Brandon Johansson Decides 2008 — Part 4: Obama wins

Periodically throughout Election Day, staff reporter and state electorate prognosticator Brandon Johansson will "call" states he feels are secure for a candidate. Johansson has little experience in politics.

If I’m right, it’ll cost me some delicious pastries, but I have to call Virginia, Pennslyvania and New Hampshire for Obama. Also, why the networks only have the guts to call states, I’m calling some regions: Upper Midwest for Obama. Northern Plains for McCain. Southeastern Conference (minus Florida) for McCain.
And I’m calling the election for Obama. He just won Ohio, and that seals it.

CBS' annoying music.

The most annoying sound of election night: CBS' whistling string music during their vote updates.

Stampede welcomes Dems

From Adam Goldstein:

As 7 p.m. hits, democrats begin to filter into The Stampede. State Senate District 27 candidate Nathan Wilkes and RTD Board E Bill McMullen are in attendance. There are about 50 people there now.

Early Thanksgiving Turkey dressed by voters

There are plenty of villains in this year's general election, but if none deserve more to get the boot from the public than does N.C. Sen. Liddy Dole. Dole launched one of the nastiest campaigns in memory, topped off by the most underhanded, desperate TV commercial in a year that will be infamous for heinous TV ads.

In running against Kay Hagen, Dole unleashed an ad accusing her opponent of being "godless," and given viewers the impression that Hagen herself made several damning comments.

It's clear Dole is getting what she so strongly deserves tonight: the ax.

Brandon Johansson Decides 2008 — Part 3: Indecision

Periodically throughout Election Day, staff reporter and state electorate prognosticator Brandon Johansson will "call" states he feels are secure for a candidate. Johansson has little experience in politics.

"Despite unprecedented pressure from higher-ups, I refuse to call Virginia for either candidate as of 6 p.m. MST. They can call me names all they want, but without results from northern Virginia, I can’t risk the credibility of this blog and that awesome black and white picture by calling Virginia."


Electorate count: McCain 11, Obama 14 and holding steady

Lines ran smooth all day

Reported by Adam Goldstein:

Mandy Coss, lead judge for District 520, said that the only times they had any sorts of lines was early this morning and it was only 20 minutes long. Otherwise, it's been smooth all day.

Brandon Johansson Decides 2008 — Part 2

Periodically throughout Election Day, staff reporter and state electorate prognosticator Brandon Johansson will "call" states he feels are secure for a candidate. Johansson has little experience in politics.

Vermont, Hawaii, Oregon — Obama
McCain — Alaska

"Various media outlets, including CNN, Politico.com and the Rocky Mountain News, called Vermont for Obama. According to their fancy maps, they did it with 0 percent reporting. I can do one better, actually, three better. I’m calling Hawaii and Oregon for Obama and Alaska for McCain before the polls even close. Take that Anderson Cooper."

Electorate count: McCain 11, Obama 14

Brandon Johansson Decides 2008 — Part 1

Periodically throughout Election Day, staff reporter and state electorate prognosticator Brandon Johansson will "call" states he feels are secure for a candidate. Johansson has little experience in politics.

Kentucky — McCain

"Because they've got 68 percent after 2 percent reporting. And it's Kentucky."

Hey is for Horses

It looks Sen. McCain can always find a job as governor of Kentucky. If I were Obama, I don't know that I would ever go there. I'm not sure that I would ever go there.

Wet Blanket Moment

Sorry. It's hard to get too enthused about how this presidential election is going to end when it looks like Amendment 46 could pass, and undo what made this extraordinary election possible.
Amendment 46 is the big lie that promised to end discrimination. Instead, it will end all affirmative action programs in the state, the very programs that made it possible for Barack Obama to get this close to being a U.S. president.

If it's not too late for you, vote against this measure and encourage Colorado residents to have an honest discussion about ending some affirmative action programs. There's nothing honest about 46.

Indiana Votes and the Counties of Power

(AP Photo)

It's early, but there's some intrigue in some of the early counties.

Knox County, a solid red county in '04 and '00 (Dole even drew close in 1996) is polling for Obama. Is this a sign of things to come.

If Obama takes Indiana, it'll be a short night and long odds for McCain.

It's early ... like I said, but boy it's already looking like a landslide.

ONN first to call presidential election

Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President

On a more serious note, polls close at 7 p.m. tonight. If you haven't voted, go out and vote. The lines haven't been too bad, but they should be pretty long as 7 p.m. gets closer.

