For the last four days, this convention hall has always been in motion — people milling on and off the floor, in and out of the stands, the ever-present floor ushers — the only real extremists in the whole place — hustling people out of the aisles. But, now, like it is at the tail end of every national party convention, everyone is stationed in their place.
No one is moving from their seats. No one is leaving the floor, because if you do, you can’t go back down. I’m sitting just up and back to the side of the podium and looking out over the crowd, it — or they — look like nothing so much as a vast carpet of people, all watching intently, no floor to be seen anywhere.
The crowd was certainly more roused in Barack Obama’s speech; but not at any other time has their attention been more rapt.
Cleland just introduced Kerry. More later …
