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Were the winners really picked at random? One winner was announced before the entry deadline! WorldNetDaily reported recently that the Obama campaign was contacted by Minnesota's Department of Public Safety with regard to a fundraising solicitation that could be construed as an illegal lottery. The E-mail, which we also received, seems to contain the three elements that constitute a lottery: 1. Payment of consideration (a monetary donation) 2. An element of chance 3. A prize (all-expenses paid trip to the Democratic National Convention and a personal meeting with Barack Obama While we are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice,...

<p>Limiting protesters to a "free speech zone" means First Amendment rights will be under assault at the Democratic National Convention, civil rights lawyer David Lane said during a training class for lawyers today.</p>

The event Democrats tout as "the greenest convention ever" may be fading into brown. Last week's decision to move Barack Obama's acceptance speech from Denver's Pepsi Center to Invesco Field is expected to magnify the modest carbon footprint the party has boasted about for months. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for including up to 56,000 more people in Obama's Aug. 28 audience, especially if most of them are Coloradans. After all, some things, such as political participation, are more important than greenhouse emissions from one event on one evening in Denver. But it should be noted that the switch...

JOHNSON: Homeless say DNC diversions not for themBy Bill Johnson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact) Thursday, July 17, 2008 Debbie - and this is merely a hunch - will probably be going to jail next month. Unless they are giving away free booze and marijuana at the movies, the zoo or the Nature & Science museum - along with the free tickets to those venues they plan on giving the homeless during Democratic National Convention week - I can't see Debbie budging from the dirt beneath the Speer Boulevard bridge she has called home the past 26 years. She and scores...

KANYE, WYCLEF BOOKED FOR DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: Artists scheduled to perform during event beginning Aug. 25 in Denver.(July 18, 2008) Kanye West, Wyclef Jean and N.E.R.D. have been tapped to perform at the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver to support the presidential nomination of Sen. Barack Obama. According to Billboard, West is rumored to be performing on behalf of Bono's One Campaign, which landed the rapper in conjunction with the RIAA. Jean and N.E.R.D. are expected to headline a party thrown by MTV and Rock the Vote. The convention, which begins Aug. 25 at Invesco Field in Denver, will culminate with...

Waldo - Some 150 anarchists from throughout the United States and Canada descended on a strip of private land this week in this Sheboygan County village for four days of workshops, including some focused on strategizing for demonstrations at the upcoming Democratic and Republican national conventions. The 2008 CrimethInc. Convergence was the sixth annual communal campout organized by CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective, an international underground network that since the mid-1990s has published widely read anarchist texts such as "Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook." The group also has drawn the attention of FBI agents trying to infiltrate the protest movement. At...

Dozens of protest groups are planning a full schedule of classes, concerts, marches and other actions during the Democratic National Convention, hoping to capture the world's attention and recruit new activists. Ron Lewis shoots video and transmits it to his Web site, ronlewis.com/live, at an event Thursday by We Are Change Colorado. The organization said it plans to video DNC protests and police, posting clips on YouTube.com for the public to see. They are both energized and organized, and most insist they are not looking for trouble. "We are completely peaceful," said Rob Weiland, a 37-year-old courier from Denver and...

"Hundreds of Denver's homeless could be cooling their heels in a movie theater or museum while the Democratic National Convention is in town next month. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to get 500 movie tickets as well as passes to the Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and other cultural facilities for the people it helps. Bus tickets will be provided for events beyond walking distance, said John Parvensky, the non-profit's president."

There's apparently some grumbling from Hill Democrats about their lack of input into Obama's Democratic victory strategy -- such is par for the course at this quadrennial U.S. Open we call a presidential race. But the Obama campaign has found a smart way to keep the party's reigning elder statesman, Howard Dean, busy: they're sending him on a cross-country voter registration tour. He'll travel in style on a 45 foot long biodisel bus flagged in red, white and blue. The tour kicks off in Crawford, TX on Thursday, heads to Austin where Dean will say hi to peeps at the...

Hundreds of Denver's homeless could be cooling their heels in a movie theater or museum while the Democratic National Convention is in town next month. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to get 500 movie tickets as well as passes to the Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and other cultural facilities for the people it helps. Many day shelters will have expanded hours during the convention, and big screen TVs are being donated to some shelters so patrons can watch convention goings-on without being caught up in the mayhem. A two-day voter registration drive is also...

