Well, that was dramatic. I just stepped out of the roll call where Hillary stopped the proceedings and released her delegates. Big, big cheers erupted from the crowd when she stepped into the hall, and they kept coming. I found myself sitting next to an alternate delegate for Hillary from San Antonio, Texas named Sabrina Fernandez ("Sabrina like Kate Jackson from Charlie’s Angels, not like the teenage witch" she insisted). Sabrina, who worked for former Texas State Senator Carlos Truan, is a staunch Hillary fan — she admires Clinton’s support for Latinos, wants a woman in the White House, and likes the fact that Clinton knows her way around Washington. "She’s the best person," she said. But Sabrina is a still voting for Obama in November, explaining that she’s been a strong Democrat since she was a kid. She emitted a soft noise of disappointment as Hillary turned over her delegates, but applauded the announcement of Obama as the nominee. Such was the case, I suspect, for many Hillary delegates here.
To follow up on my previous post, I’ve noticed many media outlets are painting a fairly contentious portrait of the convention. While I’ve heard reports of minor confrontations elsewhere — a correspondent for French TV station TF1 told me about a shouting match between Clinton and Obama supporters somewhere outside of Pepsi Center — I have to say the mood inside is civil and overwhelmingly cheerful. I’ve wandered around this place a lot, and I’ve seen no Hillary supporters demonstrating against Obama, I’ve heard no booing when Obama is mentioned, no visible support for McCain except that one guy. So whatever ill will still exists here (and I’m not denying that it does), I think it’s being sensationalized somewhat by controversy-seeking news media.
Side note for wonks: David Kurtz from TPM is blogging a couple seats down from me here in the Blogger’s Lounge.