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Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff |
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Frustrated Supporters Shut Out of DNC
Produced by Rob Wildeboer on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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A Secret Service agent inspects credentials on streets around the Pepsi Center. (Photo by marcandkellie) |
Senator Hillary Clinton addressed a full house at the Democratic National Convention last night. The 20,000 seat Pepsi center was filled to the rafters and there were still a lot of people who couldn’t get in to see the speech. Ticket shortages have been a problem for both nights of the convention and that’s disappointing the many people who travelled from Illinois hoping they’d have a front row seat to history.
Follow all the coverage from Denver at The Election File.
When I flew out to Denver on Sunday, the plane must have been half filled with people heading out for the convention. The pilot made a pro John McCain joke that made most of the passengers groan.
A couple of seats over from me, Alberta Crescenzo was wearing an Obama shirt and was excited about starting her vacation. She’s not a delegate or politician so she decided to volunteer for the Democratic party so she could see Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.
CRESCENZO: It’s history. I think he’s a very smart man. I think he’s a well-grounded black figure in the African American community so, I just want to be there.
Two days later I saw Crescenzo through a window in a downtown hotel lobby. The excitement of starting a vacation had definitely worn off.
CRESCENZO: 75-thousand tickets and no one could give me a ticket to the speech, to hear the speech. It’s just hard and frustrating and sad. You know I wanted to make history and show my kids my paraphernalia or whatever and so far I don’t have a ticket.
Crescenzo thought that as a volunteer she’d be given a ticket. That’s why she flew from Chicago to Denver in late July for a two-hour volunteer training which she says was a complete waste of time. Including this week’s trip, she had to buy two roundtrip tickets.
CREZCENZO: Three-hundred and probably like 79 dollars a lot. WILDEBOER: Each?
CRESCENZO: Each. Which could of easily been vacation for my kids to go somewhere. Could have gone to the Dells, could have spent time with them.
HENNINGS: The credential challenge is real.
Jared Hennings is a native of Alton, Illinois, near St. Louis.
HENNINGS: Alton high school. Class of ’96.
He and a friend are sitting at a table in the bar of the Marriott Hotel lobby where the Illinois Delegation is staying. They’re watching the convention speeches on a large flat screen two tables over.
HENNINGS: Tonight I don’t have any credentials and I’m trying to get some for tonight and tomorrow but you know we’ll see how it works, I don’t have anything quite yet though man, I’m still hustling.
HARE: Ah, you got to know somebody and I know a few people I’ve been lucky but you don’t get a whole lot of them. This is like trying to get into Fort Knox to get in there.
That’s Congressman Phil Hare. His district is in the central part of Illinois. He says he’s only been able to get his hands on a few tickets for the convention hall.
HARE: I had two for today found one and so I gave mine away but that’s okay. I don’t mind at all.
WILDEBOER: You’re a US Congressman and you couldn’t get…
HARE: No I got three last night and I got one for tonight.
Hare gave his own pass away and he gave the extra ticket to a former intern from his office.
HARE: What the heck. If he’s willing to come out here on a train on his own dime, sleep on the floor, and I give him a pass to go in and listen to Senator Clinton he’ll always remember the experience.
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley is also hanging around the lobby of the Marriott. When I see him he’s getting a smoothie-type drink at the hotel Starbucks and he’s wearing a t-shirt, cargo shorts, and a Chicago Cubs baseball cap. He doesn’t look like he’s in much of a hurry.
QUIGLEY: I gave my floor pass today to my chief of staff whose been with me eight years.
Quigley says, as a delegate he’s guaranteed at least one ticket. But everyone else who wants a credential has to sign up each morning to be thrown into a lottery for the extra tickets.
QUIGLEY: Some lottery participants are more equal than others. Some have a better chance or no chance.
Quigley says there were ticket shortages at the conventions he attended in Boston and L.A., but he says this is the worst he’s ever seen it. He thinks excitement over Obama’s candidacy brought more people into town who were hoping to see the speeches.
From Denver for Chicago Public Radio, I'm Robert Wildeboer.
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Eileen Sanders, Houston // Wednesday, August 27, 2008 @ 3:43 PM
As Bill mouthed about Hillary last night "she's good" ..we just don't know what for! not to mention she never said she was a proud wife!
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Lili Swenson, Dyer, IN // Wednesday, August 27, 2008 @ 10:42 PM
Perhaps the frustration people are feeling about not getting in has something to do with the decision to move to the Mile High Stadium Thursday night.
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