I left for Milwaukee around 1:30 p.m. and was trying to find out where my line was outside the building. After several false starts, I found the Press line and took my turn taking all metals out of my pockets, turning my equipment off and on and walking through the metal detector. It is a wonder to me that they could do this inspection on 18,000 people or so in a relatively short amount of time.

There were relatively few people who had taken their seats in arena that is the Milwaukee Bucks’ home court. A platform in the round was set up in the enter of the court. Since the facility is relatively round in nature with people seated in every direction, Kamala and Tim would be addressing the crowd by casually turning in the four directions.

There were two risers for the photographers and the cameras, one in “front” where the teleprompter was located and one to the side. At first I decided to stand on the floor right next to the teleprompter. Since the speakers would be turning during their speeches, I opted for the riser on the right side as there were a zillion TV cameras and video cameras taking up all the available space.

While the press had to be there by 4 p.m., the event didn’t start until 7 p.m. To fill the time, you can do shop talk with the other press folks and watch the arena fill up with energetic supporters. Back in the days of Barack Obama’s campaigns, there were a lot of the minority press present. There would be folks like Betty Banks, the late Gaddi Ben Dan and Jeanne Erickson there and people from The Milwaukee Times and the Milwaukee Chronicle. Now there was only a handful of us. The only person I recognized was Yolanda from The Milwaukee Times. My how the nature of journalism has changed in the last 8-12 years.

I also had time to think during that time. And as we waited for the Harris-Walz team to appear, it occurred to me why Trump had raised such a stink about the perfectly legal and executed switch from Biden to Harris. For Trump, it wasn’t as much an election campaign as it was a grudge match. Trump’s narcissistic ego was driving him to defeat Biden personally. It was something that he had been obsessing about for the past four years. While Trump publicly said the 2020 election had been stolen from him, in his heart, he knew that Biden had won fair and square. And the loast thing that Trump wanted was to go down in history as a defeated former p-resident after four years. It was personal and it drove Trump crazy when Biden with drew and Harris took his place. The possibility of revenge and the humiliation of Biden was no more and it has taken Trump a long time to transition.

What was really cool was that the video feed during the Harris-Walz team’s Milwaukee appearance and the roll call of votes would be simultaneously shared in the Fiserv Forum and Chicago’s United Center.

And so around 7 p.m., we received the video feed from The United Center as each state ceremoniously cast their votes. A DJ ran the show and played music from each state as the representatives cast their votes. It was truly a festive atmosphere. There were a lot of Black women serving as the representative from their state who would cast the votes for Kamala Harris. Their eyes glistened with pride during this historic moment. It was beautiful to see.

And then about halfway through the roll call vote, the action — and the video feed — switched to the Fiserv Forum and Tim Walz took center stage. I want to say that he spoke for 10-15 minutes. During his remarks, the educator and football coach surfaced as he used some football terminology and spoke about the team.

As he left the stage, the roll call vote continued with Wisconsin coming near the end. I love Governor Tony Earl because he is so unassuming and real, but also a very effective executive. He was so excited about announcing the votes for Wisconsinite Kamala Harris — her parents were employed by UW-Madison in the late 1960s, I believe — and engaged in the music, that he flubbed his lines a couple of ties. But he was finally able to cast his votes for Kamala Harris.

And then as the last vote was tallied, Kamala Harris took the stage with Tim Walz. And Kamala gave a wonderful speech. I remember saying to myself as she was speaking, ‘She can win this thing.’ Kamala is a very effective speaker.

And it was interesting to watch how Kamala and Tim almost danced as Kamala turned to address another segment of the audience. Tim would always maneuver behind her, urging the audience to clap and holler at times, but also always very aware not to take any attention away from Kamala. He knew his role and was very effective at it.

After Kamala ended her speech and walked off stage, the video feed once again went to The United Center and we were ushered out of the Fiserv Forum with a large projection TV set up outside for those who wanted to stay and watch the Obamas together.

I can’t help but chuckle to myself that Trump was probably driven to distraction during Kamala’s speech. After all, not only did she fill up Fiserv Forum where Trump had given his own speech as a part of the Republican National Convention, but she also filled up the 22,500 United Center. 40,000 people heard that speech. Top that Donald Trump.

It is going to be an exciting campaign trail with ups and downs experience by both sides. People need to be a part of history on November 5^th just as they turned out in record numbers to elect Barack Obama. They need to cast their ballots and be a part of Kamala Harris becoming the first African American woman and first Indian American elected President of the United States. After seeing her in person on August 20^th, I could see that Yes She Can not only be elected president but also serve in a way that would make us all proud. Go Kamala Go!