BlogAs the Denver Post reports this morning, “The Pepsi Center hands over the keys to construction teams for the Democratic National Convention Committee at 8 a.m. Monday, and the on-the-ground, multimillion-dollar race to transform the arena into a convention hall by Aug. 25 begins.” Click here for the full story.
We are proud to stand at the helm of the finest Convention team we’ve known. As the arm of the national Party tasked with planning and organizing the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Democratic National Convention Committee has been at this for more than a year. And we take great pride in our work. That's why we were astonished to read in Sunday’s New York Times such a gross misrepresentation of the groundwork that has been laid to date.
The DNCC launched a “Convention Captains” program today, inviting community activists statewide to lead an outreach effort to engage more people than ever before in the 2008 Democratic National Convention experience. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. and Kansas Governor and Convention Co-Chair Kathleen Sebelius joined DNCC CEO Leah Daughtry for a press conference announcing the program. Watch the video below for highlights.
Each Convention Captain will be issued a “playbook” arming them to serve as a local ambassador for the four-day event and providing them with helpful tips for planning and hosting a successful watch party, community service activity and other events to engage their community in the Convention.
To date, fifteen leaders have been selected for the program. During the coming weeks, Captains will continue to be identified to represent each of the 64 counties in Colorado. Click here for more details on the program and a list of the Convention Captains.
If you’re one of the millions of people looking forward to watching Barack Obama accept his Party’s nomination and officially start down the road to the White House, but are also used to getting your news in Spanish, not to worry. Today, the DNCC announced that the 2008 Democratic National Convention will be simulcast live, gavel-to-gavel in Spanish on DemConvention.com – a first for a national political convention.
It’s all part of our effort to make this year’s Convention as inclusive and accessible as possible. You can see all the action here at DemConvention.com – from your own home, in your own language.
“With Spanish as the primary language of approximately 35 million Americans – not to mention the more than 300 million Spanish-speakers outside the United States – offering bilingual coverage of the Convention makes more people feel welcome under the Democratic Party’s ‘big tent’,” said Texas State Senator and Convention Co-Chair Leticia Van de Putte. “As a Texan and a Latina, I’m proud to belong to a party that embraces the Hispanic community.”
Comcast Corporation is making the bilingual coverage possible and has also been named the Convention’s Official Cable Television and Video-On-Demand (VOD) provider. In that role, Comcast will place highlights, including key speeches and Spanish-language content, on its national VOD platform. So even if you’re unable to watch the live program, Comcast Digital customers can see Spanish-language highlights from each night of the Convention.
DemConvention.com also has more Spanish-language content than any previous Convention, so visit here often to stay up-to-date on the latest Convention news.
We’ve also credentialed a record number of bloggers for the Convention, to ensure that communities across the country are connected to the Convention through the eyes and ears of a growing, diverse group of online voices. We'd like to introduce you here to just some of bloggers who speak daily to the Hispanic community and will be sharing their perspectives from Denver come August.
Si Ud. es uno de los millones de personas que esperan con ansia ver a Barack Obama aceptar la nominación de su partido y oficialmente empezar en camino a la Casa Blanca, y también está acostumbrado recibir sus noticias en español, no se preocupe. El Comité de la Convención Nacional Demócrata (DNCC por sus siglas en ingles) anunció hoy que por primera vez en la historia de las convenciones políticas, la Convención Nacional Demócrata será transmitida simultáneamente en español.
Es parte de nuestro compromiso de convertir la Convención Nacional Demócrata 2008 en la convención más accesible y tecnológicamente avanzada. Se puede ver toda la acción aquí en DemConvention.com – desde su propio hogar, en su propio idioma.
“El español es el primer idioma de aproximadamente 35 millones de estadounidenses – sin mencionar los más de 300 millones de personas que hablan español fuera de los Estados Unidos. Al proporcionar cobertura bilingüe de la Convención, más personas se sentirán bien recibidas e integradas a la gran carpa del Partido Demócrata”, dijo la Senadora Estatal de Texas y Co-Presidente de la Convención Leticia Van de Putte. “Como tejana y como Latina, estoy orgullosa de pertenecer a un partido que es incluyente de la comunidad Hispana”.
La empresa Comcast producirá la extensa cobertura en español y también será el Proveedor Oficial de Televisión por Cable y Video-On-Demand durante la Convención. En este papel, Comcast hará disponible una amplia gama de contenido de la Convención, en español, por medio de su servicio de Video Por Pedido o Video-On-Demand (VOD). Aunque no pueda ver el programa en vivo, clientes de Comcast Digital pueden ver los mejores momentos de cada noche de la Convención.
DemConvention.com tiene más contenido en español que en Convenciones previas. Visítenos aquí para recibir toda la información más reciente acerca de la Convención.
También hemos acreditado un número record de bloggers para asegurar que las comunidades a lo largo del país estén informadas de los acontecimientos de la Convención mediante los ojos y oídos del número creciente de diversos grupos de entidades en línea. Aquí encontrará perfiles de varios bloggers que llevarán sus perspectivas a la comunidad hispana desde Denver en agosto.
