You never know who'll youll run into on the floor of the Democratic National Convention. It might be a football immortal, or a 1980s TV actress, or the former secretary of state. Even the star of the "Harold and Kumar" movies, an ardent Democratic activist.
You never know who'll youll run into on the floor of the Democratic National Convention. It might be a football immortal, or a 1980s TV actress, or the former secretary of state. Even the star of the "Harold and Kumar" movies, an ardent Democratic activist.
That would be Kal Penn, whose job this week is the floor manager for the Virginia delegation. He loves the convention spectacle and is bullish about the chance to broadcast the Democratic Party's principles to a larger audience _ and snag some undecided voters in the process.
"With the Internet, with cable, with the 15,000 journalists that we have here, so many more people can experience it," Penn said Wednesday. "Being here on the ground, to be part of that kind of change is something I'm glad is televised."
Several yards away was Franco Harris, a legendary Pittsburgh Steelers running back whose legs and moves carried his team to four Super Bowl championships between 1975 and 1980. He was standing with the Pennsylvania delegation _ towering above it, actually.
He finds many parallels between his profession and the business at hand.
"Sports, politics, there is a big connection there," Harris said. "It's about developing the skills and developing the intellect. And it teaches you how to be competitive."
Being on the floor Wednesday was an exciting affair. Not only was history being made in the form of Obama's official nomination, but the electric anticipation of two speakers _ Bill Clinton and Joe Biden _ set the place abuzz. Morgan Fairchild hurried by, and wait _ is that Madeleine Albright?
When Obama received his official nomination by acclamation, some wept in their seats in joy. "Finally," said one young man, hugging a woman in the seat behind him.
Sally Powless, a delegate from Toledo, Ohio, drank in the whole scene. From her vantage point in the front row of her delegation, she watched Wolf Blitzer interview Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry on CNN's elevated platform and reveled in the spectacle around her.
"I'll tell ya, it's energy," she said. "It's being among all these Democrats. You know everybody thinks the way you think. You can get into a conversation about things that are important for you and know you're not going to get into a confrontation."
Logistics, too, made the whole thing feel more democratic. Deep in the Pennsylvania delegation, a tan, burly man went seat by seat, asking folks if they belonged and cheerfully ejecting them if they didn't.
"Everybody here a delegate?" he asked. "If you're a guest, you can't sit in these seats."
People listened because of who was talking. You'd think, though, that Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell would have chosen to delegate that particular duty.
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