Digital Media

DENVER--More than 15,000 journalists are expected to descend upon Denver this week for the Democratic National Convention, and lucky me, I'm one of them.

Just moments ago, the convention officially began when Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, called it to order. Although I'm sitting in a trailer in the back parking lot of the Pepsi Center, I feel pretty far away from the convention buzz, and had to watch the opening ceremonies on a closed-circuit TV. Hopefully I'll soon be able to escape this high-security makeshift media-trailer-city to experience the convention festivities firsthand.

What I have been doing however, is attending the CBS News meetings as the team plans the day's broadcast content. As with every other day during this convention, producers, correspondents, and analysts gather at 9 a.m. in the double-wide News trailer to discuss the day's agenda, top speakers, and anticipated convention-related news.

Today, the chatter is all about whether Senator Ted Kennedy will make an in-person appearance, and whether Michelle Obama's keynote speech will help or hurt her husband's cause. The conclusions are: he will, and yes, it'll help.

As a fly on the wall, these meetings are absolutely fascinating to witness for a news producer and consumer. The executive producer of the CBS Evening News runs the show, calling on different people to present ideas and research for consideration in the broadcast. Today, Katie Couric, the show's anchor, chimed in from her cell phone about what she liked and disliked, as well as specific angles to be considered.

The space is tight, and there aren't enough chairs to accommodate everyone. I perched on the edge of a table, two spots over from CBS commentators Jeff Greenfield and Bob Schieffer and overlooking the notes of correspondent Byron Pitts.

After nearly an hour, the larger meeting wrapped up and about a dozen of us gathered to discuss the special Webcasts that Katie will be anchoring immediately after the special coverage broadcast concludes (11 p.m. EDT). The CBS News guys are extremely enthusiastic about the potential to reach a wider, younger, and more engaged audience through the Internet.

The structure of the Webcast will be loose, with Katie bouncing between journalists and analysts who lend their opinions and commentary on the night's events. Besides her usual sidekicks (Greenfield and Schieffer), tonight's Webcast will include Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign manager, and Dan Bartlett, a former counselor to President Bush. Tonight's special guests will be Valerie Jarrett, an Obama campaign adviser, and Susan Eisenhower, Ike's granddaughter and now an Obama supporter. It should be an fascinating mix of characters who will hopefully provide a colorful, candid dialog.

One of my jobs is to sort through the questions viewers have submitted to Katie through CBSNews.com. She'll be answering a handful every night on the Webcast, so please submit yours here. Stay tuned--the excitement has just begun!

Want to get caught up on Democratic National Convention news without having to plop yourself in front of the TV? CBS News.com and CNET News are teaming up to offer you nightly Web-only shows analyzing the day's events, beginning with our first installment in just a few hours following the speech by Michelle Obama, Barack Obama's wife.

The Webcasts, hosted by CBS Evening News' Katie Couric live from the Denver convention, are scheduled to take place from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. PDT on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They'll be followed by a political roundtable.

The Webcasts will recap the day's highlights and will also feature analysis from CBS' political team and other special guests. Be sure to click here nightly for the Webcasts, and here for even more DNC coverage with an eye for all things technology related.

You're also encouraged to submit question about the candidates, campaigns, conventions, or other topics for Couric and crew by following the links on either of the aforementioned pages.

Whoever takes the White House in 2008 can thank Google for helping. The search giant will be at both conventions, encouraging delegates to use YouTube and other Google services to share their impressions of the proceedings.

At the Democratic convention, Google will also be one of the sponsors of "The Big Tent," an 8,000-square-foot, two-story structure where bloggers and other new media journalists can watch and cover the convention and question party dignitaries who will speak from the "Digg Stage."

The tent will accommodate citizen journalists who might not be able to get credentialed by the party to work out of the nearby Pepsi Center, where the convention is taking place.

In addition to work space, the tent will provide food, beverages, and massages, as well as workshops on blogging, video, and other technologies.

Google also will have people at the convention helping delegates, bloggers, and reporters upload video, photographs, and blog postings. (Naturally, they will encourage people to use Google properties such as YouTube, Blogger, and the Picasa photo service.)

This isn't the first time people have blogged a convention. In 2004, both parties credentialed some bloggers as journalists. But these are the first conventions since the advent of YouTube.

Google will set up kiosks at the conventions where delegates can give their impressions of what's happening. Also, YouTube expects to Webcast all of the speeches, not just the ones that make prime-time network broadcasts. Because YouTube and other video sites can archive footage forever, there will be an enduring record of what goes on that will be available almost immediately after each speech.

Having covered past conventions, I remember seeing dignitaries and party activists delivering speeches in the afternoon with no network TV coverage and very few delegates listening. Now it's possible for speakers to have perpetual bragging rights by posting links to their convention speeches on their Web sites.

Obscure speeches will not be the only ones that will go online. Interested people who won't be sitting in front of their TVs during prime-time coverage can later watch major speeches or convention video, such as profiles of the candidates.

"At previous conventions, the parties and candidates would hope that the video would be shown to the television audience, and if you were at home watching, you might see it," said Andrew Rasiej, co-founder of TechPresident.com. "But if you didn't catch the video about John Kerry in 2004, your ability to see that video was pretty much lost." Rasiej called services like YouTube "the TiVo of our society."

