Welcome to the Washington Square News Live Blog of the final night of the Democratic National Convention! We’ll be bringing you as close to Charlotte as we can from our New York headquarters, and perhaps give you a little bit of context to what’s going on behind the speeches. Tonight’s slate features Hollywood celebrities, Vice President Joe Biden, and President Obama. I’m Mitchell Kapoor, and follow with me as the Convention draws to a close!
Update – 11:03 PM ET
Obama wraps up his over half hour speech with an incredibly patriotic last few phrases. This election truly will be one to watch, and the Democrats should see a bump in the polls after that speech and this Convention.
All that being said, thanks so much for following the over four hours of coverage I did tonight. Hope you enjoyed and don’t forget to vote! I’m Mitchell Kapoor, and thanks for all your support!
Update – 10:55 PM ET
Obama receives raucous applause from the Convention-goers by again empowering the people by continuously proclaiming: “You did that!” Even when he was back in Chicago, Obama always had a knack for giving voters a sense of strength.
Update – 10:49 PM ET
Obama continues to play the Populist card and say he’s the voice of the people through vicariously attacking Romney and Ryan’s plan to cut taxes for the richest Americans. He promises to keep Medicare, and strengthen Social Security, popular programs that Romney and Ryan have proposed radical changes to.
Update – 10:45 PM ET
“You may not be ready to deal with Beijing, when you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally!” Obama slams Romney’s foreign policy.
Update – 10:39 PM ET
President Obama continues to rile up the crowd through a speech where it appears his focus in this campaign will be “choice”. “You can choose to make that happen!” Instead of hope, it appears it’s now about seizing opportunity in a recovering America.
Update – 10:33 PM ET
“Not every problem can be fixed with another government program or government mandate.” Every right-leaning voter undecided in this election has been waiting for years to hear that one sentence.
Update – 10:31 PM ET
Obama is the perfect man to run against the system. He always seems above the pettiness when he speaks. The deadlock in congress, the Citizens United ruling and Super-Pacs, soundbites and gaffes, and a media that seems reluctant to cover anything that doesn’t generate a headline. However, Obama’s issue in this campaign is that he ran the same way in last election, and people have seen results that some do not like, or some thought were lackluster. Obama has no wiggle-room this go-around, and he must show the public that he’s keen on beating a toxic system in Washington.
Update – 10:23 PM ET
Obama steps on the stage. Here we go.
Update – 10:10 PM ET
And Biden’s speech wraps up, with Obama to be introduced by Illinois senator Dick Durbin.
Update – 10:06 PM ET
Biden just said that the Republicans think “America is on the decline”. And the Democrats pounce on another Republican gaffe in a night they have done so often.
Update – 9:49 PM ET
“We have the finest warriors in the history of the world! The finest warriors in the history of the world!” Biden invokes applause from around the arena from the Convention-goers. Patriotic banter like this is par for the course at these Conventions, and it never ceases to excite the base.
Update – 9:42 PM ET
Biden’s speaking style is fairly unique amongst high-profile candidates. He speaks more slowly and more monotonously than any other candidate I can remember, but when he raises his voice, it’s always important and demands your attention. “[Barack] has never wavered!”
Update – 9:29 PM ET
After a quite long video entrance, Joe Biden walks onto the stage to a standing ovation. Biden has always been a charismatic politician, but his frequent gaffes never made him the candidate he had the potential to be. However, Biden seems to be quite comfortable in the vice presidential role.
Update – 9:14 PM ET
Angie Flores, a student from Miami Dade College in Florida, introduces Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, listing her as an important influence in her educational life. Jill Biden is a full-time teacher.
Update – 9:03 PM ET
After a fairly long segment praising Obama’s foreign policy, and more specifically, his policies on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, out come about thirty veterans, led by Admiral John Natham, spanning all branches of the military. “Since the day he took office, the President has demonstrated that respects and understands the challenges of those who take uniform.”
Update – 8:46 PM ET
Senator and Former Presedential Candidate John Kerry opens his speech straight off by touching on Mitt Romney’s foreign policy record, or, according to Kerry, lack thereof. “The only thing exceptional about today’s Republicans, almost without exception, is that they oppose everything that made this country exceptional.” Kerry still looks quite presidential even after all these years.
