DNC Day 4 Mega-Photo Recap!

[EarlG]

Greetings from the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia! I am officially too exhausted to write a proper introduction!

DNC Day 1 Mega-Photo Recap!
DNC Day 2 Mega-Photo Recap!
DNC Day 3 Mega-Photo Recap!


We started our day as usual, picking up credentials at the Convention Center. A small contingent of pro-Palestine protesters were doing their thing outside when we got there.




Inside the Convention Center, I got myself a nice "Dads for Hillary 2016" button to go on my DU shirt.




Then I headed up to Hall G to prepare the Day 3 recap, while Skinner poked around the Convention Center to see what he could see. What he ended up seeing was Bowzer from Sha Na Na at the Seniors Coordinating Council meeting. He said he made a living performing music from the 50s and 60s, "But I don't want to return to the 50s and 60s."




Skinner also saw Corey Booker addressing the LGBT Caucus...




And inside Hall G we ran into -- and had a nice chat with -- blogger extraordinaire and DU member Egberto Willies.




Then it was time to leave the Convention Center and head over to the arena, but wouldn't you know it -- it was absolutely pouring with rain outside. Fortunately they were giving out ponchos on the way out, which provided us with our best look of the convention so far.




Philadelphia City Hall getting wet.




What's up with all this damn rain, Benjamin Franklin?!?




We spotted another donkey! Georgia this time. Only 54 to go! You know, somehow I don't think we're going to manage to find all of these things before the end of the convention.




Since we stayed downtown today instead of going back to our hotel, we rode the subway instead of the media shuttle.




Arena time! And no sooner did we arrive than we spotted former RNC chief Michael Steele...




And Andrea Mitchell. I think she was asking Alan Greenspan if he'd remembered to feed the cat.




We had managed to score a second hall pass for Thursday, the only problem was that mine was a media pass and Skinner's was a guest pass, which meant that we had to sit in different sections...




Although technically we were still able to sit next to each other.




Caution: EarlG




Intriguing plastic bags attached to all the seats informed us that we would be part of a "card stunt" later in the evening.




Aaaaaaand.... nap time.




Unfortunately we were stuck up behind the stage again, so our photo-taking angle wasn't great. But we still had a good view of the proceedings. Early speakers included...

Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign, who fired up the crowd




Sarah McBride, the first transgender American to ever speak at a national political convention




Dolores Huerta




Katie McGinty, running for Senate in Pennsylvania




And Tammy Duckworth.




Here's a pic of me taking a pic...




...of the balloons that were going to be covering the arena floor in a few hours.




VIDEO: Carole King got everyone on their feet


More speakers!

James Clyburn




Barbara Mikulski




Elizabeth Warren




And Barbara Boxer.




By this point there were lots of sore butts and rapidly discharging batteries up here in the press section.




Here come the Hillary signs...








More speakers!

Nancy Pelosi




John Hickenlooper




Tom Wolf




Jennifer Granholm




Former Reagan administration official Doug Elmets, who got a big cheer with the line, "I knew Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump, you are no Ronald Reagan"




Reverend William Barber, who absolutely rocked the house




And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who got a laugh by introducing himself as Michael Jordan and then saying that Donald Trump probably couldn't tell the difference.




The arena had been packed for hours by this point -- nobody could leave (unless you wanted to lose your seat) and our phone batteries were getting disturbingly low.




Nevertheless, we still managed to get some pictures of...

General John Allen




Chloe Grace Moretz




Sherrod Brown




And Katy Perry.





Video of Katy Perry


And finally it was time for the big moment -- first up was Chelsea Clinton...




Followed by her mom -- the next President of the United States!

Video of Hillary's big entrance


















I have no idea how the speech came across on TV because I still haven't seen video of it, but in the hall the atmosphere was electric and the crowd was utterly enthusiastic, despite the constant interruptions from a small hardcore group of "busters." Hillary seemed to handle the interruptions with aplomb, and I particularly liked her line -- delivered with a smile -- about how Donald Trump loses his cool when he sees protesters at rallies. The comment was aimed at Trump, but the subtext was obvious.

