A quick follow to Amy's post:

Just got out of the Pepsi Center where Hillary suspended the procedural rules to nominate Obama. I was with the Oregon delegation at the time.

Quite a surprise when Clinton entered the arena, and of course, everyone went fucking bananas. Her preemptive wrapping of the nomination may be a bigger symbolic move than her speech last night, which everyone loved. Today's move was a real, concrete statement: screw the numbers and the sympathy, it's time to kick ass with wild abandon.

As I said, I was with the Oregon delegation at the time. I waited for a temporary floor pass and had outstayed my allotted time to bring it back, but Oregon was so close to speaking I decided to wait it out. Well, Hillary's move closed that door and it was clear that our delegates, sporting a load of signs for senate candidate Jeff Merkley and led by Ron Wyden, were a little disappointed to lose their moment in the sun.

I spoke to Wyden afterwards, and while he kept things positive and upbeat--which, due to the gravity of Hillary's move, would be impossible to avoid--he did admit he would've liked the chance to give a little Oregon love to the convention. And after all, so many states got to ramble on about all their boring ass officials and silly attributes prior, why shouldn't we?

So it goes.

On the floor traffic was restricted during the nominating process, especially once Hillary was getting close, although we didn't know it (but apparently the Stranger did). Police and security made lanes impassible and I couldn't return my pass on time (although as mentioned earlier, I had decided to stick it out and be late in order to be there when Oregon got it's moment). I returned the pass and was told I was late. They marked the sheet accordingly. If it happens again I'm screwed (the same happened to a Stranger writer, who I met in line). I explained the situation, that there was no possible route back, and was told, "we have no sympathy." Good God.

Oh, and by the way, Oregon's delegation has one of the worst spots in the house. We're actually BEHIND Puerto Rico. Guam has better views than we do, so does American Samoa. Seriously, in the national pecking order, the only state (or territory!) with worse seats than us might be Utah.