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The Democratic National Convention was held in Charlotte Sept. 4-6, 2012. WFAE's comprehensive coverage of the event is found here.

Foxx Welcomes Reporters To Charlotte

Tasnim Shamma

Democrats are getting ready for their week in the spotlight. The speeches haven't started officially, but at a press conference Monday morning convention organizers got a head start on touting their candidate. President Obama's campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt began with a putdown of the Republican National Convention.

"Last week, Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan had the opportunity to lay out a vision of how we provide good paying sustainable jobs for the middle class and restore economic security, and they failed," LaBolt says.

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx welcomed reporters to the DNC and said he hopes they will get a good taste of Southern hospitality.
 

http://youtu.be/z7fz3ZAO0gs 

"I’m of course delighted that Charlotte was picked independently of politics but the politics makes sense for the president and for the Democratic party," Foxx says.

Foxx says that choosing Charlotte goes to show how important the South is in this election.

"We are thrilled to have the DNC here, thrilled to have our party fighting for the South and we think that is a very important statement for us to make as a party."

Democratic National Convention Secretary Alice Germond has attended 10 Democratic National Conventions. She says she's never seen such a diverse group of delegates. Half of the 5,963 delegates in Charlotte are women, nearly a third are African-American, there are 100 more Hispanic-American delegates than in 2008 and 644 young voters under the age of 35 -- 285 of whom are college students.

"I can say firsthand that this is truly the most diverse, the most open, the most transparent, the most exciting convention we’re about to undertake that I have ever seen before," Germond says. "It is big, it is bold, it is beautiful. It is America, and I am proud to be part of it."

Democrats will unveil their party platform on Tuesday morning and First Lady Michelle Obama is expected to speak on Tuesday night.