When the speech was over, it was time for... card stunt!




Except nobody seemed to know what to do, despite relatively clear instructions. So we all held up our cards and hoped for the best.




I have no idea how this came across on TV but it actually looked pretty cool inside the hall!








These are the eyes of a man who has not left his seat for seven hours.




Fireworks!




Total balloon madness!




And with the convention officially wrapped up, it was time to head for the exits.






Let's do this again in four years, assuming the circulation has returned to our legs by then.




PS. Finally, I wanted to give one more shout-out to DUer JusticeForAll, whom I met briefly on day 3, and also DUer Gothmog, whom we tried to meet up with at the end of day 4 but were thwarted by the madness of the end of the convention -- sorry we couldn't get over to you. Hope to see you -- and more DUers -- next time!

Thanks for reading!

[Iliyah]

1. K & R

[senseandsensibility]

24. Sorry, responded to the wrong person

eom

[ismnotwasm]

2. K&R

These have been really a treat! Thank you!

[Bobbie Jo]

3. Have enjoyed your adventure in Philly!

Thanks for taking us along!

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed reading these.

I am in awe of your stamina.

Pssst, next convention have one of these on you. Never leave home without it in my purse! The jealous looks I get when I use it is priceless. I've actually had total strangers ask if they could borrow it for a 15 minute hit.
https://www.amazon.com/Poweradd-Pilot-2GS-10000mAh-Portable/dp/B00ITILPZ4/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1469818539&sr=1-2&keywords=portable+phone+charger

[yallerdawg]

5. Brilliant!

The four days was like you bringing us along!

It is so nice to "take a trip and never leave the farm!"

[Renew Deal]

6. Thanks for all the pictures

I don't think the "card stunt" came out well on TV, but the rest of the convention did.

[geardaddy]

7. Thanks for the Play-by-Play and all the pictures

I wasn't quite sure what was going on the card event. I though maybe attendants were trying to spell things out, but it was unclear to me on the TV.

Again, thanks for your account of the Convention!

[sheshe2]

8. EarlG and Skinner

Thanks for bringing this home to us, you guys did great!

[blue neen]

9. Thanks for the pics!

It was wonderful to see DU represented at the greatest political convention of my lifetime!

[ffr]

10. Good feeling of what it was like to be there.

BTW,

What were the Card Stunt cards suppose to spell out in the upper bleachers? The cameras panned across the sections and you could kind of make out letters, but not everyone was holding up their cards.

Anyone know?

[bhusar]

11. Nice photos.

[Libby2]

12. Fantastic!

Thank you so much for sharing. I've really enjoyed your pictures and commentary.

[KT2000]

13. Fantastic pics and reporting

Loved that you guys were still able to sit next to each other. The card stunt WORKED - looked great!
Thank you both for sharing all of this.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Interesting that Medea Benjamin was able to sneak into Cleveland, but not into our convention.

These are the people who are gonna build an impenetrable border wall?


Also, until now I never realized how much Bowser looks like Terry McAuliffe.

[shireen]

15. cool. Thanks for sharing that experience with us.

And thanks for saying "Busters" instead of "Bernie Busters" ... they don't deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as Bernie's name.

[ailsagirl]

16. WONDERFUL PHOTOS

Huge kudos to EarlG and Skinner who brought the convention home to us!!

[treestar]

17. K&R

[stonecutter357]

18. K&R!

[livetohike]

19. Thank you! n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

20. IMO, your reporting together with C-Span

and some good DU threads gave a much better and more complete picture than any M$M outlet.

[cwydro]

21. Fantastic pics!

Thank you!

[Ilsa]

22. I still can't get over the thousands of people there,

Who wanted to be there, who weren't paid to make it look full, when the rnc couldn't fill but maybe half of their convention site.

Thank you for posting all of these great pics and videos!

[hibbing]

23. Bowser??

I have loved these pictures and appreciate you two posting them, they really do capture the inside view and behind the scenes. I'm shocked that Bowser is a Democrat!


