I know slinkerwink (who I had the privilege of meeting this morning) posted a diary about her experiences inside the meeting, but I saw that it had 700 comments already so I figured I'd post my own account.
I'm here with my mom and fellow Kossack NJ Boomer, who came down from New Jersey to be a part of history.
There are plenty of diaries blogging the proceedings of the meeting, so I am going to focus on our experience behind the scenes.
When we went into the hotel we saw the Clinton supporters outside. At that time (around 8:15) there were only about 200 people. (I went outside later to check and there seemed to be more. I asked a police officer and he said about 400 at the time, about 600 at the peak. The Clinton people are claiming 1,000).
Lots of big Clinton signs among the supposedly non-candidate-committed protestors, as well as signs that said "Count All Votes" and "Restore Democracy" or something like that. The group organizing it had claimed that they represented supporters of all candidates, but at least in the line I saw, I did not see any Obama signs (or signs for any other candidates). One person had a sign saying "I've switched to Fox".
There was a fairly long line to sign in, but it only took about 15 minutes to get through. I saw lots of Obama supporters in the line, including several people I knew from DC for Obama, Drinking Liberally, or through work. I also met Slinkerwink, BD's Trinity, and It's a Mad Mad World from Kos. I spent about 45 minutes before the meeting started saying hi to people, trying (so far unsuccessfully) to get onto the wireless network, and just walking around and getting the lay of the land. I met Chuck Todd and got a picture with him, which may have been kind of lame to ask but oh well. I told him I really enjoy his analysis.
Then the meeting got started, and after some introductions, Dean gave a great speech about party unity, using his own story about when he made the decision to drop out for the good of not just the party but the country. His speech was pretty fair to both candidates, calling out both the sexism and racism in the media, and extolling the fact that we will make history this year by nominating the first woman or the first African American presidential candidate on a major party ticket. He got a standing ovation, though I saw the Clinton supporter in front of me try to figure out whether or not to stand, before deciding that it would look bad if she didn't.
My mom saw Howard Wolfson walking by us a couple times, and she whispered "liar" almost loudly enough for him to hear. She said she was tempted to say it to his face.
I must say, it's a pretty hostile environment here. We met two Clinton supporters going into the hotel who were pretty hostile. They were trying to figure out where to go if they had tickets, and one of them said to the other "I think they're going to the same place." The other one said "but they're Obama supporters" with a bit of distaste. The first woman said "well, they're going to the same place". I tried to be friendly and said "hey, we're all Democrats, right?" but one of the women scoffed and said "not for long. I'm becoming a Republican if she doesn't get the nomination." I didn't say anything and just sped up to catch up with my mom (the only person I know who walks faster than I do.) All day I have been seeing Clinton and Obama supporters but it seems like there's not much talking to each other, which is quite strange. I have been to many Democratic party events and I have never seen this kind of division and hostility between supporters of different candidates before.
At lunch, we talked to a few of the Clinton supporters. There was one couple from Scranton, PA that was not part of the protest and just came to watch. The wife seemed pretty reasonable and said she would vote for Obama if he is the nominee. The husband says he would only do so if he puts Clinton on the ticket, although his wife is cautiously optimistic he will come around. This guy thinks Obama does not deserve the nomination because he lacks seniority. My mom and I pointed out that by his standard, Joe Biden or Chris Dodd should be the nominee, but he just repeated that he thinks Obama does not have enough seniority. He also mentioned Obama's bitter comment, which he interpreted to mean that Obama thinks people in Pennsylvania and Ohio are stupid.
Another woman who was there for Clinton said she would vote for McCain if Obama was the nominee. She said that she did not think Obama had enough experience, and that he was a liar. She asked what he has ever accomplished, but when I tried to answer she cut me off. She clearly had disdain for him, and she played the gender guilt card that makes me sick to my stomach, asking how as a woman I wasn't supporting a woman and instead supporting "this, ugh...", not knowing what exactly to call him but clearly showing contempt. She said pointedly that she was proud that her 25-year-old daughter supported Hillary. I wanted to say that I was proud that my mother and my grandmother support Obama, but did not get the chance. I encouraged her to read "Judge Him by His Laws", a great article about Obama's accomplishments, but I have a feeling it fell on deaf ears. My mom went up to her later and I think she might have gotten through a little better. She's much better at advocating for Obama than I am.
I said I would not comment on what was going on inside the room, but I will say that I am a little confused about the Obama campaign's position. Senator Levin's position sounded more than reasonable to me and I think the Obama campaign should have endorsed it and let her look unreasonable tearing down a compromise proposal. Even a 73-55 delegate split would be fine...he has plenty of delegates to spare. I also thought Wexler should have said they supported seating all of the Florida delegates if that's what the committee decided. If they seat all the Florida delegates and do Michigan 73-55 she can't catch up. There was some discussion about the slating of delegates, so I wonder if the Obama campaign is worried about stealth Clinton delegates.
That's all I have for now...will try to update this as the day goes on. A coworker said it could go until midnight, so I'll probably have more to report.