The Aurora Sentinel will have election results for races that pertain to our fine city. The results can be seen at http://www2.aurorasentinel.com/~sentinelftp/editorial/election/results.html.

Live updates of Hillary Clinton's appearance in Aurora

(from Aaron Cole)

Clinton: "We together can do everything necessary to make sure Barack Obama is president of America."

"Denver was a great convention."

"This election is too important to sit on the sidelines of history."

"Everywhere I go people are becoming convinced that they need to be with us."

"It's time to kick Bush out of his home in DC."

"I want to encourage all of you to vote early."

"I hear in Colorado, you have one of the longest ballots in the country."

Eight years with Bill Clinton, eight years with Bush, "I think you know the difference."

"It took a Democrat to clean up after the first Bush, it'll take another Democrat to clean up after this Bush."

Dems need majority in house and senate: "This is not going to be easy."

"Barack Obama is going to need our help."


Perlmutter still talking.

"McCain has been erratic and unsteady since this campaign began."

Diane Degette speaking

"we need a change... And that's Barack Obama."

"are you ready to elect Barack Obama?"

Larry Beer, Morgan Carroll, Monisha merchant

Approx. 2,000 people or so.

Crowd gathering for Hillary.
Clinton to speak at 5

The DNC: An Aurora view

A big, hearty thanks goes out to state Rep. Morgan Carroll, who supplied us with her vantage point of the proceedings at last week's Democratic National Convention. While these photos aren't very big, you can clearly see that the Colorado delegation got prime seating for all the events at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field.

Former President Bill Clinton (left) and US Senator John Kerry.

US Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden (left) and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.

US Rep. Ed Perlmutter (left) and US Senator Ken Salazar.

Democratic National Convention — Wednesday Night

I went down to the DNC last night. I figure there's plenty of stories, including those in our own paper about the content of the event, so here's what happened from my POV:

I got off of the light rail at the Auraria stop and hauled my backpack full of equipment across campus.

Note to self: don't bring so much stuff on Thursday.

It was interesting seeing various protesters walking back with their signs. There were a few that caught my eye. One guy had a Re-create 1776 sign.

This guy was making a heart with his hands for some reason. He wouldn't give anyone a straight answer about what it meant.

And, of course, there was a couple trying to get tickets to the event.

The police closed off a large section of Speer and only those with passes were allowed in. From Speer, we walked down Auraria Parkway to the Pepsi Center where we met another checkpoint. The police didn't let anyone cut, which was nice, but it felt like being back in fourth grade all over again. One guy was actually sent to the back of the line.

Brooklyn's by the Pepsi Center was turned into the CNN Grill. Only people with CNN creds were allowed in. Anderson Cooper ran by me, but I did get a picture of MTV's Sway posing for a picture with some of the women from APIAVote, a nonprofit organization that promotes civic participation among AAPIs.

On Sunday, the police seemed to be quite stiff, but they seem to have loosened up — I caught a few pull out their handheld cameras and taking pictures.

Many people had credentials that allowed them to get in, but didn't guarantee seats — including myself. So when the big speakers were on, many crowded around TVs and entrances to get a glimpse.

This was where I spent my time listening, or trying to at least, to John Kerry speak. (Interesting note: his entrance theme was Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

Luckily, I ran into a friend who staked out a prime position on the third level and offered to share it with me.

It was right above the Fox 31 broadcast booth where Ron Zappolo and Libby Weaver interviewed all sorts of folks, including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

However, the best part was that I was a section away from the Clintons. Made for great photo ops.

When Joe Biden came out, there was a loud roar from the crowd. He got the crowd to follow him in saying, "McCain, more of the same."

But that roar was nothing compared to when Barack Obama made a surprise appearance. It was so loud in the arena, I felt chills going down my spine. I can only imagine what it's going to be like tonight.

AAPI Caucus

The Asian American/Pacific Islander Dems held a caucus yesterday inside the convention center.

It was a lot of party rallying and trying to hype up Obama. Many of the big names of AAPI politics were there such as Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., Rep. David Wu, D-Ore. and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

The speakers went over AAPI candidates who were involved in races across the country, including Hank Eng, who's running for the 6th Congressional District against Mike Coffman.

The always enthusiastic Howard Dean made a brief appearance, speaking about the rising voice of AAPI Democrats.

Note: Everyone pulled out their cameras and made their way to the front of the stage when he got to the lectern. Many of the politicians stood behind him for a photo op. It was pretty funny.

Tammy Duckworth, the former Army major who lost her legs in Iraq and later ran for Congress in Illinois, also made an appearance.

