I just got settled in my seat here in the Pepsi Center.  State Senator Leticia Van de Putte is calling the session to order.  The room is more crowded than usual this early because there’s going to be a roll call vote on the nomination around 3:45MT.  The California delegation actually already did their vote back at the hotel, but any delegate who hasn’t will be able to cast a ballot on the floor.

I want to thank the DNC for offering this type of access for state bloggers.  I know that the national bloggers are stuck in some windowless room, a step backward from 2004.  And that’s not right.  But the state blogger access is really a mirror of politicians going to the local press instead of the national press.  They are getting great blogging press in the localities, and I think it’s offering a far better perspective of the convention than the traditional media, which came up with their headlines two weeks ago and is now just filling in their words.  Maybe it’s because I’m here, but this is the most shameful job I’ve ever seen from the media in terms of a disconnect between their own paranoid fantasies and reality.

As for the local and state blog strategy, it’s an extension of the Dean 50-state strategy.  I hope they only increase the access in the future.

If there was any doubt that we would get a barnburner on unity tonight from Hillary Clinton, put that to bed. The California delegation went crazy for Clinton, waving Hillary signs that were distributed just ahead of Chelsea’s introduction and even holding a few homemade signs like “18 million cracks”. Obama/Hillary/Unity signs are spreading through now.

A few quotes out of the gates:

“The time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose.”

“This is a fight for the future and it’s a fight we must win together.”

“You haven’t endured the past eight years to suffer through more failed leadership.”

“Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president.”

Update This is a great mix of unification and reaching out to Clinton supporters who may be any measure of disaffected. She just finished and the crowd, at least here in California (I can’t see or hear any further) is insane. Signs and standing ovation as far as I can see. A few more great lines from an excellent speech:

“Were you in it for the marine…Were you in it for that mom…Were you in it for that young boy…Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

“The genius of America has always depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.”

“Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, we did it before with President Clinton.” (no idea what came after this, it was deafening)

“It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.”

“My daughter got to vote for her mother for president. This is the story of America.”

“Keep going. Don’t ever stop, keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”

“We’re Americans, we’re not big on quitting.”

“We need to get going by electing Barack Obama.”

So that’s day two and I’m exhausted and grinning ear to ear. Dave will be here tomorrow.

Update Final update before a pass out cold. Walking out from the floor after the Clinton speech, there were obviously media folks running around everywhere. And they were bolting exclusively for Hillary delegates, people with Hillary signs, etc. And they were ALL pushing essentially the same question: “That was really good and all, but is there really unity? I mean, really really unity?” This is crap. Tonight should pretty much put this meme to bed. There may be holdout PUMAs running around here and there, but the lesson from tonight from Clinton herself is that those people aren’t the ones who were every really committed to the Democratic party and its ideals to start with. And those aren’t people who are relevant to the party going forward. People can vote however they want to vote, but if they were in it because of the principles that drove the Clinton campaign, then they’d be with Obama now. There’s no equivocation from anyone on that stage tonight.

As far as Clinton, Obama ,and the Democratic party are concerned, the issue is done.

Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania got the crowd hyped with a “Four More Months” chant that’s still buzzing around the arena and- I bet- we’ll be hearing more of in the next couple days. He pushed hard on Biden as a native son of Pennsylvania- in case anybody needed a bit more convincing in the Keystone state.

He was followed by a true hero of the equality and labor movements, Lilly Ledbetter, speaking on Women’s Equality Day. She got huge cheers for her landmark discrimination case and big boos for big business. She kept with the importance of being responsible towards future generations, driving home how important it is that we “secure fair pay for our children and grandchildren” so that no one will have to go through what she has.

Mark Warner rocked the crowd as we expected he would, weaving all the week’s themes together. He spoke quite a bit about the power of collective effort and community as well as our responsibility to each other and our future. He spoke about education and energy and all the policy issues, but it all comes back to a fundamental defining mindset of Democrats. He lamented that Bush hadn’t “tapped into America’s greatest resource: the character and resolve of the American people,” and that Bush “failed to believe in what we can achieve as a nation.”

And that’s what it’s ultimately all about when drawing a line between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats not only think we have a moral obligation to stick by each other, but we know that it’s the smartest thing too. Warner noted that with the blessings of America “comes an obligation to our neighbors, to the common good.” And that’s the whole notion of not just democracy, but society in general.

That’s what we’re up against and why we’re Democrats. That speech made me homesick for Virginia just a little bit.

