As Denver sweeps up the last of the confetti, The Colorado Independent rewinds its coverage on the historic 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Corporations buy influence and ‘civic pride’ with DNC cash
More than 100 sponsors, many of them corporations, are footing the bill for this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28. Most donors won’t respond to queries about why they coughed up cash; others say their companies have given out of civic pride. But some say such corporate donors are seizing a political opportunity as they pump cash into the system via convention host committees.
Much has been made of the DNC host committee falling more than $11 million short of its June fundraising goal of $40 million. The committee had secured $29 million from donors by the second quarter deadline — which also marks the last fundraising report that will be made available before the convention, according to host committee spokesman Chris Lopez. Additional funds raised between now and the late August confab will go unreported until October, according to Federal Election Commission rules that don’t require host committees to report complete numbers until 60 days after the convention.
Read our complete coverage on 2008 DNC corporate sponsors.
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Democrats look to the West for victory
Nearly a year ago, Dick Wadhams, the chairman of the Republican Party of Colorado, stood at a window inside the Denver Center for Performing Arts. He gazed out at the sparkling nighttime panorama of downtown Denver.
“I’m just looking out — out there at the Pepsi Center — and thinking about next August,” Wadhams said, turning up a sardonic grin, “when the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton as their candidate for president.”
Wadhams is the spinmeister once dubbed “Karl Rove 2.0” for his hardball campaign tactics. He had returned home to Colorado just months before, following the stunning Macaca moment and defeat of his candidate, then-Virginia Sen. George Allen.
Learn more about the Western Strategy and why Colorado matters in the 2008 election.
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FOX News crew mobbed at anti-war protest
A FOX News reporter and cameraman were mobbed Sunday morning at an anti-war march on the west steps of the Capitol in Denver.
View the video and more protest coverage during the DNC.
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Feds: Obama plot ‘more aspirational, perhaps, than operational’
The three men arrested Sunday suspected of a plot to kill Barack Obama will face weapons and drug charges but won’t face assassination-related charges, Colorado’s U.S. attorney said at a news conference Tuesday.
Read the latest on the alleged scheme to shoot Barack Obama at his nomination speech.
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1908 and 2008 Democratic Party platforms converge on many planks
A century ago in the United States, Democratic Party leaders crafted an airtight platform that was unveiled at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The platform — largely the brainchild of failed presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan — was a mass of platitudes, bold enough to paint the Democrats as heroes who would take over the Republican White House and yet vague enough to ensure that the party wouldn’t be held to unrealistic or unsavory promises if it did indeed wrest control. And today? Things are not much different. But in spite of their hazy approaches to policy, both today’s Democratic platform and that of 1908 are useful in that they indicate the values and attitudes of their respective eras. They also show us how much the United States has changed in a century. Or how little.
Find out more about the contrasts between the 2008 and1908 Democratic National Conventions
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Check out the multi-media productions depicting the best and worst of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
