Four Decades of Democratic Conventions Quiz

Answer: Geraldine Ferraro

Walter Mondale made history when he chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate on July 12, 1984. She was the first woman to be named on the ticket of a major political party.

Ferraro was nominated a week later at the Moscone Center. Ferraro had been elected to the House in 1978, serving Queens in New York City. For fans of "Law and Order: SVU". Ferraro was an attorney with the Special Victims Unit before going into politics.

In 1984, Feinstein was the Mayor of San Francisco. She was elected to the United States Senate in 1992. In 1984, Milkulski was in the House of Representatives from Maryland (elected 1976). He was promoted to the Senate in 1986 and served thirty years, the longest serving Senator in Maryland history. Holtzman was a colleague of Ferraro's, serving in the House from 1973 to 1981. Holtzman gained fame as one of President Richard Nixon's harshest critics during the Watergate hearings.

I could have gone to the 1984 convention. I had some activist friends who did go out there, but I was busy working for an anti-nuclear weapons organization at the time. I wasn't that enthusiastic about Mondale, anyway; I had been a big fan of Gary Hart during the 1984 primaries.

Answer: Omni Colisseum

The Omni Coliseum was the home of the Atlanta Hawks between 1972 and 1997. It was also one of the South's major music venues, hosting everyone from Elvis and the Rolling Stones to Nirvana and REM. The complex is now called the CNN Center. In 1988, CNN was just getting off the ground, and was looking to make a name for itself. CNN reporters were everywhere; I got interviewed twice for selling buttons.

My favorite moment at the 1988 convention was meeting George McGovern, Gary Hart and Bill Clinton (not at the same time). I saw Clinton the morning after he gave the endless Dukakis nominating speech. I told him I enjoyed it; he seemed very pleased that someone had.

It would have required a time machine to meet at either Phillips Arena (built 1999) or the Georgia Dome (built in 1992). There really is a Coca Cola Coliseum, but it's in Toronto, Canada. It hosts minor league hockey games.

Answer: Hope

Clinton's acceptance speech was heavily autobiographical, and included details about the "hardship" of growing up in small town Arkansas with a single mom. He was born in Hope, Arkansas, in the southwestern part of the state. Clinton closed the speech with the line "I still believe in a place called Hope."

I traveled to the 1992 convention with two delegates for Jerry Brown. I actually worked advance for Brown that week, including making fried Chicken with Jerry at a homeless shelter in Harlem and picking up crack needles in Sara Roosevelt Park in lower Manhattan to prepare for a volunteer clean-up event. Among the celebrities I meet were director Oliver Stone and Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) from Saturday Night Live.

Answer: Chicago Bulls

The 1996 convention was held at the United Center, which was brand new. It had been opened in 1994, shortly after Michael Jordan made his first retirement from basketball. The Jordan statue was also very new.

The United Center is built on the site of the Chicago Stadium, which was home to the Blackhawks from 1929 to 1994. The Chicago Stadium hosted the 1932, 1940 and 1944 Democratic Conventions, as well as the 1932 and 1944 Republican conventions.

The 1996 convention was just down the lake for me, so I took the Metra train. It was the first time I meet filmmaker Michael Moore, who I was mistaken for almost constantly. When I told him, Moore replied "I am so sorry." I also meet Fingerman, a man in a hand costume with a raised middle finger; cows from PETA; Night Court actress Markie Post and Newt Gingrich's sister Candace.

Answer: Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones, who won for "The Fugitive" (1993). Gore and Jones had been roommates when they were at Harvard together. Jones joked that back in college, he said he would be an Academy Award winning Actor and Gore would become President. They were half right.

The Wisconsin delegation stayed at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. We had breakfast in the room where the first Academy Awards were held in 1928. Biggest celebrity I met was Ben Kingsley. There were lots of celebrities, it was LA: Some of the cooler ones were Ram Dass and Gloria Steinem. I spent lots of time at the Shadow Convention, which was hosted by Arianna Huffington. The worst thing about the LA Convention was getting around; Los Angeles sprawls everywhere and the subway only goes some places.

Answer: John Kerry

John Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts, was the Democratic nominee. He lost to George W Bush in November. Kerry was a Vietnam veteran who later became one of the war's biggest critics.

Howard Dean had been the front runner for most of 2003, but crashed and burned during the final days of the Iowa Caucuses. More critically, Kerry surged for a come from behind win. A week later, Kerry won New Hampshire, and the race for the nomination was effectively over. Gephardt dropped out after his poor showing in Iowa; he has hoped to do well, coming from neighboring Missouri. Edwards become the leading contender against Kerry, but performed poorly on Super Tuesday. About a week later, Kerry wrapped up the nomination. Kerry did choose Edwards as his running mate.

Answer: Denver

Obama was in Denver. The first few days of the convention were at the Pepsi Center, and the last day moved to Invesco field for Obama's acceptance speech. The final day was an amazing spectacle complete with fireworks.

One of the best moments during the 2008 convention was a protest at the US Mint Building. Protesters gathered around the building and attempted to levitate it, a la Abbie Hoffman and the Pentagon. They had fake plastic coins, which they spread around to claim they were shaking the building at its foundations and making money fall out. I also meet Alex Jones at the convention. He was probably just as crazy back then, but in a different direction.

Answer: Julian Castro

Julian Castro, at that time the mayor of San Antonio, was given the keynote. Not too long after, Barack Obama made Castro Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In January 2019, Castro announced that he would be running for President. Castro was born in September 1974.

The convention was held at Time Warner Cable Arena in downtown Charlotte. Organizers eliminated the Monday session to hold a street festival for people in the Charlotte Area. holding sessions on Tuesday to Thursday. My most surreal moment was arguing with Victoria Jackson from Saturday Night Live. She has turned into a really right-wing crazy; she had very little clue about the real world.

Garcetti has been mayor of Los Angeles since 2013. He is the second Mexican-American mayor, and first Jewish mayor of LA. Ben Ray Lujan was elected to the House of Representatives in 2009, representing New Mexico. Hilda Solis was President Obama's Secretary of Labor during his first term. She had been a member of Congress, representing the Los Angeles area.

Answer: Katy Perry

It was Katy Perry - I was in the room. Perry sang "Roar" as the warm up act to Chelsea Clinton. "Roar" was a huge hit for Perry, winning diamond certification from the RIAA with over 6 million copies sold. It was also a number one hit globally. It is an anthem about self-empowerment. Since going into pop music in 2008, Perry has become of the most successful recording artists of all time.

Philadelphia was a great town for the convention. The morning sessions were held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, right downtown. After eight national conventions, I finally got to be in the room during an acceptance speech.

Answer: Milwaukee

On March 11, the Democratic National Committee announced that it had chosen Fiserv Center in Milwaukee as the site of the July 13-16 convention.

Milwaukee is a great choice for the Democratic Party. It has a long history of labor activism and was the last US City to have a Socialist as mayor (Frank Zeidler 1948-1960). I am a native of Milwaukee, and three time graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, so I am not objective about this. I think the DNC made an awesome choice and look forward to next July.

The building in the picture is Turner Hall, which is only a few blocks from the site of the 2020 convention. It has been the heart of Socialist politics in Milwaukee for over 150 years.