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Last night was the big speech by Bill Clinton. After hours of somewhat mild speeches, the arena was packed as people anticipated Clinton. They weren’t disappointed. Clinton gave his usual fact-filled but entertaining talk. Our photographers who had a view of the teleprompter said he only followed the text half the time, speaking off-the-cuff the rest. At the end, there was a ‘surprise’ appearance by Pres. Obama. These conventions are scripted to the last detail, so I imagine lots of planning went into visit. Obama didn’t say anything, just greeted Clinton and both walked off the stage. I had a long telephoto lens to get close-up shots of the speakers. Obama bowed to Clinton as he walked on the stage and as you can see I came very close to cutting Clinton out of the picture. 

There is lots of music entertainment at both conventions. Earlier today I saw James Taylor during his sound check, which hundreds of workers and journalists stopped to watch. Probably drawing more attention than the politicians. People sang along and snapped photos. And a few minutes ago, after the convention was called to order, Mary J. Blige just electrified the crowd with 2 great songs. Someone remarked that the Democrats definitely have the better music.

At one of the closed streets there is a group of Georgia sheriffs who are on traffic duty. They’ve been named, “The Dancing Traffic Cops”. The four have managed to turn a boring duty into performance art. They use their whistle as an instrument and gesture wildly as they direct cars and pedestrians through the intersection. Scores of people stop just to watch and take photos. It’s quite entertaining.