INVESCO FIELD

It’s hard to even begin writing about the last day of the Democratic Convention. Presidential nominee Barack Obama (we can now drop “presumptive”) spoke to me and 84,999 others at the Invesco Stadium in Denver. That speech was well-covered so I won’t speak much more about it now.

There was five hours of programming before Obama spoke. Jennifer Hudson sang one of the most beautiful renditions of the Star Spangled Banner that I’ve ever heard (right there behind Marvin Gaye and Jeffrey Osborne). Vice President and Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore gave a rousing speech to the crowd.

It was a combination of a rock concert and another marathon of speeches. Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder played, and Michael McDonald, who was kept to only one song.

The other speeches were pretty much more of the same—generals, Republicans, other politicos—giving their support to Obama. A particularly touching moment was when Martin Luther King III spoke, on the anniversary of his father’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and said how proud he would be.

The Obama campaign asked the crowd to text to the DNC to show their support. No one around me could get any cell phone signal for the next hour—the request probably overloaded the service in the area and shut it down, or significantly slowed it down.

Eight “regular citizens” proceeded Obama’s speech. One of them was a small business owner. Obama’s speech also touched on small business. I felt small business was well represented, especially after my earlier experiences highlighted in the previous blog.

While Obama spoke, there were as many tears throughout the stadium as cheers. The Olympic comparison continues as the evening ended with a fantastic display of fireworks. (And because they ran out of food and drink at a lot of stands, as well as t-shirts, hats, etc).