Update Governor Ted Strickland had a great line about Bush being born on third and thinking he hit a triple as opposed to making it to first and stealing second. The kids love it…I had no idea how much of a rock star Ted Strickland was. Good for him, good speech. Deval Patrick’s turn as the crowd starts getting into the mood.

Fairbanks Mayor Jim Whitacker just offered his endorsement of Barack Obama. Which is the second night in a row that an elected Republican has strongly endorsed Barack Obama. Whitacker made clear that he is first and foremost an American, and while he isn’t here to talk ill of John McCain, but that Barack Obama is “best able to meet America’s challenges and seize America’s opportunities.” He described Obama as a “pragmatic idealist” and lauded a “realistic and resulting wisdom whichis sorely needed in America today.”

He was followed by life-long Republican Gloria Craven, who after 30 years of blue collar labor lost her job and benefits. She was, to say the least, a bit perplexed when John McCain declared “we’re making great progress economically.” She’s living on her husband’s social security for lack of opportunities while he goes back to school at 62 years old. This is what the Bush economy has brought us.

Earlier, Governor Janet Napolitano chronicled the history of Arizona presidential aspirants and, well…it’s a big o-fer. Like she says, that’s a trend we need to continue. The past hour and a half or so has been heavy on labor leaders- AFL-CIO, SEIU, Change to Win. Congressman Xavier Becerra was mixed in there as well, continuing today’s California tilt

I spent a bit of time in the halls, running into Donna Edwards, Rahm Emanuel and a Bill Richardson stampede. In the meantime, I’m back with the delegation and the seats are shuffling. Congressman Sherman just arrived about the same time as Chairman Torres. Steve Westly is sitting behind me. Todd Beeton over at MyDD has the goods on a petition circulating among Clinton delegates to force a public roll call vote tomorrow morning. I haven’t heard much about it over here yet, but we’ll see.

UpdateGov. Sebelius: For McCain, “there’s no place like a home or a home or a home or a home…”

I’ve been sitting with Robin Torello who runs the Alameda County Dem Party, and in between lessons on how fantastic Alameda and its democrats are (I give Robin, it’s all true), we’ve been talking turkey about the Governor’s race, the CDP chair race, and the general state of affairs throughout the state party. We still haven’t come up with anyone who isn’t running for governor in 2010 except for us, so if you have any ideas, let us know in the comments.

Senator Boxer has arrived, two rows behind me. Sebelius thus far doesn’t seem to be enough to get the crowd calmed down, hammering the failed Bush policies that McCain advocates. She says “we can’t bring about positive change unless we fix our divisive politics” and brings out the classic “turn the page” line that I haven’t heard in a while.

Update The stars keep cycling through. Barbara Lee is here, John Garamendi and Gray Davis have come through, and John Chiang joined is sitting behind me with Steve Westly now.

Hillary Clinton introduced the hour of women in the Senate via video, and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland led off. The California delegation abslutely exploded (quite to the consternation of Campbell Brown it looked like) as Barbara Boxer took the stage and, perhaps unsurprisingly, turned the convention message into something relatively (cause really, this is a ton of speeches) fresh and compelling:

Elections have consequences and when we win in November, we will prove it. Instead of polluters, families. Instead of ignoring experts, we will fight global warming…

We will have a Democratic majority large enough to ensure healthy communities, because…

60 is the new 50.

Instead of a president with an exxon policy, we will have a president with an energy policy…

We can’t afford more of the same.

Sen. Boxer has been followed by Mary Landreiu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. We continue to hear the familiar refrain that “we can’t afford more of the same.” Boxer seized on energy and environmental issues which certainly resonate strongly in California. Senator Stabenow is discussing the jobs that we need to keep and create in the country.

Dennis Kucinich just exited after a great speech to chants of “Dennis, Dennis.” John Chiang just entered to rapturous response from the California contingent. Everyone was ready to support our newest Democratic Californian hero. This is his big entre into the national spotlight, and he was brief but nailed some great Democratic and Obama points that are familiar but can’t really be mentioned often enough:

We are working harder than ever but falling further behind…We know that path to the promised land and that Barack Obama will lead us there.

We choose to rise

We reject four more years of the same failed policies.

…poverty, access to healthcare and energy independence. Let those values be our calling.

