Notes on The Second Night Of The Democratic Convention Overflowing With Patriotism and Love Of Country
The Democratic Party Is Strong, Oh So Strong Right Now
Happy Wednesday, and another good Wednesday it is. I wrote yesterday about the new language of the Harris-Walz era, language deeply grounded in love of country, patriotism, freedom, opportunity, joy and a fight for a better tomorrow. After two nights its very clear this new language is flowing easy, that Hopium abounds, and we are in a very strong rhetorical and narrative position now as a Party, far stronger than the smallness and bitterness of the other guy.
The Roll Call of the States was an extraordinary moment last night, a true celebration of the diversity and cultural power of this remarkable nation. Wasn’t it great to see our good friend Anderson Clayton doing her thing!
I loved seeing President Obama and so many others last night. I want some time to think about the former President’s speech before writing about it. Doug Emhoff, the second gentlemen, was warm, sincere, refreshing and just great. To me, however, the highlight last night was Michelle Obama. Her speech was one of the most compelling and powerful political speeches I’ve ever heard. Words and passages are still rolling around in my head this morning. If you haven’t watched it, I share it below. If you have watched, watch it again. I think it one of those speeches that has to be watched and studied before getting a full appreciation of it’s depth and power.
In the spirit of not letting up, “doing something” as Michelle Obama discussed last night and rising to the critical moment in history, I share a few more things this morning. First, my two most presentations on the 2024 election and the greatness and goodness of the Democratic Party I released a few days ago, still timely and relevant:
Harris Takes The Lead - My latest deep dive on the 2024 election and why I would much rather be us than them
With Democrats, Things Get Better - my data-filled reflection on the greatness and goodness of the Democratic Party
Next, a pitch for the candidates and state parties we’ve been working for this year. Our next Winning The House Thursday phonebanking and postcarding Thursday will be for Josh Riley on Thursday, August 29th. We had a great turnout for Will Rollins last Thursday. I hope you will plan spending your Thursday nights with us in the home stretch!
On Saturday I offered an in-depth post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. 30 days to go before early in voting begins and we just need to leave it all out there on the playing field, together:
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $865,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Let’s keep working it people!
Winning The House - $867,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper catch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02) and Adam Gray (CA-13).
North Carolina - $396,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $329,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $147,000 raised, $150,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb
Here are ways you can do even more:
Commit to Vote on Day 1 and get everyone you know to join you. Early voting begins in three states on September 20th - just 29 days away!
Help grow the Hopium community. Use this link to encourage others sign others up to be a Hopium subscriber during our Democratic Convention subscriptions sale (10% off through August 22nd!). You can gift a subscription to a friend or student here and get group rates too. If you have changed credit cards or moved you can you update your payment information or check your renewal status follow these instructions from Substack. Let’s keep our community growing the Hopium flowing!
Keep working hard all. Proud of my party this morning, and proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
Hi Simon,
I have never commented before and this is not apropos of the convention, so I hope I'm not out of line. I know you think actual elections results are more important indicators of the political winds than polls, so I thought you might be interested in this hyper-local race: I have a friend who is a Democratic precinct captain in Sarasota, Florida. Sarasota is pretty conservative, as you probably know, and registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 2 to 1. Two years ago I helped my friend knock on doors for the Democratic-supported (but officially non-partisan) School Board slate, up against Bridget Ziegler (you may have heard of her :)) and two of her cronies, and, of course, that was not a win for us. However, this year, the two Democratic-supported candidates, Liz Barker (running against Karen Rose, the current chairwoman of the SSB) and Tom Edwards, both won! (I went down and canvassed again this year, following Michelle Obama's advice--before she even gave it--to Do Something.) Even Tom Edwards, the openly gay incumbent who had been the last bastion against the book-banning, LGBTQ-harassing, culture-war crazies on the School Board, got more than 50% over two Republican challengers (so no run-off necessary for him in November!). Here are the results:
District 2
Candidate % Votes Total Votes
Liz Barker 51.5% 51,739
Karen Rose 48.5% 48,747
District 3
Candidate % Votes Total Votes
Tom Edwards 55.8% 53,975
Thomas Babicz 22.5% 21,725
Greg Wood 21.7% 20,953
I think it would be an understatement to say the Sarasota Democratic Party is happy. I also saw a lot of enthusiasm for Harris-Walz on the doors.
SIMON... You are 1,000% correct - both of the Obama speeches were DEEPLY GREAT AND MEANINGFUL. They really do need to be studied, parsed, thought about, analyzed, and re-viewed many, many times. They will go down in history - REALLY.
Both Michelle and Barack are such fluid, easy speakers; nothing seemed "overly rehearsed;" nevertheless, they came off purrrrrfectly!!!
NOW, let's go DO SOMETHING!!!