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Do you think Obama's decision to move his acceptance speech to Invesco Field at Mile High is a good decision?

Obama To Make Acceptance Speech At Invesco Field?

DNC Denies Reports Of 3-Day Convention

POSTED: 2:20 pm MDT July 3, 2008
UPDATED: 5:04 pm MDT July 4, 2008

The political blogosphere was atwitter with rumors Thursday that the Democratic National Convention in Denver would be shortened to three days, but that report has been debunked. It apparently originated from a report in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

Natalie Wyeth of the DNC committee said the rumors were not true. She said the convention would "absolutely" be four days long.

However, she did not confirm nor deny a report that Barack Obama's acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination would take place at Invesco Field at Mile High.

When asked directly, convention planners simply say there is no announcement to be made at this point. Several weeks ago, Rep. Ed Perlmutter's office was told to stand by for some type of announcement about the convention but he was never told what it might be about.

According to the Associated Press, Obama's campaign is considering the idea to move the last day to Invesco Field. "Two people in a position to know details of the idea" told The Associated Press that nothing has been confirmed yet.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said no decisions have been made.

"I thought I'd put it in the category of it being a rumor. Rumors come and go. But this one seemed to have some legs, as they say," said Dr. Norman Provizer, a political science professor at Metro State.

"And a rumor can be stopped very quickly. The fact that that hasn't ocurred immediately kind of gets you to think more than you normally would have, " Dr. Provizer said.

He was unsure if any politcal candidate in the modern era had made such an acceptance speech in a football stadium, versus the more traditional, indoor arena setting.

"But if you could somehow turn it into something bigger than that, and given the number of his supporters there, I think that would be an enormous plus. If it could be done," Dr. Provizer said.

It would be a big task, Provizer said, but also matches an ambitious man.

"And I have learned over this campaign, no one should ever underestimate what this campaign can do," Dr. Provizer said.

Blogs are buzzing that Obama wants to do something out of ordinary on Thursday, and one scenario would be to open the last day of the convention to the public at Invesco Field, which seats more than 76,000 people. That's not including the thousands of seats that could be placed out on the field.

The Pepsi Center accommodates less than 20,000 so seating is restricted to delegates, media people with credentials, and major players within the Democratic Party.

The report originated on DemConWatch.

"We have so far gotten denials from the DNCC, The Mayor's Office, The Host Committee and the Obama Campaign," the DemConWatchBlog states. However, it hints that the denials were because the powers-that-be didn't want the news broken on a "humble" blog.

Mayor John Hickenlooper told the Rocky Mountain News that it would be "amazing" if it happened. He also said it would difficult but not impossible to comply with the campaign's request.

The convention is scheduled for Aug. 25-28. The last night is when Obama would accept the Democratic nomination for president. Aug. 28 also happens to be the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, given to thousands at The Mall in Washington DC.

If Obama's speech does move to Invesco, it would not be an unprecedented event. In 1960, the Democratic National Convention was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena but nominee John F. Kennedy delivered his acceptance speech next door at the Memorial Coliseum, PoliticsWest.com reported.

TheDenverChannel has a companion site devoted to DNC news and Blogs, called DNClive.com, which contain links to the latest DNC news, selected blogs and video feeds.

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