Almost First

Today is Monday, July 7, 2008 on the set of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." It is the end of a segment with co-hosts Andrea Mitchell, Willie Geist, and the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart about the Democratic National Convention in which they discussed (not-yet announced) plans for Barack Obama to give his acceptance speech at Invesco Field (which holds approximately 75,000 people) in Denver. Mitchell says (in the half hour between 6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. Eastern):

"We broke it here first."

Not quite, Andrea. This would be Markos Moulitsas posting on his famous Daily Kos blog on July 3, 2008 at 9:54 a.m. Eastern time:


Obama acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium?
by kos
Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 12:00:54 PM PDT
There was talk about Dems shortening the convention to three days, but now, talk is about doing "something different" on the last night. Could it be this?

What better place to accept the nomination for the most powerful job in the world? Invesco Field at Mile High, the home of the Denver Broncos, can seat 75,000 people. It's just a short walk under I-25 from the Pepsi Center and would be a part of the rumored one-mile square radius security zone.

DenConWatch has heard rumors to this effect as far back as March 2006.

Denver's bid would put most of the convention action at the Pepsi Center, with the final night at Invesco Field.

I am very suprised by that last one. Having the convention in two separate places makes the logistics much harder. You have to build all the infrastructure twice: podium, floor seating, and media facilities. I can't imagine the media will be happy about having to pay for two sets of anchorbooths, wiring, etc. Security is also a nightmare. You have to setup the whole security infrastructure in two separate places. Not to mention the security checkpoint system gets used and worked out the first 2 days, before the big days of Wednesday and Thursday. If you have the final night in a completely new place, it seems to me you're asking for trouble.

And:

However, a source has told me that Dean has been dropping hints that he would like some sort of "public event" to close the convention week, which could, logically, be the nominee acceptance speech. (It could also just be a big rally the next day).

In 2004, I learned about a little trick apparently done at all conventions -- a group would walk in, a single person would collect all their passes, go outside, and bring a new group of people. Lather, rinse, repeat. There were likely three times as many people inside the convention hall for Kerry's speech than at any other time.

So why restrict Obama's historic acceptance speech on the 45th anniversary of MLK's "I have a dream" speech to the convention delegates and whoever they can smuggle in? Open that puppy up.


But MSNBC- and Mitchell- were among the first!