Democrats blow it by moving Obama

Not that the whole "most open and accessible convention in history" had a leg to stand on anyway, but now that claim is officially dead. The Democrats just yanked credentials from some 50,000-plus potential voters who had planned to cheer on President Obama's acceptance speech in person Thursday night.

The DNC Committee's announcement this morning that Obama's speech was being moved from Bank of America Stadium to Time Warner Cable Arena is what Obama's young supporters would call a buzzkill. Thousands had volunteered for Obama's campaign for hours, and thousands more stood in line for many hours, to secure a ticket to the stadium. Thanks for the effort, guys, but ... never mind.

The DNCC cited the potential for severe weather. Weather.com predicts the skies will be partly cloudy at 10 p.m. Thursday, with a 20 percent chance of rain. It's never higher than 30 percent from 4 p.m. on.

What did organizers think the chance of rain would be on a September evening in Charlotte when they decided to put the Obama event at the stadium in the first place? Zero?

It seems to be part of a pattern by the DNCC: Make big plans, then scale them back. First it was the Monday event at the Speedway being reeled in. Now this.

Republicans are speculating that organizers moved the event because they couldn't fill the stadium and didn't want the embarrassment of Obama talking to empty seats. Highly unlikely. Democratic officials say they gave out 65,000 credentials and had 19,000 more on a waiting list. They say they would have been turning people away, and there's no evidence they wouldn't have.

No, this isn't about lack of Democratic enthusiasm. But given this treatment, it might soon be.

- Taylor Batten

Photo: Work at Bank of America stadium was continuing Wednesday morning up to time that the speech was moved to Time Warner Cable Arena. Photo by MARK HAMES

DNC Day 2: The Good and Bad (and Ugly)

It was the first day of speakers at the Democratic National Convention, but there was plenty happening everywhere. Who had good days and bad days?

The Good

Democrats: Until the first speaker walked forward Tuesday on the big blue stage of Time Warner Cable Arena, Republicans had a firm grip on the national messaging of this convention. (Hope you're not tired of that "better off than 4 years ago" question, because it's not going away.)

But the lens turned toward Democrats Tuesday night, and they showed off what's always been their strength - a diverse lineup of speakers that showcased this party's strong message of giving everyone a chance to succeed. There were plenty of Mitt Romney jokes, but there also was reminder after reminder that without Barack Obama as president, the America that you saw on stage and in videos would be plenty worse off.

Republicans will make sure - as they should - that the economy doesn't leave the political discussion. But on Tuesday, Democrats did a powerful job of putting a face on it.

Anthony Foxx: If Charlotte's mayor decides at some point that he no longer wants to be Charlotte's mayor, he didn't hurt himself at all Tuesday. His short, elegant speech hit all the right notes on Charlotte and Barack Obama.

Julian Castro: So we know that by now that no one is going to match the keynote speech that young Barack Obama gave at the 2004 Democratic Convention, right? You don't re-create moments like that, even if you're the young, hotshot Latino mayor of a flourishing city.

But San Antonio's mayor showed why Democrats think he's a potential star. His speech was more task oriented in the time it gave to Romney than Obama's in 2004 (oops, there we go again), but it also was an artful blend of personal story and purpose. Castro told a familiar tale of humble beginnings, but he more importantly reminded America that, as always, it needs to be patient with its immigrants and others who struggle - and that such patience and investment can pay off.

"In the end, the American dream is not a sprint, or a marathon, but a relay," he said. That's the kind of line that gets you remembered.

Traffic: Sure, there were moments of messiness, and yes, people complained that officers at one intersection sometimes didn't coordinate well with colleagues at the next one. But did anyone expect Tuesday's commute to be better than most Tuesdays heading uptown? It was.

Ted Kennedy: The night's biggest roars? They went to the old lion, who died in 2009 but passed the torch one more time to Obama on Tuesday in a moving, funny, powerful video that had members of the audience chanting "Teddy, Teddy."