Update – 8:32 PM ET
Brian Schweitzer, Governor from Montana, opens his speech with a compliment of Mitt Romney, but follows that quickly by bashing Romney’s gubernatorial record. But Schweitzer misses one of the most astonishing facts about Mitt Romney the Governor. He won the seat as a Republican in an overwhelmingly blue state, and passed a healthcare plan that Democrats would love.
Update – 8:15 PM ET
Wow, scratch that last update.The former Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm just gave a fiery, passionate speech and took the strongest, most blatant shot at Romney all night: “In Romney’s world, the cars get the elevators, and the workers get the shaft!”
Update – 8:10 PM ET
Rep. Xavier Becerra from California sends home the quote of the night so far: “We don’t need someone who will be a poster child for the Cayman Islands in the Oval Office!”
Update – 8:05 PM ET
“Reproductive health is under attack,” proclaims Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy. And she truly is not wrong. When the GOP is led by men like Rick Santorum, whose fierce and strong ties to religion lead him to wish to ban all contraception, there is no question the GOP is the party attacking reproductive health in America.
Update – 7:58 PM ET
Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (who we all remember suffered that terrible shooting in a grocery store in Arizona) in certainly what will be the most heart-warming moment of the entire night, walks out onto the stage under her own power, ready to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
Update – 7:52 PM ET
Scarlett Johansson states a very important fact. “We are the generation who feels our voice hasn’t been heard. So vote so your voice can be heard!” Too often, we Americans take advantage of the incredible power that we all hold in our government, but we must all vote in order to exercise it.
Update – 7:45 PM ET
The first of the Hollywood stars strolls out onto the stage in Kerry Washington who represents everything the Democrats stand for. Female, daughter of immigrants, African-American, needed student loans, and still made it. “We cannot sit on the sidelines.”
Update – 7:30 PM ET
And as the Foo Fighters continue to perform on stage, let’s show some opposition tweets:
@MittRomney: “.@BarackObama’s rhetoric and policies demonstrate just how out of touch he is with our nation’s small-business owners.
Reince Priebus, Chairman of the RNC: “@Reince: Americans aren’t looking for more of the same – this convention, however is showing them that’s all Obama has to offer.”
Paul Ryan: “@PaulRyanVP: 47 million people are on food stamps today. That’s a record high. Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?”
Update – 7:24 PM ET
And out come the Foo Fighters…
Update – 7:20 PM ET
The Democrats begin their attempt to try and salvage Obama’s record on the economy. The economy has recovered slightly, but not enough to be something that Democrats can openly and vicariously use politically. Surprisingly, they even tout the Dodd-Frank bill, which nearly every economist consulted has said will just result in more Wall Street lawyer hiring rather than real change to Wall Street’s banking practices.
Update – 7:14 PM ET
Joe Biden officially nominated Vice President of the 2012 Democratic ballot by his son Beau Biden. Biden’s speech will come later tonight at 9 PM ET.
Update – 7:09 PM ET
On come a party of Obama’s “American heroes”, which include veterans, and auto workers (amongst others) saved by Obama’s bailout of GM to thank and praise Obama for the jobs he saved. “Thanks to President Obama, these jobs did come back.”
Update – 7:00 PM ET
Jim Messina, Former Deputy White House Chief of Staff claims that Obama’s campaign has had the biggest grassroots movement in the history of the United States. The Democrats willingness to embrace the youth via technology has certainly helped.
Update – 6:53 PM ET
Very short, but effective speech by Zach Wahls from Iowa, who became an internet sensation following his plea to state legislation to legalize gay marriage, due to his having been raised by two mothers.
Update – 6:51 PM ET
Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, comes out touting the importance of education in the inner-cities. Coming from a city like Chicago where the public education school is as fractured as can be, I understand where Nutter is coming from. Nutter finishes his speech by attacking Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, saying he closed down companies and slashed jobs, something the Democrats have been saying all campaign long. It’s an unfair attack, however, as many of those companies he purchased in venture capital at Bain Capital were going under anyway, their jobs to be lost regardless. Romney’s record at Bain Capital is less than sterling, but it’s not as bad as the Democrats make it out to be.
Update – 6:41 PM ET
Congressman Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin brings up an incredibly important point about the repealing of the Glass-Steagall Act as a key reason behind the financial crisis of 2008. She also is touting the importance of American-made products if the country is to compete with growing countries like China.