We’re happy to say that the plot of land we stood on months ago in Golden, Colo. has now been transformed into a new home for disabled Iraq veteran SSG Travis Strong and his family. DNCC staff joined local credit unions, the Colorado Building Trades Council and the National Journal Group in the Homes for our Troops Build Brigade this weekend -- a truly remarkable project. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, what started on Friday as a concrete building base became a fully-built weather-proof house by Sunday. Also visiting the site and Strong family over the weekend were DNCC CEO Leah D. Daughtry, Lieutenant Governor Barbara O’Brien, Congressman and Senatorial candidate Mark Udall and Congressman Ed Perlmutter. Take a look at this video to see how such an amazing project came together and why it matters so much.
Taylor Bates, a recent high school graduate from Williston, Vermont, knew the competition to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention would be tough. With nearly 200 people competing for 23 delegate and four alternate spots in the Vermont delegation, Taylor had to be creative with his platform.
That’s when the idea came: He could campaign on the platform to offset carbon emissions for every Vermont delegate, as part of the DNCC’s “Green Delegate Challenge.”
It was a tough sell at first. Vermont Democrats were skeptical: How could an 18-year old raise more than $200 to offset the carbon emissions for all of the 27 delegates and alternates? With a little help from his skills as a champion in extemporaneous speaking, Bates managed to convince his fellow state Dems to elect him to be an Obama at-large delegate – the youngest member of the Vermont delegation.
Thanks to Bates’ determination, Vermont also became the second state in the U.S. to offset the carbon emissions created from the full delegation’s travel to the Convention.
So, how will he raise the money?
“I want to have a community auction for friends and family with Democrat and Convention memorabilia and maybe even an autograph or two from a famous party leader,” said Bates. “Senator Obama’s signature sure would be nice.”
We're often asked what's planned for young people around our Convention in Denver. From the Party's Youth Council meetings at the Colorado Convention Center to the College Democrats of America Convention in Denver the weekend before our opening gavel to opportunities for our Write to Lead youth essay contest winners, we have a lot in store for young people from Denver and across the country.
But in a twist, one enthusiastic 16-year-old spoke for his peers and asked DNCC CEO Leah Daughtry at a recent community forum: "what can we do for you?" Her response: Get in the way. Change, after all, doesn't happen on the sidelines. Watch the video below for the full exchange.
Don't miss this article in today's Rocky Mountain News:
Bringing down the walls
New Web technology to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain NewsThe Democratic National Convention Committee is preparing for a crush of traffic on its Web site in August.
And that's what the committee wants, with plans to offer gavel-to-gavel coverage, including live speeches, caucus meetings, video highlights and archived material that can be accessed on demand.
"The real goal online is to bring down the walls of the Pepsi Center so as many people as possible can experience what's inside," said Aaron Myers, the DNCC's director of online communications.
Microsoft and Broomfield- based Level 3 Communications, which operates an international fiber-optic network, are the official Web-streaming providers...
Read more here: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/17/bringing-down-the-walls/
Check out this feature on DNCC CEO Leah D. Daughtry from politico.com:
‘Everybody’s got values,” said Leah Daughtry.
That includes Democrats as well as Republicans, according to Daughtry, who, on the phone from Denver, speaks in the smooth alto and full sentences of a practiced orator.
The poli-sci-major-turned-Pentecostal-preacher describes herself as “a pastor, a preacher, a person of faith.” She doesn’t mention that she’s a political powerhouse who has made the V-word her party’s new mantra — first as chief of staff for the Democratic National Committee and now as CEO of the Democratic convention in August.
In 2005, Daughtry created the Faith in Action Initiative to “ensure that there is ongoing, authentic outreach to communities of faith,” she said. The seven-member group meets regularly to map out the left’s new strategy on religion, which doesn’t involve ignoring it. The New York Times called her “the quiet architect.”
UPDATE: Check out this coverage of yesterday's forum!
Tours to give locals a peek at Pepsi Center before Dems arrive
The Denver Post
June 11, 2008
By Chuck Plunkett
SOURCE: http://www.denverpost.com/dnc/ci_9545032
DNC organizers outline public participation
KUSA-NBC 9 Denver
June 10, 2008
By Kyle Clark
SOURCE: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=93464&catid=188
At a mid-day forum at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver’s LoDo District (Lower Downtown), Convention organizers unveiled a series of official events open to Denver-area residents and other attendees around Convention week. Click here to see video announcements on these exciting events open to the public.
A second forum will be held tomorrow evening at Mile High Station. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP by email to rsvp@demconvention.com or call (720)-362-2008, as space is limited.
5:00 pm MT, WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2008
Mile High Station
2027 W. Lower Colfax Ave.
Denver, Colo.
The Denver forums conclude the series - "Convention Conversations: A Traveling Forum Sponsored by the DNCC" – which launched in September and has logged more than 3,500 miles and visited eight different cities throughout the Rocky Mountain West in recent months. The community forums are designed to provide residents throughout the region with opportunities for direct communication with top Convention organizers and a venue to ask questions, share ideas and find out how they can get involved in the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
