By Barry Foster

The first caucus I went to today was the AFL-CIO. I thought going in it would be the same as Sunday. Boy was I wrong. It dealt with race for the most part.

The question asked was why Obama is not doing better with middle class whites. The discussion quickly went to why are the white voters not angry progressive voters.

The next stop was the DNC Youth Council. The discussion centered around getting youth more involved. The big push is for same day registration to allow more access.

People under the age of 36 will comprise 25% of the electorate this fall. Our very own Russell Blacksmith challenged the panel to get more youth to not only get involved but run for public office.

I then entered the DNC hotel to listen to Joe Trippi discuss how technology has taken off in elections and campaigns. The main focus is going to be careful on not getting technology happy and still having the face time. Clinton proved this summer particularly in SD people still want the face time with their elected officials.

The convention tonight was exciting once again. Anyone that says the Dems do not have a bright future in this country did not watch the featured speakers tonight.

Mark Warner had a great message.

Brian Schweitzer won the award for the night. He had fun while addressing America. That fun was felt throughout the convention center and hopefully in tv land. He is a straight shooter who tells it like it is. There is no guessing where he stands on the issues.

Hillary Clinton came in second simply because she said exactly what she had to say. No real surprises. She is very smart and told us what had to be told for the party's sake and her political career sake.

It was one of those historic moments I will never forget while sitting there but the speech itself had no suprises. I felt like she had a sense of the mood as she started the speech by telling us right away to back Obama instead of giving us her accomplishments like all her other speeches.

Wednesday morning is the vote. SD Watch will get the first results of how the SD delegation voted.

Photo: Inside the Pepsi Center during the Democratic National Convention in Denver. (Photo by Barry Foster)

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