Live Blog: Democratic National Convention, Day 1

Posted: September 4, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , | 104 Comments

Today is the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can watch the live stream at the DNC website. There are speeches going on right now.

The most significant speakers tonight will be Keynote speaker Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, Texas at 10:00, followed by First Lady Michelle Obama at 10:30. On Castro:

Castro, 37, is in his second term as mayor of the nation’s seventh-largest city after easily winning re-election in 2011 with nearly 82 percent of the vote. The Obama campaign notes that his life story in many ways mirrors President Obama’s: He and his identical twin brother Joaquin Castro came from modest beginnings and relied on scholarships, grants and loans to attend Stanford University and then Harvard Law School.

A senior campaign official told CBS News that Castro’s keynote address will share that personal story “and reflect on the things we need to do as a country to create more Julian Castros, more Barack Obamas to ensure that every young person across this country can achieve their dreams.”

Michelle Obama will

serve as a “character witness” for her husband, according to the Obama campaign. She will speak, a senior campaign official said, “not just about who the president is, but the values that motivate him.”

Mrs. Obama will testify about the “tough decisions” that Mr. Obama made, like pushing through health care reform and backing the auto bailout. And after traveling the country and seeing tangible results, the campaign says, she can also testify to the ways in which those decisions have paid off.

Other speakers tonight will be former President Jimmy Carter (by video hookup), Rahm Emmanuel, Lincoln Chaffee (former Republican, now Independent), actor Kal Penn, President Obama’s sister, and Michelle Obama’s brother.

I plan to watch the live stream and listen to the coverage on MSNBC. I have something I have to do until 7:30, and then I’ll be live blogging. Please join me by posting comments and links. It should be a fun night.