Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. Charlotte, N.C. Each convention day begins with an Oregon delegation meeting at the hotel. There are convention credentials to be distributed, information to be passed, and (because it is a Democratic convention) suggestions to be made from the delegates. Leaving the morning meeting, I was reminded that one has to watch what you say in Charlotte: sitting quietly eating breakfast at a table looking into the room is a reporter for an Oregon newspaper who had taken down everything said in the meeting. A few delegates were asked to give him interviews to ensure he will have something else to write about, and I was shoved his way.

Hopefully I didn’t say anything stupid…

Credentials in hand, we piled onto the bus and headed uptown.

Now, Labor Day is not an official convention day—reporters were still doing mic-checks in the Convention Center and no official convention business took place. But with most delegates gathered in Charlotte, time could not be wasted.

The Democratic National Committee used a caucus meeting structure to fill Monday and the mornings and early afternoons later in the week. The caucus meetings allow different constituencies of the Democratic Party to come together for media training, messaging development, and what amount to practice convention speeches by leaders in the party. It displays clearly the amazing diversity of the Party.

Monday morning offered a two hour-caucus for Hispanics, African-Americans, Native Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders and what is broadly termed the “Ethnic Council” a chance to get together. As a Polish American, I signed up for the Ethnic Council and it is amazing to find the diverse group of Arab, Greek, Italian, Croatian, and Sikh-Americans in our ballroom, each with their own button “XXX-American for Obama” already printed and ready for wear. I grabbed my Polish American button and listened in.

There was an intense focus on answering the basic question, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Apparently an Obama spokesman had blown the question live on the air, and speaker after speaker from the crowd answered the question from their own experience. Most interesting was the answers offered by one of the dozen turbaned Sikh-Americans who spoke eloquently about the discrimination faced in that community, including the recent Wisconsin shootings, and the need to continue to addressing it. But the feeling in the room was solidly in the affirmative. As I watched the DNC representative at the front of the room furiously scribbling, I realized I was watching “sophisticated messaging development” in action.

Leaving the caucus, I ran into a French reporter for Le Monde who was eager to discuss the election— I guess some folks thought the Convention was in full gear after all—and he walked me into the basement of the convention center where we sat down to talk. I had planned to go the Youth Caucus, but having turned 31 last year, I am officially no longer a youth to the Democratic Party and was a bit relieved that I did not have to fake it.

The French reporter had just come from Tampa and after a few questions directed to me, I asked him how he compared the two gatherings. “Just looking at the crowd, it is hard to understand how both groups come from the same country,” he replied. Having watched the RNC on television, it was easy to understand what he meant.

Once we finished the interview, I decided to look around the huge convention center basement where much of the print and internet press was based. Endless curtains divided the open space between The New York Times, USA Today, the Boston University press, and countless other media outlets. Most amusing to me was the thin blue curtain separating The Huffington Post from Glenn Beck’s internet reporting service.

One of the best parts of visiting the press area was the chance to pick up free newspapers and magazines, and I grabbed a copy of Time to read over lunch. The worst part of visiting the press area was the overpriced food, clearly taking advantage of the endless publication deadlines of reporters. Fried chicken that would be six dollars a floor above was $12.50 in the basement. Poor reporters. I continue to worry about the future of the media.

I bailed on eating in the convention hall and met up with fellow Oregon delegates to hunt out a BBQ wings bar down the street. We returned just in time to dodge the remnants of Hurricane Isaac, which delivered Biblical soakings to the city in random five-minute intervals throughout the day.

The Veterans and Military Families Caucus met at 2 p.m. . Formed after the 2004 Kerry defeat, the group was designed to aggressively answer back to a perceived area of Democratic weakness. A room full of veteran delegates indicated otherwise. So did the policy points and series of accomplishments stressed in the meeting—increased VA funding, a strengthened GI bill, increased attention to the needs of female vets and mental health issues, as well as an end to the Iraq War and refocus on Afghanistan. The mention of the elimination of bin Laden received the biggest applause and one can tell there were more than a few Marines in the audience with the loud “Uooh-rahs!”

As a Navy vet who spent the first year of his marriage in Afghanistan, and a military spouse attending SLS on the post-9/11 GI bill, I am an easy sell for the Obama administration’s accomplishments. Far more moving to me was the speech of Tammy Duckworth, a veteran running for the House in Illinois who had lost both legs after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. As she put it, she started the day as the highest-ranked person on her crew and ended it as the weakest link, presumed dead when she was pulled from her helicopter wreckage. No matter how hard-working or fortunate, one is just a moment away from desperately needing the help of others.

She also pushed the need for veterans to get involved in politics. “Remember, if you do not have a seat at the table, you are probably on the menu,” she told the room.

I also had the chance to meet the convention’s oldest delegate, a WWII veteran who loved the line of young Iraq and Afghan vets wanting to get a picture with him.

The 4 p.m. end of caucus meetings was intended to accommodate the move to the official convention, but as there was no evening convention Monday, I headed out to Carolina Fest, the street fair put on by the DNC to make sure the Charlotte citizenry could get in on the convention action. With Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick enthusiastically introducing James Taylor on the festival’s concert stage, not even a sudden downpour could dampen the mood.

Booth after booth offered good Southern cooking, and as I bit into some Carolina baby back ribs I suddenly appreciated the decision to hold the convention in North Carolina. My appetite was slightly dampened by the group of preachers parading posters of aborted fetuses through the streets crowded with families. Guess one has to take all North Carolina has to offer.

Pricelessly, as Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the famously liberal congressman, passed one of the poster-carriers, the man quickly dropped his poster to pose for a picture. I wondered to myself where exactly the anti-abortion activist would hang his photo with Kucinich.

In one of the booths on the way to the buses I stopped to look at baby onesies printed with slogans such as “I will not be silenced” over the image of a pacifier and “National Rattle Association” over the slightly-altered N.R.A. eagle, now carrying a pair of rattles in its talons. I bought a onesie that read “Reform Day Care” and realized that this was now the longest I have been away from my daughter. I found myself suddenly ready to get back to the hotel.

I spent the time waiting for the bus and the ride back to the hotel talking to my wife and trying to get a noise out of Maddy over the phone. Apparently, I need work as a conversationalist, as she remained unresponsive.
Another convention night, another big dinner—this one at Mert’s Heart and Soul, a Charlotte icon of good BBQ—with just the Oregon delegation this time. As folks happily swapped stories of the day over pulled pork and ribs. one could sense how networks within a political party formed and political alliances solidified over drinks as the proceedings went on.

Back at the hotel at 10 p.m., the Oregon state party officials, who took such good care of the delegates, set up a tent for folks who wanted to talk policy and politics over Oregon beer. The tent remained full until late into the night.

James Allen “Jake” Klonoski is a Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan, fought piracy off the coast of Somalia, and deployed in support of the 2011 conflict in Libya. He co-founded the Stanford Law Veterans Organization and is active with the American Constitution Society. He will graduate from Stanford Law School in 2013.