NEW YORK (AP) -- National political conventions have become, in NBC's Brian Williams' words, "four-day infomercials." But it's not always clear the message is getting through.
The tension between convention planners and television news organizations who don't want to be seen as doing the politicians' bidding was obvious Monday during the first night of the Democratic meeting that will nominate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president.
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was addressing the convention, drawing a contrast between Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly was in a booth far above the delegates interviewing a pollster. O'Reilly waved in the direction of Pelosi on stage with a dismissive hand.
"Now we have Nancy Pelosi bloviating, and I say that in an affectionate way, behind us," O'Reilly said. "It doesn't seem like the crowd is on the edge of their seats."
Fox's viewers weren't allowed to judge for themselves. Same thing for CNN at the time, where Wolf Blitzer was holding court as Pelosi talked. Among the cable news networks, only MSNBC gave Pelosi's speech any real attention.
Three hours later, as CNN analysts were wrapping up the night, several talked about the absence of "red meat" attacks on the Republicans. But Democratic activist Hillary Rosen noted that Pelosi was doing some of that - only CNN wasn't really listening.
CBS was showing Katie Couric and Jeff Greenfield talking when Craig Robinson was onstage speaking about his sister, Michelle Obama. During a Jimmy Carter tribute, Fox was showing films of demonstrators outside the convention hall. There was little time spent on Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.
On a night Obama's team clearly had set aside for assuring American voters that if they got to know the nation's first black major party-nominee better they would see similarities to themselves, most of the networks didn't bother listening to Obama's half-sister.
Several things may explain it. The networks paid to send much of their political talent to Denver, and want to show them off. They fear political speeches may turn off an audience that has, essentially, tuned in for political speeches. And they don't want to be sucked into an infomercial.
Viewers who want that message unfiltered were better off watching PBS or C-SPAN, which carried most of the action from the podium.
When the evening ended following Michelle O'Bama's speech about her husband, and some cute family unity with Barack Obama seen via satellite, commentators on both CNN and Fox judged that too little had happened on the first night.
"I thought it was a beautiful speech, beautifully done," said Fox's Chris Wallace. "But I can't help but feel after the first night of the convention that it was largely a wasted night."
Democratic strategist James Carville was mad that there weren't many attacks on McCain.
"They did a poor job explaining what the choices are," added CNN's David Gergen.
His colleague, John King, said that wasn't necessarily what Democrats were trying to do on the first night. "They are trying to race across the viability threshold before the Republicans can say that this man is not ready to be president," he said.
The action seemed better suited Monday for the broadcast networks. ABC, CBS and NBC are each devoting an hour each night to the convention coverage. They had originally mapped out an hour of prime-time for three of the four nights of the convention - as they all did four years ago. But strong interest in the campaign pushed the networks to add a fourth hour.
The slow moments earlier in the evening - so deadly to the cable pundits who craved more amusement - suited ABC, CBS and NBC perfectly. It enabled them to offer highlights of Sen. Edward Kennedy's emotional speech during the first half hour of their broadcasts, then segue directly into Michelle Obama's speech.
By 11 p.m. ET, the Obamas were gone.
By Ken Papaleo, AP
Unity by evening? Denver awaits Clinton
That could prove a contentious issue throughout the day as Clinton and Barack Obama's camps ironed out the nomination process and whether, or how many, votes would be cast for the defeated New York senator.
Clinton has urged her supporters to fall in line behind Obama, who is slowly marching across the country before making his acceptance speech in Denver on Thursday. But Clinton has said that the people who voted for her during the convention should have their voices heard and be able to cast their votes.
"There is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is Barack Obama's convention," Clinton told reporters. And yet, she said, some of her delegates "feel an obligation to the people who sent them here" and would vote for her.
In one scenario, Clinton herself would cut off the voting and urge the unanimous nomination of Obama, according to Democratic officials involved in the negotiations. They discussed the deal with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity while final details were being worked out.
But some Clinton delegates said they were not interested in a compromise, raising the prospect of floor demonstrations that would underscore the split between Obama and Clinton Democrats.