As we segue into governors (Jim Doyle of Wisconsin and now Democratic Governor’s Association chair Joe Manchin of West Virginia), it’s exciting to see the love for Chiang. He’s done a great job of seizing on a crucial issue and really doing it right. He deserves this attention from the national party and it goes a long way towards raising California’s profile and, more important, highlights California issues and victories.

Everywhere I went on Sunday and Monday, folks were on message. It’s about green jobs, it’s about energy security, it’s about innovation, it’s about getting out of Iraq, but mostly, it’s all about energy. And whether it was Ken Salazar or Sugarland or Van Jones, it circled back around to our children. We have to protect the environment and make these changes because we have a responsibility to our children and the generations that follow.

So as I was walking past the Pepsi Center yesterday, it struck me as beautiful kismet that the median strip was engraved with a traditional Kenyan proverb that was amazingly on message: “Treat the earth well, it is not inherited from your parents, it is borrowed from your children.”

Turns out, it’s by design that the parks are on board with the week’s messaging. Turns out Denver’s been doing a full refurbishing of the parks around downtown gearing up for the convention- apparently getting on board with the themes of the convention. An encouraging notion that goes towards my post yesterday that these themes and these priorities are not Democratic ideals, they’re American ideals that need Democrats for support these days. This is a redesign that will long outlast the convention and will be a part of the Denver face and identity for years to come. It’s not partisan, it’s not divisive ideology, it’s about our responsibility to future generations and our fellow man.

This is certainly relevant to many of our challengers in California. From Charlie Brown to Debbie Cook to Russ Warner to Nick Leibham and beyond, they’re running not on divisive partisanism but on the basic right and wrong of these issues. This is the beautiful side of running on unity and unifying issues: it’s really easy to make sense when you talk to people.

I’m sure I’m going to get an earful about unity tonight from the evening’s convention speakers, but after months of being a little burned out about the unity talk, I’m a bit more into it. Not the conciliatory-at-all-costs brand of unity, but the sort of unity that comes from cutting through all the rhetoric to arrive at what’s simply right and necessary.

So I’m hanging out at the California delegation area while waiting to do an interview.  Jimmy Carter is giving an interview to CNN.  Terry McAuliffe just walked by.  And there’s some country band doing a soundcheck.

Having not been inside a Democratic convention facility before, it is undeniably impressive and it came through nicely on television last night.  The buzz over the Michelle Obama speech seems to be generally good, with the pull quote “stop doubting, start dreaming” seeming to be the one all over the newspapers this morning.

Teddy Kennedy obviously gave a powerful, emotional speech.  Many people I talked to didn’t know he was coming out at all.  I’m a little perturbed that Jim Leach’s speech was passed over by the media so quickly.  Here’s a Republican who served in the US House for 30 years, now completely excoriating his party, particularly in the area of foreign policy, and it didn’t raise an eyebrow.  Even though it was in prime time I’m not sure anyone showed it.  If the tables were turned, you can be sure it would be a major story.

Lots of Californians on stage tonight, but obviously all the focus will be on Sen. Clinton’s speech.  I saw James Carville by Radio Row and he said to the assembled media that they would “all be disappointed” tonight, because it would be a unifying speech.  I’m sure the media will latch on to some word or facial tic and relentlessly hype it.

Anyway, Lucas will be taking you through this evening from the floor.

I mentioned yesterday that this- like any political convention- is heavy on the self-congratulation. That’s what conventions are for, so it’s not a failing, it’s just a way of being. So one of the few measures from inside the insanity is how the non-true believers react. And so far…it’s really encouraging.

A lot of ink was spilled today about former GOP congressman Jim Leach speaking at the convention right now. But it goes well beyond that to exhibit the good side of a truly big tent (as I write from the Big Tent). The Republican mayor of Fairbanks will be speaking too, which is great for folks like Mark Begich and Ethan Berkowitz running as Democrats statewide in Alaska, but it runs well beyond that.

I was at Red Rocks last night for a show that included the country band Sugarland. I’ve never heard of them because I’m an elitist liberal ivory tower egghead, but they rocked the crowd and went over very well. But in contrast to all the other musical acts I’ve seen so far, there was no overt political rhetoric between songs and definitely no mention or remote endorsement of the Democratic party. But they were there, and there enthusiastically, in support of green jobs and the fight against global warming. Because going green and being responsible simply is not a partisan issue anymore. It’s a moral issue that transcends partisanism and simply divides responsible and irresponsible.