You're sure to see at least one element of that video nipped and tucked into a political ad: Kennedy's brutal dismantling of Mitt Romney in their 1994 U.S. Senate race debate. Said Kennedy then about Romney's wavering on the abortion issue: "On the question of the choice issue, I have supported Roe v. Wade, I am pro-choice. My opponent is multiple choice."

The Bad

Bev Perdue: The Democratic party clearly wasn't spotlighting North Carolina's governor Tuesday. Perdue got a speaking spot, which is customary for the governor of the host state, but it was buried early in the evening schedule, between rousing Newark mayor Cory Booker and someone's poignant personal story. Perdue's speech was unremarkable - perhaps fitting for her final significant public moment as governor.

And the Ugly

We thought everyone knew this by now: Don't compare the other party to Nazis. Even if it's not a direct comparison, but a similarity to something a Nazi may have said. Really, don't.

In a story published Tuesday, veteran Kansas delegate Pat Lehman criticized Republicans for saying voter ID laws were designed to combat voter fraud. “It’s like Hitler said, if you’re going to tell a lie, tell a big lie, and if you tell it often enough and say it in a loud enough voice, some people are going to believe you,” Lehman said.

It's another example that extremism is not partisan. But it might be catchy. On Monday, John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party, likened Republicans to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Soon after, Burton left Charlotte for California for a previously scheduled dental surgery, the state party said. Insert foot in mouth joke here.

Women talk about women's issues

Women want to be heard during the DNC about their issues. Here are the words of a few who sent responses to our Monday feature.

From Marty Folsom of Statesville:I'm completely on board with the messages of the "We Are Women, Hear Us" feature in the Sept. 3 Viewpoint - equal pay for equal work, health care, freedom of choice, quality education. No rape is legitimate. I would also like to see all forms of harassment and bullying addressed.

My cousin and I (I'm Democrat, she's Republican) recently had several conversations about liberal and conservative viewpoints. After going back and forth, we agreed to disagree, but didn't stop there. We started talking about the issues upon which we do agree, that seem to be lost in today's political environment. We believe addressing these issues would go a long way to solving the rigid partisanship and help us build a better country.

Some of our thoughts:

Abolish the Electoral College: One vote counts as one vote.
Meaningful Election Reform: No donations from other countries, limit the campaign time periods, all primaries/caucuses the same day, no mud-slinging. It's one thing to point out differences. Character assassination is not necessary.
Meaningful Tax Reform: Balanced budget, including balance the burden.
All legislation must be for single issues and voted up or down on its merits and necessity. No riders or amendments.
All nominations for judgeships and other federal appointments - up and down votes.

We had other thoughts, but you get the drift. If we want to fix our country, we have to fix the way we do business, first.

From Joyce Wynes:A big thanks for your article on Women's Issues in your labor day paper today.

I have been a women's activist since the early 70's for Roe vs. Wade and Planned Parenthood so 2 years ago when the GOP won the majority in the house and started out immediately trying to legislate what women could decide to do about their health problems, I became very agitated. As the months rolled by and they failed to raise any issues about the state of our economy, but instead focused on women's bodies, I didn't know what to do to wake up my sisters of today to the problems that they were ignoring or were unaware of trying to be legislated through Congress.

Contraceptives, Personhood, Abortion, Equal Pay for Equal Work! Where is this coming from and why are they focusing on women when our country is in need of bipartisan action? I want to inspire women to speak up for their rights. I don't believe this fight is about whether you believe in abortion or you don't but whether government has the right to legislate our body decisions. That is a personal decision and each woman has to live with their decisions. Also, on June 5, Congress (GOP) voted no for the Fair Pay Act, Equal Pay for Equal Work for Women. Need I say more!

I am an fine artist and professional illustrator and have painted other political paintings to bring clarity to subjects near and dear to my heart and ones that I feel are very important to expose to the American public. It helps me work out my frustrations and seems like the way that I can do something to give back to society and give voice to the issues. I am always surprised that more artists don't use that voice in their paintings or art but it works for me.

