| The Democratic National Convention and the Nomination of U.S. Senator Barack Obama Witnesses to a historical moment |
a superdelegate and committed to Obama. Frances Huntley-Cooper and Stan Davis were elected Obama delegates and Celia Jackson an alternate at the
Second Congressional District’s Democratic caucuses. They were joined in Denver by Al Cooper, who attended the convention as an observer.
Over the course of four issues of The Capital City Hues, we are reliving the historic Democratic convention through their eyes.
Wednesday, August 27
Wednesday started out for many of the delegates as a Day of Service as thousands of delegates spread out throughout Denver to work at schools and non-
profits during the morning. Frances Huntley-Cooper worked at Cole School an elementary school that recently opened in a renovated high school in one of
Denver’s more economically challenged neighborhoods. While she thought she had signed up for a reading class, she was assigned to work on a science
project, which went okay.
Huntley-Cooper wore her Barack Obama shirt and the kids positively reacted. “What was interesting to hear was the kids come up and say ‘Oh, we’re voting
for him,’” Huntley-Cooper said. “’We’re voting for Obama.’ It was exciting to see these little children who knew that Obama was running and that they would vote
for him. These were third graders. It gave me hope for these young children coming up to really believe that they can dream and be whatever it is that they want
to be.”
When the delegates convened at the Pepsi Center, the main order of business was casting votes for the nomination of the president. While Barack Obama
had clinched the nomination two months before, it was still an exciting moment. “Traditionally, they do the roll call of all the states,” Huntley-Cooper said. “The
vote was passed around. It started out alphabetical. But then California passed. They then proceeded in order until it reached Illinois, which also passed. After
some more states, New Mexico yielded to New York so New York and Hillary could put Barack over the top. Hillary was the spokesperson for the New York
delegation. She then asked that the rules be suspended and allow all votes to be cast by acclamation for Barack Obama as the nominee of the Democratic
Party. And the crowd just roared. The chair asked for a second. And that was how the nomination went over. After the New York delegation, that was it.”
While the formal voting was over, Huntley-Cooper and the other delegates who hadn’t publicly voted, were allowed to cast their votes on paper, thus becoming a
part of the historical moment.
Stan Davis, who had been very disappointed by the comments that Bill and Hillary Clinton had made in the heat of the primary race, was very impressed
with Hillary. “The moment that history actually happened was when she walked down on that floor, stopped the roll call and made the motion,” Davis said. “From
where I was, I couldn’t physically see her because there was media between where we were and the New York delegation was. But I was watching it on the big
screen and all I could think was ‘This has to be tearing her guts out to do this.’ It’s like they said ‘Not only did you lose, but in addition, you have to come down
and raise the other guy’s hand.’ On the flight home, I was sitting next to a delegate from Massachusetts. She was a Hillary delegate and we had a really good
discussion. She had been in Massachusetts politics for 40-50 years. And she said ‘You know, I lived through 1980 when Ted Kennedy lost to Carter — and I am
close to Ted Kennedy — and Ted Kennedy after giving a very weak speech at the convention supporting Carter, never lifted a finger to help Carter. I don’t think
another politician in the arena would have done what Hillary Clinton did to the extent that she did it.’ I don’t know if no one else would have, but I have to take
my hat off to her for stepping up and really doing everything you could have asked of her in what had to personally have been really tough.”
Celia Jackson noted that John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic candidate, gave probably the best speech she had ever heard him give. But it was no match for
the moment when former President Bill Clinton took the stage. “That crowd would not stop clapping for him when he first came on,” Jackson recalled. “It was
really amazing to watch that. I just think he sealed the deal all the way around without a doubt. Even the move for acclamation occurred on the same day. I
think it left no doubt regarding the Clintons’ endorsement. While certainly Hillary and Bill are a team as a married couple, they both carry their own weight
independently throughout this campaign. So it really was important even in addition to what Senator Clinton did to have President Clinton come forward and
really endorse and state unequivocally that he was ready to lead. I thought he did that very convincingly.”
State Senator Lena Taylor was equally impressed with Clinton and always knew that Clinton would do the right thing. “When Bill Clinton got up there to
speak, there were several things that really got me,” Taylor said. “He was just great all around. But what I really loved was he said basically ‘You know, they said I
wasn’t experienced and I wasn’t this and I wasn’t that. Have you heard that before?’ The crowd just roared. It was so cute because it was so real for what Barack
has been experiencing.’ It was basically Bill saying that it wasn’t true then and it isn’t true now. I was standing up yelling ‘Bill, I love you.’”
Bill Clinton was a hard act to follow, but Senator Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, was up to the task when he accepted the
nomination. His son Bo was the one who introduced him. “His introduction of his dad and all of what he said and the sharing of the Christmas story and how their
lives were impacted when his father was about to be sworn in as senator and the whole relationship with his mother Jill, I just thought it was very, very powerful,
very emotional and heartfelt,” Jackson said. “You got it real loud and clear when Joe Biden stepped onto the stage behind that description and how his son
introduced him to the podium.”
