Free Republic

Excerpt - A day of relative quiet that had observers wondering what happened to the large demonstrations expected in Denver this week turned violent Monday night as police fired pepper balls and pepper spray at protesters. Police dressed in riot gear and wearing gas masks clashed with scores of people who refused to leave a one-block stretch of 15th Street near Civic Center Park. Police made 91 arrests. No serious injuries were reported. ~ snip ~

Excerpt - ~ snip ~ Some disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters are ramping up their efforts to get their heroine’s name back onto the nominating ballot. The pro-Clinton group PUMA (which stands for People United Means Action, and more popularly known as Party Unity My Ass) plans to hold a protest in Denver to demand Clinton be put back into the contest. The group released a letter to delegates on Monday lobbying super delegates to reconsider backing Clinton. ~ snip ~

DENVER, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ruled officials in Denver and with the U.S. Secret Service may limit protesters' access to the Democratic National Convention. U.S. District Judge Marcia S. Krieger said officials' current plans to restrict protesters at the upcoming convention would not violate demonstrators' First Amendment rights to free speech, the Rocky Mountain News said Thursday. Among the restrictions planned for the Pepsi Center event on Aug. 25-28 are fenced-in zone in which protesters can demonstrate and a predesignated parade route. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper applauded the judge's Wednesday ruling, saying such security efforts will...

The Denver City Council has passed an ordinance barring protesters from carrying buckets of feces during the Democratic National Convention.Three protest groups say they've already promised not to toss, smear or spray feces, and they call the new ordinance insulting and excessive. The council approved the ordinance 12-0 on Monday. It also bars protesters from possessing chains, locks or other materials they could use to create human barricades or cause other disruptions.

A local blood center is trying to stock up in time for the Democratic National Convention. Officials with the Bonfils Blood Center said Monday that the number of blood donations typically drops by as much as 20 percent during the summer months. The annual decline in giving will coincide with the Democrats' convention, Aug. 25-28 in Denver, when it's essential to have a ready supply of blood in the event of an emergency, officials said. "We definitely are taking steps to prepare for it (the convention)," said Jessica Maitland, Bonfils Blood Center's vice president of marketing and community operations. "We've...

A group of anarchists that plans to disrupt the Democratic National Convention is promising to go away if the $50 million federal grant that Denver received to pay for convention security is invested in the community instead. (snip) Simons said the group's offer to sit out the convention if the city, the federal government and the DNC all agree to "redirect" the $50 million to things like health care is not a publicity stunt. "We understand that it's farfetched, but it's a sincere offer, and the goal of doing this is to really show what our priorities are," said Simons,...

A fenced-in area for demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention amounts to putting the proverbial "soapbox in the town square" inside a "caged pen" on the "outskirts of town." Or so the American Civil Liberties Union and a host of protest groups plan to argue in federal court next week. Not so, the city and county of Denver and the U.S. Secret Service plan to assert. "To be clear, this so-called 'demonstration zone' is not an isolated area to which the city will confine demonstrators," lawyers for Denver argued in a brief filed on the eve of next Tuesday's trial...

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...

All-night meeting fails to come up with resolution Rules committee searching for plan to count Michigan, Florida delegates Both states' delegations invalidated for violating party rules Members of the Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws panel convened for more than five hours behind closed doors Friday evening. The meeting ended at 1:30 a.m. ET Saturday -- eight hours before the committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter.

Excerpt - WASHINGTON--The Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws Committee meets Saturday to wrestle with the disputed delegates from Michigan and Florida. The essential questions, according to documents prepared for the meeting by the DNC--and obtained by this blog--is whether the Florida and Michigan delegates are to be seated and how these delegates then should be allocated between Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama. The package of materials includes staff analysis of the various issues, arguments and potentials. solutions. Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates as punishment for holding January primaries,...

Hillary Clinton is still in the presidential race, she said today, because "historically, it makes no sense" to quit, and added that, "Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June," making an odd comparison between the dead candidate and Barack Obama. "People have been trying to push me out since Iowa," she said to the Argus Leader's editorial board. Watch a live stream of the board meeting here: http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/FRONTPAGECAROUSEL/80522033&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is willing to take her fight to seat Florida and Michigan delegates to the convention if the two states want to go that far. In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton was asked whether she would support the states if they continue the fight. The presidential candidate said Wednesday, "Yes I will. I will, because I feel very strongly about this." Clinton is calling for delegates from both states to be seated at the convention based on the primaries.

Protesters with the group Re-create 68, still smarting over not getting a permit to gather at Civic Center on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, have managed to secure permits at the state Capitol and nearby Lincoln Park. Glenn Spagnuolo, a Re-create 68 organizer, said Monday the state was "easy to work with" in getting the permits for Aug. 24. However, he didn't have kind words for the city. "The state of Colorado has stepped in where the city has refused to and acted in a responsible manner," Spagnuolo said. "If you remember at the end of the lottery...

Outside the Pepsi Center, it doesn’t look like much is happening. But with 100 days to go to the opening session of the Democratic National Convention, Denver says it will be ready. Audio, lighting and scenic designs for the center are complete, and initial designs for the podium and stage have been drawn up. Denver hired a veteran in emergency preparedness to draw up plans for any contingency during the event, including civil unrest like the protests that shook Seattle during a World Trade Organization meeting in 1999. “We are on time and on target,” insisted Katherine Archuleta, spokeswoman for...

The ACLU of Colorado has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service and the city of Denver to ensure that protesters are within "sight and sound" of delegates attending the Democratic National Convention this August. "Ultimately, it's the federal courts that are sort of the last resort protectors of constitutional rights," Mark Silverstein, the ACLU's legal director, said today. "It's been the federal courts that are the ones to say law enforcement has not struck the proper balance here between security concerns and citizens' fundamental First Amendment rights," he said. Silverstein said the city is dragging its feet...

Activists challenge a police policy under which protesters can be arrested rather than only cited. Civil-rights activists say a Denver police policy could result in mass arrests and a clogged jail during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and they have filed a claim seeking monetary damages over its use last Columbus Day parade. "We think there is a strong possibility that Denver is headed for a very disastrous and catastrophic situation," said Mark Silverstein, who directs the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union. The policy regards police handling of misdemeanor offenses committed by protesters. Until last year, Denver's policy for minor...