Tag: Democratic National Convention (page 5)

Update: 2/3 of tickets will go to residents of Rocky Mountain States. 1/2 will go to residents of Colorado.

Final update: Go! Tickets available here, first come, first serve. More information available here. You must be able to show you have a place to stay since transportation and lodging is not being provided. They are encouraging Republicans and Independents to attend.

Volunteering is not required:

While volunteering is not a prerequisite for recipients, Coloradans who volunteer with the Campaign for Change will have the opportunity to receive all-star seating for Barack Obama’s speech.

More....

Oh, come all ye faithful? The city and County of Denver yesterday issued a parade permit to a group of Hillary Clinton backers for Tuesday, August 26.

Hillary Clinton supporters will march through Denver during the Democratic National Convention to show appreciation for the New York senator's historic primary run and urge the party to place her name in nomination.

The city issued a permit Tuesday to Colorado Women Count/Women Vote for a parade on Aug. 26 - the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage and the date Clinton is rumored to be speaking at the DNC.

Also participating: "18 Million Voices, a national organization of Clinton supporters."

Hillary supporters, who will be arriving by buses from all over the country, have a place of their own to gather: [More...]

Denver officials announced today that the protest zone for Invesco Field where Sen. Barack Obama will deliver his nomination acceptance speech will be in the parking lot. The lot will be fenced.

The fenced-in area will be about 53,000 square feet in Lot J. Delegates entering the convention will pass by the area from between 200 and 400 feet away after they are dropped off for the night's speech by Sen. Barack Obama.

Protesters will be allowed to use bullhorns, and the city will provide a stage, amplification equipment, and at least two speakers that will be located outside the zone and pointing toward Invesco Field at Mile High.

Here's the map (pdf) showing Lot J.

In related news, the protesters are offering Denver a "doo doo accord" (pdf copy here) and yes, it's just what it sound like -- it's in reponse to the City Council's upcoming final consideration of a law banning protesters from carrying buckets of the human stuff.

Senator Edward Kennedy won't be in Denver for the Democratic Convention, but he taped a five minute video that will be shown.

He'll be missed by all and our best wishes go out to him for successful treatment so that he can attend the inauguration in person in January.

Denver's 9 News ran a story last night on the 120 credentialed bloggers at the DNC. I'm in it for a few seconds. During the taping I told them about the Big Tent which will offer space and a home base to hundreds of other bloggers without media credentials and gave them the address. It was 101 degrees out but the reporter, Adam Chodak, took his crew there and included it in the story. [More...]

With 23 days to go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, it's no surprise that local news coverage is expanding daily.

In addition to writing TalkLeft, for the past four years I've been blogging daily on local issues at Elevated Voices, the blog of Denver's terrific monthly magazine, 5280. Now we have a special blog just for the DNC, DNC Daily. (The RSS feed is here.)We're just getting started and more writers will be joining us, but bookmark it now.

The August issue of the magazine is now out, I just picked mine up at Whole Foods. It's terrific -- especially the pullout guide to everything Denver, from where to eat, shop, party, relax, get a quick beauty fix and more. I'm going to keep it in my 4th Amendment tote bag at all times to have ready answers for the out-of-towners. (Tote bags available here.)

Much of the issue is available free online. Here are some highlights: [More...]

The DNC Platform Committee is meeting this weekend in Cleveland.

The sessions begin Friday afternoon when policy experts suggest planks for the Democratic platform. On Saturday party leaders will hear comments from the public and then will turn their attention to writing a draft platform.

The draft goes before the full platform committee Aug. 9 in Pittsburgh....The platform is expected to closely reflect Obama's views.

In 2004,John Kerry insisted on removing support for the death penalty from the platform. It was the first time since the 1980's that the Democratic platform did not contain an endorsement of the death penalty. Will Obama keep it out or put it back in?

Bump and Update: TalkLeft now has its own DNC tote bag -- one that respects privacy rights.

Via Dem Convention Watch, Glenn Greenwald and Corrente, here is the tote bag the DNC will be providing participants.

Jokes about retroactive immunity aside, this isn't the bag you want. Given the security in place at the convention, this one is. (Larger photo here.)

Newly revised from our every day 4th Amendment subway tote just for the Denver Democratic National Convention, this is a far better choice.

Let the 4th Amendment speak for you as you hand your bag over for a search. It's a silent protest and reminder to authorities that you consider searches without reasonable suspicion or probable cause to be an infringement of your privacy rights. You can order yours now, whether you are an official convention attendee or not.

The City and County of Denver and the ACLU have reached a partial agreement with respect to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Colorado seeking details of security purchases made by police for the Democratic National Convention. Denver has now provided details of the $18.2 million spent to date and those planning on protesting can rest a little easier:

The city also announced today that none of the equipment purchases include nonlethal weapons that discharge "slime" or "goo" to immobilize persons or vehicles or that use microwaves or sonic waves to induce pain or discomfort in targets.

The ACLU was relieved -- so much so that it agreed to wait until the convention is over to decide whether to return to court and seek more information.

Denver also disclosed that the police have no "mandatory arrest" policy -- meaning there is no list of offenses that will require arrest rather than the issuance of a citation.[More...]

I've been wondering who will be the musical guests for the Democratic National Convention and related parties. By drips and drabs, we're getting more information. Today's news:

Among the big-name performers likely to make a splash in the Mile High City are hip-hop king Kanye West, reggae/hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean and the rap/rock fusion band N.E.R.D.

Bono will be in town, but not to perform for the convention -- AT&T is throwing a party for his One Campaign. Kanye West may perform at the event. As to Wyclef Jean and N.E.R.D., they likely will be at the MTV/Rock the Vote Party.

As to the big corporate sponsors for the event, it's the usual crew:

United Airlines, Google, Coors Brewing Company, Anheuser-Busch, Xcel Energy and telecom giants Motorola, Qwest and -- a brand you'll see plastered all over the place in Denver -- AT&T.

AT&T will be front and center during the convention since it is providing the wireless. [More..]

If Sen. Barack Obama moves his acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center to Invesco field, he'll need 76,000 people to fill the seats.

Only 50,000 are expected in town for the convention. Many in Denver will be doing their best to avoid downtown that week. I think they need a concert. Remember the 75,000 crowd in Portland, OR? They had Obama follow a free outdoor concert by the Decembrists which was planned in advance with his campaign.

Question: Who will it be? For reasons explained below, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge and Stevie Wonder come to mind. Will it be one huge band or a few smaller and diverse groups? [More...]

The Denver National Convention Committee (DNCC) announced today that the August convention in Denver will be simulcast in Spanish:

In keeping with its commitment to make the 2008 Democratic National Convention the most accessible and technologically-savvy event of its kind, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) announced today that Comcast Corporation will produce simultaneous, online streaming coverage of the Convention in Spanish at DemConvention.com and make available a broad range of Convention content through its signature On Demand service.

...From the Comcast Media Center, based in the Denver metro area, Comcast will provide live, gavel-to-gavel Spanish-language interpretation of all Convention activities from the Pepsi Center to be streamed online at DemConvention.com from August 25-28. This marks the first time a national political Convention has been completely simulcast in Spanish and made available to a worldwide audience.

Spanish is the primary language of 35 million Americans. World-wide, there are more than 300 million people who speak Spanish.