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Campbell Brown

Wrap-up of the First Day of the Democratic National Convention

Aired August 25, 2008 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: And it was a deft speech in all sorts of ways, not just the grace points. She did this so well by reaching out to Hillary Clinton; talking about the 80th anniversary. She did it well by wrapping together the anniversary for women and the anniversary for Martin Luther King; the two strands that define her as an African-American woman.
And she was -- but she spoke so movingly about her own personal life and where she came from and why she went to public allies and began to get so interested in public service but then linked it up to Barack Obama and what he's all about.

I don't think I've heard a more interesting conversation about what he did when he went as a community organizer. How he went block to block and how he was serving a lot of people who were working class people or people who'd lost their jobs.

And from that point of view, I actually thought in some ways, she, for all of the wonderful speeches he gives in rallies in big, big speeches, this was actually more emotionally connective than his speeches. And somehow -- there was no -- you couldn't possibly accuse her of elitism after that kind of speech.

And she did demonstrate a love of country and showed that does not define somebody by military service although that so valuable and she honored that. But it also comes in other forms of service. And that's what she and her husband stand for.

So I thought it was a first class speech and I think she gave us a glimpse of somebody who might be a very different model for a First Lady. People will have to wrestle with whether that's something they want whether or not.

And that John McCain story, let's face it, is a very compelling story and they're going to have a new story to tell next week about who he is.

But I thought that tonight they made that connection on values and on sort of sensible, who these pertinent people are and why they care about people like you in ways that were a breakthrough for the campaign.

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And Ed Rollins you felt in some of the specific points that she was making, also pushing back at some of the attacks that Republicans have launched at her as David pointed out, on issues like her patriotism. ED ROLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She is not a liability, she's a great asset and I think two adorable children. It was a story, that's a great story about America in the sense that both of these young people could come to this place.

What still has to be answered well of course for this week is, what are his qualifications to be President of the United States?

I mean there's plenty of qualifications, and he's made a great contribution to society as has she, but what is qualifications to be President of the United States? And at the end of the day that's where we have to get to. But I think she did a great job getting started.

BROWN: Let me because I we're going leave for the tonight, I just want to go to Donna Brazile, who is in Denver. And Donna, I know you're a fan of hers. What were you feeling listening to her tonight?

DONNA BRAZILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I'm very proud of Michelle. She was graceful. She told the story of not just her own life, but about being raised in a working class family. But I think she connected Senator Obama's biography to that of ordinary Americans who are looking for a president who really understands their daily struggles. So I thought she gave a very moving personal portrait.

And for black women and women in particular, no questions, Michelle is someone that is a role model. And she spoke to the aspirations of women all over America, whether you're black, whether you're white, whether you're Hispanic. Michelle Obama tonight said we are all one family.

And Jeff Toobin, in that moment, her reaching out to Hillary Clinton?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: There are going to be a lot of moments for the next three days where the Clinton people recognize the Obamas, the Obamas recognize the Clintons.

But there is one big missing piece tonight, I think, which is why the American people should throw the bums out. We haven't heard one word about that. We have the most unpopular president in American history and he's barely been mentioned tonight.

I just think that is an extraordinary gaffe.

BROWN: But wasn't this supposed to be kind of a feel-good night? I mean that's how it was pitched.

TOOBIN: That's how it was pitched but I think that's a useful thing, but it is not enough when you have this -- you only have four nights and you only have the American people's attention for few minutes.

And I just think Democrats have never shown, at least in recent history, that they are good at negative campaigning. Republicans are terrific at it. And Democrats have been lousy at it, and I don't think they were any good at it tonight.

BROWN: All right hold on, guys. I got to throw it back to Wolf who is on the floor, the convention floor in Denver -- Wolf

WOLF BLITZER, CNN "SITUATION ROOM" ANCHOR: Campbell, Caroline Kennedy is going to be coming over here to speak to us about her uncle Ted Kennedy. She delivered a speech tonight, it's a very moving tribute to Senator Kennedy. And Anderson and I are going to be speaking with Caroline Kennedy here on the floor of the Democratic convention.

We also want to remind our viewers they can get a whole lot more information -- additional information, if they go to cnnpolitics.com. They can read the text of the speeches see some of the video that they may have missed. cnnpolitics.com, is a very, very important and useful addition to what you're seeing live here on CNN.

And "Larry King Live," by the way, is going to be live at midnight with a lot of reaction to what has happened on this, the first night of the Democratic convention.

And much more of our coverage coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to the Democratic National Convention. Day One of this convention is now over. The thousands, 20,000 people here at the Pepsi Center in Denver, they're beginning to leave. That will take quite a bit of time. It's not easy moving around 20,000 people.

But the delegates did hear a very stirring speech from Michelle Obama. And that's going to be the discussion for a lot of them as they go forward. Many of them are going to go forward to some parties here tonight, every night after the convention. That's certainly something all conventions go forward with.

We're standing by, we're speaking -- we're going to be speaking with Caroline Kennedy. You heard her tribute to her uncle Senator Ted Kennedy. We got a lot to talk about with her. She's making her way over here to our platform, to our position here on the floor of the convention.

