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There are a lot of reporters here in town.
Pre-convention estimates were that there would be 15,000 media types here. It feels like that could be correct.
But not many are from Hawaii.
Today we ran into KGMB’s Keahi Tucker while waiting to ride Denver’s light rail system into downtown. He was working on a rail story, and Meda and I became part of it.
Anything to help out a fellow journalist.
Oh, don’t forget to click on the photo for more.
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Hawaii’s delegates enjoyed breakfast today courtesy of major aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation, while clearly is interested in its relations with members of Congress.
Is identifying the sponsors here an example of biting the hand that feeds us?
In any case, this was a cheap date compared to the lavish affairs put on by some of the corporations and interest groups here in Denver this week. Be sure to check out the Sunlight Foundation’s Party Time project, which is tracking the events being paid for by lobbyists.
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While speeches are still going strong, a nominating petition is circulating through the Hawaii delegation gathering signatures to nominate Joe Biden as vice-president.
In this photo, Andy Winer displays the first four signatures–Mazie Hirono, Mufi Hannemann, Colleen Hanabusa and Brian Schatz.
When a reporter asked Chuck Freedman whether Barack Obama’s Hawaii roots are the reason for his strong support in the state, Freedman answered:
“We ran a real strong grassroots campaign for a year and a half, with no money. Most local campaigns would love to run a campaign like we did.”
So his small kid time in Hawaii isn’t the whole story. There’s also some nitty gritty politics that can claim some credit.