The North Carolina Democratic Party held its annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Friday May 2 at Dorton Arena in Raleigh.  JJ is usually a few hundred Democrats at a semi-formal dinner.  This year party leadership decided to open the dinner up to allow more participation as they anticipated the attendance of our presidential candidates.  While some Democrats joked about the peasants being relegated to the stands, it turned out to be the right thing to do.

Todd has already linked to the video of part of Obama's speech from the JJ dinner.  I thought you'd like to see pictures provided by members of BlueNC - some from the cheap seats and some from the floor.

I wasn't able to attend, but we had live feed at BlueNC and we hosted a fairly active comment section.

According to those who attended, the big money Democrats sitting up front were on their feet for both Clinton and Obama during their speeches, but more pressed forward to hear Obama and remained standing the entire speech.

After Clinton spoke, many of her supporters left.  Some thought that was rude.  It turns out there was a rally across the street for her after her speech.  There were events for Obama supporters as well and since he was speaking last they didn't have to leave early in order to attend.  In a campaign of this magnitude I'm sure organizers were going to have as many functions for Clinton supporters as they could while she was in town.  

The crowd there to support Barack Obama was vocal as they booed Clinton and Governor Mike Easley and chanted for Obama during Hillary Clinton's speech when she mentioned Barack Obama by name.  Some Obama supporters on our site said it was a bit embarrassing, but our state hasn't seen this much excitement around any race in a long time, so I think we're all being a bit more forgiving about things like that.

I'll change subjects a bit because Public Policy Polling just released their new poll minutes ago and Obama is still holding a double digit lead at 10 points over Clinton.  Personally, I live in a Republican controlled county and Obama doesn't have much support here among Democrats.  This county is completely polarized along racial lines and our African American population is relatively small.  The next county over is home to our largest city and as urban as it is, I still speak with more people who support Hillary Clinton and I have fairly progressive roots and a mixed race family. I'm not sure what that means, but for what it's worth I run into more Hillary supporters most days.

More photos below the fold....

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In what is shaping up to be a very exciting weekend for Hillary and Hoosiers, Hoosiers for Hillary has announced they have confirmed fellow Hoosier, singer and songwriter John Mellancamp, to perform on stage at an event with Hillary in Indianapolis.

Saturday, May 3
Concert details:

Doors open: 6:30 p.m. EDT

Event begins: 8:30 p.m. EDT

At the Lawn at White River State Park at 801 W. Washington St.

"perform on stage at an event with Hillary in Indianapolis on Saturday, May 3.

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Iowa Caucus Goer seeking pres.
candidate - unvrsl health care plan
& provn ablty to win in a red state
rqd. Honest enuf to admt Iraq war
vote was mistake; strng enuf to
stand up to spcl intrsts. No PAC or
lbyist $$ EVER. Aply by 1/3/08.

Don't worry, Iowa Caucus Goer! John Edwards has you covered.

Welcome to your Saturday night Edwards Evening News. Exciting stuff tonight, including the Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson Jackson dinner that was on C-SPAN tonight, and a rock star on the campaign trail!

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Coverage of the Jefferson Jackson Dinner in DesMoines, Iowa has begun on CSPAN (watch online HERE.)

The event, which Iowa Independent calls "The biggest night of the 2008 Iowa Caucuses," is a fundraiser for the Iowa Democratic Party, and will feature speeches by six of the Democratic presidential candidates: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, and John Edwards. Edwards will be the first speaker, at about 8:30pm CST, and the festivities will close with Clinton and then Obama.

As for what to expect, Iowa Independent says it's an opportunity for candidates to roll out new slogans and logos.

Sen. Hillary Clinton appears to be taking a page from Sen. Barack Obama's playbook with her new slogan, "Turn up the Heat" (Obama has been using the call-and-response "Fire it up! Ready to go!" for some time now with much success).  We hear that Clinton plans to call out to the crowd here during her speech, and that is what they have been instructed to respond.

Obama, for his part, appears to have fully embraced the "Change We Can Believe In" slogan that his campaign has been testing out for the past few weeks.  "Hope, Action, Change" is nowhere to be seen, although the large "HOPE" barn signs are still scattered across the auditorium.

Organizers are expecting around 9,000 attendees, well above the 7,500 record in 2004. The event, like the Republicans' Ames Straw Poll, has the real potential to be a turning point in the race, except moreso because of how late in the process it takes place; Politics Iowa puts it in perspective:

Jefferson-Jackson is also the last chance before the caucuses for candidates to speak in person to a large group of Iowa Democratic activists. Many mark the 2003 dinner as the beginning of John Kerry's comeback to his eventual caucus win. Only a week beforehand, he had shuffled his campaign staff and he came to the dinner with a new theme: The Real Deal.

The candidates are being introduced now. Speaker Nancy Pelosi will serve as the MC of the evening. Are you watching? Follow along in the comments.

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