Georgians prep for Obama-Denver experience

Quentin Howell once drove up from Baldwin County for a pro wrestling match at Philips Arena in Atlanta.

It was the biggest live event the Milledgeville Democrat had ever been to.

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Former President Jimmy Carter will speak Monday, the first day of the convention.

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But next week Howell will witness Barack Obama accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in front of 75,000 people at Invesco Field in Denver.

“This will kind of top the wrestling thing,” Howell said.

Howell is one of 132 members of the Georgia delegation that began gathering in Denver this weekend. Howell, the Georgia Democratic Party’s vice chair of the 12th Congressional District, is an alternate delegate, meaning he will only get to cast a vote if one of the regular delegates can’t make it. But that isn’t putting a damper on the trip, his first to a national convention, he said.

“It’s going to be loud and full and very exciting,” he said.

He and the other Georgians will experience massive crowds, fancy parties, crazed schedules, tight security and a singular moment of American history: the nomination of a black man to be president of the United States.

Lee May, a 4th District Obama delegate, was a page to the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston when U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) accepted the party’s nomination. That was a terrific experience, he said, but how could it compare to this?

“People are excited about the actual nomination of the first African-American nominee, but people are just as excited about an opportunity for change,” said May, a DeKalb County commissioner. “This thing has really surpassed Senator Obama himself. This is more of a movement.”

Beyond the moment Obama accepts the nomination, there will be other highlights for the Georgia delegation.

Former President Jimmy Carter will speak Monday, the first day of the convention. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is a national co-chair of the convention itself and will preside over the convention on Tuesday where U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will speak and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner will deliver the keynote address.

Also Tuesday, Cynthia Hale, pastor at Disciples of Christ in Decatur, will deliver the invocation at the Pepsi Center, the main convention hall.

Thursday will have particular poignancy for one member of the Georgia delegation. As he witnesses Obama become the party’s candidate, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) will also be remembering Aug. 28 as the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington. Lewis was one of 10 speakers to address hundreds of thousands gathered on the National Mall in Washington the day that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Some Georgia delegates will be focused on Tuesday and Clinton’s speech to the convention. While Obama swamped her in Georgia, and eventually captured the nomination, the former first lady still has more than two dozen pledged delegates from Georgia.

Angela Trigg of Ormewood Park is one of them. She and a handful of other Young Democrats rented a RV and drove from Atlanta, leaving straight from a send-off brunch last Sunday at Manuel’s Tavern, a well-known drinking hole for Georgia politicians.

But it was no pleasure cruise. Labeled the “Unity Express,” the vehicle was a rolling voter registration booth, and the group made stops in every state along the way to sign up voters.

Trigg is one of 29 pledged Clinton delegates, whose first vote will go to Clinton. After that symbolic ballot, however, they’ll all become Obama backers.

Trigg’s level of enthusiasm for Obama will depend on what happens in Denver.

As a Clinton supporter, Trigg said she’ll be watching how the runner-up is treated.

“I sometimes get the feeling they wish she didn’t exist,” Trigg said of Obama’s campaign team. “If she’s disrespected, and Hillary delegates are disrespected, I’m going to have a bad feeling. I’ll still vote for him, but I’ll probably dive more into helping a local candidate like (U.S. Senate nominee) Jim Martin.”

Staff writer Eric Stirgus contributed to this story.