Anderson, as we go forward, the tribute to Ted Kennedy was a lovely tribute and it was a very stirring moment when he spoke. We didn't know if he would be able to arrive here in Denver, let alone speak. And he did speak and we saw the old Ted Kennedy that all of us have seen many times before.

And of course, we heard a beautiful speech from Michelle Obama, speaking about her husband. Well, a lot of the red meaters, if you will, are saying they didn't hear a whole lot of criticism of John McCain. They didn't hear a whole lot of criticism on this first night of the convention of the Bush administration, President Bush.

I suspect tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday we'll be hearing a lot more of that. But you heard the complaints from James Carville and David Gergen that maybe day one was sort of wasted.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN "AC360" ANCHOR: Certainly that is what James Carville was saying. It seemed at times he wanted to rush the stage trying to get things moving along.

BLITZER: And he's one of those red meaters.

COOPER: I know we were afraid for a moment we were going to have to restrain him.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think what the Obama campaign was trying to do was introduce Barack Obama in a different way to the American people. They are looking at the polls and they know that those polls show that Americans, 4 out of 10 in some polls, are uncomfortable with Barack Obama.

They're not sure that they understand his values. And the big question in this election is, sure, you want change. But is Barack Obama safe enough for you? Or is he too much of a risk?

And what Michelle Obama was doing tonight, what Ted Kennedy was doing tonight, was essentially saying, in a way, he's just like you. He shares your values. Don't worry about it.

Now, I don't think it provided for a very exciting evening. I do think they have to get to the red meat part. I do think George W. Bush got kind of a free ride here tonight.

But I agree with Wolf, I expect that in the next night they're going to go at it.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is a race going on in this campaign. And that is that many Republicans believe the only way they can win this election, given all the fundamentals, and President Bush's low approval rate, and the state of the economy, the state of approval or disapproval for the war in Iraq, many Republicans believe the only way they can win is to disqualify Barack Obama, to convince the country he does not share your values. Maybe he's not patriotic, he is culturally way far to the left.

So what you saw tonight, and this will be debated for some time, was this another Kerry convention? Too light on the Republicans.

But you saw tonight, was Michelle Obama getting on that track, trying to get to the thresholds of viability, to convince the American people don't listen when the Republicans say we don't share your values; we haven't struggled just like you. We may look different but our lives have been like your lives, for better and worse, look at our family.

BROWN: Right.

KING: They are trying to race across the viability threshold before the Republicans can say this man is not qualified to be president.

COOPER: And David Gergen, from your perspective, she did exactly that?

GERGEN: I do think, that the -- as I said earlier, I think that she helped to rescue the evening. I still think there were a lot of lost hours. And I simply cannot understand why the Democrats allowed people who planned this out, allowed hour after hour in the beginning to go unfilled with anything substantive just framing the election. It didn't have to be straight out attack on John McCain. They just simply had to be, what are your arguments, why are you here, what are we doing here in this early part of the evening?

And it seems to me that they had two major highlights tonight. They had the Teddy Kennedy tribute and his speech which was extraordinarily moving. But that was done before 10:00 o'clock, before the magic bewitching hour in which everybody was going to be covering this.

And they had this extraordinarily good speech by Michelle Obama. I'm surprised they didn't take those two and put them between 10:00 and 11:00 and then provide something with more meat and more substance to it in the earlier hours.

I mean political conventions are not about passing rules at 8:30 in the evening. They're about appealing to Americans in their homes about what the big choices are that they're going to face that fall.

And frankly, I think they did a very poor job tonight of explaining what those choices were, even as Michelle Obama I think in this masterful speech, really did appeal to people about his values and paint a portrait of him, of her, and of their family and these wonderful adorable kids, that I think will be very, very appealing to lots of Americans.

BLITZER: And I think David raises a fair question.

I want to ask Donna Brazile. You're a superdelegate. You've been involved in a lot of these conventions over the years and you managed Al Gore's presidential bid back in 2000.

All that kind of platform stuff and the rules and the boring material, why couldn't they have done this earlier in the day, started that kind of stuff at 2:00 in the afternoon, get it over with, so that by the time 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 comes around, you get some really fiery speakers out there who can make the point, not only for Barack Obama, but against John McCain?

BRAZILE: Well, Wolf, there is this great song "You haven't seen, you aren't seen nothing yet." And I think over the next 24 hours you'll see Democrats really you know take the gloves off.

Tonight was to set the scene, to retell Senator Obama's story, to bring Democrats to these hall, to begin the long conversation about what kind of change Senator Obama will bring.

So while it might be just a little boring and bland, Democrats accomplished tonight a great deal and making sure that the American people understand that Senator Obama is not only the right person for the time, but that there's no question, he is going to bring about the change that we're looking for.

COOPER: I want to bring in now in Hilary Rosen, democratic strategist as well, a CNN contributor.

Hilary, Donna talked about the long conversation, but the audience has only watched for a short amount of time. And if someone tuned in for a short amount of time and didn't happen to watch while Michelle Obama was speaking, did they really come away with very much tonight?

HILARY ROSEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I thought actually there were two book ends. And you know, one was a little more dynamic than the last.

