They’re Back

By Laurie Kinney / Washington Bureau Correspondent

So, what was supposed to be Night Two of this convention became the real Night One tonight - and sitting up in our skybox, you couldn’t help thinking: “this is more like it”…

After a really quiet night last night – no fanfare, no big speeches, no music or entertainment to rival the Democrats’ big show – we were left wondering if this convention would get off the ground even after the threat of the hurricane had passed. But tonight there was real energy in the hall. We’ll see where it goes from here but things are clearly looking up for the folks who came out. 

We did have a few minutes of high alert here in the media compound outside the arena – we heard a few loud bangs as police confronted protesters a couple of blocks away, and from our vantage point it wasn’t clear where the trouble was or if something had exploded inside our fenced area. Everyone went running to see what was up - but it apparently was the result of police using so-called “flash-bang” devices to disperse protesters and as far as we know, no one was hurt.  It seems that protests are likely to continue here throughout the week, in spite of the massive police presence we’ve noticed on our way in to the city in the mornings.