Caught this via a Luciannne to Alegre’s Corner to Powerline link… all hitting the blogosphere yesterday. Politico documents the DNC happy face is all but that under the surface. It appears that the DNC leadership is feeling left out in the cold with BHO not checking in to coordinate his campaign talking points with them. And as the party leadership smiles, their underling staffers are whining: Privately, however, there is a different message coming from some Democratic quarters on the Hill and on K Street. Some Democratic leadership staffers complain that, having defeated the vaunted Clinton political machine in the...

Big news folks - it looks like our efforts in contacting those Superdelegates are starting to pay off, so keep on writing to them (ok, maybe Donna B's a waste of time). There are unconfirmed reports, based on phone banking efforts to reach out to Super Ds, that eight previously Obama SDs expressed that, given the opportunity, they would vote for Hillary at the convention. I heard about an interview Will Bower of PUMA did recently, where he said delegates are starting to say they'll vote for Hillary in Denver if the DNC did the right thing and ran an...

Obama’s decision to give his acceptance speech at the Invesco Stadium could produce, at least, four times more carbon dioxide pollutants than if he gave the same speech at the Pepsi Convention Center, as originally planned. Or… to put it another way, his one evening at the stadium could create more carbon pollutants than all four days of the Republican Convention... combined.So much for having a “green” convention, right? Here's how I crunched the numbers... The Pepsi Convention Center (where the rest of the Convention will take place) holds about 18,000 guests and has about 5,000 parking spaces. The Ivesco...

At least 900 officers are being brought into Denver to help at next month's Democratic National Convention. Suburban Aurora will send the largest contingent, 300 police officers, or half the force. The Wyoming National Guard will send 22 members who are trained to detect nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. At least 582 officers have been committed from Lakewood, Littleton, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Englewood, Jefferson County, Arapahoe County and Adams County. More are expected from Douglas County, Brighton, Broomfield and Arvada. Some will go on routine patrols with Denver police to free up the city's officers for convention work. Denver police...

You are welcome here. That's the message that Denver officials say they hope to convey to its homeless community as the Democratic National Convention approaches. No one will be swept or bused out of the city in an effort to "clean up" Denver during the event. But some homeless advocates say that a city program makes the homeless feel particularly unwelcome in public parks, and that the city plans to empty parks of the homeless before the convention. Called Come On In, the program, which was launched in 2006, urges charities that serve outdoor meals to the homeless to move...

The prospect of protesters linking themselves with devices that bolt cutters can't sever or throwing buckets of feces on police has Denver considering putting a new law on the books before the Democratic National Convention. Demonstrators would be banned from having items such as chains, quick-setting cement, homemade locking devices that are resistant to bolt cutters and "any noxious substance," City Council members said Monday. "Protesters are getting pretty sophisticated," said Councilman Doug Linkhart, chairman of the council's safety committee.

CQ Politics reported Sunday on the efforts of two supporters of Hillary Clinton, who've formed the Denver Group, a 527 organization that will lobby -- among other things -- for Clinton's name to be included in the roll call vote at the Democratic convention this summer. As the Huffington Post's Tom Edsall notes, the two people behind the Denver Group -- Heidi Li Feldman, a Georgetown Law professor, and Marc Rubin, who works in advertising -- also placed an ad in the Chicago Tribune in which they said, "Senator Clinton's name must be put in nomination. Her supporters must be...

Barack Obama's campaign changed the rules of a highly publicized fundraiser Tuesday, after gambling regulators said the contest — a chance at one of 10 trips to the Democratic National Convention — was an illegal lottery. "We are happy to have resolved this issue working closely with state officials," said Nick Kimball, spokesman for the Obama campaign ... A spokesman for the Colorado Secretary of State said Democrats would have to get a license if they were conducting "a standard raffle where they're buying tickets" in order to win. But under the new rules, supporters don't have to donate money...

Top Colorado Hillary supporter just on Fox News (first name Heidi; didn't get last name). According to her, the Dem Party is in "disarray" and she is part of a group that intends to nominate Hillary as the Dem presidential candidate at the Dem convention. Reporter noted that 'it would be great tv,' to which she replied that 'it would be good for the party and the country.' As Osama self-destructs, let the games begin!

Andy Martin's worldwide bestseller goes to press as Obama campaign trembles. ANDY MARTIN Executive Editor ContrarianCommentary.com 'Factually Correct, Not Politically Correct' AMERICA'S #1 POLITICAL BLOG OF THE 2008 CAMPAIGN FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ATTENTION DAYBOOK/ASSIGNMENT EDITORS ANNOUNCEMENT OF CHICAGO NEWS CONFERENCE JULY 10, 2008 OBAMA BOOK GOES ON THE PRESSES CHICAGO COLUMNIST ANDY MARTIN ANNOUNCES HIS NEW BOOK, OBAMA: THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK, HAS STARTED PRINTING (CHICAGO)(July 11, 2008) Legendary Chicago Internet columnist and muckraker Andy Martin will hold a news conference Thursday, July 10th to announce that his new book on Senator Barack Obama is on the presses. Based...

