2008 Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention, and the Obama-bump that followed, may seem far in the past, but the event will surely live on in history. I got a chance to ask a few questions to Mark Squier, an executive producer of the extremely successful (and fun) Democratic National Convention. When he's not coordinating massive political pageantry, Mark masters smaller-scale political messaging. He has produced ads for numerous members of Congress and governors, and acts as a strategic adviser to many more politicians. Now that the dust of both conventions has settled, take a behind-the-scenes look at the DNC with Mark!

On a scale of 1 to 10 how happy are you with how the DNC turned out?
10 being the highest — a 9. Nothing is ever perfect but this was close. When you consider we had a late primary so we didn't get guidance from a nominee until June — and we had two venues. We didn't have a major malfunction. You have to be happy with the way it turned out. And a shout out to everyone who worked at the Denver convention — the team that was put together was outstanding and it was easy to look good when you had such a committed and hardworking team in your corner. Oh — and not to mention Barack Obama — an incredible candidate to work with in every way.

How do you explain viewership that beat even the Olympics Opening Ceremony?
Americans are worried — it's human nature — they know things are on the wrong track; the wars, the economy, gas prices, health care costs, high unemployment, the national debt, the mortgage crisis. Voters feel these things every day and they know that this election is critically important to getting our nation back on track — so they watch.

To find out if Mark would have done something differently if Hillary Clinton would have won the nomination, how he kept the convention from looking like C-Span, what he thought of the RNC, and if there were any close calls with disaster, read more

Now that it's all done but sweeping up the balloons, the New York Times, ever the data-doyenne, has a different way of looking at who said what these conventions. Bubbles of varying sizes show the amount of times per 25,000 words uttered, that certain phrases were used.

Interestingly, the "opponent's name" count varies pretty wildly — the Democrats used McCain's name 78 times to the Republican's use of Obama a mere 25 times. Up there for both parties? "Change" and "God." While the Republicans were twice as godly, and the Democrats three times as change-y, it seems like both have see the benefit to grabbing both traditional and forward-thinking tropes.

The graph also let's you see who said what — Obama used McCain's name 3.5 times more, and McCain grabbed the "change" mantel from Obama just over half as often. Watching the two conventions, do any of the results surprise you? What do you make of the disparity between use of the opponent's name?

Source

In Denver we got a chance to check out both the blogger tent set up by Google, YouTube, Digg and DailyKos, as well as the traditional media tent set up right outside the Pepsi Center. And believe me, these two tents could not have been more different.

Over in the Google tent bloggers and laptops crowded together at long tables or comfy couches set up in a tent kept dark to make up for the lack of air conditioning. The gang of new media gave off the vibe that it was there to crash the party — only 150 of the 500 bloggers, who paid $100 for space in the Big Tent, had official DNC credentials,

Over at the traditional media tent, publications like the Washington Post had about 60 staffers each, stationed in makeshift offices, complete with ample desk space, air conditioning, and fancy computers. But don't worry — both media headquarters had plenty of flat screens and an abundance of food.

Google will be back with its Big Tent next week at RNC. To see video of a real-life blogger, and more pictures, read more

We're gearing up for this week's Republican National Convention, which begins Monday, but that doesn't mean we've already forgotten some of the amazing moments from last week's Democratic National Convention.

Barack's Big Speech Incited Passion in the Crowd	VP Candidate Joe Biden Took the Stage	Hillary's Speech Helped Unite the Party
Michele Joined Nancy to Support Barack	Celebrity Sightings at the DNC	We Looked at Convention Costs: Past and Present

I checked out a panel on combating global poverty this week, filled with a diverse set of people ready to talk about their experiences surrounding the issue. I was super excited to see panel members like ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and the bearded and articulate Ben Affleck.

A humble Ben noted that he felt a bit out of place, but then shared what he's learned from his time in Africa. Ben thinks poverty activists need to re-package their message so it's not so doom and gloom. He argued that it's "more effective to talk about what people are doing successfully. [The successes] gave me added urgency to get involved."

Ben also highlighted how he and other Western folk are received in Africa. He said:

The countries that hold us in the highest esteem are in Africa. We don't carry colonial baggage. . . . [But] Western folks come in with a sense that "this is how it works." Imposing paradigm is much less effective than imposing solutions into social grooves. You hear people say, "If you teach a man to fish . . ." These people know how to fish, they need a pond to fish in.

Does Ben's insight impress you as much as it impressed me?

We're back from Denver! Ah, air that's not mile-high — that's some killer altitude. While I was unpacking I found this clip that was too good not to share. CNN may have had their fancy cameras, but this is some serious embedded journalism.

It's pretty amazing view to say the least. The flashbulbs are my favorite part. Enjoy!