I had asked around and was told that the roll call vote to nominate a candidate was pretty boring, but La-Verna insisted on being on the floor for it, so we headed out. The hall was filling up fast and we were having trouble finding a place to stand when a very nice delegate from New York told us we could stand with them until the rest of their delegates showed up. The buzz was that Sen. Clinton would make the final nomination and we could see Secret Service agents everywhere, so we believed it. Wow! This roll call was VERY exciting! They only got up to New Mexico before Obama had enough votes to be nominated, so New Mexico ceded their turn to Illinois (who had passed earlier) and then Illinois ceded to New York and Sen. Clinton appeared on the floor just 30 feet away from us with cameras completely surrounding her (I couldn’t even see the top of her head most of the time) and she moved that the roll call be suspended and that Obama be nominated by acclamation. The place went wild!!! The New York delegation got very emotional and I admit that I had tears rolling down my face. I was right in the very middle of history! America really did it! We nominated an African-American man to run for President on the Democratic ticket! They played the song “Love Train” and everyone was holding hands and dancing. I will never forget that moment!
This time I just couldn’t stand up for another minute after the roll call was done. I went back to the hotel, watched Bill Clinton’s speech on TV and then fell asleep until the next day.
Photo 6: Anderson Cooper
Photo 7: Katie Couric
Photo 8: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome
Photo 9: Press converges upon Sen. Clinton during Roll Call vote
Photo 10: The Room as Sen. Clinton nominated Sen. Obama
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment