Capital Games

Made it in

 

Wasn't too bad once the cab dropped us off, although it was a very long walk.
Made it down to the floor and some NJ delegates are already sittng out in the sun.
''It was surprisingly easy, '' said delegate Elizabeth Junod of Allendale. "We left the hotel at 2:15 and were sitting here by 3:30.''
It will get worse. They were closing highway exits as we arrived.
So we wait. Team Obama got a break on the weather. It is hot and sunny but not unbearable.
Gymnast Shawn Johnson just said the Pledge of Allegiance and Jennifer Hudson rocked the national anthem.
Our seats have a better view of the CNN and MSNBC sets than the stage. Thank god for the scoreboard screens.      

Love train?

The convention just nominated Barack Obama for president by acclamation, adopting a motion made by Hillary Clinton. After the motion passed, the band played The Ojays' "Love Train."

The last state to cast its vote in the roll call before Clinton's motion was New Jersey. Governor Corzine cast the state's 127 unanimous votes for Obama with this speech:

"The Garden State of New Jersey, home of the Super Bowl champion Giants, where the sun rises on our shores and sets on our green mountains in the west, where our people industrious, entrepreneurial and every once in a while have an attitude, we the Democrats in one of the most trail-blazing progressive states in the nation, providing health care, paid family leave and making sure every child has a quality education, we proudly cast unanimously, unanimously, our votes for the next president of the United States, who will inspire America with hope and pride, a leader who will inspire the world with hope and pride, we cast our 127 votes for Barack Obama.

The unanimous vote was greated with loud applause which grew even louder when Clinton appeared on the floor moments later.

Sign her up

Elizabeth Junod is a first-time delegate and an ordained minister from Bergen County. She was one of the delegates profiled in my column -- when was it -- sometime this week.

As I was leaving the delegate hotel last night about 11 p.m. where I'd been for about 13 hours, I ran into her getting off a bus from the convention hall.

"I want to go to sleep, but I have too much to write," she said. Junod has been writing a blog called Minister Mom, and her account of what she's been seeing says more than anything I've been able to say all week.

Clinton addresses Jersey party

The notoriously controlling Clinton press office shut the press out of the joint reception tonight with New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida delegations.

But a source called to say nothing spectacular happened. PA Gov. Ed Rendell introduced NJ Gov. Jon Corzine who intro'd NY Gov. David Patterson.

Hillary thanked the states for what they had done to support her. She reminded them that in the last 30 years only three Democrats had won the presidential elections, and her husband won two of them.

Then the message was described simply as "unity, unity, unity."

Hillary speaks to New Jersey

Staff photos by John Reitmeyer. Gotta wonder, what's going through Frank Lautenberg's mind?

Big leaguer praises Pascrell

Pascrell coaching during 2007 Congressional ballgame. -- File shot provided by Pascrell's office

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. was gushing about the compliment he got from a former major leaguer when he returned this afternoon from taking batting practice at the Colorado Rockies' home ballpark.

"Steve Garvey saw me hit and said, 'You've played before, You have a great swing,'" said the 71-year-old Pascrell, who once played semi-pro ball and for years was a key player on the Democrats' team in an annual ballgame against congressional Republicans. In recent years, he's participated as a coach.

Garvey, a former star infielder for the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, was serving as batting coach at the event, sponsored by AT&T. Participating with Pascrell was 16-year-old grandson, Bill IV.

Rep. Pascrell said a big crowd of Democratic National Convention attendees showed up at the ballpark to take advantage of the opportunity.

"I waited an hour and a half to go, then when I got up there they said, 'Oh, Congressman, you didn't need to wait,' " he said.

Son Bill Pascrell III, the Passaic County counsel and a lobbyist with Trenton's Princeton Public Affairs Group, is also at the convention, as is son David Pascrell, a lobbyist with the Gibbons law firm.

Another shutout

Republicans don't want you to think they have anything in common with Democrats, but here's one: The official schedule just released for the Republican National Convention next week in St. Paul, Minn., also does not include any speakers from New Jersey so far.

Here's the list released this afternoon, clipped from the convention news release:

Podium shutout? Fughetaboutit

If the rumors that Bon Jovi and Springsteen will sing on Thursday night turn out to be true, then the Democratic National Convention will hear at least some voices from New Jersey.

But no one speaking from the podium is a Jerseyan. That's unusual given the state's strength in the Democratic Party, but not so unusual when you consider that most of the state's heavy hitters were aggressively trying to keep Barack Obama from getting the nomination because they were supporting Hillary Clinton.

[Rep. Steve Rothman, the first superdelegate to back Obama, said in my column on Monday that he was offered a speaking role and turned it down.]

Both Governor Corzine and Sen. Bob Menendez downplayed the significance of the shutout today.

Dispatch from Party No. 1

The first official gathering of the New Jersey delegation in a banquet room at the Inverness hotel and golf resort outside Denver set the tone for the week to come: Before introducing the main speakers -- Sen. Bob Menendez, Governor Corzine, and the hosts for the evening, Rep. Steve Rothman and Sen. Frank Lautenberg -- state party chairman Joe Cryan made an important announcement:

"No job is too be or small for a chairman, and I have some housekeeping. If you want to golf, the logistics of this have been pretty incredible. I need you to take the opportunity to confirm your reservation. If you haven't signed up, do so tonight at the front desk, or if not first thing tomorrow morning."

Then he moved on to the matter of politics and campaigns.

Denver convention tidbits

New Jersey's delegation hotel at the Inverness Golf Club looks very nice (the press is staying at a Holiday Inn Express about a mile away). The fairway out the window of the filing center they set up for us kept calling to me while writing a column this afternoon.

But it's also about 15 miles outside of Denver, and one official confided today that's a negative factor in trying to get some of the party's marquee supporters to make the trek out to speak to delegates daily breakfast meetings.

It took about 45 minutes on the light rail system to get into downtown to pick up credentials today, so my colleagues John Reitmeyer and Tariq Zehawi and I decided to take a cab back. Ouch. $45, plus $5 tip.

To give you an idea of where we are, imagine covering a convention in Madison Square Garden from a hotel in Paramus.