Democratic National Convention Live Blog – Sept. 5

Nation Sep 5, 2012 9:00 AM EDT

We’re following events at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. (Sept. 3-6) and related news on the web here in our live-blog. We’ll have more coverage on the PBS NewsHour at 6 p.m. ET, followed by a convention special from 8-11 p.m. ET.

Our live-blog for Sept. 5 continues here.

12:05 p.m. ET | Watch a drawing duel between political cartoonists Scott Stantis of the Chicago Tribune and Rob Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rogers is a liberal. Stantis is a conservative. But they’re covering the conventions — together, and like “an old married couple,” they say.

In this video, they discuss how they get along despite their opposing political views, and then they duel. The topic: the difference between the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

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11:45 a.m. ET | On Tuesday, 10 members of Ride for Justice, group of immigration activists that includes illegal residents, were arrested for protesting outside the Charlotte convention. The group says Obama’s administration has the highest deportation rate of any presidency — 400,000 in 2011.

But none who were arrested will be deported, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gillian Christensen. In a statement on Wednesday she said, “ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of criminal aliens, recent border crossers and egregious immigration law violators, such as those who have been previously removed from the United States.”

Read the full article here.

Enthusiasm at DNC
Delegates cheer at the convention center in Charlotte on Tuesday night. Photo by Jared Soares for PBS NewsHour. See more photos on our Flickr page.

11:34 a.m. ET I On our livestream, we’re airing a collection of videos from our Listen to Me campaign, in which we ask voters in every state about the direction of the country and how they feel about the political process.

You can also help our efforts by translating the election if you know a language other than English.

11:15 a.m. ET A group of scientists called Science Debate, who advocate for the candidates to have a specific debate on issues pertaining to science, asked President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to answer 14 questions about science on topics ranging from climate change and science education to pandemics and biosecurity. Their answers can be found side-by-side here.

They chose the questions after culling suggestions from thousands of scientists, engineers and concerned citizens, according to their website.

President Obama watches Michelle Obama’s speech Tuesday night with their daughters Malia and Sasha. Photo by Pete Souza/Getty Images.

11 a.m. ET | It was striking on this first night how completely the national security issue has flipped between the parties, Slate’s John Dickerson reports on Wednesday. From that article:

“As conservative commentator Bill Kristol remarked after Mitt Romney’s speech last week, it was a glaring omission that the Republican candidate didn’t celebrate the men and women fighting for the country. The Democrats would make no such mistake. We saw veterans, tributes to military families, and repeated references to their sacrifice. Michelle Obama was introduced by Elaine Brye, a mother who has four children on active duty.”

10:37 a.m. ET | And the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org tackles “a number of dubious or misleading claims” from last night, including Castro’s claim that “Romney and Ryan would “gut” Pell Grants for lower-income college students.”

Read the full article.

10:35 a.m. ET | More fact checking from last night: Politifact rated Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s claim — a “popular Democratic talking point” that Massachusetts ranked 47th in job growth under Romney as “Half True.” “We found the numbers were right but that it’s an exaggeration to blame Romney because governors have limited impact on state economies,” PolitiFact’s Bill Adair wrote.

Read the full article.

And here’s their Truth-O-Meter.

10:29 a.m. ET | Fact checking continues at the Democratic National Convention. The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler takes on San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro’s claim from Tuesday night’s keynote address that President Obama has created 4.5 million new jobs in his first term.

“This statistic only includes private sector jobs, which means the decline in government jobs is simply excluded,” he writes. “Total jobs created in the United States from February 2010 is 4 million — and it is actually still negative if you start counting from the beginning of Obama’s presidency.”

Read the full article.

Photo of Bill Clinton by Michael Kovac/Getty Images.

10:25 a.m. ET | “President Obama’s re-election prospects will get a boost Wednesday night from Bill Clinton, who 16 years ago became the first Democratic president since Harry Truman to win a second term.” Clinton will officially place Mr. Obama’s name in nomination, then deliver remarks that will “outline precisely why he thinks his wife’s one-time primary rival deserves four more years in office.”

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Democratic National Convention Live Blog – Sept. 5

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