Denver businesses stiffed by DNC By ELIZABETH AGUILERA - THE DENVER POST | 7/13/08 8:09 PM EST As soon as Charlotte Kulscar heard the Democratic National Committee named Denver its 2008 convention site, she began researching how to get a piece of the estimated $160 million economic impact for her print shop. She thought she had a good shot. L&M Pressworks already does printing for the city, the state and the Downtown Denver Partnership. She filled out the application for the DNC Vendor Directory and was sure to include the shop's status as female- owned and green-certified. Yet so far,...

The senator from New York is said to be negotiating a respectful presence followed by a graceful exit from next month’s Democratic convention, and last week the party announced that Barack Obama would formally accept the party’s nomination in the stadium built for the Denver Broncos. But there are Clinton supporters clinging to the hope that if her name is placed in nomination and the roll call of the states is conducted, she might — might — still win.

This Friday the Howard Dean version of the Obama Love Fest Tour headed out to New Hampshire to help campaign for Obama in a State whose 4 electoral votes are up for grabs in November. Among Dean's stops was a semi-private meeting held at the home of New Hampshire Democrat Terie Norelli in Portsmouth on Friday. Speaking to a groups of 60 prominent local Dem. leaders and activists, Dean weighed in the unification efforts following the primaries. Howard Dean has some interesting comments concerning the primaries and especially...

This shirt won a contest on Hillary's site. They received 5,000 submissions and 125,000 people voted for their favorite. Hillary says. While the primary race may be over, I think the winning t-shirt -- and it won by a landslide -- still makes a wonderful statement about everything you and I accomplished in this historic race and our determination to keep fighting for what we believe in. Hmmm. Fighting John McCain? I think she may be reminding us Obama is only the presumptive nominee. The Country Music design, here, wasn't among the finalists. Go figure.

More than $20 million in the hole and finding reluctance among Sen. Barack Obama's supporters to help retire her campaign debt, Sen. Hillary Clinton urged her backers to help her out by buying a t-shirt. Not just any t-shirt. A $50 "limited edition" t-shirt, the winner in a contest launched in May when Clinton was still very much an active candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency against Obama. "While the primary race may be over, I think the winning t-shirt -- and it won by a landslide -- still makes a wonderful statement about everything you and I...

Barack Obama told a potential donor to his campaign that Hillary Rodham Clinton is on his list of possible vice presidential running mates, but that her husband's status as a former president makes matters "complicated." Jill Iscol, a faithful Democratic donor who was an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said Obama reached out to her because he heard she was unhappy about the way the New York senator had been treated by the Democratic Party and the media. Obama replied that she is on his list, Iscol recounted, and that it would be a mistake not to have...

No Fry Zone? Food Fight in Denver Continues Councilman Says the Proposed "Green" Convention Catering Initiatives are Prejudicial Against Southern Fare By JOANNA JENNINGS July 11, 2008— The heated debate in Denver this summer is not about Obama versus McCain. Rather, it is about old fashioned Southern fried food versus lean and green lighter offerings. The controversy surrounding the food selection for the 2008 Democratic Convention continues, with one councilman claiming the Denver Host Committee's catering proposal is discriminatory toward southern specialties such as fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, and fried okra. "The host committee's food police are going too...

Rally Memo From: Leni Riefenstahl To: Barack Hussein (dare I say it?) Obama Subject: Ideas for the rally Dear Mr. Obama: I've been reading of your plans for the Invesco Field mass rally in Denver. I've had some experience documenting such things and am delighted to offer my suggestions. You are the one I've been waiting for.

How perfect it was that while running for president in 2008, the 40th anniversary of "1968," Barack Obama should denounce the 1960s. His candidacy and his times are bland compared to what was happening then, or so everyone thought. The year 1968 had a torrent of cataclysmic political events, each of which might have destabilized any other year. We just passed Robert Kennedy's assassination, and before that the Paris student riots in May 1968. Up next month, the Democratic convention in Chicago - with its pitched battles in Grant Park between the cops and antiwar demonstrators, the anti-Vietnam protests inside...

Wednesday, July 09, 2008 Obama's Mile High Fantasy Flight Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: My Opinion! Barack Obama's move to Mile High is an exercise in stagecraft and a smoke and mirror job for the American people. First, it is an affront to the Hillary Clinton delegates who would have comprised half the room if Obama were to appear at the Pepsi Center. It is a calculated move to force networks into the very real choice of only covering his speech on the final day - denying the American people a true look at what the Democrat's platform and policies...

Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: My Opinion! Barack Obama's move to Mile High is an exercise in stagecraft and a smoke and mirror job for the American people. *First, it is an affront to the Hillary Clinton delegates who would have comprised half the room if Obama were to appear at the Pepsi Center. *It is a calculated move to force networks into the very real choice of only covering his speech on the final day - denying the American people a true look at what the Democrat's platform and policies are all about, and denying the American people a...

(Wisconsin woman writes that denying her a seat would be undemocratic) Washington - Fighting an attempt by the state Democratic Party to unseat her from next month's national convention, Clinton delegate Debra Bartoshevich said that to "strip me of my status is undemocratic." That plea is part of a letter Bartoshevich sent this week to the Democratic National Committee — her formal response to the credentials challenge. The state party moved to strip Bartoshevich of her delegate status after she told the Journal Sentinel last month that she will support Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama if Obama is...

In the modern age, America's major-party conventions are love fests, feting their preselected nominees. But that may not be the case this year for Barack Obama, which means the Democratic Convention even has the potential to derail his chances for victory in November. The press has been slow to notice the potential trouble ahead, but the Obama camp has not. In the past week, the media has rather dutifully reported that the key final night of the Democratic convention (Thursday, August 28) -- the night Obama will give his all-important acceptance speech -- will be moved out of the convention...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — TV One will cover the Democratic National Convention because — and only because — the party's nominee is African-American. And yet, oddly enough, some of the people who will be involved in that coverage took umbrage at the suggestion that the cable/satellite network is, um, covering the Democratic National Convention only because the nominee is Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. "Yes, Sen. Obama running for president is a huge deal at TV One as it is in the African-American community," said Johnathan Rodgers, the CEO of the network that, in his words, "targets African-American adults." According to...

...The move to Invesco is nothing more than propaganda meant to bolster the perception that Obama’s support is overwhelming. It is an attempt to draw inaccurate comparisons to a great leader of the past while distracting from the lack of substance that exists within his rhetoric. More importantly, however, is the fact that the propaganda aspect of the Invesco move is merely a side-effect of the more narrow purpose for the move. The move to Invesco is ultimately an attempt to distract ...

Rest assured: Chicken tenders and doughnuts will make appearances at the Democratic National Convention. In the midst of media mockery and embarrassment among national Democrats that Denver had declared fried foods a party foul and had ordered multihued entrees, the Denver host committee has softened an original document that called for caterers to be "lean and green." Local officials are now calling the 12 stipulations laid out in a May Request for Proposal to caterers "guidelines." (snip) A memo, titled "Fiction Fuels Frivolous Food Fight," will be issued later this week in an attempt to bring everyone — caterers, national...

Given Barack Obama's historic run for the Oval Office, African American-themed cable network "TV One" plans to break from its usual entertainment programming to provide extensive coverage of the Democratic National Convention in August. "Sen. Barack Obama running for president is a huge deal for TV One as it is for the African American community," said Johnathan Rodgers, president and CEO of TV One, a channel in about 40 million homes. "African Americans have fallen in love with his candidacy, his family … we will be covering the democratic convention all the time." But John McCain shouldn’t expect the same...

TCA -- Given Barack Obama's historic run for the Oval Office, African American-themed cable network TV One plans to break from its usual entertainment programming to provide extensive coverage of the Democratic National Convention in August. "Sen. Barack Obama running for president is a huge deal for TV One as it is for the African American community," said Johnathan Rodgers, president and CEO of TV One, a channel in about 40 million homes. "African Americans have fallen in love with his candidacy, his family … we will be covering the democratic convention all the time." But John McCain shouldn’t expect...

The Democratic National Committee announced Tuesday that it is seeking input from the public in all states as it is drafting its 2008 national platform. The party is asking ordinary Americans to host and attend meetings “as an opportunity to exchange ideas and share perspectives on the challenges we face,” according to a DNC release. The party and the campaign of presidential candidate Sen. Barrack Obama (Ill.) will send policy experts to “as many meetings as possible to serve as facilitators.” The platform committee will then use the written summaries of the meetings in crafting the Democratic agenda. “This process...

Major television networks are considering curtailing coverage of the Democratic National Convention after Monday’s announcement that Barack Obama will accept his party's nomination in a Denver stadium. According to several broadcast executives, the networks will still cover all the major speeches. But beyond that, all options are open as they look for savings to balance out the anticipated costs surrounding the stadium event. The acceptance event is an unexpected departure from the traditional convention hall format they had spent months planning for. Network executives expect Obama’s relatively late-breaking decision to speak at Invesco Field at Mile High, a 76,000-seat football stadium,...

