Last night of convention memorable for local delegate
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By DENISE HAUGHIAN
For The Herald
Friday, August 29, 2008 10:31 PM CDT
DENVER, Colo. – I had breakfast with Harold Jackson, a Native American alternate delegate from Lac du Flambeau and a truck driver who works on gaming and employment issues. Jackson’s goal is to get representation for Native Americans and other underrepresented indigenous people in the delegation and on the DNC committees. He is concerned about a pending bill that would end sovereign status for tribes.
Also at my table was Dan Stetz, a Chi-Hi graduate and a student at UW-EC who traveled here on his own just to watch the festivities. Dan had a fantastic week and was excited about being able to attend the last day at Invesco Field.
After breakfast, we listened intently to the instructions on how to get to Invesco Field. Security is very tight and the DNC did not release information about shuttle busses until the last minute. This resulted in some areas of mass confusion. To avoid the traffic and long lines and ensure a good seat, a group of us decided to leave the hotel by 12:30 for the 3:15 gavel. Since I never leave for things early, this went against my natural instincts! However, after three days of long city blocks, pushing through crowds, and standing around waiting, I had to agree that it was a good plan. However, our early arrival at the stadium meant that we would be sitting in the hot sun for hours. I passed the time in the concessions area partaking of the free samples of vitamin-enriched water, iced tea, and lemonade and giving press interviews. It’s going to be difficult going back to being an average citizen after this!
On one of the huge ramps that climb to the top of the stadium, I met Dr. Jane Pederson, my former history professor at UW-EC so many years ago and in whose class I began to think about how I could make a difference. She had accompanied one of our delegates as a guest and observer. With the Denver skyline as a backdrop, we talked about the directions our lives have taken since then and about women as political and cultural icons. Jane and I agreed that Invesco Field made for excellent political spectacle, but not comfortable spectatorship!
The more compact setup on the convention floor at Invesco Field placed media booths and delegate seating areas much more closely together than at the Pepsi Center, so media stars rubbed elbows with the rest of us.
Jesse Jackson spoke with an interviewer a few feet away, Andrea Mitchell trolled the crowd with her camera crew, and Brian Anderson cut in line for the porta-potties. Randhi Rhodes shook hands in the talk show area. David Gregory collided forcefully with a delegate in the aisle. In the tunnel entrance that served as a media staging area, I passed by Anderson Cooper and Charles Barkley.
The evening followed the pattern we had become accustomed to for the last three days with speakers building to the Obama pinnacle at the end. In the stadium, with the crowd of 80,000, I was much more conscious of the convention as a theater and all of the people there as actors. Yet none of the sign-waving, clapping, shouting, cheering, dancing, and singing felt fictitious or fabricated.
After four days of “togetherness,” we had somehow magically agreed to overlook our differences and speak with one voice. Barack Obama’s speech touched on this theme, emphasizing what we have in common as Americans. He told us that despite the divisive politics of the last eight years, we can still agree on important issues like reducing unplanned pregnancies, using weapons responsibly, valuing all families, keeping the workforce legal, promoting both individual and collective responsibility, deploying our restored military only as a last resort, and making sound judgments in foreign policy. I was so impressed by these mature words which demonstrate Obama’s profound capacity to unite people.
In the lobby, I hugged friends and said tearful goodbyes to other Wisconsin delegates. We had shared an experience both intimate and communal which none of us will ever forget.
Denise Haughian of Chippewa Falls is writing about her experiences at the Democratic National Convention this week for The Chippewa Herald and Chippewa.com.
Haughian is treasurer for the Democratic Party of Chippewa County and a district-level Hillary Clinton delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is an instructor at UW-Stout.
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