I thought Speaker Pelosi, actually if people were listening, we weren't on air for that -- focus on it much, but Speaker Pelosi actually got this crowd going, talking about John McCain, doing chanting John McCain doesn't represent change, John McCain won't get us healthcare, John McCain won't get us energy. There was that red meat in the hall for a little while there before the Ted Kennedy speech.

Then the second thing was, I thought Michelle Obama, actually I suspected just a bio-speech. But she kind of went out there and said no, this is more about not just who we are, and why we're doing this. But why we care, what we care about.

And she went into the litany of, we care about health care for our kids, we care about jobs in our community. It's like she was the spouse who understood the past I think in a way that few spouses articulate in a speech.

So I disagree that there wasn't any red meat here, but I really think that she hit it out of the park in putting the period on the night to say, we have a purpose, we have to get it done. We cannot be afraid to get it done. And that's what we're about. So I sensed more fierceness than I'm hearing from all of your negative analysis.

COOPER: Well, I was pointing out as James Carville has a largely negative analysis I'm just sort of fielding questions. But Alex Castellanos, from a Republican standpoint, is there ammunition here? I mean, is there going to be a commercial tomorrow based on any of the material we heard tonight?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND GOP CONSULTANT: Oh, no. I think tonight the Democrats played it very safe and tonight was not a night to create the compelling need for Barack Obama. I'll disagree with James a little bit.

I think the Obama campaign clearly decided that they did not want Michelle Obama's star turn to be an angry night. And so they -- tonight was a night about making Barack Obama more acceptable, more likeable, to open the door to him. And I think tomorrow night we'll see the heat and the fire and they're going to try to start driving voters to it.

So I thought in that sense, this was the "consolidating your position and tomorrow the attack begins" kind of a strategy.

COOPER: So we should tell James Carville to definitely be here tomorrow night because he'll be much happier?

CASTELLANOS: I hope not but I'm afraid that's what's going to happen.

COOPER: Go ahead.

BORGER: You know, Anderson, this was just a threshold I think that they had to cross. And you can't get to be President of the United States unless people don't feel that they know you and don't feel comfortable with what they know about you.

So I think -- you know I agree with Alex, who is, after all, a Republican strategist who has done a lot of these that you have to cross this first. And that you know, one step at a time. And I think they'll get to it tomorrow.

COOPER: John King, in the planning of this, were they too focused on what broadcast networks were going to be showing between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.? And perhaps neglecting what cable networks were going to be showing for hours before that?

KING: It's an interesting question. And I can't answer it tonight because I don't think anyone can answer it tonight.

One of the things you want to watch here is, how many people actually watched the Obama campaign stream that's out on its own website. And they encouraged their people to not watch us but to go straight to their Websites.

COOPER: Which we don't encourage that seriously whatsoever. Not at all.

KING: We don't encourage that at all, they want to see James Carville and Donna in the voices of reason we have, but it's interesting to see. One of the other interesting things is, remember how panned McCain got in national press analysis over much of the summer? And then all of a sudden, we looked up and McCain has closed the gap and was in a dead heat race.

One of the interesting things to watch tomorrow, is Claire McCaskill is up there and we're not taking her speech but that will be covered in Missouri markets, she will get coverage.

Other speakers who're up there from other states, but interesting to see how the local coverage is. And analyze it in the newspapers and on television stations and the battle ground states early tomorrow morning, to see if maybe they're up to something, that we're not quite understanding.

But I do know from talking to them they came into tonight with one goal and one simple goal. For Americans to wake up tomorrow morning saying, you know what? They're a lot more like us than I thought they were.

BLITZER: It's interesting, if some of our viewers -- a lot of our viewers may want to go back and take a look at some of these speeches that they may have missed over the course of the last several hours, you know what they could do?

COOPER: Cnnpolitics.com.

BLITZER: That is the correct answer. Anderson Cooper, you win the prize tonight. Cnnpolitics.com.

COOPER: I knew it.

BLITZER: You could go there; you can get all the speeches if you missed them. You want to hear them, if you want to hear Claire McCaskill? Cnnpolitics.com, if you want to hear Michelle Obama, one more time, that's where you could go. The tribute to Ted Kennedy, Cnnpolitics.com, a lot of other useful information.

We're standing by to speak with Caroline Kennedy. And in fact she's right here, she's walking up to the platform. We'll speak with Caroline Kennedy right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back. Our coverage of the convention continues.

We're joined on stage now by Caroline Kennedy. Thanks so much for being here.

CAROLINE KENNEDY, SENATOR TED KENNEDY'S NIECE: Oh, thank you.

COOPER: Give us a little bit about the back story of how Senator Kennedy came to be here. Did you know all throughout the day that he was going to be able to speak?

KENNEDY: Well, I think he's been looking forward to this all summer. And I think it was just incredible that he actually made it.

And it wasn't easy and I think it was a last-minute decision but there was actually no way that anyone was going to keep him from being here tonight. So he came, you know, from the hospital and just did an amazing job.

COOPER: And is he going to be staying in town?

KENNEDY: I don't think for long. I think he's going back to the Cape pretty soon.

BLITZER: How is he feeling? I mean, we're all concerned about him. You know, those of us who covered him over the years, he sounded great, he was obviously forceful. This was a speech, the typical of the speeches he's delivered at these conventions. But tell us how he's doing.

