Convention break

Back in Boston, enjoying summer sun in the ‘hood with my little one for a day before heading out to St. Paul for the RNC. (It’s nap time now.) After reading this, I’m looking forward to hearing what Republican delegates think about Sarah Palin as VP candidate. For all the restrictions at the conventions, there is great access to the delegates from around the country who come out to rally round their candidate. Along with the elected officials and other party insiders, these folks are the activists, the faithful volunteers, the diehards who’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and are being rewarded with invitations to the big campaign pep rally. Are they what we call in the news business “real people”? Well, not exactly. Most regular folk of course do not make political activism for a major party candidate a huge priority in their lives. No time. No interest. So, in that sense, party delegates are not your average American voters. Here’s the thing though: in some ways, these are the people who really help a candidate get elected. It was the architect Karl Rove who helped build a party organization that reached down to the precinct level in key areas around the US that put George W. Bush over the top against Gore, and then against Kerry. It’s a similar type of street level network that helped Obama whip Hillary. The delegates are the people who put signs in their yards, organize meetings, make calls, get their friends to volunteer at phone banks, persuade neighbors at BBQs to get out and vote, and so on. Denver was my third convention. And after talking to enough random delegates from both parties, I’ve learned that some of them (no surprise) are really quite uninteresting. They spout party talking points, sometimes poorly and incoherently. But a lot of these folks take the issues being debated by the candidates quite seriously. They read newspapers. They discuss this stuff with their families and friends. Some of them, from both parties, are also quite thoughtful.

Governor Sarah Palin

McCain plays up his “maverick” rep by picking Gov Palin. But he also just undercut his campaign’s central attack against Obama. Looks like Team McCain is going to have retool the “dangerously inexperienced” charge. Because, as it turns out, Palin’s the most inexperienced choice for VP in modern history. These video clips are sure to pump up the GOP base though.

Here’s another Politico.com piece on what the choice says about McCain. And James Fallows is on Palin gaffe-watch, “(i)f she has ever addressed an international issue, there’s no evidence of it in internet-land.”

PRI’s The World: Finding the American Muslim Democratic Caucus

Video promo for my radio story on the American Muslim Caucus.

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The World’s Election 2008 Podcast, Episode 18

Episode 18 coming at you from the practice court of the Denver Nuggets, also known as the “unassigned filing center” at the DNC. It’s lovely. Frigid, crowded, noisy, but hey, the Internet connection works and there’s even a drinking fountain. This week’s podcast includes an interview with JFK’s aide, Theodore Sorenson. Paul Rieckhoff from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Irish radioman Chris Donogue reflects on the DNC… and finds that everybody here is Irish, including Barack Obama. Check it out. Let us know what you think, theworldpolitics@gmail.com.

RSS feed for the podcast.

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DNC delegates on foreign policy

Alex Gallafent and I set out to do something a little different yesterday. We went outside the Pepsi Center and asked delegates on their way in about who they would like to see in an Obama administration’s (should he win in November) key foreign policy positions. Here’s what we came up with.

Muslims for Obama

One group of people who have no problem whatsoever with Barack Obama’s middle name are the folks who showed up for the first ever American Muslim Democratic Caucus meeting on Monday night in downtown Denver. Unsurprisingly, they embrace the aspects of Obama’s biography that tie him to parts of the Muslim world. I attended the group’s meeting, and here’s my radio story.

Some photos from the DNC here.

PRI’s The World: Promo for August 26, 2008

Latest video promo from Denver and Boston for The World.

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Anti-war Democrats anxious

Here’s my first radio story from Denver, aired Monday 8/25. I gathered the material for this one ahead of time… just to hit the ground running here in Denver.

PRI’s The World in Denver: Video Promo for Aug 25th

Sunday night in Denver…. the first of our short videos on what we’re up to here. Stay tuned.

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Colin Powell’s name dropped by McCain camp

Of course McCain’s considering Powell as a VP candidate. What would really be news though is if Powell was entertaining the idea.