which honored him with numerous outbursts of applause, that he would be back in the capitol and ready to get back to work in January.
Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden helped all understand why Obama chose him as a running mate and wife Jill surprised us all when she mentioned a special guest and Barack Obama appeared. People who were trying to make a quick getaway came running back to their seats.
California was well represented with our share of speakers taking the podium and chair of the party, Art Torres, stating during the roll call vote, “California Passes.”
Pros of this convention included great speeches, terrific music and musicians, fun people watching, nice weather most of the time and friendly Denverites.
Cons were transportation, the worst we have every seen and had to endure every day; credentials were picked up at the Denver Center every morning followed by an eight-block walk to the shuttle buses that dropped everyone off a mile from the security check point. After arriving there bags were checked by security followed by another long walk into the Pepsi Center. We have all started the exercise program scheduled for next Monday a week early. The organization of volunteers left much to be desired but it can’t be easy to coordinate 10,000 volunteers.
Overall, it was an experience to remember and treasure for a lifetime.
Wanda Harris – along with other fellow Lake County Democrats Becky Curry, Sunol Westergren and Wendy White – attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week.
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