KENNEDY: He's doing great. I mean, you saw him here tonight. I think people weren't sure whether he -- what he's been doing the last few months. But he's been working, he's been on the phone, he's been working on his Education Bill. He's planning to go back to the Senate in the fall. So, I think, it's obviously nobody was quite sure how it would go. It's been a really tough course of treatment. But you saw him here. Every time I've seen him he's better. So I think we're all really so proud of him.

BORGER: Do you think there was ever any doubt in his mind? That he was going to speak today.

KENNEDY: No, not in his mind. In everybody else's mind but not in his mind.

KING: I'm fascinated to know what he thinks, I mean if we're talking about this moment in the party, having gone through 1980, where he was blamed by some in the party for running in the primary and maybe for hanging in too long, to come into this hall at a time when the question is will the Clinton people come into the Obama camp. Have you talked to him about the parallels on what think of this moment for the Democrats?

KENNEDY: Well, I think he thinks it's a great moment for the Democrats. And I think he thinks that everyone will come out of this united. I haven't talked to him much beyond that.

But I think he's a huge champion of Senator Obama and Senator Biden. So I think he thinks it's great.

COOPER: You were on the committee and searching obviously, helping Barack Obama search for a vice president. How seriously was Hillary Clinton considered? Was she on a short list?

KENNEDY: Well, she'd be on anybody's short list, right? So I think it's worked out really, really well. You know, I think she's going to play a hugely important role in this election and in an Obama administration.

BLITZER: But the decision formally, not to got ahead and vet her and ask for the documents and interview her, in all of that which is what you did with Senator Biden and Senator Bayh and Governor Kaine and the others.

KENNEDY: Well, you know an awful lot about this, don't you? Because I'm not telling you anything else, ok.

BLITZER: Just walk us through that decision.

KENNEDY: No, I'm not going walk you through that decision.

BLITZER: Why not?

KENNEDY: It's a confidential process.

COOPER: What is your message to -- and we talked to some people tonight who are still Hillary Clinton supporters who plan to cast a vote for her. What is your message to them, some 27 percent of Hillary Clinton supporters say they're going to vote for John McCain at this election? KENNEDY: Well, I think there's so much more that unites us as Democrats than there is that divides us. And I just hope that all of them will watch this convention. Michelle Obama did an unbelievable job tonight and the values that we all share and I think and hopefully we'll all be united coming out of this convention.

BORGER: Without getting specific, because I know you won't, you have observed Barack Obama up close. Not only during the whole vice presidential selection process, but also you traveled with him. You've campaigned with him.

Can you kind of lift the veil a little bit and tell us what you've learned about him that we don't know that may have even surprised you?

KENNEDY: Well, I think for me the travel -- I've traveled with him, we've all seen him and you'd seen him in a large setting.

But I think these meetings and being part of the vice presidential process really gave me a chance to see him working with people, different kinds of youths, bringing people together, listening, asking really important questions. And I think it gave me an even greater sense of confidence as the kind of president he'd be and I think that he'll be an amazing president.

KING: You're in the room with Barack Obama going through the short list you won't talk about, but you're clicking through different people and you say, Kathleen Sebelius, she's the governor, should put a woman on the ticket, she might help you out in the big red states. Joe Biden, from Scranton, Pennsylvania, you could certainly use some help there. Senator Clinton beat you pretty badly, but remember, he senator he's the one who said you weren't ready to be president.

How does Barack Obama respond when you say that's what we would have to deal with?

KENNEDY: Well, I think it's a sign of his confidence, his judgment, his leadership and his desire to have people, you know, who know as much or more than he does, advising him, who can make up their own mind and give him their best judgment.

So I think Senator Biden obviously believes that Barack Obama is ready to be president. He's joined the ticket. And I think the response has been fantastic.

COOPER: Do you see a role for yourself moving forward in this campaign?

KENNEDY: I just want to be with the best political team on television that I can possibly can.

COOPER: That is still the right answer.

KENNEDY: Thank you.

COOPER: Thanks very much for being with us tonight, I appreciate it.

KENNEDY: Ok, good.

BLITZER: All right, we'll see you out there, Caroline Kennedy. Thanks very much.

Larry King is going to have a special program coming up right at the top of the hour, midnight Eastern. He's going to get a lot of reaction from the Republicans, from McCain supporters, on what they thought about this, the first night of the Democratic convention.

But let's get some immediate reaction right now from Nicole Wallace. She is a senior adviser to the McCain camp.

Thanks very much Nicole, for coming in. So what did you think about how the Democrats did on their first night?

NICOLE WALLACE, MCCAIN SENIOR ADVISER: Well, I think everybody roots for the family, everybody roots for the spouse. I know I was rooting for Michelle Obama.

She had a great night. She looked beautiful. Her speech was moving. I think as a daughter myself, I was moved by the way she talked about her father and his battle, you know, and walking across the room to kiss her mom goodbye.

It was a very moving speech and her daughters are beautiful. I don't think there's any doubt that Michelle Obama did great tonight.