In the middle of the event, Mee Moua, a state senator in Minnesota, gathered all the elected officials to the front of the stage and made them sing a song about Barack Obama and Joe Biden. (I think I have a video of this, I have to download my camcorder's footage first)

Edit: I do have video of this.



Yul Kwon, of "Survivor" fame, moderated the third part of the caucus, which featured younger AAPIs who spoke about what they have been doing politically. Ramey Ko, a delegate from Texas, spoke about how he helped start the "Asian Americans for Obama" grassroot organization.

Note: S.R. Sidarth was on the panel. He's better known as being the person former Virginia Senator George Allen called "macaca" back in '06, which helped lead to Jim Webb's victory.

Cinemocracy

The Denver Film Society is holding the Cinemocracy Film Festival tonight at 6 p.m. at Red Rocks.

Showing: Monday, August 25, 6:00 PM
Running Time: 240 Minutes
Theater: Red Rocks Ampitheatre

For more info, go to http://www.denverfilm.org/filmcenter/reserve.aspx?id=9638&FID=42.

Front and center at the DNC

(Video & Photos by Christopher Harrop/The Aurora Sentinel, who apologizes for the terrible quality of the video — it should be noted it was taken with the same device as the photos)

AAPI Summit

Earlier today - well technically yesterday by now (it’s 12:22 a.m.) - an Asian American/Pacific Islander Summit was held at the Hyatt Regency.

Local and national leaders spoke about politics and issues that pertained to, well, the AAPI communities.

Among those in attendance were prominent national AAPI leaders such as Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., Floyd Mori, national executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, and Vida Benavidas, executive director of APIAVote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan org. that promotes civic involvement in the AAPI communities. Former Colorado state Senate President Stan Matsunaka was also in attendance.

Much of what they spoke about seemed like it was preaching to the choir. Many in attendance were other local and national leaders who have heard and are fully aware of the schpeal about education and health care disparities, namely with the lack of interpreters to serve the first generation immigrants, and the need for immigration reform.

But what appeared to reach the crowd was the urging of those in the AAPI communities to not be passive and voice their concerns. Kenneth Quan Phi, a junior at DU, spoke about getting out and doing something rather than ignoring a problem - specifically pointing out the Max Karson Campus Press article "If it's war the Asians want..." and the reaction from local community members.

It was a "let's empower ourselves so that we can empower our communities" event. It was good except that it was three hours long with two really short breaks.

The Dems made a strong push for 6th Congressional District candidate Hank Eng, who was in attendance. Just about everyone who is involved with the party mentioned Eng during their speech.

Celeb sighting
"Survivor: Cook Island" winner Yul Kwon was in attendance. It wasn't a big surprise - Kwon's a fairly vocal Dem who toyed with idea to run for Congress earlier this year.

Interesting tidbit
During the second break, I was planning on heading over to grab a burrito from Chipotle, but the staff at the Hyatt had a lockdown because there were demonstrators outside.

Needless to say, I was starving.

I ran into a woman, whose name escapes me right now, who's helping one of my favorite bloggers, angry asian man, cover the DNC. But when she was taking some random crowd shots, the guy at the door told her that she wasn't allowed to shoot pictures. I was surprised by this. I know it's private property, but how many people shot pictures in that lobby without being told to stop?

I suppose stopping a blogger from shooting some random pics that probably wouldn't even be used is important for security purposes.

Largely Unconventional

Making the 100-meter mosey through the convention "media types" at the Sheraton Hotel in Downtown Denver this morning made it painfully obvious that there are two types of media in attendance in Denver: Working press, and working celebrities — and its anyone's guess who's there to actually inform the public.

Overheard from working press: "I need to get drunk ... fast." And, "Isn't pot legal here?"

Overheard from working celebrities: Nothing. Diane Sawyer (above) and network big wigs have more security than a rapper. Katie Couric's team is massive.

When bloggers aren't lamenting the fact that Dems have politely said, "Thanks, but no thanks," (120 blog credentials issued for the entire convention out of thousands of online blogs) they've got my nod to be the frontrunners in great gavel-to-gavel coverage.

That is, before they can find the nearest bar.

Long-lost brothers?

(LEFT: US Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. RIGHT: Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper)

Think Hick deliberately keeps his coif less than tidy so people don't mistake him for Kucinich?

The GOP would go nuts

So we at the Sentinel picked up our media credentials for the DNC today. This may be one too many posts about all the free stuff we've received from the convention folks, but here it goes.

