SALON

Wednesday, Sep 5, 2012 8:00 PM UTC

A dampened tradition: No balloon drop for Obama

By

Topics: From the Wires,

A dampened tradition: No balloon drop for ObamaFILE - This July 20, 2004 file photo shows a worker adjusting some of the thousands of balloons, as they prepare to lift the balloons to the ceiling in the Fleet Center, the site for the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston. With a threat of rain, there will be no downpour of balloons. A Democratic convention official says the finale at the Democratic National Convention will miss the traditional massive balloon drop after President Barack Obama delivers his nomination acceptance speech. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)(Credit: AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — No balloons? What kind of a political convention is that?

With a threat of rain, there will be no downpour of Democratic balloons.

Thursday’s national convention finale was supposed to be at Charlotte’s huge outdoor Bank of America Stadium. Seventy thousand or more supporters cheering President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. Fireworks soaring into the skies to match the fiery rhetoric. That’s the way it was four years ago as Obama stood before 84,000 exuberant followers in Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High stadium, an overflow crowd shouting approval.

But this year the rains came — every day this week in the convention city, with more possible on Thursday’s final day. Thunderstorms, too, the final blow.

The finale is being moved back to the nearby Time Warner Cable Arena where the rest of the convention is being held, party officials said Wednesday.

It’s a fine convention site. State delegate sections already in place. TV sky booths for the anchors. Big impressive stage. Flashy video backdrop.

But balloons? Thousands of red, white and blue balloons up in the ceiling, ready to come cascading down for the finish that America expects?

Nope. Sigh.

The Republicans had balloons aplenty, last week in Tampa, Fla.

Too late for the Democrats. But their spirits are still high. Stay tuned. Organizers are scrambling to come up with another festive way to punctuate the end of the convention.

___

Twitter http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

More Jim Kuhnhenn.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations