2008 Democratic National Convention
Schedule for Thursday, August 28st

Theme of the Day: "Change You Can Believe In."

Barack Obama accepts the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Featured speakers include former Vice President Al Gore and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean.

Others include Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr.; Colorado Reps. Ed Perlmutter, John Salazar, Diana DeGette and Mark Udall; Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine; and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.

'Watch' parties planned for Obama's speech tonight

By CHARLES CRUMM
Journal Register News Service
Thursday, August 28, 2008

When Illinois Sen. Barack Obama accepts the Democratic presidential nomination tonight, Sigrid Grace plans to be as close as she can get.

That might be difficult, given that Denver's Invesco Field is expected to cram in as many as 75,000 people for Obama's acceptance speech.
"I'm very pleased that on the floor of the convention, Michigan is right behind Colorado, and Colorado is right up front," the at-large delegate from Rochester Hills said Wednesday.

"I think we've got an optimal seating spot," she said. "I adored watching Caroline (Kennedy), Hillary (Clinton) and Michelle (Obama) that close."

Closer to home, Obama "watch" parties are planned at various locations around the county and the state for faithful Democrats not attending the national convention.

Among those who chose to stay home this year is county Commissioner Dave Woodward, D-Royal Oak.

"I actually had a plane ticket," Woodward said. "Sunday, I decided not to fly out."

Woodward said county business kept him from attending and he's not a delegate to the convention. He faces Republican Jean Chamberlain in the November election.

Woodward said he plans to attend an Obama watch party at Woody's in Royal Oak.

"We're going to have a big convention watch party there," he said.

An Obama watch party will also be held in Pontiac at the Crofoot, 1 S. Saginaw St.

The Obama campaign Web site, www.barackobama.com, lists 77 watch parties with times and addresses within 30 miles of Pontiac, most held in people's homes.

While Democrats wrap up their convention today, Republicans are gearing up for theirs in Minneapolis, which begins Monday and will end with the nomination of Arizona Sen. John McCain as the GOP presidential candidate on Sept. 4.

Watch parties are also planned for McCain's nomination.

The 2008 Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held from
Monday, August 25, through Thursday, August 28, 2008,
at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

© 2008 Jackie Shumaker ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

On February 2, 2007, the Democratic Party of the United States issued the Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which are a set of rules governing the convention.
There will basically be a total of 4097 delegates. 3515 will be pledged delegates, most of which are allocated among the states in rough proportion according to the votes each state gave the democratic candidates in the last three presidential elections and the percentage of votes each state has in the Electoral College. Fixed numbers of delegates are allocated to US territories and Democrats Abroad. The delegate population must reflect the state's ethnic distribution and 50% of the delegates must be women. The remaining 852 unpledged delegates are known as superdelegates. Superdelegates are prominamt democratic figures, including democratic members of the congress, governers and national committee members.

See the complete 42 page‘Call for the 2008 DemConvention’ in PDF format.