by Mike Dorning
PHILADELPHIA — Michelle Obama arrived in the room for Barack Obama’s speech on race in America, but quickly stepped back out again after being photographed taking her seat. There is still no sign of the candidate several minutes after the scheduled start time.
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The stage in the small auditorium inside Phildelphia’s Constitution Center is decorated with plenty of American flags — eight flags are displayed on poles behind the lectern.
The text of the speech is being tightly held. No advance copies have yet been distributed to press in the room. And the speech appears to be delayed. Few of the invited guests have yet taken their seats. But the campaign’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, just walked into the room to chat with the assembled press corps.
With only a little over 50 seats available for press, the campaign had to turn away most of the more than 200 reporters who requested credentials for the event. Requests came in from news organizations based as far away as Sweden.