Peace

[Beaverhausen]

26. I worked with him back in 2004. We were Deaniacs.

His nephew Eric Bauman is Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party.

[hibbing]

29. Awesome!

Thanks for the info, I always thought he was funny.


Peace

[MADem]

37. I'm not--I've met those guys; they seemed pretty liberal to me.

They all met in college (Columbia U), the Sha-Na-Na thing was originally sort of a goof. They never thought they'd make any dough off of it. "Bowser" was hugely easy-going when I encountered him--and they were in the middle of a pretty brutal road schedule. The sax player (Lennie Baker) was not an original member from college days (he was a kid from MA who went to Northeastern when it was a commuter college and played backup for one of the old 50s groups making the rounds right before Sha-na-na broke out) but he was a huge talent--bit of a curmudgeon, liked his beer, but I got along with him just fine. He lived on the Vineyard (with his mom until she died), and he, himself, died recently this year, may he RIP.

[senseandsensibility]

25. Was the card stunt supposed to be a flag?

I couldn't tell from TV. Thanks for the photos!

[otohara]

39. Wondering That Myself

there's a photo of the stadium from the top and I still can't make out.

[Beaverhausen]

27. Portable phone chargers. They are great.

Loved the photos.

[DemonGoddess]

28. K&R!

[tawadi]

30. Thanks for sharing

You guys looked like you were truly in your element.

[DesertRat]

31. Thank you for sharing your convention experience with us!

[unitedwethrive]

32. Thanks for taking is there with you !

[R B Garr]

33. K&R! Thank you. Really enjoyed this inside view.

[niyad]

34. k and r with deepest thanks for taking us along on this historic adventure. love the pics!

oh, and here are pics of all the donkeys, and their locations--the scavenger hunt must be fun for those who have the time:

donkeys around town--all 57 of them!
http://www.phillyvoice.com/the-latest-fiberglass-donkeys-swarm-philly-for-convention/

and their locations:

http://www.phldnc.com/press/philadelphia-2016-host-committee-launches-donkeys-around-town-scavenger-hunt/
1

[NastyRiffraff]

35. Well, now i can see why they say

that Hillary's supporters aren't enthusiastic.

Or, maybe not.

Thanks for the wonderful pics, EarlG! The atmosphere was electric just watching on TV; I can only imagine what it was like in the room!

[MADem]

36. LOL--your first pic is of the Code Pinkers...

Isn't that professional protester Medea Benjamin front and center w/the heart under her arm and the microphone?

BOWSER--I've actually met that guy--met all of Sha Na Na, years ago! Had dinner with them before a concert, watched the entire thing from backstage, a ton of fun. I thought they were a bunch of rather active horndogs because they all had case lots of lube in their dressing rooms--being nosy and without a filter, I HAD to ask.....turns out they use KY to grease up their hair (I guess it washes out easily!).

[BumRushDaShow]

38. Thanks for the memories and congrats for doing something

that I've yet to do - actually go inside the Wells Fargo Center (formerly the Wachovia Center that was formerly the First Union Center, that originally opened as the Corestates Center). Of course it is owned by Comcast (Spectacor).

This is the facility's 20th year in existence!

Great set of pics! As a note, my mom and I attended the ribbon-cutting opening of the PA Convention Center back in 1993, where VP Al Gore did the honors. What was funny was that we walked over to it to see what it looked like and got herded into a "VIP" line that lead right to the makeshift stage that the (then-new) VP would be speaking from. We were right up front! No metal detectors, no pat-downs, no x-ray machines - just directed to the line that funneled to a spot in front of the stage. Have been in there almost every year since it opened (since it hosts the Philadelphia Flower Show).


Hope you enjoyed the city and sorry for the rain!

[still_one]

40. Amazing Pictures. Amazing Convention. Thanks Skinner and EarlG

[mountain grammy]

41. Thank you, thank you,

If I'm still around in four years, I swear, I'm going to the next one..