Author: Jen Sorensen

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I came to Charlotte in search of rebuttals to the previous week’s nonsense in Tampa, as well as a bit of inspiration after four years of patience-testing political reality. This year’s convention lacked some of the drama and mystique of Denver ’08, which was to be expected. But the speeches were excellent — possibly even better than in ’08 — and the audience displayed no shortage of enthusiasm. The open support for gay marriage at a national political convention was a historic moment I’m glad to have witnessed. On the whole, it was a solid show.

On a personal level, I found the week to be more trying than my experience than Denver. Security was extreme and confusing, and the imported cops often had no answer to questions like: “How many blocks out of my way do I have to walk before I can get through this fence?” I probably spent an average of three hours a day just trying to get around, and I was lucky to be staying only two miles away. Many members of the press, including a couple Wall Street Journal staffers I shared a taxi with (at 2am, after waiting for an hour), were stationed in South Carolina. Planned Parenthood staffers were having trouble getting to their own rally, and I probably walked an extra half-mile trying to get to it myself.

And oh, the rain. Whenever I wanted to go out and do something, a monsoon appeared, as if on cue. This was not due to the fact that I was cursed, but that there was a monsoon every ten minutes. I reassured myself that things could be worse: I could be in a Vietnamese jungle, circa 1969, covered in leeches. But this only convinced me that I would perish very quickly in a combat situation.

I wanted to do some sketches, but the hours I spent in the convention hall were not conducive to complex creative processes. My seat, located at approximately the same altitude as the International Space Station, was dark and cramped. The view of the podium was not all that bad, but I had to contend with the butts of a thousand journalists squeezing past my face. By the end of the convention, I had attained a new appreciation for reporters who can churn out 1,000-word think pieces about speeches at the same time they’re listening to them. (Of course, the dirty little secret about those people is that many of them are watching on TV from remote media rooms with advance copies of the evening’s remarks.)

A couple memorable encounters that I didn’t get around to blogging about at the time: I met a delegate named Charles Degnan from Unalakleet, Alaska, a town of 700 on the state’s western coast in the general vicinity of Nome. Charles took two days to fly to Charlotte, passing through Anchorage, Seattle, and Dallas en route. Degnan, who served on a tribal council in the Alaska legislature, said he supports health care and equal treatment for all people, whether they are from small communities or large ones. He proceeded to give me an Alaska pin, which is now my favorite souvenir from the convention.

Late that night, I walked out of the hall with a buttoned-down member of the British press who had just come from the RNC in Tampa. When I asked for their impressions, the reporter hesitated, not wanting to sound impolitic. Then the reporter blurted out, “The people were different — they were a bunch of tossers!” adding, “We have racists too, but at least they keep it hidden.”

The most dramatic event of the week was when I got swept up in the middle of an impromptu Occupy march after a standoff with police. Thankfully, I didn’t get tear gassed or arrested. In fact, when I asked an officer if I could proceed to where the protesters were, he said “Go right ahead.”

When the marchers reached the Charlotte Convention Center, they clashed with Obama supporters, leaving me to ponder the vast divide between the two groups for the rest of the week. As someone long opposed to the drone strikes but also worried about the tragic consequences of overturning the Affordable Care Act or reinstating the Global Gag Rule, I have empathy for both sides, and have become weary of the binary conflict that has emerged on the streets and in my Twitter feed.

So, it was a successful week for the Dems, if an exasperating one for journalists trying to cover it. This concludes our broadcast; thanks for following along and for all the Twitter feedback. Sorry I could not reply to everyone’s tweets. I also want to express heartfelt thanks to the generous Jen B. for letting me stay at her apartment in Charlotte, which she probably could have rented out for thousands of dollars. Bring on the debates!

I’m going to save more in-depth analysis of the convention as a whole for a later post after I’ve had some sleep. But briefly, my impression of Obama’s speech is that he made a compelling case against the Romney-Ryan worldview. It had more substance than Romney’s soft-focus slice of apple pie, to say the least. I never expected to say this, but I think my favorite speech of the evening was John Kerry’s. So many zingers!

Earlier in the day, we saw a colossal downpour put an end to whatever debate there was about the decision to move to an indoor venue. I got to break out my pink Planned Parenthood-provided condom-poncho (my phrasing, not theirs).

As soon as I arrived at the convention hall, I spotted the glittering hat of TX-10 Congressional candidate Tawana Cadien, who graciously posed for a photo:

I grabbed a seat in my high-altitude section, then nearly lost it when I got stuck in a comically-long food line (thanks to my seatmates for the save!). Surprisingly, a few non-media people in my row had just scored tickets this week. A friendly woman next to me named Talia had just flown in the day before from Arizona, and a couple college students got lucky somehow. They all seemed elated by the evening, the students describing it as “energizing.”

I’m flying home tomorrow, but will write a postmortem at some point. For more, you know the drill: @SorensenJen

I caught up with local delegate and Albemarle County Supervisor Chris Dumler today in the convention hall. This is the first national political convention for Dumler, a 2009 U.Va Law School grad who just turned 27. Dumler, who hails from Scottsville,  says the Virginia contingent has been treated very well at the convention.

“They have definitely rolled out the red carpet for us,” he told me, adding that beyond Virginia’s swing-state status, the sweet treatment reflected a lot of hard work on the part of Virginia Democrats.

I suggested that it might be tough for this year’s convention to live up to the excitement of Denver ’08, but Dumler wasn’t so sure. “Being in the arena right now proves nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. The place was indeed brimming with bouncy, happy people; we found a rare calm spot to talk next to the compost bin.

But what about progressives who are feeling blasé this time around, or worse? People upset about drone strikes and civilian casualties in Afghanistan? That subject doesn’t come up much inside the Hall, but I suspect it’s on more minds than just those of  the protesters outside. Dumler shares my concerns about that issue and others that have chafed at the base. How does he reconcile it all?

“There will never be a perfect candidate; there are things I’m disappointed in,” he says. “If you care about drone strikes, there are probably 50 other things you care about [that Obama has done right]. It ain’t perfect, but if you can hit the target nine times out of ten…”

Dumler was among of the last delegates to leave the convention hall after the roll call last night thanks to Virginia starting with a “V.” The admittedly exhausted Dumler began making his way out just shy of 1am.

As you may have heard, Bill Clinton knocked the socks off the crowd in Time Warner Arena on Wednesday night. I thought I’d grown immune to  adrenaline rushes from political speeches, but by the end of that one, when Obama materialized and the entire audience rose screaming, I was feeling it. I will even admit to a new appreciation of Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down.” Yes, the cynical cartoonist in me remains all too aware of the flaws of both presidents, but after what went down in Tampa last week, America needed some clarification. And clarity is what Clinton delivered.

I also thought Elizabeth Warren’s speech was effective. For the record, my ideal presidential ticket would be Elizabeth Warren-Elizabeth Warren.

The accompanying photo is of a sand sculpture on display near the convention, provided by the fine people of Myrtle Beach. Personally, I find the rendering of Obama to be slightly demonic, but hey, I don’t have to sculpt comics out of sand. I don’t even know how they get the ears to stay on.

The security clampdown in Charlotte continued to escalate today, to the point where I felt like the subject of a giant human experiment. Somehow, Denver 2008 was easier. I can’t even imagine what hoops I’ll have to jump through on Thursday.

Plenty more commentary on the night’s events at @SorensenJen, or see the day’s roundup on Storify:

[View the story “Live-Tweeting the DNC: Part III” on Storify]