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2008 Democratic National Convention

The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver, Colorado, from August 25 to August 28, 2008, at Pepsi Center. U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the nominee for President, gave his acceptance speech on August 28 at INVESCO Field in what the party called an "Open Convention". Denver last hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908.

Obama officially received the nomination for President on August 27, when his former opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton interrupted the official roll call to move that Obama be selected by acclamation. U.S. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware accepted the nomination for Vice President on the same night. Obama accepted his nomination the following night in a speech at INVESCO Field before a record-setting crowd of 84,000 people in attendance.

Leadership

Howard Dean presided over the political party in his capacity as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. From the national committee, Leah D. Daughtry served as chief executive of the Democratic National Convention Committee. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi served as permanent Chairwoman of the Convention. Sharing in her responsibilities in the convention were three co-chairwomen: Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Schedule

Choosing to hold the convention the day after the Beijing Olympic Games concluded, the Democratic Party convened in Denver on the last week of August, a week before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. The decision was made, according to the party, to "maximize momentum for our Democratic ticket in the final months of the Presidential election". Customarily, the party of the incumbent President holds its convention after the opposing party has held their meeting.

The Democratic National Committee presented themes for each day of the convention. The August 25 theme was "One Nation". The August 26 theme was "Renewing America's Promise" while its August 27 theme was "Securing America's Future". The August 28 theme highlights Obama's campaign motto, "Change You Can Believe In". Featured speakers crafted their messages to the theme of the day.

Early party division

With close delegate counts for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, there was early speculation of the first brokered convention in decades. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean sought to avoid such a circumstance.

In addition to the possibility of a brokered convention, a dispute over seating delegates from Florida and Michigan led some to compare the year's convention with the 1968 Democratic National Convention. It ended in a divided party and unhappiness over the outcome. This speculation ended when Obama was named the Democratic candidate for president on June 3, 2008 and Clinton officially announced later that week that she was suspending her campaign and was fully endorsing Obama.

Rules

On February 2, 2007, the Democratic Party published "Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention", the rules governing the convention. There will be 3,409.5 pledged delegates, those committed to vote for a particular candidate, selected by primary voters and caucus participants. There will be about 823.5 unpledged delegates, those free to vote for any candidate, colloquially known as superdelegates, for a total of about 4,233 delegates, requiring 2,117 votes to constitute a majority of the convention. The superdelegates consist of DNC members, Democratic Congress members and Governors, and other prominent Democrats. The final number of superdelegates will not be known until the convention.

The pledged delegates are allocated among the states according to two main criteria: 1) proportion of votes each state gave the candidate in the last three Presidential elections; and 2) percentage of votes each state has in the Electoral College. Fixed numbers of delegates are allocated for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad. Under the party's Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, delegates are awarded via proportional representation with a minimum threshold of 15% of votes in a state or congressional district to receive delegates. The delegate population must reflect the state's ethnic distribution; and at least 50% of the delegates must be women.

Results of delegate voting

Along with presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama, former opponent Hillary Clinton's name was also placed in nomination for president. The Los Angeles Times noted that this has occurred before: Jerry Brown's name was entered into the roll call after losing to Bill Clinton in 1992; Jesse Jackson and Gary Hart also had their names added after losing to Walter F. Mondale in 1984. In 1980, Senator Ted Kennedy's name was entered into the roll call after losing to Jimmy Carter. In addition, Clinton became only the fourth woman to have her name placed in nomination for president at a major party convention. (U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was placed in nomination at the 1964 Republican National Convention, and U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm of New York was placed in nomination at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. In 1976, anti-abortionist Ellen McCormack had her name placed in nomination along with Mo Udall, Jimmy Carter and Jerry Brown.)

President

In addition to the verbal roll call, a paper ballot was taken. The results were 3,188.5 for Obama and 1,010.5 for Clinton. There are an additional 219 votes that were not cast.