I think the question still looms for Democrats this week, are they going to be able to convince people by the end of the week that all those lingering concerns about whether Barack Obama is ready to lead still exists. And I'm not sure I saw that answered tonight. But you can't take anything away from the moving moments tonight.

Ted Kennedy's speech was moving and I loved Caroline's answer to you all when you wanted her to get into the VP selection. I'm going to use that and I'm going to steal that line from her. And so I think there were a lot of moving moments.

Whether it solves Barack Obama's political problems I'm just not sure.

BLITZER: Did you ever think, Nicole, that as a good Republican, someone who worked in the Bush White House, you would be here at the Democratic convention as a representative of the McCain camp making sure that your voice was heard as well?

WALLACE: It's a great country, isn't it Wolf?

And seriously, it's nice of the Democrats to let us be here. We plan to extend the same courtesy next week at our convention. But we certainly are privileged that our counterparts on the Obama campaign let us be here to talk to people like you.

BLITZER: Do we expect Senator McCain to be announcing his vice presidential running mate Friday when he's in Dayton, Ohio, the day after the Democrats wrap up their convention? WALLACE: Well, I'll tell you this, Wolf, don't sleep in. I wouldn't want you to miss it. You're the hardest working man in television we're convinced that you don't actually sleep at all, that you just hang upside down for a few hours at night and with your eyes open to monitor the news. So I don't think you'll miss it. But everyone else shouldn't sleep in Friday.

BLITZER: And so that, that will a big day. Anderson Cooper, she's honest. I am the hardest working man.

COOPER: I thought you were going to say she's honest you do sleep upside down.

BLITZER: No, no I don't sleep upside down.

Nicole Wallace thanks very much for coming in. We'll be speaking with you throughout obviously the next 71 days as we get going into the Republican and the Democratic presidential contest.

We'll see who's going to be the next President of the United States.

And next week as Nicole Wallace said, there will be not only McCain supporters obviously in Saint Paul but a lot of Barack Obama representative will be there as well. And the Republicans will be giving them the courtesy the Democrats are giving Nicole Wallace and the McCain team here at the Democratic Convention.

We're going to continue our coverage and much more coming up. Remember, cnnpolitics.com, go there, you can take a look at the speeches if you may have missed them earlier in the night. There's a lot of other information there as well.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There were 20,000 people here at the Pepsi Center. Now there's only a few left. There are people, though, some of the delegations who are still here at this convention; the first night of the Democratic Convention now over.

Jessica Yellin is down with the Minnesota delegation. Jessica, you've got a guest there.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do, Wolf. I asked them to stay late for us because they were so moved by Michelle Obama's speech. And I wanted to ask, we have Sondra Samuels here, a delegate from Minnesota.

What was your reaction to her speech?

SONDRA SAMUELS, MINNESOTA DELEGATE: I was absolutely awed. And the main thing is that you know fundamentally who she is and who Barack is around of being unifiers. It doesn't matter who you are, your background, your race, your religion, we have so much more in common than not. And that commonality of us all having a shared vision of what America should be was so moving and made me hopeful of the vision that I've always had of what America could be.

YELLIN: And you told me, this is Charissa Bryant, you told me that you felt that she's not just politically effective but a role model for women and African-American women?

CHARISSA BRYANT, MINNESOTA DELEGATE: That is correct. She is certainly a role model for African-American women and I think all women in general. I think young men and men in our country know too as well.

The fact that Michelle Obama is African-American is very, very meaningful to us. It helps us know and reminds us that we can achieve great things in this country. And that hasn't always seemed like it has been possible for some of us.

So I've done a lot of work and diversity, volunteer work and ongoing privileged and it just makes us believe that all things really are possible.

YELLIN: Thank you so much, both of you.

Wolf, I have to say I saw a lot of people who were deeply moved, some even crying when she was speaking. So for a lot of people it was not just a politically again, momentous speech but also something that touched them for what it represented, for women in America and for African-American women in America -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I'm just curious, Jessica, if you want to ask those two women if they were disappointed that Barack Obama didn't pick a woman, namely Hillary Clinton, to be his running mate.

YELLIN: Ok, Wolf is asking were either of you disappointed that Barack Obama did not pick a woman, even Hillary Clinton, as his running mate?

SAMUELS: No. You know, absolutely because you know I feel like in voting for Barack, I am voting for Michelle too. Like I'm getting this ticket with them; he doesn't come alone and so not at all. I feel as though she needed somebody like Joe Biden to really enhance the places where I think people are looking for him to be kind of more, well-rounded.

YELLIN: Got it and how about you?

BRYANT: In the best of both worlds for me, if that could have happen and would have been possible, that is really what I would have hoped for. But I do understand there are other dynamics at play and that that just wasn't going to happen right now.

But I certainly think that there are other roles, very significant roles that Hillary Clinton can play. And certainly, Supreme Court Justice, Speaker of the House, Health and Human Services. I think that those are all good positions for Hillary still.

YELLIN: Great, thanks to both of you. Thanks to both of you. They see a big future for Hillary somewhere in the Obama administration, Wolf.

BLITZER: We certainly see a big future for her as a Senator from New York State. That's what she's going to be doing for now at least for now.

