By Dawn Teo and Kelly Nuxoll
All week, the name that was on everyone's lips was not Barack Obama but Hillary Clinton. Convention goers and journalists alike speculated throughout the week whether the PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) supporters would pull a stunt at Hillary's convention. Some PUMA supporters have asked for a roll call vote but stated that they will support Obama after a roll call. Others have openly called for a floor flight, saying that giving Hillary the nomination would be the only way to rectify an outcome that they see as unfair.
Hillary Clinton had her own plans. Not only did she give a great speech that convinced many of her supporters to support Obama, but her 40 person whip team who spent the week tamping down on dissent within her delegate ranks had a brilliant plan to thwart dissent in the convention hall Tuesday night.
Just before Chelsea Clinton introduced her mother, the Hillary whip team directed the distribution of Hillary sign placards. Volunteers quickly counted out the number of seats in each row and passed out enough signs so that each person would have one. The bright white Hillary signs brilliantly obscured the more contentious Hillary signs that were mostly hand-written on white poster boards. The Hillary signs were also an olive branch to the HIllary supporters who were feeling unwelcomed by the Obama supporters. After the speech, one Hillary supporter said, with tears in her eyes, that she had never felt welcomed by local Obama supporters but had a completely new view of the Obama campaign after seeing thousands of Obama supporters cheering, screaming, and shaking Hillary signs during Hillary's speech.
After handing out the white Hillary placard signs, the volunteers returned with huge bags of vertical blue signs that said UNITY on one side and on the other side either OBAMA, MICHELLE, or HILLARY. Then they asked which ones the spectators wanted -- another brilliant move by the Hillary whip team because everyone wanted one of these beautifully designed signs, even the contentious Hillary supporters because there was a Hillary version. It was yet another olive branch to those who felt unwelcome and gave the perfect appearance of unity for the television cameras.
Hillary's speech was certainly the highlight of the week so far (Obama's speech at Invesco Field will, of course, be the biggest draw). Security staff said that the line to get into Pepsi Center was incredible compared to Monday.
The convention center was jam-packed, many of the credentialed members of the press made to circle the Pepsi Center to wait for seating. Some of the bloggers who managed to gain entrance to the bloggers' seating section were forced to sit on the floor and steps. A U.S. Sen. Nelson apparently gave away valuable designated blogger seats to some of his friends. Even when a DNC volunteer usher asked them to leave the restricted blogger area, they refused, stating emphatically that Senator Nelson told them that they could sit there. A few bloggers tried explaining to them that in an area that only has 30 seats, they were taking 10 percent of a very scarce, in-demand resource. Still they refused to move and absconded while everyone was preoccupied during the final applause.
Image of crashers in the blogger seating area by at Buckeye State Blog.