"I don't care what she says," said Mary Boergers, a Maryland delegate who wants to cast a vote for Clinton.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told USA TODAY that the Clinton-Obama divide is tangible at every level of the campaign. Newsom harkened back to Obama's message that there are no red states and blue states signifying Republican and Democratic states, but the United States of America.
"Yet here we are as a party and we need to be reminded that we're not Clinton groups or Barack groups," Newsom said Tuesday morning. "There's still that friction."
John McCain's campaign tried to capitalize on that division by releasing a new ad that highlights Clinton's own words during the primary season questioning Obama's ability to handle that perilous 3 a.m. phone call.
The McCain ad played off her primary campaign spot featuring sleeping children and a phone call portending a crisis. In the new ad Clinton is shown saying: "I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."
A narrator adds: "Hillary's right. John McCain for president."
Meanwhile, Denver authorities were busy early Tuesday processing about 100 people who were arrested when police officers and protesters clashed about a mile from the site of the Democratic National Convention.
The confrontation erupted Monday night as police in riot gear tried to disperse a crowd of about 300 people that was disrupting traffic near the Denver City and County Building.
Police said they were forced to use pepper spray when members of the crowd, some carrying rocks, rushed a police safety line. But one protester said officers charged the protesters with no warning.
Contributing: Alan Gomez, the Associated Press
Michelle Obama Brings Heart To DNC Opener
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EnlargeAn overflow crowd watches Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama, address the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25, 2008.
Tell Me More, August 26, 2008 · This week, host Michel Martin is covering the Democratic National Convention in Denver, and she's bringing listeners the latest political news, Tell Me More style.
Martin and guest host Cheryl Corley discuss the previous day's highlights, including Michelle Obama's emotional address and expectations for tonight's Hillary Clinton's speech tonight.
Transcript: Michelle Obama's Convention Speech
NPR.org, August 25, 2008 · In these prepared remarks provided by the campaign, Michelle Obama talks about her personal story of growing up on the South Side of Chicago and giving up a corporate law job for public service. She discusses her marriage with Barack Obama and their commitment to their children — and, in particular, highlights the Obamas' commitment to working families.
As you might imagine, for Barack, running for president is nothing compared to that first game of basketball with my brother, Craig.
I can't tell you how much it means to have Craig and my mom here tonight. Like Craig, I can feel my dad looking down on us, just as I've felt his presence in every grace-filled moment of my life.
At 6-foot-6, I've often felt like Craig was looking down on me too … literally. But the truth is, both when we were kids and today, he wasn't looking down on me. He was watching over me.
And he's been there for me every step of the way since that clear February day 19 months ago, when — with little more than our faith in each other and a hunger for change — we joined my husband, Barack Obama, on the improbable journey that's brought us to this moment.
But each of us also comes here tonight by way of our own improbable journey.
I come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor, my protector and my lifelong friend.
I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president.
I come here as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world — they're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. Their future — and all our children's future — is my stake in this election.
And I come here as a daughter — raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. My mother's love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion and her intelligence reflected in my own daughters.
My dad was our rock. Although he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his early 30s, he was our provider, our champion, our hero. As he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, it took him longer to get dressed in the morning. But if he was in pain, he never let on. He never stopped smiling and laughing — even while struggling to button his shirt, even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my mom a kiss. He just woke up a little earlier and worked a little harder.
He and my mom poured everything they had into me and Craig. It was the greatest gift a child can receive: never doubting for a single minute that you're loved, and cherished, and have a place in this world. And thanks to their faith and hard work, we both were able to go on to college. So I know firsthand from their lives — and mine — that the American dream endures.
And you know, what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. Like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities they never had themselves. And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
And as our friendship grew, and I learned more about Barack, he introduced me to the work he'd done when he first moved to Chicago after college. Instead of heading to Wall Street, Barack had gone to work in neighborhoods devastated when steel plants shut down and jobs dried up. And he'd been invited back to speak to people from those neighborhoods about how to rebuild their community.