Davis was also impressed with the commitment to family that Biden brought. “I thought the most impactful part of Senator Biden’s presentation was when he
brought out what seemed like the million people who were a part of his family,” Davis recalled. “The imagery of that as these people and grandkids and cousins
kept coming out gave you a sense that there is a person behind the speeches and foreign policy discussion and you realize that this is the guy that takes the train
back and forth to Wilmington every day and doesn’t live in Washington and all of the things that the spin machine cranked out, which were all true. The funniest
part was when his grandson — I think this was when television was already off — they couldn’t get him off the stage. He kept trying to get over to the podium. I
thought there was no question that was Biden’s kid. He was all about getting to that microphone.”
Taylor was originally skeptical about Biden, but went along, at first, because Obama had selected him. But as she got to know Biden through his speech,
she liked what she saw. “I have to say to you that Joe’s story is the reality for so many people,” Taylor observed. “He was a single parent. Many people don’t know
that. I think the thing I was most impressed by with Joe was that he wasn’t willing to go serve because he said ‘They can get another senator, but my kids can’t get
another father.’ His wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident. I didn’t know that he got sworn in at the hospital. People like Ted Kennedy and others
spoke to him and said ‘We need you. You need to do this.’ That’s how he went on and got sworn in to be a senator because he wasn’t going to do it. I was
impressed. I think the people who excite me the most are down-to-earth kinds of people, people that ordinary people can relate to. His blue collar roots are most
important because the people who have made America are people like my father. Joe Biden touches that story of the single parent. Frankly, it touched me in a
way that I can’t express right now. I was all tears. There are so many single moms and single dads out there today. So for me, it was just a wild moment. I was all
tears that night.”
Next Issue: The acceptance speech of Barack Obama
Second Congressional District’s Democratic caucuses. They were joined in Denver by Al Cooper, who attended the convention as an observer.
Over the course of four issues of The Capital City Hues, we are reliving the historic Democratic convention through their eyes.
Wednesday, August 27
Wednesday started out for many of the delegates as a Day of Service as thousands of delegates spread out throughout Denver to work at schools and non-
profits during the morning. Frances Huntley-Cooper worked at Cole School an elementary school that recently opened in a renovated high school in one of
Denver’s more economically challenged neighborhoods. While she thought she had signed up for a reading class, she was assigned to work on a science
project, which went okay.
Huntley-Cooper wore her Barack Obama shirt and the kids positively reacted. “What was interesting to hear was the kids come up and say ‘Oh, we’re voting
for him,’” Huntley-Cooper said. “’We’re voting for Obama.’ It was exciting to see these little children who knew that Obama was running and that they would vote
for him. These were third graders. It gave me hope for these young children coming up to really believe that they can dream and be whatever it is that they want
to be.”
When the delegates convened at the Pepsi Center, the main order of business was casting votes for the nomination of the president. While Barack Obama
had clinched the nomination two months before, it was still an exciting moment. “Traditionally, they do the roll call of all the states,” Huntley-Cooper said. “The
vote was passed around. It started out alphabetical. But then California passed. They then proceeded in order until it reached Illinois, which also passed. After
some more states, New Mexico yielded to New York so New York and Hillary could put Barack over the top. Hillary was the spokesperson for the New York
delegation. She then asked that the rules be suspended and allow all votes to be cast by acclamation for Barack Obama as the nominee of the Democratic
Party. And the crowd just roared. The chair asked for a second. And that was how the nomination went over. After the New York delegation, that was it.”
While the formal voting was over, Huntley-Cooper and the other delegates who hadn’t publicly voted, were allowed to cast their votes on paper, thus becoming a
part of the historical moment.
Stan Davis, who had been very disappointed by the comments that Bill and Hillary Clinton had made in the heat of the primary race, was very impressed
with Hillary. “The moment that history actually happened was when she walked down on that floor, stopped the roll call and made the motion,” Davis said. “From
where I was, I couldn’t physically see her because there was media between where we were and the New York delegation was. But I was watching it on the big
screen and all I could think was ‘This has to be tearing her guts out to do this.’ It’s like they said ‘Not only did you lose, but in addition, you have to come down
and raise the other guy’s hand.’ On the flight home, I was sitting next to a delegate from Massachusetts. She was a Hillary delegate and we had a really good
discussion. She had been in Massachusetts politics for 40-50 years. And she said ‘You know, I lived through 1980 when Ted Kennedy lost to Carter — and I am
close to Ted Kennedy — and Ted Kennedy after giving a very weak speech at the convention supporting Carter, never lifted a finger to help Carter. I don’t think
another politician in the arena would have done what Hillary Clinton did to the extent that she did it.’ I don’t know if no one else would have, but I have to take
my hat off to her for stepping up and really doing everything you could have asked of her in what had to personally have been really tough.”