Suzanne Malveaux is in the Florida delegation. You got some people left over there as well, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. It is really kind of a lot of debate going on inside of Florida as you know. None of the candidates actually ran a campaign there. But Hillary Clinton came out on top, so we're talking a little bit about whether or not there was a split there.

I want to first go to Diane Glasser. You are a superdelegate and you and I were talking about the fact that it was difficult for you to run for Office for a city commission because the community you live in, that you're an Obama supporter.

DIANE GLASSER, FLORIDA SUPERDELEGATE: I live in a condominium, senior citizens 55 and over, people more my age or a little bit older, and very many of them are women who are widows and very strong for Hillary Clinton.

So it was difficult for me to make any moves towards Obama until the air cleared a little bit towards the end. But I was an Obama supporter from the beginning. And I liked Hillary and supported Hillary for many, many years. But I saw something in Obama that was different.

MALVEAUX: What did you like --

GLASSER: Talk about change, that's what I saw.

MALVEAUX: What did you like specifically about Michelle, what struck you about Michelle Obama's speech tonight?

GLASSER: Well, generally, the one thing that really struck me the most was, when she came out and she said how much she loved America and her life story. I'm a very -- not a very crying kind of person and I really welled up, I really did. I'm usually pretty strong. I've had a lot of serious things that happened in my lifetime and I can hold my own, I almost came to full tears and I just welled up.

MALVEAUX: I can tell you're welling up a little bit here too.

I want to ask you, why do you think it was necessary for Michelle Obama to talk about her patriotism, her love for America?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because there are people, who shall remain nameless, who seem to feel that Michelle Obama is not a true American. And I think we all know that that's not true and Michelle Obama needed this time and she needed this opportunity to say to everybody, I am one of you.

And she showed her love for the country. She showed her pride in the country when she said that this could not happen in any other country but America. She showed the fact that she was a human being by being the wonderful mother that she was.

I love, love, loved what she when he came on and then they all kind of interacted as a family. They showed that they're real and they showed that they're like us. And we needed that.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, ladies, very much, from Florida.

It looks like they're trying to patch things up here, the Obama and Hillary folks -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Florida a critical state as we know in the race for the White House.

And that was a real beautiful moment when those two little girls came out to speak with mom and then dad came up on the satellite. I think everybody had to be a little touched by that.

COOPER: We also covered a lot of the sort of the political angles about the speech. But, just to put it in context of other potential first ladies who have spoken at conventions, I'm not sure there has been a speech like that by a potential first lady.

I mean there is a sort of a woodenness that often comes across when first spouses speak. This was certainly unlike any speech we've heard.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: And for someone who is still new to the national scene, it was astonishing, it was so good. You know, the buzz word of the year is authenticity. She actually has it; it's not just a buzz word. Her presentation was not slick but it was poised. And it seemed effortless.

And so the best character witness he could ever possibly have, and by the way, the toughest act to follow that you could ever have. I mean that is the one thing, it's a political offer just going to my mind as my eyes filled with tears as Senator Kennedy was speaking and saw her I thought, "Oh my Lord, how can she follow that?" and somehow she did.

COOPER: Roland Martin has also been watching with us throughout the evening. he also interviewed Michelle Obama a short time ago.

Roland, your thoughts on the speech tonight? Did she accomplish all that she and the Obama camp wanted her to?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I think no doubt. And it was interesting, Anderson, prior to the speech, John King talked about these lingering questions America has regarding the background of the Obama's in terms of them growing up in some ways different from the American way. I think it was a question asked, question answered. Anybody who heard her lay out her story can say, remove this black woman from the south side of Chicago, put in a white female, put in a Hispanic female, put in a white male, put in an Asian male, that is indeed an American story. And so for all the haters out there who was sitting here and making all these kind of saying -- they say she was weird and elitist, I think they got a lesson tonight from Michelle Obama saying, this is who I am. I'm going to tell my story and you're going to hear it from my mouth.

Now the question is, are those same people going to somehow categorize her in a different way? I mean the bottom line is, she told her story and told her story well.

BORGER: There are going to be two takeaways from tonight. Obviously Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama, that's exactly what the Obama campaign wanted. They don't really, you know, they don't really think that the public is going to care that much about Jim Leach's speech or Claire McCaskill speech.

They had two very powerful speeches tonight, and that's about as much as you can expect people to take away. One other thing I think, Michelle did and did really well, she took away this whole celebrity thing.

She said, he's a dad who drove his kid home in the car and was so nervous about doing it, this is how we met. We have the video about it. She talked about him as a parent. You know, this wasn't somebody talking about some celebrity who lives a fabulous lifestyle.

And so I think she helped debunk that kind of theme that you've heard the McCain campaign talk about so much.

COOPER: The idea that they are elitists.

BROWN: Elitists and that somehow he was born talking to 25,000 people, right?

BLITZER: As you know, millions and millions of Americans listened to those stories that she was telling and they could relate personally to that. Doesn't make any difference whether they're white or black or any religion, people relate to those kinds of stories and that's important.

BORGER: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Standby, hold on one second. We're going to take a quick break. And we're also going to check in with Abby Tatton.

And she's been hearing and watching what bloggers from the state delegations have been putting on the Internet.