The people gathered together that day were ordinary folks doing the best they could to build a good life. They were parents living paycheck to paycheck; grandparents trying to get by on a fixed income; men frustrated that they couldn't support their families after their jobs disappeared. Those folks weren't asking for a handout or a shortcut. They were ready to work — they wanted to contribute. They believed — like you and I believe — that America should be a place where you can make it if you try.
Barack stood up that day, and spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about "The world as it is" and "The world as it should be." And he said that all too often, we accept the distance between the two, and settle for the world as it is — even when it doesn't reflect our values and aspirations. But he reminded us that we know what our world should look like. We know what fairness and justice and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves — to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be. And isn't that the great American story?
It's the story of men and women gathered in churches and union halls, in town squares and high school gyms — people who stood up and marched and risked everything they had — refusing to settle, determined to mold our future into the shape of our ideals.
It is because of their will and determination that this week, we celebrate two anniversaries: the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, and the 45th anniversary of that hot summer day when [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] lifted our sights and our hearts with his dream for our nation.
I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history — knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me. All of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for work. The same conviction that drives the men and women I've met all across this country:
People who work the day shift, kiss their kids goodnight, and head out for the night shift — without disappointment, without regret — that goodnight kiss a reminder of everything they're working for.
The military families who say grace each night with an empty seat at the table. The servicemen and women who love this country so much, they leave those they love most to defend it.
The young people across America serving our communities — teaching children, cleaning up neighborhoods, caring for the least among us each and every day.
People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters — and sons — can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher.
People like Joe Biden, who's never forgotten where he came from and never stopped fighting for folks who work long hours and face long odds and need someone on their side again.
All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won't do — that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be.
That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack's journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope.
That is why I love this country.
And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us — no matter what our age or background or walk of life — each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.
It's a belief Barack shares — a belief at the heart of his life's work.
It's what he did all those years ago, on the streets of Chicago, setting up job training to get people back to work and after-school programs to keep kids safe — working block by block to help people lift up their families.
It's what he did in the Illinois Senate, moving people from welfare to jobs, passing tax cuts for hard-working families, and making sure women get equal pay for equal work.
It's what he's done in the United States Senate, fighting to ensure the men and women who serve this country are welcomed home not just with medals and parades but with good jobs and benefits and health care — including mental health care.
That's why he's running — to end the war in Iraq responsibly, to build an economy that lifts every family, to make health care available for every American, and to make sure every child in this nation gets a world class education all the way from preschool to college. That's what Barack Obama will do as president of the United States of America.
He'll achieve these goals the same way he always has — by bringing us together and reminding us how much we share and how alike we really are. You see, Barack doesn't care where you're from, or what your background is, or what party — if any — you belong to. That's not how he sees the world. He knows that thread that connects us — our belief in America's promise, our commitment to our children's future — is strong enough to hold us together as one nation even when we disagree.
It was strong enough to bring hope to those neighborhoods in Chicago.
It was strong enough to bring hope to the mother he met worried about her child in Iraq; hope to the man who's unemployed, but can't afford gas to find a job; hope to the student working nights to pay for her sister's health care, sleeping just a few hours a day.
And it was strong enough to bring hope to people who came out on a cold Iowa night and became the first voices in this chorus for change that's been echoed by millions of Americans from every corner of this nation.
Millions of Americans who know that Barack understands their dreams; that Barack will fight for people like them; and that Barack will finally bring the change we need.
And in the end, after all that's happened these past 19 months, the Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago. He's the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital 10 years ago this summer, inching along at a snail's pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands, determined to give her everything he'd struggled so hard for himself, determined to give her what he never had: the affirming embrace of a father's love.
And as I tuck that little girl and her little sister into bed at night, I think about how one day, they'll have families of their own. And one day, they — and your sons and daughters — will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They'll tell them how this time, we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming. How this time, in this great country — where a girl from the South Side of Chicago can go to college and law school, and the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the White House – we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be.
So tonight, in honor of my father's memory and my daughters' future — out of gratitude to those whose triumphs we mark this week, and those whose everyday sacrifices have brought us to this moment — let us devote ourselves to finishing their work; let us work together to fulfill their hopes; and let us stand together to elect Barack Obama president of the United States of America.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
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