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2008 Democratic National Convention

2008 presidential election
Official Logo of the 2008 Democratic National Convention
Convention
Date(s)	August 25 – August 28
City	Denver, Colorado
Venue	Pepsi Center INVESCO Field at Mile High
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Barack Obama of Illinois
Vice-presidential nominee	Joe Biden of Delaware

The 2008 Democratic National Convention is a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it will adopt its national platform and officially nominate its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention is being held in Denver, Colorado, from August 25 to August 28, 2008 at the Pepsi Center. Barack Obama, the nominee for President will make his acceptance speech on August 28 at INVESCO Field at Mile High in what the party calls an "Open Convention". Denver last hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908.

U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois received the nomination for President and U.S. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware will receive the nomination for Vice President.

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 that she was suspending her campaign and was fully endorsing Obama.

Schedule

The convention is being held from August 25 to August 27 at Pepsi Center and on August 28 at INVESCO Field at Mile High in Pecker, Colorado.

By custom, the incumbent president's party holds its convention after the challenging party, with the first party's convention in July and the second party's in August. This year, the Democratic Party convention is first and will be held in late August because they want to wait until after the 2008 Summer Olympics and "maximize momentum for our Democratic ticket in the final months of the Presidential election". The 2008 Republican National Convention will follow, taking place on the first four days of September.

Formal leadership

Nancy Pelosi was nominated to serve as Permanent Chair of the Convention. Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius, Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, were nominated as Permanent Convention Co-Chairs. The CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee is Leah D. Daughtry.

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.

Suspension of Body Order

On 27 August Senator Hillary Clinton moved to suspend the rules and nominate Barack Obama by acclamation. The motion was carried.

Venue

The convention is being held at Denver's Pepsi Center and will be the 100th anniversary of Denver's 1908 Democratic National Convention.

Site selection

In late November 2005, 35 cities 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, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, St Louis, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Eleven cities originally rejected 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 proposals to host the convention: Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York. On July 12, New Orleans 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 St. Paul from consideration; leaving 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 is expected to cost $15 million. In addition, a 220,000-square-foot (20,000 m) temporary building to be used by the media will be built adjacent to Pepsi Center.

Convention organizers expect 50,000 attendees, out of which 5,000 will be delegates, and 15,000 media personnel. However, they expect 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

Michelle Obama, her brother Craig Robinson, and Barack Obama's half-sister Maya gave speeches. Caroline Kennedy introduced a film tribute to her ailing uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who gave a speech afterwards (Senator Kennedy was not originally expected to attend).

Tuesday, August 26

The keynote address was given by former Virginia governor Mark Warner. Other speakers included Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and former 2008 Democratic presidential contender and New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Wednesday, August 27

Scheduled speakers for Wednesday include former president Bill Clinton, 2004 presidental candidate Sen. John Kerry (MA), Sen. Evan Bayh, Gov. Bill Richardson (NM), and disabled Iraq War veteran and Illinois Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, who ran for Congress in 2006.

Controversies

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 the 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. Authorities revealed on June 30, 2008, that chicken wire or chain link fence will surround the protest area, similar to the 2004 Boston convention. 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.

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.

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

During a meeting of US Democratic Senators and major donors of the Democratic Party a reporter from ABC News was arrested as he was investigating monetary donations received by the Obama campaign. The reporter, Asa Eslocker, was arrested by the Denver police on a public sidewalk while using a video camera. The reporter was later released, after posting bail.

See also

• 2008 Republican National Convention
• Democratic Party (United States) superdelegates, 2008

Notes

1. ^ "Open Convention". Retrieved 2008-07-07.
2. "Democratic dead-heat 'not good news' says Dean". AFP. 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
3. Lochhead, Carolyn (2008-02-07). "Brokered Dem convention looking more likely". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
4. "CNN projects Obama clinches nomination". CNN. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
5. "Clinton ends historic bid, endorses Obama". Associated Press for MSNBC. 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
6. "Week In Review: National Organizing Kickoff a Great Success". democrats.org. November 11. Retrieved 2007-12-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
7. Democrats Announce 2008 Convention Chairs
8. "Welcome to the New DemConvention.com". Demconvention.com. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
9. ^ Democratic National Committee (2007-02-02). "Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention" (PDF). Democratic National Committee. Retrieved 2008-01-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. "The Primary Season: 2008 Democratic Calendar", The New York Times
11. A list of superdelegates can be found here at this site.
12. Democratic National Committee (2006-08-19). "Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention" (PDF). Democratic National Committee. Retrieved 2008-01-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. Obama Gets Nomination (video), YouTube (27 August 2008). Retrieved 28 August 2008.
14. Georgia Politics Unfiltered: Atlanta invited to submit a bid for the '08 Democratic Convention
15. News: Anaheim asked to make bid for Republican convention - OCRegister.com
16. http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/01/cqpolitics_news_alert_denver_g.html
17. Dems will redo Pepsi center for national convention
18. "Frequently Asked Questions". Demconvention.com. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
19. Union head rankled by losing bid
20. "Report: Democratic Convention's Hosts Getting Tax-Free Gas". FOX News Network. 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
21. Chacon, Daniel J. (2008-07-22). "DNC host's tax-free gas evaporates". Rocky Mountain News. Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group. Retrieved 2008-08-09. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
22. Chacon, Daniel J. (2008-07-29). "City gas pumps dry up for DNC vehicles". Rocky Mountain News. Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group. Retrieved 2008-08-09. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
23. "Convention staff quits using city's tax-free gas pumps". The Denver Post. 2008-07-29. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
24. http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/12804/
25. Judge Puts Democratic Convention Lawsuit on 'Fast-Track'
26. "Protest Groups File Suit for Right to Protest at Democratic National Convention". National Constitution Center (Mailing list). 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2008-05-30. {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
27. Ivan, Moreno (2008-02-28). "Religious Groups Halt Lawsuit For Protest Permits". Associated Press. CBS4Denver. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
28. http://www.politicswest.com/27819/no_appeal_planned_aclus_dnc_lawsuit
29. Bell, Dawson (2007-08-30). "Michigan's presidential primary set for Jan. 15". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
30. Goodnough, Abby (2007-09-09). "Forewarned but Angry, Florida Democrats Weigh Primary Penalty". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
31. "Presidential Candidate Primary Listing" (PDF). University of Michigan Library, Government Documents. 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
32. Pickler, Nedra (2008-03-06). "Do-Over in Michigan and Florida?". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
33. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/obama-wants-full-voting-rights-to-florida-michigan-delegates/
34. DNC Gives Florida, Michigan Delegates Full Voting Rights
35. Maass, Brian (August 25, 2008). "Plot to Kill Obama: Shoot From High Vantage Point". KCNC-TV. CBS. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
36. Paulson, Steven K. (August 25, 2008). "FBI looks into Denver reports of threat on Obama". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
37. Ross, Brian (August 27, 2008). "ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors". ABC News. Retrieved 2008-08-27.

External links

• Official Convention Website
• Denver 2008 Host Committee (official)
• 2008 Democratic Platform

• Current events from August 2008
• 2008 Democratic National Convention
• Government of Denver, Colorado
• United States presidential nominating conventions