Wednesday Convention Wire Archive

— -- WEDNESDAY, JULY 28

JOHN EDWARDS: "The Republicans are doing all they can to take this campaign for the highest office in the land down the lowest possible road... You can reject the tired, old, hateful, negative, politics of the past [and] ... embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible..."

"I have heard some discussions and debates about where, and in front of what audiences we should talk about race, equality, and civil rights. Well, I have an answer to that question. Everywhere."

" Like all of those brave men and women, John (Kerry) put his life on the line for our country. He knows that when authority is given to the president, much is expected in return. That's why we will strengthen and modernize our military... But we can't do this alone. We have to restore our respect in the world to bring our allies to us and with us. It's how we won the World Wars and the Cold War and it is how we will build a stable Iraq." MORE

ELIZABETH EDWARDS: "I married the smartest, toughest, sweetest man I know... But none of the things I have mentioned are the reason I married John Edwards. I married him because he was the single most optimistic person I have ever known.

SPOTTED: Sean "Puffy" Combs on his cell phone in his signature "Vote or Die" tee...Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth of "The Apprentice" sitting near the Alaska delegation....

GEN. SHALIKASHVILI: "He commanded in combat and did so with bravery and distinction. He knows from experience a commander's responsibility to his troops. He stands with our troops and with their families and that is why I stand with John Kerry."

GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM (D-MICH.): "With the same fierce love of the American ideals of freedom and opportunity as those patriots who started it all here in Boston, let us here and now launch the rebellion to choose a new president, John Kerry." MORE

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D-N.M.): "Because this White House decided to go at it alone, we are shouldering the burden in Iraq -- alone. We are paying the bills for the war -- nearly $200 billion so far -- alone. Our troops are being stretched thin. Our deficit is ballooning. And we are being distracted from the important work of chasing down Al Qaeda and destroying it once and for all."

SHARPTON DEVIATES FROM PLANNED TEXT WITH 23-MINUTE SPEECH

TO BUSH: "You said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. We were promised forty acres and a mule. We never got the 40 acres. We never got the 40 acres. We didn't get the mule. So we decided we would ride this donkey as far as it would take us."

ON FLORIDA 2000: "The reason we took Florida so seriously is our right to vote wasn't gained because of our age. Our vote was soaked in the blood of violence... This vote can't be taken away. This vote can't be given away... Mr. President. Read my lips. Our vote is not for sale." MORE

SEN. BOB GRAHAM riffs slightly himself: "And we know that Iraq didn't attack the United States on September 11th; Osama bin forgotten and al Qaeda did."

RNC ECSTATIC: MICHAEL DUKAKIS spotted for first time on floor...

WYCLEF'S GOT A PLAN... Alters "If I was President" lyrics: "If I was president... get elected on Friday... send the troops back home Monday."

CANDIDATE, RET. LT. COL. STEVE BROZAK: "My belief in a national security policy didn't change ... what changed is the direction of the Republican Party."

REV. JESSE JACKSON "Barack Obama symbolizes ... progress and growth."

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH Brings crowd to its feet... "This Administration rushed us into a war based on distortions and misrepresentations... Iraq had nothing to do with 911 or with al Qaeda's role in 911."

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL: "We should let our country know that we are mad as hell that as our kids are being used as fodder... We're mad as hell that we can go into war with no information -- bad information -- and still have no plan to get out of it."

SEN. PAT LEAHY "If the Vice President is watching this, it may time to change channels and turn off his TV set. And apparently he turned off the teleprompter." (Lost Leahy, sans teleprompter, rescued by speech text brought from the edges...)

SEN. LEAHY: "They've undermined national security with a misguided rush to invade Iraq."

DI FI: Sen. Dianne Feinstein says Kerry won't wait to make post-9/11 changes, that's why "I'm so proud to place into nomination John Kerry to be the 44th president of these United States" in first nomination speech.

ROBERT KENNEDY, JR.: "We have never had a president in this country who has made this kind of direct assault on all of our environmental laws… And he has put polluters in charge of all the regulatory agencies..."

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL: "The Enrons and the Halliburtons count more in the energy policy than the ordinary citizens... Our energy plan is not open to the highest bidder."

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER introduced as "The senior citizen -- sorry, the senior Senator..."

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG MAKES FIRST MENTION OF ISRAEL: "John Kerry's faith to a Jewish state is unwavering... [Israel] has become a pariah for demonstrating just how well a Democratic society functions."

STATE SEN. DIANNE WILKERSON: "John Kerry will be a President who believes that civil rights is something to be celebrated and a President who would actually speak to civil rights leaders once every 4 years."

COLUMBUS MAYOR: Columbus Ohio Mayor Michael Coleman talks of job losses, seconds Kerry's nomination, says, "I pray that one day we can bring all of Americas sons and daughters home ..."

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN PREZ Cheryl Jacques: "... we are working for marriage equality so we can do what families do best: care for each other, in sickness and in health."

YOUTH BUILD GRAD: Eimy Santiago says because of John Kerry, "I believe in myself again," in third nomination speech.

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU: "They might think that they own the politics of division, we claim unity."

REP. HAROLD FORD, JR.: "It is up to us to help John Kerry win in November so we can once again unify this nation."