Beyond all that though is the reaction on the street level. I’ve been to mini rallies, fundraisers, receptions, parties, whatever at local restaurants and bars in downtown Denver. On a regular basis, the waitresses and bartenders are applauding strongly progressive speeches from bloggers and candidates. As Dave noted in an earlier post, Denver is a strong Democratic city. And that’s fantastic, but it certainly doesn’t preempt the many McCain yard signs I’ve seen outside of the general downtown area. There’s simply no guarantee or expectation that the staff at a given venue will be inherently sympathetic.

But our message is getting applause from the bartenders. Whether it’s universal health care, green collar jobs, or the Responsible Plan, it says something when the bartenders clap. I’ve been in and around the back of bars for a few years in my life, and bartenders are not the most easily swayed of political targets. Our message isn’t simply the Democratic message. What we’re seeing this week is that the Democratic message and the Obama message is the American Dream in action. Partisanship can and will fall by the wayside when the message gets out.

Those of us in the netroots and grassroots are tasked with getting it out.

Earlier today I attended a panel called “Who’s Leading Whom?” exploring the role of blogs in political media.I was there with Todd Beeton who wrote it up here. It was moderated by Arianna Huffington, and the panelists were Chris Cilliza of WaPo’s The Fix, Greg Maffei of Liberty Media, Digby of Hullabaloo and Jonathan Alter- Senior Editor and Political Columnist for Newsweek.

Whether by design or not, much of the conversation centered around the extremism on blogs and particularly in the comments. Maffei commented several times that the nature of the internet lends to infinite commentary and thus potentially waters down the value of what’s found on political blogs. I don’t dispute the first part of this, but finding a readership demands that what’s being written carry some sort of value. There’s a meritocratic aspect that’s often overlooked by purveyors of traditional media no matter how well they understand (or sometimes don’t) the nature of blogging. Cillizza and Alter both repeatedly blasted the quality of comments on blogs (there’s specifically) but failed to address the reason: blogs from widely known news outlets which don’t moderate comments turn in to magnets for extremist and disruptive comments. It’s perhaps understandable then that both would have a negative view of the comment aspects of blogs and tend to judge the broader notion of a blogosphere based on these experiences. But neither had any notable exposure to communities of commenters, rating systems, etc. which serve as an effective check on the more counter-productive comments.

In the same vein, Alter and Maffei in particular noted that the infinite space online leads to the purveyors of vitriol and extremists on both sides of the spectrum rising to the top. Aside from the fact that I don’t think that’s accurate, nobody managed to note that the exact same thing is true of newspaper opinion columns and especially the punditocracy on cable news. For the most part, nobody gets a steady stream of repeat gigs if they don’t stir the pot. Whether they have anything accurate or constructive to say is secondary. So this criticism of blogs completely falls flat as far as I’m concerned, no matter how much these folks are commited to defending the honor of traditional media.

Finally, the most compelling part of the discussion for me personally was the discussion regarding what the inherent role and nature of blogging might be. The traditional media folks (Maffei and Alter) consistently hammered on the quite accurate point that actually finding news requires time and money that bloggers generally don’t have (with a number of very good exceptions of course). It reminded me immediately of the Google campaign from 2006 in which I noted essentially “I don’t want your job.” I speak for myself only here, but I’m not aspiring to be a reporter in the traditional sense. I’m just not. I’m here to make sure that the people who ARE here to do that, do it responsibly. Arianna Huffington talked about the notion of ‘hybrid’ media- the collision of blogging and newspapers, tv news, etc. and I agree that’s the direction things are heading. As the resources available to bloggers grow, the more they’re able to do original reporting. At the same time, traditional outlets are increasingly moving online- Cillizza is an excellent example. The fundamental issue here is exactly what Digby noted: “The traditional media lost its credibility because the traditional media lost its credibility.” Blogs didn’t do it. Iraq and everything that followed did it. The lack of skepticism did it. Blogs pointed out what had already happened and Digby nailed it.

Coming out of this discussion, I think the question going forward is one that hits both blogs, traditional media and what Arianna called hybrid media. It came out of a question from Ari Melber of The Nation and centered on the line between the responsibility for media to report truth and the need for media not to insert their own values into their stories. It’s something that everyone on the panel touched on at various points in the discussion, and certainly a tough line to find. My concern, and I think a concern that was borne out in the discussion, was that media members are generally more inclined to carefully avoid opinion at the expense of truth. That’s not going to cut it, and it’s a problem that we have to collectively figure out going forward.