CHARLOTTE, N.C. President Barack Obama will now deliver his acceptance speech Thursday at Time Warner Cable Arena after forecasts about severe weather led officials to move the event out of Bank of America Stadium.
The switch means the approximately 65,000 members of the public who received community credentials for the stadium won’t be allowed to go inside the arena, which the DNC has said is holding about 15,000 for the convention.
Instead, the arena seats will be limited to those delegates and convention officials, according to the Obama campaign.
On Wednesday, the Democratic National Convention Committee said officials had monitored weather forecasts in deciding whether to move the speech from the football stadium. With several reports predicting thunderstorms on Thursday, officials decided to relocate the event “to ensure the safety and security of our delegates and convention guests,” convention CEO Steve Kerrigan said in a news release.
Brent Colburn, Obama for America communications director, expressed sympathy with the community credential holders who will be affected.
He and other officials encouraged them to watch the live broadcast at home and hold block parties.
“We share their frustration and disappointment,” Colburn said, adding that he felt the campaign made the right decision at the time it decided to use the stadium.
“This isn’t a decision we wanted to make,” he said. “It was a decision we felt we had to make.”
Obama campaign officials had said they expected about 90,000 to attend the president’s speech at the football. That figure included the 65,000 community credentials, along with about 21,000 delegates, party officials and others.
Colburn said officials hope to keep as much as the original stadium program in tact as possible despite the move to the arena.
But Democratic officials admitted the change had tons of implications for local law enforcement, and meetings were ongoing. Among those implications were changes in security around uptown. Some street closures need the arena were set to go away overnight Wednesday with new ones opening near the football stadium on Thursday.
Campaign officials said they didn’t have information on road closures for Thursday; the Secret Service will handle that and they expect to have information sometime later Wednesday.
Officials also noted the stadium speech was also viewed as a “capacity building event” that would include voter registration opportunities.
The plan now is for those people to be emailed a phone number for a “massive conference call” with the president.
Democratic officials yesterday expressed concerns that Republicans would “turn the decision into a political attack.” However, they likened it to safety decisions the Republicans were forced to make during the passing of the Hurricane Issac during their convention a week ago.
On Wednesday, the Republican National Committee quickly reacted to the decision with an emailed statement to reporters.
“Enthusiasm for President Obama is so low that he’s being forced to downgrade his convention events left and right,” said RNC spokesman Matt Connelly. “First the DNC had to cancel their opening event at Charlotte Motor Speedway due to low enthusiasm, now President Obama is being forced to move his acceptance speech to a smaller venue just to avoid the embarrassment of speaking to an empty stadium. After four years of failure on the economy, it’s clear that Americans are looking for actual solutions, not another speech full of empty promises.”
Even as officials announced the move to the arena, construction crews were continuing to work Wednesday morning at Bank of America Stadium on what were supposed to be the main stage and seating areas for the acceptance speech.
The floor seating appeared to be mostly in place and while work was continuing on the main stage facade construction.
Charlotte will see a 40 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms during the day Thursday, and that probability will decrease to 20 to 30 percent Thursday evening, said James Oh, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Thursday’s high temperature will be around 87 degrees, while the evening’s low will be 70 degrees, Oh said.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms have been a constant during recent days, raising questions about whether the Thursday speeches would have to be moved. On Tuesday, DNCC officials confirmed they had been considering the arena as a backup spot.
Nan Robertson’s husband Geoff stood in line for seven hours to get tickets for him and his 16-year-old daughter to see the president’s speech. The family eventually ended up with three credentials, so all of them were planning on attending.
Now Robertson, 57, assumes she and her family won’t be able to attend.
“It is a disappointment, but I thought it was a fabulous idea to give people this kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said Wednesday. “We are not in control of the weather. I certainly don’t hold the DNC responsible for anything. I hope they try it again sometime in another city.”
Robbie Akhere, a statewide Obama delegate from Mecklenburg County, said Tuesday she expects the president will get a rousing reception regardless of the venue. She called the arena an excellent backup choice.
“Some people think the president is God and can control the weather,” Akhere said. “But I think they’d understand” if the event was moved. She also has heard talk about some nearby locations offering live-stream viewing of the president’s speech in the event of a venue change.
Akhere, attending her first convention, said she would not mind sitting in the rain to hear Obama speak. “We sit in the rain for football games. This would be a wonderful opportunity for the world to see us sit in the rain and hear” the president.