Charlotte is perceived nationally as a place not particularly friendly to all Democrat causes.
Organized labor isn’t popular – just 2.9 percent of the workforce in North Carolina is unionized, lowest in the nation, the Boston Globe notes. The state recently passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. And Charlotte’s banking center – second-largest in the country – is less than appealing to core Democrats after the economic meltdown of the past five years.
So some Democrats aren’t so enthusiastic about the Queen City. California party Chairman John Burton, speaking to reporters on Labor Day about hosting the convention in a right-to-work state, said, “I didn’t pick it. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but that’s me.”
When the DNC national chair, Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was quizzed about Charlotte Monday on Fox News, she defended the choice adamantly. “We were planting the seed in the South … that we weren’t ceding anything” to the Republicans, she said.
The Globe quotes Wake Forest professor John Dinan as questioning whether the convention could swing North Carolina toward Obama, but “I don’t think the Democrats are believing those union votes are going anywhere else.”
“Police state?” Veteran Maryland political reporter Len Lazarick was shocked by the huge police presence and blocked streets that greeted him Sunday upon his arrival in Charlotte. The headline above his column on MarylandReporter.com read, “As open and accessible as a police state can be.”
Lazarick said organizers promised Charlotte would be the “most open and accessible convention in history,” but first impressions were otherwise. Lazarick used to work five blocks from the White House and wrote the police presence here exceeds anything in Washington short of an inauguration.
“Place to be” for protesters: Michael Zytkow of Occupy Charlotte said it was encouraging that Charlotte, not known as a “protest town,” has had numerous protests in the past year.
“Charlotte really has been the place to be this year,” Zytkow told The New York Times. “Charlotte does have a great legacy of civil rights. We’re really trying to build on their legacy, walk in their footsteps.”
Raindrops: The Daily Telegraph of London chimed in about how Thursday night’s potentially stormy weather is a worry for Obama.
“The stadium has no roof, and some forecasts predict rain. We may yet witness the President of the United States delivering a speech to a half-filled arena with an umbrella over his head,” Tim Stanley wrote. “The president’s convention in Charlotte – already a potential PR disaster because of bad weather and declining enthusiasm – is thus made all the tougher by a reinvigorated Republican ticket determined to fight the election on the winnable terrain of the economy.”
He adds: “It also can’t be denied that the president is a charismatic incumbent who attained a certain mystique after the death of Osama bin Laden. Whether it rains or not, we can expect a great speech from him on Thursday.”
It’s Jordan’s team, by the way: The national media aren’t necessarily up to speed on Charlotte and its diversions. As Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly signed off her show Monday, she looked around Time Warner Cable Arena and asked, “Who plays here? The Charlotte Who?”
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