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Convention Notebook: Raucous crowd for native son Thursday, Aug 28, 2008 By Aaron Sadler And as expected, Arkansans in the audience loved the speech. "He hit it out of the park," said incoming state House Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway. Earlier Wednesday, David Whitaker of Fayetteville predicted the crowd at the Democratic National Convention would go crazy for the former president and native of Hope. It was an easy prediction to make. The crowd got excited Tuesday when Clinton merely walked into a luxury suite ahead of his wife's speech. Delegates even turned away from the action on the convention floor. "I swear, the poor speaker lost our attention for five minutes as people looked and craned their necks and waved," Whitaker said. On Wednesday, waving American flags and standing at their feet, the crowd cheered for about five minutes before Clinton began his speech. Clinton tried to move away from criticism that he may not be completely behind Obama's presidential bid. He echoed his wife, who focused her speech on electing Obama. "Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama," the former Arkansas governor said. "That makes two of us." Arkansans said Republicans are perpetuating a myth about the former president's resistance to Obama. "The talk about tension is Republican garbage," said Don Bishop of Harrison. "That is not going on and it is not relevant at this convention. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton support Barack Obama, period." Roll call mistake So many times, politicians have been caught in an awkward moment because they didn't know a microphone was on. Wednesday, it was the secretary of the Democratic National Convention caught in an error because a microphone was off. The DNC secretary announced incorrectly that Arkansas gave its 47 delegate votes to Barack Obama during the traditional roll call vote of the states. Apparently, technicians cut off the microphone for Arkansas superdelegate Rebecca Gwatney before she was finished announcing the vote totals. Gwatney said the Arkansas delegation heeded Hillary Clinton's call for party unity. That led to a roar from the audience and an assumption by DNC officials that the state went for Obama unanimously. The actual vote was 37 for Obama and eight for Clinton. Two other members of the voting delegation: Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, and Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, were not at the convention to cast ballots Wednesday. A unanimous vote for Obama would have been a surprise. Clinton won 70 percent of the vote in the February primary. Arkansas Democrats have "an admiration for Bill and Hillary Clinton that is unmatched throughout the country," Gwatney said. The actual vote Wednesday wouldn't have mattered much. The roll call was suspended when Clinton requested that Obama be nominated by acclimation. Day of service Arkansas First Lady Ginger Beebe and about a dozen other Arkansans volunteered Wednesday to pull up weeds at a Colorado state park. The group from the Natural State made Colorado's nature a little better by discarding a nuisance grass that produces a flower only once every century, Beebe said. Volunteers from across the country who are attending the convention participated in the "Day of Service" led by Michelle Obama, Democratic nominee Barack Obama's wife. Delegates from Tennessee, Hawaii and Delaware joined First Lady Beebe and the Arkansas group for the morning-long gardening effort. The first lady said volunteering is something that she enjoys. "In Arkansas, I've been volunteering all my life. So we got a letter and were asked to participate and I said 'Why not'?" she said. "We got to see another part of Denver and meet other people." |