In addition to what happens on the convention floor, numerous activities will take place outside the halls, including parties and protest rallies. Except when rallies turn disruptive, they are generally ignored by the media and delegates. But now that virtually everyone has a camera or camcorder on their cell phone, when something happens, there's a good chance that it will be memorialized and posted on the Web.

Personally, I'm excited about the expanded coverage afforded by bloggers, as well as posters of audio and video online. I think that the big TV networks will play the important role of bringing the big speeches to our homes during prime time, and the cable networks will do their best to provide the usual array of perspective from their talking-head analysts. But the blogosphere and video sites will provide views and perspectives that people--especially political junkies--would otherwise miss.

I think new media makes up for what big media companies no longer cover. That's not true of all of journalism--bloggers don't have the resources, for example, to adequately cover wars and other important international events. But the blogosphere can do an excellent job in bringing us news and perspective of what happens in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

And, of course, big media companies will also use the Web to expand their coverage. CBS News anchor Katie Couric, for example, will host a live Webcast at 11 p.m. each night that will address questions submitted here, and (as has been the case for quite a while) CBS and other network Web sites will archive portions of their TV coverage, as well as Web-only footage, so people can access it when and where they want.

Larry Magid reported for CBS News.

Updated at 1:50 a.m. PDT to reflect official announcement.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has selected Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, one of the longest-serving members of the Senate, as his vice presidential running mate.

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden is touted as bringing foreign policy experience to the Obama ticket.

(Credit: U.S. Senate site for Joe Biden)

"Barack has chosen Joe Biden to be his running mate," Obama's official Web site announced early Saturday. "Joe Biden brings extensive foreign policy experience, an impressive record of collaborating across party lines, and a direct approach to getting the job done."

Obama was expected to break the news of his selection via text messages and e-mails to supporters on Saturday. While supporters who signed up for the announcement still received them, the Associated Press reported the selection of Biden late Friday. ABC News reported that the U.S. Secret Service had sent a protective detail for Biden to his residence late Friday and that family members appeared to be gathering there.

Biden, 65, is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and considered one of the leading Democrats on foreign affairs issues--an area in which Obama has been criticized as lacking experience. Although he voted for the Iraq war in 2002, Biden has since become a vocal critic of U.S. involvement.

Twice a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden has acknowledged a tendency to talk too much. Earlier this year, while announcing his own candidacy for the White House, Biden referred to Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. "

Biden later apologized for the remark, telling The Daily Show's Jon Stewart that he was attempting to be "complimentary. This is an incredible guy, c'mon! He's a phenomenon."

However, a spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain pointed out late Friday that Biden had previously criticized Obama's lack of foreign policy experience.

"There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden," McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement. "Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing--that Barack Obama is not ready to be president."

"This is not exactly a 'safe' selection for Obama. With over 30 years of baggage accumulated in the U.S. Senate, Biden is not the kind of running mate you would think of for someone who has campaigned on a pledge to change the way politics is done in Washington," said Vaughn Ververs, CBSNews.com senior political editor. " But it does signal that Obama may be more of a realist than his rhetoric suggests and shows that the 'change' candidate has decided that a wealth of 'experience' may be important to an administration after all." (See Verver's analysis of the Obama/Biden ticket.)

Biden also ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, but withdrew after rival Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis distributed a videotape that showed Biden had plagiarized parts of his speeches.

First elected to the Senate in 1972, Biden is one of the youngest senators elected. Biden, who was 29 at the time of his election--younger than the legal age of 30 to serve as a senator--was of legal age when he was sworn in.

Other reported contenders for the ticket included Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

McCain, who has yet to announce vice presidential nominee, is widely expected to name a running mate on August 29--his 72nd birthday. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are reported to be his front-runners.

See also: Memeorandum for more coverage of the Biden selection

For those of you who can't seem to digest enough political news, Tom Merritt offers up an "Insider Secrets" video that you'll want to gobble up with a fork and knife. (Check it out below.) Whether you're curious about how the candidates are polling or how much money they've raised, Merritt has dug deep to provide a handful of off-the-beaten-path election Web sites to round out your political diet.

I have yet to dig deeply into any of these sites, but now I know what my weekend homework is looking like. Sunday afternoon, I'll be boarding a plane to Denver for the week-long Democratic National Convention. As a newbie to the national political scene, it'd be a complete understatement to say I'm excited. But as someone who has attended plenty of big-scale conferences and media events, a small knot begins to form in my gut as I picture the crowds, chaos, and logistical juggling that will define the next week.

My primary role at the DNC (and also at the RNC the following week in St. Paul, Minn.) is to help launch Katie Couric's live Webcast airing on CBSNews.com immediately following her traditional TV broadcast from 10 to 11 p.m. EDT. This step to increase her online presence is so necessary for her and the rest of the CBS News team to be taking, and I'm excited to witness the kind of dialogue that can happen when the show is not limited to "TV time" or commercial breaks. Part of the Webcast will also include addressing viewer comments and questions about the convention itself, the candidates and the issues, so please submit your queries!

Besides helping out on the production end for CBSNews.com, I plan on blogging the entire experience for CNET News and borrowing a CBS cameraman when I can to capture some of the experience on video. There's no shortage of great technology stories to be mined at the conventions, and I look forward to bringing them to light. Haven't you always been curious who makes up Sen. Barack Obama's tech team and how they decide on exactly what he should be twittering? Or what about the increasingly large presence from major tech companies like Google and YouTube?

On second thought, the crowds, chaos, and logistical juggling is starting to sound more and more exciting.