Politico reports that:

The DNC just announced that "Governor [Janet] Napolitano will chair the Platform Drafting Committee. Michael Yaki will serve as National Platform Director and Karen Kornbluh will be the Principal Author of the Platform."

These appointments suggest that the platform will be a more centrist document than party platforms are traditionally. Usually the candidate treats the platform as a bone for the base, with the proviso that nothing in it may hurt him politically. Candidates sometimes identify a particular issue that is important to them, such as when Kerry removed support for the death penalty from the current platform. Given this selection of staff Obama does not intend to offer the platform as a refuge for those to his left in the party, though it does suggest that choice is safe as a party principle (Napolitano is a strong choice advocate). It may be that instead Obama has decided to use the platform to mollify women.

Governor Napolitano recognized Obama as a DLC kindred spirit early:

Napolitano represents a particular subset of Obama supporters, those who embraced the "third way" moderation of Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council during the 1990s, but came to see Obama, not Hillary Clinton, as the inheritor of that legacy, updated to account for the ugly realities of the post-September 11 world.

The New York Times reported Sunday that delays and cost overruns are plaguing convention planners who are running into rising costs and missed deadlines:

With the Denver convention less than two months away, problems range from the serious -- upwardly spiraling costs on key contracts still being negotiated -- to the mundane, like the reluctance of local caterers to participate because of stringent rules on what delegates will be eating, down to the color of the food. At last count, plans to renovate the inside of the Pepsi Center for the Democrats are $6 million over budget, which may force convention planners to scale back on their original design or increase their fund-raising goals.

"Major decisions are being settled only at the last minute," said one convention organizer, who requested anonymity because of the confidentiality of the contracting process. "These contracts should have been out and signed last March or April. We still have no agreement on the budget or the scope of the work for the build-out at the Pepsi Center. There is no reason why it is so late, why important issues have not been addressed and why we are trying to figure these things out at the last minute."

Two things:

#1 - The idea that the DNC might omit a roll call at the convention seems extremely undemocratic to me.

I thought this was nothing more than a rumor, but it came up today at the "unity" for money meeting at the Mayflower.

Marc Ambinder mentions it here in his column:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2008/06/after_the_press_leaves_some _ed_1.php

A question to obama was whether or not he would accept a roll call vote at the Convention.  

His response was they are negotiating this!

Huh?

Update [2008-6-26 14:38:20 by Manic Lawyer]:: Here is a link for the article and audio interview at Radio Pacifica. Although some readers doubted in comments that the interview had taken place at all, I hope this link removes all doubt.

Today, Francis L. Holland recorded a radio interview with Nathan Moore, National Program Coordinator for Pacifica Radio, from Washington, DC, about the virtually all white state blog corps of the Democratic National Convention, where 53 white state blogs will have their own desks, computers, Internet access on the floor of the Convention, seated among the delegates for the entire Convention, while Black bloggers will receive only 30-45 minute passes for the floor and will have NONE of the amenities on the floor provided to the virtually all-white 55-member state blog pool.

Francis told Pacifica Radio, among other things:

There is nothing "Democratic" about a virtually all-white Democratic National Convention floor blogging corps.

D. Yobachi Boswell of the AfroSpear applied to participated in the state blog corps and was rejected.  Everyone knows D. Yobachi Boswell as the coordinator of the Afrosphere Action Coalition that coordinated the AfroSpear's participation in the 30,000 person Jena Six March on Jena, Louisiana last year.  Yobachi's application to the state blog corps was denied and consequently there will be no 50-state blog representation for the Blacks from Tennessee at all, as well as many other states where Black voter turnout will determine the fate of Barack Obama and down-ticket candidates this fall.  "It's outrageous and it's infuriating," Francis told Radio Pacifica.

If anyone knows where I can listen to this interview, announced but with no link at the Francis L. Holland blog, I'd be much obliged!

Wisconsin democrats voted yesterday to strip Debra Bartoshevich's status as a delegate to the national convention late Friday evening.  DNC and state party rules state that delegates that oppose the party's nominee will not be permitted to attend party convention as a delegate.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-delegatedumped,0,749781.story

This is one of the strangest stories that I've ever heard, especially considering that Obama won Wisconsin with overwhelming margins.  I was honored to be elected to serve as a delegate for John Kerry in 2004 and for the first time, I was able to view the convention not as a spectator but as a participant.  At no time did I consider voting against my party's nominee, in fact, if I did, I would fear the backlash I would receive when I returned home.  She was chosen to support her party, not the status quo.  I'm not familiar with Ms. Bartoshevich's background but she obviously lacks political acumen. This is our year and there is no room for games and fake protests on the convention floor.  This is not 1968.

I think people are a little too happy about Obama's national polling numbers.  I am afraid that if we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it.  

We must, MUST act as if we are losing.

I was searching for hard evidence to prove my general point that June polls are meaningless when I stumbled into this great WSJ article entitled Beyond The Bounce.  The article was written on September 8, 2004.

By Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper

Now that one of the most remarkable primaries in our nation's history has concluded, attention is turning to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.  In less than three months, the Mile High City and the Rocky Mountain West will host this historic event for the first time since 1908.

The Convention also coincides with Denver's 150th birthday - a
century-and-a-half of progress and innovation since its birth at the height of the Colorado gold rush.  A hub of opportunity for people seeking new frontiers, people come to Colorado seeking much more than gold these days.  The spirit of visionary zeal and limitless possibility is as strong as ever in the New West.  So it's fitting that as the Democratic Party marches toward its own new frontier, it will do so through Denver.

You don't have to be in Denver - or on the Convention floor - to get in on the action though.  The Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee has organized two interactive ways for people anywhere in America to get involved.  We're convening a national conversation about democracy and community and invite everyone to participate.

I thought it was important to set the record straight. Another diary stated that Clinton was releasing her delegates; she's not.

A Clinton spokesman said that Clinton is not technically releasing her delegates -- doing so would cause many of them to be dropped from the slate -- but noted that both Bill Bradley and Howard Dean did not formally release their slates until their conventions. http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2008/06/clinton_asks_pledged_delega tes.php