by Edward Kennedy. Today, the true purpose of the conven- tion is to launch the candidate’s final, two-month push to Election Day with as many telegenic moments and as few surprises as possible. “Our job is to really build that framework for the campaign
to forward its message into,” Theo LeCompte, the DNCC’s chief operating officer, said in an interview a month before the 2012 DNC. “Some of the things that we have to do each cycle provide some of that framework, but I think that you’ve seen by what we were able to do in Denver that there is this ability to go completely outside the box and invite so many more people into the process and do something that’s so new and so different [but] still in a structure that’s been around for a long time.” The theme of the 2012 DNC was “Americans Coming
Together,” and the DNCC was determined to make that as literally true as possible, with a variety of programs that involved Democratic Party volunteers and the general pub- lic, in addition to party delegates and officials. “We engaged Americans in conversation about what we could do to make this their convention,” said Comelia Sanford, the DNCC’s director of convention operations for the Charlotte Conven- tion Center, which served as the media center and also hosted caucus and council meetings. “The response from the public was emphatic, that they wanted more ways to participate.” The 2012 DNC’s organizers heard them. Convention week
kicked off on Labor Day, Sept. 3, with CarolinaFest 2012, a free, “family-friendly celebration” presented by the Charlotte in 2012 Convention Host Committee in the heart of down- town, along a four-block stretch of Tryon Avenue right next to the convention zone. About 30,000 people attended Caro- linaFest, which included music performances by James Tay- lor and Jeff Bridges, food vendors, games and crafts, and free admission to the museums falling within the event perimeter. During the official run of the DNC — Tuesday, Sept. 4,
through Thursday, Sept. 6 — access to the venues was carefully controlled via a system of pedestrian barriers and security checkpoints, but still there were numerous opportunities for the general public to participate. The caucus and council meet- ings at the convention center were open to anyone who regis- tered in advance, space permitting, and each night there were “watch parties” along Tryon Avenue, with wide-screen TVs broadcasting the action happening on stage at Time Warner. Inside the arena — which hosted the bulk of the conven-
tion’s business, from platform amendments to roll-call votes — the DNCC made sure that the live program itself was more accessible. Whereas at past conventions it placed the stage in the center of the floor, “sort of the equivalent of the hockey middle-ice line,” LeCompte said, “this time we’ve put the stage down in the end zone, much more similar to the way you would for a standard concert. This allows us to preserve more seats and allow more people into the facility.”
48 PCMA CONVENE NOVEMBER 2012
Democratic Process The typical stage set for the Democratic National Convention was moved from the
“middle-ice line” to the “end zone,” to allow more people into Time Warner Cable Arena.