It turns out that we at the Examiner have been assigned two seats on a lower level, behind the podium. The sight lines are much better (though only one videoscreen is visible, and that obliquely), and I can even identify particular individuals on the floor. Floor pass procedures are similar to those at the Republican convention, and I managed to roam the floor. It’s hard, however, to talk to anyone who isn’t walking around or sitting in a fron row or aisle seat.
In the Massachusetts delegation I talked to Jim Roosevelt, who has been a lead man on delegate selection rules for Democrats for some time. He was pleased that the Republican convention gave the Republican National Committee further authority to change its rules in the interim between conventions. The national parties did work together on this to some extent in the last four years, and they need to since both parties control many legislatures. In contrast, when the moves to change rules got going in the 1970s Democrats controlled almost all relevant legislatures.
Roosevelt is a grandson of Franklin Roosevelt, who was nominated five times for national office by the Democratic party. At the Republican convention I talked to Christopher Cox, a grandson of Richard Nixon, who was nominated five times for national office by the Republican party. No one else has been nominated that many times. A bit of history is never out of place in a national convention.