I started a series of paintings called, "I Am Woman, I Can Fly" and I have finished 2 in the series but have plans for 4 more. I use live, flying objects such as birds, butterflies, etc., to represent women overcoming the obstacles of society and soaring above them to succeed in their endeavors.

The text says, Sisters, we're not being heard. Don't let the hard work of the past be overturned because we failed to pay attention. Speak louder.

Michelle Obama charms the DNC

Michelle Obama reminded everyone why she is President Obama’s best weapon and most powerful asset in his campaign for reelection. With a combination of charm and passion, she not only made people remember why they voted for him four years ago but gave a forceful case for why he should get the job again.

And like Ann Romney did for her husband, Republican challenger Mitt Romney, at last week’s Republican National Convention, the First Lady used her Democratic National Convention to personalize the president, reminding people of their roots and devoted family life with two daughters.

And she didn’t let Ann Romney have the monopoly on talking about love: “Today I love my husband even more than I did four years ago... I love that for Barack, there is no such thing as ‘us’ and ‘them’ - he doesn’t care whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or none of the above... he knows that we all love our country...”

Those words were a reminder of the reach-across-the-aisle attitude President Obama had four years ago, an attitude that many welcomed, that some called naive and an attitude that has not been reciprocated in the divisive uber partisan environment in Washington.

She pointed out in particular that Obama has focused on issues that have aided women like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and noted that the president knows that “women are more than capable of making their own choices.”

The speech had convention-goers on their feet and the First Lady herself moved to near tears. It was a showcase for Michelle Obama, and a rousing culmination of the first day of speeches at the DNC.

Posted by Fannie Flono

DNC Quick Take: Anthony Foxx's speech

Charlotte's mayor had a straightforward but challenging job moments ago at the Democratic National Convention:

Introduce himself. Introduce his city. Remind everyone in the audience and beyond why Democrats are here this week.

The challenging part? Tie it all together - in about three and a half minutes.

But sometimes the most powerful messages are the briefest. Anthony Foxx, draped by video image of uptown, put together six elegant paragraphs to kick off the Democratic National Convention in earnest. He tied his story with his city's story, recalling how black families and white families decided together nearly a half century ago to break down barriers that had divided their children.

"I was one of those children," he said, and he described how that opportunity took him from West Charlotte High to Davidson College to here, on a stage as the mayor of the DNC's host city.

The values he learned along the way, he said, are values that Obama shares. "All Americans," he said, "should have a fair shot to go as far as their talents take them."

It was a simple and strong message - a reminder of the principle behind the party. It was a good moment for Charlotte - and its mayor.

Peter St. Onge

Michelle Obama previews her DNC speech

First Lady Michelle Obama gave us a preview of her speech in a conference call a little while ago with few female writers including associate editor Fannie Flono. From her comments this afternoon, she will not only be making the case for her husband's reelection but directly targeting women voters pointing out the stark differences in how the Democrats and Republicans are treating women's issues. Some of the differences have been highlighted over the last few weeks with controversial comments from some Republicans about women's reproductive issues and use of words such as "legitimate rape" which met a storm of women's outrage.

Obama was joined for the conference call by Obama for America Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter, who said "there was no one fighting harder for our daughters and the next generation of women than the president and Mrs. Obama."

Here's some of what Michelle Obama said: "Tonight's a big night for me and for the Democratic Party. I'm looking forward to reminding people across the country about the qualities and experiences that make my husband the man and the president he is today. And I've had an upclose look at just how hard Barack has worked to move this country forward, to rescue our economy and rebuild our middle-class and give our children the opportunities they deserve. So I'm really excited about talking to everyone about giving him a chance to finish the job that we elected him to do four years ago."

Obama went on to focus attention where Ann Romney did in her speech last week at the Republican National Convention where her husband Mitt Romney received the GOP presidential nomination - on women. Michelle Obama said it was important for women to know what is at stake in this election: This time of year when school's starting and children are returning to class puts things into perspective. Many of the issues being debated in this election, she said, will affect our children not just now but in the future, and the futures of their own children.

