Obama Convention Speech Being Moved Indoors (updated)

[ProSense]

Obama Convention Speech Being Moved Indoors

President Obama's speech on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention will be delivered indoors at the Time Warner Cable Arena — the same site as the first two days of programming — rather than outdoors at the much larger Bank of America Stadium, the convention committee announced Wednesday amid concerns about the weather.

"We have been monitoring weather forecasts closely and several reports predict thunderstorms in the area, therefore we have decided to move Thursday's proceedings to Time Warner Cable Arena to ensure the safety and security of our delegates and convention guests," said DNCC CEO Steve Kerrigan. The energy and enthusiasm for our convention in Charlotte has been overwhelming and we share the disappointment of over 65,000 people who signed up for community credentials to be there with the President in person. We encourage our community credential holders and Americans across the country to continue to come together with their friends and neighbors to watch and participate in history. The President will speak to these credential holders on a national conference call tomorrow afternoon, and we will work with the campaign to ensure that those unable to attend tomorrow's event will be invited to see the President between now and election day."

During the 2008 campaign, Obama had delivered his address outdoors at a separate venue from the first days of the convention, to a wider public audience.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-convention-speech-being-moved-indoors

Updated to add:

Obama Spox On Venue Change: ‘Public Safety Comes First’

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt on Wednesday said the decision to shift locations for the president's Thursday night speech from the open air Bank of America Stadium to the indoor Time Warner Cable Arena was motivated by public safety, not concern over filling seats.

"Ultimately public safety comes first," LaBolt told MSNBC's Thomas Roberts. "We had 65,000 people slated to attend and we can't put them in that position. We looked at all of the weather forecasts out this morning and several predicted severe weather in the middle of the program tomorrow night."

LaBolt also pushed back against conspiracy theories floated by Republicans that the decision was made out of fear that the larger outdoor stadium would be littered with empty seats.

"I think those are unfortunate comments," LaBolt said. "We had 19,000 people on the wait list in addition to the 65,000 people ready to see the president tonight. I think if you look to the stories out this morning, there was a clear difference in enthusiasm here in Charlotte than you saw in Tampa last week."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-spox-on-venue-change-public-safety-comes

Enthusiasm: Text from RNC delegate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021270334

[Care Acutely]

1. Disappointing, but not as disappointing as dead/endangered attendees

in a violent thunderstorm. Lightning is one of the top weather-related killers. Better everyone should be safe.

[graham4anything]

2. the weather is horrible up and down the coast and predicted so the next six days

what a storm there was yesterday and today it already poured(some of the nastiest skies I ever saw in NJ).

and though it appears Thursday will be okay up here, Friday-thru early next week has strong thunderstorms and rain predicted
(meaning that Friday's NJ rain will be south of NJ (in the Carolina's) on Thursday.

don't let the repubs spin this to anything else, though the pathetic losers will attempt to.

Last thing one would want is lighting to strike an outdoor event with microphones and live wires.

[WI_DEM]

3. Good decision because he is really speaking to the TV audience and it wouldn't

be as effective if it were outdoors with him competing against a storm.

[Drale]

4. Unfortunately with outdoor stadiums

you have to be prepared for stuff like that. I am of the belief that every new stadium built should have a retractable roof. The decision to not put a retractable room on Soldier Field here in Chicago as a was one and has cost Chicago some events like a Super Bowl maybe and other things that will bring in money.

[Scuba]

5. Son and DIL are majorly disappointed as they had tix to the stadium.

Right thing to do.

[Kookaburra]

6. Yeah, I have them too, but

it's better to err on the side of caution this time -- the storms we've had rolling through here the last few days have been strong and full of lightning/wind/heavy rains.
Disappointing, but I totally understand, as I would hope other reasonable people do.