For Md. convention delegates, day starts with a bang

David Nitkin

Aug. 27, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- DENVER -- By the grim look on the faces of exhausted Maryland delegates pulling themselves to the breakfast table after only a few hours of sleep, drums might not have been a good idea.

But there they were: the Denver Broncos Marching Band, pounding out an early morning cadence that likely exacerbated a hangover or two inside the Renaissance Hotel.

"Drums at 8 o'clock in the morning? Whose stupid idea was that?" grumbled Daniel M. Clements, a Baltimore attorney and one of Barack Obama's top campaign coordinators from Maryland.

But it was the only miscue at the breakfast meeting sponsored and organized by Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, which featured speeches from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and a sports theme that had each elected official receiving a white mesh "Team Maryland" jersey. (Each shirt had a meaningful number: Patrick's was 71, for example, because he is the 71st Massachusetts governor.)

Patrick told Marylanders that the Democratic Party needs a positive vision to win in November. "Discontent with Republicans is not going to be enough to ensure a Democratic victory," he said.

U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer picked right up on the theme, praising Olympic swimmer and Baltimore native Michael Phelps, and noting that viewers who watched Phelps win eight gold medals in just a few televised minutes had little idea of the days of training behind the accomplishment.

He told Democratic activists that they needed to do the same: "Starting this coming Saturday, we need to be in that pool, sweating, straining and extending" for Obama.

The main address came from Pelosi, the daughter of former Baltimore Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro Jr. She praised the "powerful, powerful, powerful delegation" of House members from Maryland, which includes Hoyer and Chris Van Hollen, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Pelosi played on her Baltimore roots, telling of the contentious 1912 Democratic convention, held in Baltimore, which nominated Woodrow Wilson on the 46th ballot.

"My grandmother took my father, so he could sit on her shoulders," Pelosi said, crediting that event with planting the "bug" that brought her to where she is today.

"Imagine the history in Baltimore, Maryland, on Baltimore Street, in East Baltimore," she said.

Pelosi attacked Republican priorities on child health care, Medicare and oil production.

She described GOP calls for more oil drilling as a fix to energy problems a "complete and total hoax on the American people."

"In some circles it would be called a lie," she said.

An exercise enthusiast who came to the breakfast in athletic pants and sneakers, Dixon tried to carry the sports theme into another day.

There weren't many takers, however, for Dixon's hourlong bicycle ride Thursday.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0034-27741181