Stay with us and much more of our coverage. Remember also, at the top of the hour, a live "Larry King Live." He's going to get Republican reaction, all sorts of other reaction.

Cnnpolitics.com, you want to go there as well.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back to our coverage of the first night of this historic convention continues. Also Larry King has a special live edition of "Larry King Live" starting in about 12 minutes from now, getting the GOP response to all that went on tonight.

But we've been getting a lot of responses from the floor of this convention. A lot of bloggers in some of the delegations have been blogging throughout the evening.

Abby Tatton our Internet reporter has been following some of what they have been writing and putting online. Abby, what are you seeing?

ABBY TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Anderson, they have seated all around you there on the convention floor, embedded, if you will, with the delegations, like the Wisconsin delegations right here; uploading video every few minutes at some point to the site Donald.com.

More celebrations here at the South Carolina delegations posted there by this blog cracked about. In the last few minutes we've seen the kind of instant reaction you get on these blogs after that, Michelle Obama's speech. And the consensus, whether it's from the bloggers who where in the convention or those down the road, where on the bloggers facility where there are more than 300, the consensus there is that she really knocked it out of the park.

This from the West Virginia blog there in the Convention Hall, that she hits a home run. But then, the other thing you're going to see all over the blogs, it was the kids and the family scene right at the end; that was the icing on the cake -- Anderson.

BLITZER: All right, good, Abby. Its Wolf too, Abby Tatton, our Internet reporter.

Let's go to Candy Crowley she's here at the convention as well. Candy, you've been covering the Obama campaign for a long time, now. It goes back at least a year and a half; 19 months. This was clearly the most important speech that Michelle Obama had to deliver.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And honestly, there has been a real evolvement of who she is and how she speaks.

It's strange to me, because when Michelle Obama first got out of the campaign trail, it was the Michelle Obama you saw here tonight. And then in the middle when she made the remark about, well, this is the first time I've been proud of America in my adult life she got so much heat for, that people began to say, you know, she's tough or she's this or she's that. She suddenly, everything went negative on her.

And this was the Michelle Obama of the beginning. And I think this has been very deliberate by the Obama campaign. They dialed-back the talking about the issues. They put her out there talking about Barack Obama and who he was, sort of vouching for him.

And so they have literally moved her from where she was to begin with in some ways back to where -- back to this night where, again, she was more the wife, more the mother, more the daughter than she was; sort of supporting her husband in terms of issues.

So this was very much the Michelle Obama that has been shaped by the campaign because they wanted to be -- her to be less about issues, more about humanizing him and bringing into light who he is as a family man, that sort of thing.

BLITZER: And it was really a great moment when he showed up via satellite from Kansas City, Missouri. Missouri happens to be also one of those battleground states. He was watching everything tonight with a family there and then those cute little kids had a little exchange with their mom and their dad.

Candy thanks very much.

It was a nice moment. You've got to admit it.

COOPER: No doubt about it. And certainly, if she makes it into the White House she will be a First Lady unlike any we have seen before, and not simply the obvious matter of race.

Jeff Toobin is standing by in New York.

Jeff, in terms of First Ladies, there really or potential First Ladies, there really has not been anyone like Michelle Obama.

TOOBIN: Well, the only remotely comparable person is Hillary Clinton, also a graduate of an Ivy League Law School; also someone with their own career. If Michelle Obama was the vice president of the University of Chicago Hospital, she just took a leave, fairly recently, she is someone who's going to want to assert herself in some positive way.

I think the Hillary Clinton example of inactive policy-making role is probably not one that will be repeated. But she is certainly very different from either of the Mrs. Bush's. She's very different from Cindy McCain and she's a lot younger.

The White House has not had little children in it since the Kennedy administration. So, I mean, that in itself would be a big change. So, yes, indeed, she would be a very different First Lady.

COOPER: And Campbell, you used to cover a lot of these conventions. Your thoughts on how it has gone, tonight, for the Democrats.

BROWN: Well, is would have to disagree, I think, with some of the criticism from David Gergen and from James Carville earlier. I think they set out their mission early on, which was to have her be the star of the show and to keep the focus on her, as much as possible. And that's what it was about, quite simply.

I mean, they have been battling attacks from Republicans about who she is, about what she stands for, in part because of missteps that she made and some remarks she made early on that that needed to be put to rest. And you didn't want anything, I think, in terms of their goals to distract from that fact, to have, you know, that be the one thing that you took away from this night was, wow, this is an American family who has been said many times tonight, not all that different from mine. Going, you know, as they hit time and time again on that issue of values and who they are and what they're about.

And I think they wanted just one takeaway from the night, that, Michelle Obama is not threatening in any way, that she is this warm person who understands your problems and that their family is not unlike many other families around this country.

BLITZER: Stand by for a moment, Paul Begala is here. And I'm anxious to get your thoughts on what -- sum of up this night for us.

BEGALA: A change agent, which is what Barack is, has to do two things. He has to make the case for change, which is tearing down the status quo. But he's also got to provide some reassurance. And if you go back and look at what Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton, who I think are three similar change agents did, they did each of that.

But you don't do an equal measure. Tonight was a night of reassurance. It raises the bar though for the rest of the speakers who have to carry the load of attacking. I disagree -- with some of my friends who've said that tonight --

BLITZER: You disagree with James Carville and David Gergen.