Inside the goody bag were a number of items, but this one stood out based on name alone: Joint Juice.

One might expect a marijuana-themed beverage to be consumed voraciously at the Democratic National Convention, but alas, this product — labeled as a "dietary supplement" — is intended to help promote the hydration and lubrication of the joints in your body.

But don't tell that to the conservative pundits; it'll spoil the fun they will have talking about how the Democrats are lavishing the Denver area and journalistic population with free pot-laced drinks.

Sunday Morning Briefing

(This photo of a Secret Service agent at the Pepsi Center this morning comes by way of Charles Dharapak of the Associated Press.)

• The McCain campaign is playing the Hillary Card... and Hillary doesn't like it. [From Politico]
• And in a snap, McCain praises Joe Biden. [From CNN]
  
• Here in Denver, the protests begin. [From PoliticsWest]
• Is it good or bad that some Iraqis detest Joe Biden? [From TigerHawk]
• Oops. [From YouTube]
• Haven't seen the podium of the Pepsi Center yet? It's impressive. [From DNC Blog]
• At least 30 percent of Hillary fans haven't contracted Obamamania yet. [From The Note]
  

BEST. PARTY. EVER.

(Thanks are in order for AP photog Ted Warren for snapping this pic of Malcolm Farley working on a portrait of Barack Obama. Just about everyone in the park got this same photo, but some of us (In this case, me) couldn't get the photo downloaded from their cameraphone.)

Sorry, Democrats.... While I'm happy to admit you just threw the best party ever, it'll be hard to top the festivities enjoyed by journalists, bloggers and assorted VIPs on Saturday night at Elitch Gardens. With that in mind, thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who stood amid all the free food and booze and managed not to partake.

How convenient it is to have an amusement park within walking distance of the main convention hall of a major political party's presidential-year gathering? The answer: Very convenient, and then remember there's plenty of public transportation to escort the inebriated scribes home safely and soundly.

More than a few members of my entourage noted that the fireworks display may have been equally or more impressive than whatever Barack Obama will receive on Thursday night at Invesco Field at Mile High. And the Flobots were there, and they are pretty good (I'm told).

More than a few celebrities were spotted: Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Bill Ritter were both spotted; it was uncertain how many Molson Coors products each had consumed by about 9:30 p.m., but according to sources in my immediate vicinity, both political luminaries enjoyed themselves as much as anyone else at Elitch's. This observer personally spotted legendary Las Vegas columnist (and former Denver writer) Norm Clarke four separate times; granted, he of the eye patch is hard to miss.

One area of improvement to note: The Elitch Gardens staff should take greater care to map out the men's restrooms, lest they end up with certain members of my entourage relieving themselves behind the Beat the Buzzer hoops game.

UPDATE: Apparently, there were many more political and journalistic heavyweights in attendance than first thought -- we missed them because we showed up fashionably late to the dog-and-pony show. US Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo) was on hand, as well as gossip columnist for the New York Post, Cindy Adams.

It's Biden for VP

Today's news unhealthily fixated on speculation about Barack Obama's choice for Vice President. While MSNBC got a pass thanks to Olympics coverage, CNN was covering the story every single hour of the day almost, with Larry King even staying up late for a midnight (on the East Coast) broadcast once they thought all the puzzle pieces were placed.
Does the Secret Service know something we don't? Not in this case, because we know it, too:
Longtime US Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) is Obama's pick to join the White House ticket this fall. This comes after the Associated Press reported that both Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and US Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) were out of the running.
Why Biden? The Associated Press spells it out fairly well in a story by Liz Sidoti and Nedra Pickler:

"Biden brought the most experience in defense or foreign policy -- areas in which Obama is rated relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain."

Definitely don't take my word on political speculation this year, because the best odds I gave Biden in my Democratic "Veepstakes" was 8-1... and he wasn't even on my proposed shortlist (yet John Edwards was, but that was before he admitted to the affair).
By the way, the National Review online has a nice rap sheet of supposed Biden gaffes. Sure, there's a little ammunition for the Republicans to use here, but I think most voters have already made up their minds... except for the plethora of forum posts I've seen on political blogs purportedly from Clinton supporters wondering whether they should vote for John McCain since their candidate has been "snubbed."

100 Years in the Making

As we start to cover the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where else to start but the beginning? Here's a quick segment from Rocky Mountain PBS on the history behind Denver's 1908 confab as we get closer to the 2008 event, which multiple Sentinel reporters and editors will be trekking downtown to cover the festivities, scripted and unscripted. Keep watching this blog in the coming days for more.