Sure the result was scripted, but the calling of the roll of states was a delightful throwback to the past.
All the “Great State of’s”, the listing of prominent Democrats, sports teams, scenery, where the sun rose, “The next president of the United States,” and everything else was fun to watch.
Thoughts:
[ul]
[li]One state (I forget which) gave votes to “The next president of the United States,” but failed to mention Obama’s name.[/li][li]Massachusetts forgot they were a commonweath.[/li][li]Montana went on waaaayyy too long.[/li][li]Poor Wyoming. Have they ever had a chance to cast their votes when it mattered?[/li][li]The showmanship of Hillary asking for a voice vote. Sure it was plannned, but it was great theater – you could imagine some movie scripting a scene something like this.[/li][/ul]
I remember back when the conventions still were serious about such things, even when they were foregone conclusions. This was kind of fun to see again.
I actually hope the Republicans do the same thing.
I was disappointed in my state of Michigan. Everyone else started out talking about all the great things in their states, the fabulous commissioner of drains they have, their marshes and mountains and such . . . and Michigan? We led off with whining about the economy. Maybe Phil Gramm was right about just us.
It was my first time listening to one, although I’ve been voting for a few elections. I enjoyed it very much.
I was kind of disappointed that Hillary called for a suspension and vote by acclamation. One, because there weren’t many states left and I wanted to hear them. It was great that every primary mattered this time, I wanted everyone to have a chance to give their votes - even if they were for Hillary. Two, because I wanted to savor the moment of Barack’s nomination longer. It’s irrational because he won, but I felt a little cheated. I was really looking forward to the moment all of the votes were tallied and he was proclaimed the winner.
I do understand why it was done, for party unity and having such an emphatic display of Hillary’s support.
I wanted them to go all the way through; I was loving it. It was so much fun watching everyone just having a party cheering for everyone else, all the Obama supporters cheering for Clinton and all the Clinton supporters cheering for Obama, all the states boasting about themselves. Yes, the yielding to acclamation was great theater, but I really was enjoying the role call - me, and the probably two dozen other people in the country watching C-SPAN and seeing it (until the last few states).
I loved every minute of it. It was a pure joy to watch. By the time Hillary called for Obama’s nomination by acclimation, I had tears streaming down my face. What an inspiring event.
This was decades ago so I don’t even remember which party’s convention it was, but I remember Wyoming’s delegate chair saying, "Wyoming, the state that always votes for a winner, proudly casts its three votes for <whoever it was that had clinched the nomination about forty-five minutes before>.
At the Libertarian national convention we still actually nominate at the convention. The first roll call, everyone has fun with the declamations, but for the second ballot and onward, it’s just the vote announcement.
Actually, even when there was doubt about the outcome (before primaries decided it in advance) this is what happened as soon as the winner had reached the necessary total. I seem to remember this in the 1960 democratic convention - the last one that I paid any attention to before this one. Thank og for cable - in those days there was nothing but convention on, all day every day for a week. It was convention or no TV (unthinkable at age 11).
Roddy
They explained that early on and another state’s count came up short: the missing votes are abstentions. Because only Obama and Clinton were formally nominated, they were your only choices. If you wanted to vote for anyone else, you couldn’t.
Some people preferred a third candidate (or might have been required to vote for a third candidate due to primary laws in their state), so their votes were abstentions and not counted.