Dems Float the Idea of Staging Obama’s Acceptance Speech in Front of 75,000 People at Invesco Field

July 3, 2008

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The night Barack Obama officially accepts the Democratic Nomination for the President of the United States during the parties national convention in Denver this upcoming August we will have a chance to literally watch history unfold in front of our eyes. Wouldn’t it be great if Obama were to hold this landmark portion of the gathering somewhere besides the Pepsi Center? Somewhere that would allow regular families the ability to take in the experience first hand? Sounds good too me but will it happen? Yes - a matter of fact it’s beginning to look like it just may.

Reports begun surfacing earlier this afternoon that entail an idea being take quite seriously that would have Sen. Barack Obama officially accepting the Democratic Presidential nomination in front of 75,000 people are the nearby Invesco Field at Mile High, the home of the NFL’s Denver Bronco’s.

DemCon Watch has been all over this story when whispers about a possible “public event” would be explored regarding Obama’s official nomination acceptance. This goes all the way back to March 26th, when the idea, or should I say, the rumors, were made public:

“In the previous post, I wrote that Denver is reported to be considering proposing holding the last night of the convention, when the nominee speaks, at a different location than the previous 3 nights. I thought this was a crazy idea for the Denver bid from a logistical and cost viewpoint.

However, a source has told me that Dean has been dropping hints that he would like some sort of “public event” to close the convention week, which could, logically, be the nominee acceptance speech. (It could also just be a big rally the next day). So we may see all the cities come up with proposals like this, and my comment earlier saying “don’t blame Dean for this” may have been premature.”

Also reporting on the possibility of Obama using Invesco Field as the forum for his official acceptance speech is The Rocky Mountain News:

Barack Obama campaign officials did not deny reports today that his nomination speech might be given at Invesco Field instead of the Pepsi Center.

“No decisions have been made,” Obama spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said.
…
The Associated Press, citing two unnamed “people in a position to know details of the idea,” said the plan is under consideration.

Mayor John Hickenlooper said he hadn’t heard the rumor directly from the Obama campaign, but said it would be “amazing” if it happened. He also said it could be done, if needed.

“It would be difficult, but not impossible,” Hickenlooper said. “You would have to adapt. You would have to make sure you got the right people in the right places if it’s something the Obama campaign want to do.”

While this totally makes sense, and there’s no doubt - at least in my opinion, whether or not Obama, and the Democratic Party in general would love this venue opposed to the much smaller, stuffier, and “exclusive” convention floor. The question is however, just how feasible an idea this really is given a handful of variables that are for the most part out of Obama’s and the Parties hands all together:

Considerations for holding the acceptance speech at Invesco Field:
- Added cost. Does the Obama Campaign pay for it?
- Additional security.
- What happens if it rains?
- How does the media handle setting up for two locations?
- The American Presidential Experience will be held in the parking lot during the week.
- The University of Colorado and Colorado State University play at Invesco on Sunday 8/31. It was originally scheduled for Saturday 8/30 but was moved in May due tot he convention.
- A Tailgate on the Field event was originally scheduled on Friday 8/29. The day after the acceptance speech. We are awaiting word from the Metro Denver Sports Commission on its status.
- Great way to take the wind out of McCain’s rumored Friday VP Announcement

Regardless, this will be an interesting side note to keep an eye out for over the next month or so. I also want to point out that the idea of staging the official “nomination acceptance” at a third party venue, which allows thousands of people to come and watch first hand in not unique to Barack Obama.

In 1960 John F. Kennedy gave his acceptance speech (where he coined the New Frontier slogan), given outdoors at the LA Coliseum to accommodate extra people (video attached below), and back in 2004 the Republican National Committee toyed with the idea of Bush accepting the nomination at a larger, third party venue, in New York City - where the convention was taking place.

The people over at DemCon watch seem to think that this is very likely to happen, in some shape or form, and seeing as though these guys really have been on top of this story long before any of us had even heard about it - I think it’s safe to put some weight behind their outlook on the whole “acceptance speech” set up.