After all the brouhaha over the Florida primary, the Democratic National Committee voted to seat the entire 211-person delegate at its national convention in Denver. Not only do they have full voting rights and privileges, the Florida delegations has front row seats on the floor on the Pepsi Center.
According to statistics provided by the Florida Democratic Party, the average age of the delegates is 54. The oldest delegate is Matilda Garcia, 89, and the youngest is Dayna Firth, 19. This is former governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham’s eleventh convention. His first was in 1968.
The Florida delegation will hear from a full slate of speakers at its daily caucus. On Monday, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are the speakers. On Tuesday, Sen. Bill Nelson and Florida CFO Alex Sink will greet the delegation. On Wednesday, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, former Sen. Bob Graham, Congressman Allen Boyd and Trenton, New Jersey Mayor Douglas Palmer will take the podium. On Thursday, New York Gov. David Paterson, Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, Congresswoman Corrine Brown, Congressman Ron Klein and Florida AFL-CIO President Cindy Hall will address the delegation.
Among the estimated 15,000 members of the media in Denver to cover the convention, Pensacola is well represented. Joe Scarborough is covering the convention for NBC and MSNBC. Mike Papantonio is part of the Fox News coverage, and Marty Stanovich and Dave Hoxeng are there providing daily coverage for NewsRadio 1620 AM. Farron Cousins is covering the convention for the progressive web-based news network, GoLeft.tv.