This truly is the American Idol election. Yesterday afternoon the big news was the fact that Barack Obama has decided to change venues for his acceptance speech at the Democrat National Convention. Apparently the Pepsi Center, which holds 19,000 people, was not big enough for this American Idol candidate. Now he will accept the nomination in the stadium that is home of the Denver Broncos, which holds 76,000 people. That is quadruple the amount of people originally planned. But Obama isn't the first candidate to make such a move ... John F. Kennedy apparently did something similar back in 1960....

Democratic Convention Host Committee Develops Suggested Lean ‘N Green Guidelines June 05, 2008 Green | Host Committee | Denver | Food & Wine List outlines ways caterers and restaurants can create healthy, environmentally sound meals Denver, CO - June 2, 2008 - The greening task force of the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee has developed guidelines for caterers and restaurants to adopt as part of Denver's efforts to create a sustainable local environment for this summer's Democratic National Convention. The Lean 'N Green guidelines were developed to showcase the connection between healthy eating and a healthy planet. While the task...

Among the international broadcasters that will cover the Democratic National Convention in Denver is al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news network based in Qatar. Al-Jazeera English (launched in 2006) and al-Jazeera Arabic, separate but collaborative networks, will send two dozen staffers each. "This presidential election is the biggest story of the year, even on the international level," according to Camille El Hassani, senior producer for al-Jazeera English, based in Washington. "The next president's ideologies and his philosophies affect our viewers. Al-Jazeera is making a commitment to be at all the big events, including the conventions, Democratic and Republican." Al-Jazeera English will...

Democrats are on the clock, racing to adjust to a wide range of logistical changes following their candidate’s decision to accept the nomination in a new location. The Democratic National Committee (DNC), the convention host committee and the Barack Obama campaign all acknowledged that there is a new set of questions without answers now that Obama will make his speech at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium instead of inside the Pepsi Center in Denver. The open-air stadium can hold a crowd of 75,000 compared to the 20,000-person capacity Pepsi Center. New questions range from additional costs to security issues...

WASHINGTON: Senator Barack Obama will accept his party's nomination in a Denver football stadium that seats more than 75,000 people, campaign officials said Monday, a late change in plans intended to take advantage of the candidate's ability to draw huge crowds. The Obama campaign's decision to hold the convention's headliner event at Invesco stadium, nearly two miles, or about three kilometers, away from the main convention hall at the Pepsi Center, harked back to the decision by John F. Kennedy to accept the Democratic Party nomination at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles in 1960. But the announcement came after...

Who will be the free concert warm up band for obama at Invesco Field?

WASHINGTON, US - BARACK Obama will buck tradition and accept the Democratic presidential nomination in August at a 75,000 capacity football stadium, the party said on Monday, in what will likely be a spectacular photo-op. The Illinois Senator's formal prime time speech is being switched to Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos American football franchise, from a smaller indoor hockey and basketball arena hosting the rest of the convention. Mr Obama attracted massive and enthusiastic crowds during his victorious primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, and party officials said the new venue would again help fire up grass-roots activists countywide....

Barack Obama to emulate John F Kennedy with Democratic nomination acceptance speech By Alex Spillius in Washington Last Updated: 7:37PM BST 07/07/2008Senator Barack Obama is to emulate John F Kennedy and accept the Democratic presidential nomination in a 76,000-seat American football stadium, the party has announced. Barack Obama has often been compared to Kennedy for his ability to inspire audiences through speechesThe Illinois senator's traditional, prime time end-of-convention speech is being switched to Invesco Field, the home of the Denver Broncos, from a smaller indoor sports arena hosting the rest of the Democratic national convention. It will be the first...

Friend -- I wanted you to be the first to hear the news. At the Democratic National Convention next month, we're going to kick off the general election with an event that opens up the political process the same way we've opened it up throughout this campaign. Barack has made it clear that this is your convention, not his. On Thursday, August 28th, he's scheduled to formally accept the Democratic nomination in a speech at the convention hall in front of the assembled delegates. Instead, Barack will leave the convention hall and join more than 75,000 people for a huge,...

Senator Barack Obama will accept the nomination of the Democratic Party on August 28 at INVESCO Field in front of 75,000 people. Tickets will be free and the event open to the public. Ten supporters who donate $5 or more will be flown to Denver with a friend to meet Senator Obama backstage and watch history unfold.