Share- The winner of a contest to design the Democratic National Convention's poster is Charlotte resident Steve Ward. He beat out nearly 400 other artists in the national design competition. He calls his poster "Urban Unity." COURTESY OF STEVE WARD
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- Days until opening gavel189All things conventionVisit charlotte.com for the Observer's coverage.Check out Convention Watch, dncclt.blogspot.com, our blog for the latest developments.For news, become our fan on Facebook,www.facebook.com/ charlottedemconvention , or follow@theobserver on Twitter.Lights! Camera! Action!: President Obama'scampaign has turned to an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker to produce a short film trumpeting the first three years of his administration, Bloomberg News reported last week.Making the film - less than 30 minutes long and costing more than $160,000 - will be Davis Guggenheim. He won a 2006 Oscar (along with former Vice President Al Gore) for "An Inconvenient Truth," the controversial documentary on global warming.No word yet on whether the film will be shown at the convention. It should be ready in coming weeks, according to Bloomberg.Guggenheim did work on an Obama biographical film for the 2008 convention in Denver. He also directed a 30-minute Obama ad that year. TIM FUNKGet involved: Visit charlottein2012.com for volunteer, vendor, job and donor information.
Which celebrities will make it to Charlotte for the convention?
Well, you have to figure that those named last week as national co-chairs to President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign would be good bets to be here.
Politicians, natch, make up more than half of those on the list of 35.
But the co-chairs also include actress Eva Longoria, one of the stars of "Desperate Housewives" and a leading Obama supporter and fundraiser in the Latino community - a group of voters that, according to Time magazine's current cover story, could decide the presidential election.
Another co-chair who might be seen around town come September: Caroline Kennedy. The daughter of JFK and Jackie is an author, lawyer, and president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Representing both Hollywood andWashington on the list: Kalpen Modi, better known as the actor Kal Penn. He's a former White House staffer. And he starred in TV's "House"; the award-winning film "The Namesake," about an Indian-Amercan family; and the Harold & Kumar big screen stoner comedies.
Politicos on the co-chair list include Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, ChicagoMayor Rahm Emanuel, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.
The only North Carolinian on the list is retired teacher Ann Cherry, who taught music in Eastern North Carolina public schools for 30 years. She's a volunteer leader with the Obama campaign - one of five volunteers from key battleground states to make the co-chairs list.
HuffPo's contest winners will blog from Charlotte
Want to win an expense-paid trip ... to Charlotte?
The Huffington Post is running a contest to choose up to 24 "citizen journalists" to cover the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Half will cover each convention.
According to HuffPo political writer Howard Fineman, winners get airfare, five nights in a hotel, a per diem and access to convention work sites.
"The winners," he wrote, "also will get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see history in the making, and report on it as it happens for one of the world's leading news sites."
Details are on the Huffington Post website.
The bloggers would be part of the organization's "Off the Bus" program that in 2008 attracted 10,000 amateur journalists. One who made an impact: Mayhill Fowler. She was the one who reported Barack Obama's controversial remarks at a San Francisco fundraiser about Pennsylvania voters who "cling to guns or religion." Maria David
He hopes his poster will 'highlight' Charlotte
Steve Ward isn't very political. In fact, he usually gets turned off by politics.
Maybe that's why he ended up designing the winning poster in a contest sponsored by the convention host committee.
Ward, 31, lives in Charlotte and teaches digital design at York Tech in Rock Hill. He beat out nearly 400 other artists in the national competition.
Ward's poster (see it on page 1B) features hands joined together with a picture of the skyline and the words Charlotte 2012. He calls if "Urban Unity." Though designed for a very political event, he hopes it rises above politics.
"Politics and religion are often used as divisive tools," he said. "I thought it was a way I could create something beautiful and positive for something I sometimes view as negative."
Ward is getting a framed copy of his poster as well as royalties from sales.
"It's great recognition for me, but I thought it was a great way to do something to highlight Charlotte," he said. Jim Morrill
Convention vet Fowler featured at local fundraiser
Don Fowler, who ran the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, will be a featured speaker at an N.C. Democratic Party fundraiser in Charlotte next month.
Fowler, a former South Carolina and national party chairman from Columbia, will join Democratic gubernatorial candidates at the St. Patrick's Day event at the Crown Plaza hotel.
Fowler, who now teaches at the University of South Carolina, was an adviser to Charlotte's effort to land the convention, which kicks off Sept. 4. In 1988, he ran the convention in Atlanta that nominated Michael Dukakis.
"You have to try to define what you think the party is," he said at the time, "and then devise what is basically a combination of theatrical and political techniques to convey that." Jim Morrill
Democrats target office for McCrory's turf
N.C. Democrats are opening their first office in Charlotte, in part to piggy back on the Democratic National Convention.
State party officials will formally open the 1st Ward office on March 17, the day they're set to hold a Charlotte fundraiser.
"The convention being in Charlotte is an unprecedented opportunity for North Carolina Democrats," says party spokesman Walton Robinson, "and we intend to use it to get people engaged, organized and ready to do the heavy lifting it will take to ... keep North Carolina in our column this November."
And, he adds, "We are going to go after Pat McCrory right in his own backyard." Jim Morrill
Deadline approaching:
A reminder: If you want sub-contracting work on arena modifications for the convention, Thursday's the deadline for submitting pre-qualification forms. Go to demconvention.com. Jim Morrill
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