The First Lady talked about health care. She said the president knows that women need the full range of health care services and that they need to make their own choices about health care. "He's fought so hard for historic health care reform and because of that fight insurance companies now have to cover basic preventative care, things like contraception, mammograms, prenatal care - at no extra cost. Insurance companies now can't charge us extra for those services just because we're women. And mothers can understand that our kids can now stay on our insurance until they're 26 years old."

Michelle Obama called those and other health care reform changes in the still controversial Affordable Care Act "huge steps for women all across the country." And she cautioned that those changes would endangered if her husband wasn't reelected. "That's the choice," she said.

What else is at stake? Women's workplace issues. The First Lady pointed to the president's signing of the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act as indication of his belief that women should be paid the same as men for the same work. So many women are breadwinners for their families so women's success is key to the family's success in this economy, she noted.

Issues like equal pay and health care aren't just women's issues, they're family issues that are important to entire communities, she said.

She says the president is "working to have an economy where hard work pays off, and where everyone plays by the same rules and all of our daughters and our sons have a fair shot at success in this country." That's what president Obama has been fighting for and that's what he'll continue to fight for if he's elected for the next four years, she said.

"I'm going to be doing everything I can to make sure everyone, especially our mothers and daughters, sisters and our best friends, neighbors understand what's at stake in November because while we've come a long way in Barack's first term, it is critical that we keep moving forward. There is so much that is on the line for us as women, not just for the next four years but for decades to come," she said.

Posted by Fannie Flono

Republicans on Obama's 'I': Not incomplete, but incompetent

In the southern corner of uptown, sandwiched between a rally for Planned Parenthood and protest to free Bradley Manning, Republicans gleefully trashed Barack Obama on the economy again Tuesday afternoon.

It's a daily event in the basement of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, much like the regular news conferences of Democratic officials in Tampa last week. But unlike then, the opposition party has thus far taken hold of the convention's messaging nationally - and with no Democrats on stage yet, the GOP message is getting more play than any of the protests and rallies that have dotted the streets and ballrooms of uptown.

At the Hall of Fame, the theme was similar to Monday: Are you better off now than four years ago? But speakers also teed off today on Obama's answer over the weekend to a Colorado TV reporter's question on the economy.

From USA Today:

Reporter Dianne Derby asked Obama, "your party says you inherited a bad situation -- you've had three and a half years to fix it -- what grade would you give yourself so far for doing that?"

Replied Obama: "You know I would say incomplete. But what I would say is the steps that we have taken in saving the auto industry, in making sure that college is more affordable and investing in clean energy and science and technology and research, those are all the things that we are going to need to grow over the long term."

Republicans dutifully, and colorfully, pounced. Said South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley: "I have a 10 year old and a 14 year old. If they came home with an incomplete, I'd know they failed."

Mitt Romney surrogate John Sununu, unvarnished as always, followed: "He thought the 'I' was for incomplete. The 'I' was for 'incompetent'.

Sununu noted that he once taught at Tufts University near Boston, and he remembered students who took an incomplete. "It was the students who failed to meet their expectations," he said. "It was the students who failed to do what they were required to do."

The economy has been - and will to continue to be - a difficult issue for Democrats this week. They've argued, statistically and otherwise, that America is better off now than it was when George Bush left office. But they'll need to find the seam of acknowledging the difficulties Americans still face while emphasizing what they see as a steady improvement.

Their case begins in a few hours, when the national lens turns toward the stage at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Peter St. Onge

Getting votes by peering at your grocery receipt

What's your favorite ice cream? Really? That's Obama's too! Vote for him!

OK, that may be a stretch, but only a little bit. Political campaigns are getting ever savvier about targeting their messages down to an individual level. So it won't be long before you start seeing ads along that ice cream line.

Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who worked in the Clinton administration, said this morning that political campaigns are constantly looking for ways to get past the "Tivo problem." Thanks to technology, the days of people sitting through several minutes of TV commercials are gone.

When a TV ad comes on these days, "people dive on the remote like it's a live hand grenade," Lehane said at a Politico breakfast hosted by Politico's Mike Allen and co-sponsored by the Observer.

So campaigns are increasingly buying 15-second spots, and even 10-second spots, rather than 30-second ads. That gives them a chance of reaching viewers' short attention span. More importantly, those shorter spots are the last ones before a show returns from a commercial break, so they're more likely to be seen.

Other techniques Lehane mentioned:

• Buy more ads on live programming, such as sports, which people are more likely to watch live.


• Target ads to individuals based on their preferences, culled from things like frequent shopper programs. "The amount of data you can get and use to target people is pretty significant," Lehane said.


• With early voting so prevalent, campaigns can see who has already voted, ask them poll questions and use their answers to help shape how they target voters in the final weeks of the campaign.

Another speaker at today's Politico breakfast also talked about targeting voters. Guy Cecil, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, talked about the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Colorado. In a tight race between Democrat Michael Bennet and Republican Ken Buck, Democrats didn't go after just any vote. They went after Hispanics, and they especially targeted independent women living in the suburbs of Denver and the suburbs of Colorado Springs.

That meant TV ads heavy on Bennet's pro-choice stance. Ads about the deficit, a hot topic in many 2010 races, were scarce. Bennet won by just over 1 percentage point.

Cecil, who knows the gritty details of politics in every state in the nation, was asked about Obama's chances in North Carolina this year. He said it will be extremely close and added: "North Carolina and Virginia are permanent battlegrounds because of the population changes in those states."

-- Taylor Batten

DNC Day 1: The Good and Bad (and Ugly)

It was a light first day of the Democratic National Convention, but some participants certainly had good days and bad days:

The Good

Republicans: It's a good day any time you control the media message when your opposition is holding a convention. On Monday, that message was a question straight out of 1980: Are you better off than you were four years ago?

Administration and campaign officials stumbled over the question on Sunday talk shows, so on Monday, Republicans rode the theme hard. Paul Ryan channeled his inner Ronald Reagan in Greenville, N.C., asking The Question and helpfully supplying some iffy but effective supporting statistics.

By the end of the day, Democrats had found their voice and declared that yes, America was better off than when George Bush left office. "General Motors is alive and Bin Laden is dead," vice president Joe Biden said.

Still, it's a difficult question for Democrats to navigate, and Republicans will surely keep asking it today. Will convention speakers feel compelled to respond?

CarolinaFest (Part 1): The day started out wonderfully on Tryon Street. A strong lineup of musical performances. A diverse crowd enjoying the sun and spectacle. People-watchers looking (in vain, mostly) for a celeb who might have wandered out.

And also, no trouble to speak of, save some unsurprising traffic issues in uptown. All in all, the kind of festive day organizers had hoped for, until ...

The Bad

CarolinaFest (Part 2): So it rained. On a hot, humid afternoon. In early September. This is not a surprise, but it sent spectators scattering before they could fully enjoy the biggest of the musical performances, including North Carolina's James Taylor.

It was a reminder that while the Carolinas in September can be glorious, there are some perils in scheduling outdoor events. (Like, um, acceptance speeches?)

The Ugly

Protesters: Another non-surprise. We didn't expect protesters would be satisfied with a meek, police-choreographed march through uptown Sunday. On Monday, demonstrators freelanced a bit, sneaking into a Labor Day parade during the day, then blocking uptown traffic on a march to Marshall Park at night.

As happened Sunday, police showed the kind of flexibility that has kept Charlotte calm thus far, letting the protesters have their say without any real trouble. The ugly? We could've done without the obscene signs that some demonstrators brought to the family-friendly Labor Day parade.

“Arrogance is disrespectful,” one protester said. “ ‘F------’ is not.” Or, maybe, both are.

Peter St. Onge