Democratic National Convention presidential vote, 2008
Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Barack Obama	1,549.5	35.07%
Hillary Clinton	341.5	7.73%
Abstentions	1.0	0.02%
Delegates who did not vote	2,527.0	57.18%
Totals	4,418.0	100.00%

Part way through the roll call, Senator Clinton of New York motioned to suspend the rules of the roll call and nominate Obama by acclamation. This was done and the voting was never officially completed. Earlier the same day, Clinton had released her delegates, allowing them to vote for Obama.

Vice President

Joe Biden was nominated by acclamation.

Venue

Site selection

In late November 2005, 35 locations were invited by the DNC to bid for the right to host the 2008 convention: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Miami-Dade County, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, St. Louis, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Eleven cities originally accepted the invitation to bid for the convention in January 2006: Anaheim, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minneapolis–St. Paul, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, and San Antonio. A formal request for proposal was mailed to participating cities on February 27 and the deadline for cities to respond was May 19, 2006.

Only three cities submitted final proposals to host the convention: Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and New York. New Orleans had submitted an initial bid, but on July 12, the city dropped out. The cities were visited by a 10-member Technical Advisory Committee in June 2006. On September 27, the Republicans announced they would have their 2008 convention in St. Paul, removing it from consideration and leaving only Denver and New York as potential hosts. Despite hard lobbying by New York party boosters, then-Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg dealt the campaign a major blow when he announced the city lacked the financial means to support a convention. Denver was chosen as the host on January 11, 2007, as Democrats looked to make gains in the "Purple West" states of Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Preparations

The work to prepare Pepsi Center for the Democratic National Convention was expected to cost $15 million. In addition, a temporary building to be used by the media was built adjacent to Pepsi Center.

Convention organizers expected 50,000 attendees, out of which 5,000 were delegates and 15,000 media personnel. However, they anticipated 75,000 people coming to watch Obama accept the nomination on Thursday.

Labor issues

The head of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local No. 7, Jim Taylor, refused to sign a no-strike agreement for the convention. Pepsi Center normally uses non-union labor, but will use Taylor's union during the convention, and Taylor wants Pepsi Center to use his union for all events.

Security measures

As with past political conventions since 2000, the Democratic National Convention was designated a National Special Security Event (NSSE) by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Principal speakers

Monday, August 25

The theme for the day was "One Nation", with Michelle Obama as the "headline prime-time speaker." She was introduced by her brother, Craig Robinson. Also, Maya Soetoro-Ng spoke briefly on growing up with her older brother Barack Obama, and brought an AAPI presence to the stage for the first time. The Work to Come: A Tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy, directed and produced by Mark Herzog and Chris Cowen in association with Ken Burns, was introduced by Kennedy's niece, Caroline Kennedy. Senator Kennedy was not expected to attend the convention due to his illness, but nevertheless made a surprise appearance and speech in the evening. A video about former President Jimmy Carter's humanitarian work was also shown, followed by a brief appearance by the president himself.

Tuesday, August 26

The theme for the day was "Renewing America's Promise." Senator Hillary Clinton was the headline prime-time speaker and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner delivered the keynote address.

Wednesday, August 27

The theme for the day was "Securing America's Future" and featured a speech by Joe Biden, the Vice Presidential candidate. Speakers included former president Bill Clinton, 2004 presidental candidate Sen. John Kerry (MA), and Sen. Evan Bayh (IN).

After Joe Biden spoke, his first address as Vice Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama made a surprise appearance praising the convention.

Thursday, August 28

The convention moved to the INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium, with a DNCC record crowd of more than 84,000 people in attendance. Speakers included former Vice President Al Gore, Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine, Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, and the evening culminated in Barack Obama's acceptance speech. Over 38 million people across 10 U.S. cable and broadcast TV networks tuned in to watch the historic moment. Barack Obama's speech was well received, one news source calling it "The wrap-up to the party convention blended old-fashioned speechmaking, Hollywood-quality stagecraft and innovative, Internet age politics.