Celia Jackson noted that John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic candidate, gave probably the best speech she had ever heard him give. But it was no match for
the moment when former President Bill Clinton took the stage. “That crowd would not stop clapping for him when he first came on,” Jackson recalled. “It was
really amazing to watch that. I just think he sealed the deal all the way around without a doubt. Even the move for acclamation occurred on the same day. I
think it left no doubt regarding the Clintons’ endorsement. While certainly Hillary and Bill are a team as a married couple, they both carry their own weight
independently throughout this campaign. So it really was important even in addition to what Senator Clinton did to have President Clinton come forward and
really endorse and state unequivocally that he was ready to lead. I thought he did that very convincingly.”
State Senator Lena Taylor was equally impressed with Clinton and always knew that Clinton would do the right thing. “When Bill Clinton got up there to
speak, there were several things that really got me,” Taylor said. “He was just great all around. But what I really loved was he said basically ‘You know, they said I
wasn’t experienced and I wasn’t this and I wasn’t that. Have you heard that before?’ The crowd just roared. It was so cute because it was so real for what Barack
has been experiencing.’ It was basically Bill saying that it wasn’t true then and it isn’t true now. I was standing up yelling ‘Bill, I love you.’”
Bill Clinton was a hard act to follow, but Senator Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, was up to the task when he accepted the
nomination. His son Bo was the one who introduced him. “His introduction of his dad and all of what he said and the sharing of the Christmas story and how their
lives were impacted when his father was about to be sworn in as senator and the whole relationship with his mother Jill, I just thought it was very, very powerful,
very emotional and heartfelt,” Jackson said. “You got it real loud and clear when Joe Biden stepped onto the stage behind that description and how his son
introduced him to the podium.”
Davis was also impressed with the commitment to family that Biden brought. “I thought the most impactful part of Senator Biden’s presentation was when he
brought out what seemed like the million people who were a part of his family,” Davis recalled. “The imagery of that as these people and grandkids and cousins
kept coming out gave you a sense that there is a person behind the speeches and foreign policy discussion and you realize that this is the guy that takes the train
back and forth to Wilmington every day and doesn’t live in Washington and all of the things that the spin machine cranked out, which were all true. The funniest
part was when his grandson — I think this was when television was already off — they couldn’t get him off the stage. He kept trying to get over to the podium. I
thought there was no question that was Biden’s kid. He was all about getting to that microphone.”
Taylor was originally skeptical about Biden, but went along, at first, because Obama had selected him. But as she got to know Biden through his speech,
she liked what she saw. “I have to say to you that Joe’s story is the reality for so many people,” Taylor observed. “He was a single parent. Many people don’t know
that. I think the thing I was most impressed by with Joe was that he wasn’t willing to go serve because he said ‘They can get another senator, but my kids can’t get
another father.’ His wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident. I didn’t know that he got sworn in at the hospital. People like Ted Kennedy and others
spoke to him and said ‘We need you. You need to do this.’ That’s how he went on and got sworn in to be a senator because he wasn’t going to do it. I was
impressed. I think the people who excite me the most are down-to-earth kinds of people, people that ordinary people can relate to. His blue collar roots are most
important because the people who have made America are people like my father. Joe Biden touches that story of the single parent. Frankly, it touched me in a
way that I can’t express right now. I was all tears. There are so many single moms and single dads out there today. So for me, it was just a wild moment. I was all
tears that night.”
Next Issue: The acceptance speech of Barack Obama
Frances Huntley-Cooper (l) and Al Cooper at home
after a full week of the Democratic National
Convention
after a full week of the Democratic National
Convention
| Stan Davis (l-r), State Senator Lena Taylor and Wis. Dept. of Regulation & Licensing Secretary Celia Jackson at Mile High Stadium when Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech. |
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 3 of 4
After U.S. Sen. Barack Obama won the Iowa
caucuses in early January, his supporters began to
realize that that is candidacy was viable and more
than what dreams are made of. A groundswell of
support — particularly in the African American
community — built as Obama won important contests
including the Wisconsin primary on February 19. And
many of his supporters began to make plans to be
there when Obama became the Democratic nominee
at the Democratic National Convention in Denver
August 25-28.
State Sen. Lena Taylor — by virtue of being a
member of the Democratic National Committee — was
Part 3 of 4
After U.S. Sen. Barack Obama won the Iowa
caucuses in early January, his supporters began to
realize that that is candidacy was viable and more
than what dreams are made of. A groundswell of
support — particularly in the African American
community — built as Obama won important contests
including the Wisconsin primary on February 19. And
many of his supporters began to make plans to be
there when Obama became the Democratic nominee
at the Democratic National Convention in Denver
August 25-28.
State Sen. Lena Taylor — by virtue of being a
member of the Democratic National Committee — was