BEGALA: I love James Carville. He's like a pet maybe or a big brother. I do. And here's why.

You can't have Senator Kennedy, heroically battling cancer, you know one hour before the speech. His closest aides didn't think he could do it. An hour before, he walked out there. He performed heroically. You couldn't have him tearing down John McCain.

You couldn't have Michelle do it. And who cares what Jim Leach says? I know this well, some disrespect him I don't really care what he says or think, so he's not an important figure here. They are the only two others speakers tonight.

BLITZER: He's a moderate Republican who supports Barack Obama.

BEGALA: They can have him, I can't stand him. But he's not important and unworthy of being at this convention. But when you have a keynote speaker --

BROWN: What do you really think?

BEGALA: It's what everybody's thinking, when you have a keynote speaker, Mark Warner from a very tough state --

BLITZER: Tomorrow night the former governor of Virginia who's running for the senate.

BEGALA: He is, but he's going to have to pick up a Fungo bat and hit John McCain over the head with it.

COOPER: And what on the bat?

BEGALA: Fungo. You use it for practice on the little league. I'm a little league coach.

BROWN: Let's stop with the sports.

BEGALA: That the rest of the speakers including Hillary are going to have to take up the attack. And I think that's ok, you know a brick is not a wall. One night is not a convention. And I love James, but I think he's drawing too broad a conclusion too soon.

BORGER: I think this was about reassurance you know I think Joe Biden, the choice of Joe Biden as vice president was about reassuring voters about Barack Obama and national security and all the rest. And I think tonight was reassurance on the values front, on the family front, that he's not exotic as some Republican ads have portrayed him or some Republicans talked about him; that his family is like our family.

So tonight was reassuring, it's hard to kind of attack when you're trying to reassure.

BLITZER: Was that, John, to a certain degree a statement that the McCain and the Republican effort to undermine Barack Obama has been working, raising questions about him. The fact they had to do this, the Democrats, tonight, to a certain degree, underscores that point in.

KING: It's a combination of that. The Republicans have been attacking their values, attacking their policy positions, trying to push them culturally out of the mainstream. And the fact, that they're simply new on the national stage. Barack Obama was elected to the United States Senate four years ago.

I'll end my day here with where I began this morning with this focus group I told you about earlier. With a dozen Latino voters leaning toward Barack Obama as a group, some McCain supporters in there but as a group, and yet, they were asked the question, if you had to pick between Hillary Clinton, John McCain or Barack Obama to fill your HOV, to give you three people and of course, you could write on the HOV link, who would you pick?

And they were perplexed and they were split and two or three picked Obama. What would they be like if you took them over to a barbecue? People couldn't answer the question about Barack Obama. What would they be like as neighbors, people couldn't answer the question about the Obamas. They don't know about what makes them tick and who they are.

And the Obama campaign knows that. And listen, whatever you think about taxes and the war in Iraq and health care and everything else and those are all very important policy position when people pick a president they want to like them too. They want to think that they're like them and they share their values. Or as Bill Clinton used to say, it's not about me, it's about you, I will fight for you. That's why Bill Clinton won that election in a time when many thought he shouldn't or wouldn't. And the Obamas understand that is a threshold challenge for them. Especially as new on the national stage and their asking the country to do something that's never than before.

BLITZER: It's a fascinating thing to think about, how to organize, Paul, these conventions because literally they go through minute by minute by minute. And you were speaking ill of Jim Leach there, the Republican who spoke at 10:00 p.m. That's pretty primetime television and I guess what you're saying is those who organized this convention, tonight, the Ted Kennedy thing was terrific, obviously, the Michelle Obama speech was a highlight. But what you're saying is there were some flaws as well.

BEGALA: Well, it's fundamentally just a political argument. That some ex-politician who was defeated in a local race in Iowa, who is a Republican now supports my candidate? That's not going to move like my momma and the kiddy test.

Teddy Kennedy, going to move her to tears. Michelle Obama going to move her to welcome her into her -- I mean my mother is now sending Michelle a note saying, come over for iced tea and cookies. It was that good. It was really an impressive night. And there was a discordant note with wasting time on Jim Leach but what the heck.

BLITZER: You know, I've covered a lot of these conventions over the years and I don't remember a time, and maybe you can when I saw so many people crying. The tears, the men and women during that tribute to Ted Kennedy, then when he came out; did anybody remember a time when people were crying like that at a convention?

BEGALA: Not since 1964 after the president was assassinated and Robert F. Kennedy spoke and he was applauded for 22 minutes. Teddy stopped it tonight. But it would have gone for 32.

BLITZER: All right guys, we've got to leave it right here.

And let me just remind our viewers what they could expect. "Larry King Live" is coming up in just a few seconds.

Tomorrow "American Morning," John Roberts is here, that will begin at 6:00 a.m. Complete coverage from the convention.

Soledad O'Brien will be covering this convention throughout the day tomorrow. I'll be back at 4:00 p.m. Eastern tomorrow in the "Situation Room." And then we'll do day two of this Democratic Convention.

For all of us, here at CNN, thanks very much for watching.

"Larry King Live" starts right now.