Controversies

Seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan

The Florida and Michigan legislatures moved forward their primaries to January 2008, in contravention of party rules and were stripped of their delegates. The Clinton campaign with others initially opposed their seating, stating they acknowledged that the delegates from neither Michigan nor Florida would count. However, after winning the Florida and Michigan primaries, Senator Clinton spoke in favor of seating the states' delegates (despite Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, and John Edwards having removed their names from the Michigan primary ballot). DNC Chairman Howard Dean asked Florida and Michigan to submit a new plan for a process to choose the delegates, such as holding primaries again, or let the matter be referred to the Credentials Committee. In May 2008, the rules committee agreed to let their delegates have half a vote each. In August 2008, Senator Barack Obama, the party’s presumptive nominee, asked the credentials committee to let the two states have full voting rights at the convention. The credentials committee met on Aug. 24, the day before the convention began, and voted to restore full voting rights to Florida and Michigan.

Use of municipal fuel by convention planners

From March through July, convention planners were provided subsidized and untaxed fuel from municipal government gas pumps at a price less than retail fuel available to ordinary citizens, reportedly without a signed contract. After the practice became public at a meeting with city council members, only convention planners' buses were allowed to refuel at city facilities.

Lawsuit by protesters

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of 12 organizations who plan on protesting at the Democratic Convention, requesting that the Secret Service and Denver officials release information about procedures in regards to protesting times and the Demonstration Zone. In a June 12 release, a parade route and Demonstration Zone were announced. The Demonstration Zone will be in Parking Lot A of Pepsi Center. Some groups, including two groups opposing abortion chose to delay filing suit after it was announced that their applications for permits are being processed. In an amended complaint, the ACLU and interested advocacy groups have filed suit against the Secret Service and the city and county of Denver, questioning the constitutionality of the restrictions. The lawsuit failed and the ACLU did not appeal.

Demonstration zone

The official demonstration zone was unused on Monday afternoon, as the convention opened. The 47,000 square foot fenced area was 700 feet from Pepsi Center and delegates could pass from 8 to 200 feet from it.

Suspected Obama assassination scare

On August 24, three men were arrested in the Denver, Colorado area on drugs and weapons charges. Following the arrests of Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan Johnson, a possible plot to assassinate Senator Obama surfaced, which is still being investigated.

Arrest of an ABC News reporter

A reporter from ABC News was arrested as he was photographing a meeting of Democratic senators and VIP donors. The reporter, Asa Eslocker, was arrested by the Denver police and charged with trespassing, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order. The reporter was later released, after posting bail.

Abortion protest sign

On August 26, 2008, a group of anti-abortion activists from American Right to Life Action constructed a sign on Table Mountain outside Denver, overlooking the convention. The sign, made of 2400 sheets, read "Destroys / uNborn / Children" in three rows; it was lined up so that "DNC" appeared vertically in a different color. (This was an attempt to win the Guinness World Record for largest protest sign. The record has not yet been verified; the sign was allegedly 530-foot tall and 666-foot wide.) Later that day, the protesters were asked by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department to remove the sign. No citations were issued, though the group did violate two open space regulations of not applying for a special activity permit and going into a restricted and closed area that is considered sensitive to wildlife.

Criticisms

Web Site

Microsoft was chosen as the web content provider for the convention web site, along with Vertigo Software as the developer. The video application developed was based on Microsoft's Silverlight platform and provided high-definition video streams. The choice of technology that required proprietary software from a company with a history of anti-trust problems was criticized for both the exclusion of competing platforms by way of Silverlight's proprietary video codec and for requiring visitors to install the software when visiting the site. Although Moonlight is a cross-platform alternative that attempts to be compatible with Silverlight, as of the time of the convention it did not support features found in version 2 which were required. In contrast, the web site for the 2008 Republican National Convention used Adobe Flash streams provided through Ustream.Tv and YouTube which are viewable with several applications including the free software cross-platform clone Gnash.