Round Four, from Robert Caro and Teddy to the end.

(18, 19, 17) 18 speakers in round four, total of 72 tonight. 13 boys (11, 13, 11), total of 48, 5 girls (7, 6, 6), total of 24. Verdict: BOYS RULE! GIRLS DROOL!
Of these, 14 were seemingly white (14, 15, 2), total of 45, 3 seemingly black (1, 4, 12), total of 21, seemingly hispanic (1, 0, 0, 0), total of 1, and seemingly Asian (1, 0, 1, 0), total of 2. No one signifying homosexuality, 1 man with a disability [1] (0, 0, 0, 0), and 1 Indian [0] (0, 0, 2), total of 3.

The diversity works when you look at the numbers, but look at round three and you see that something was afoot tonight. I'm not liking the way this is working out.

BUT

Teresa, being of Portuguese descent and having been born and reared in Africa, is a pleasent sort of monkey wrench thrown into standard concepts of ethnicity. What, precisely, is she? I counted her as white but . . . I’ve been thinking about this sort of thing since the moment I decided to be a divider (rather than uniter) of the convention speakers. I figured it was ok to do what I was doing since I figured the planners of the convention would think along these lines. It may, however, be that they didn’t think that way. If they didn’t, that may explain some of the odd numbers I’ve been coming up with.

The male/female ratio is not so easily explained away.

The states have fared slightly better, however.

STATES REPRESENTED (night one in brackets, each person counted only once)
UNKNOWN BY GREG [15] (1, 3, 5, 1) = 10 [two night total 25]
CALIFORNIA [11] (2, 0, 1, 2) = 5 [two night total 16]
MASSACHUSSETTS [2] (4, 1, 3, 1) = 9 [two night total 11]
ILLINOIS [1] (0, 1, 0, 4) = 5 [two night total 6]
PENNSYLVANIA [1] (2, 0, 1, 2) = 5 [two night total 6]
ARIZONA [0] (0, 0, 2, 2) = 4 [two night total 4]
IOWA [1] (1, 0, 0, 2) = 3 [two night total 4]
MISSOURI [0] (0, 1, 0, 1) = 2 [two night total 2]
SOUTH DAKOTA [0] (0, 0, 0, 1) = 1 [two night total 1]
VERMONT [0] (0, 0, 0, 1) = 1 [two night total 1]
RHODE ISLAND [0] (0, 0, 0, 1) = 1 [two night total 1]
OTHER TERRITORIES [0] (0, 0, 0, 1) = 1 (D.C.) [two night total 1]

The above is this last round. Notice several newcomers. Below are some of the rest of the results:

NEW MEXICO [6] (1, 2, 0, 0) = 3 [two night total 9] (an unlikely fourth place overall behind Undeclared, California, and Massachussetts).

NEW YORK [3] (1, 0, 1, 0) = 2 [two night total 5]
MARYLAND [5] (0, 0, 0, 0) = 0 [two night total 5]
TEXAS [3] (0, 0, 1, 0) = 1 [two night total 4]
NEW JERSEY [2] (0, 2, 0, 0) = 2 [two night total 4]
OHIO [3] (0, 1, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 4]
MICHIGAN [1] (0, 0, 2, 0) = 2 [two night total 3]
FLORIDA [2] (1, 0, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 3]
NEW HAMPSHIRE [0] (1, 1, 0, 0) = 2 [two night total 2]
GEORGIA [2] (0, 0, 0, 0) = 0 [two night total 2]
WISCONSIN [2] (0, 0, 0, 0) = 0 [two night total 2]
ARKANSAS [2] (0, 0, 0, 0) = 0 [two night total 2]
TENNESSEE [1] (1, 0, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 2]
MISSISSIPPI [0] (0, 0, 1, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
WEST VIRGINIA [1] (0, 1, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
DELAWARE [0] (0, 1, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
KANSAS [0] (0, 1, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
MAINE [0] (0, 1, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
WASHINGTON [0] (0, 1, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
OREGON [0] (1, 0, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
COLORADO [0] (1, 0, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
MINNESOTA [0] (1, 0, 0, 0) = 1 [two night total 1]
CONNECTICUT [1] (0, 0, 0, 0) = 0 [two night total 1]
SOUTH CAROLINA [1] (0, 0, 0, 0) = 0 [two night total 1]

Unfortunately, neither Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming, non DC territories of the US, nor any foreign countries made the cut during the first two days.

Note that Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia are the remaining Confederate states. I predict we’ll see Mary Landrieu of Louisiana at some point, John Edwards has NC taken care of, and I’ll bet Mark Warner of Virginia appears. Who will represent Bama? My guess is Artur Davis. We’ll see.

AND NOW THE SUMMARY:

-- Robert Caro, of somewhere (white: guy)
-- T. Kennedy (guy, white, Mass). Teddy referred to the Revolutionaries who “fired the shirt ‘round the world”. Sweet. Also, if I recall correctly, Teddy voted against giving Dubyah the power to make war on Iraq. Good on him for that. He gave a good speech, too.
-- Jim Montgomery (guy, black, Illinois). He called Dubyah a cowboy, so cool.
-- Dick Gephardt (guy, white, Missouri)
-- Jeanne Shaheen (repeat)
-- Tom Daschle (guy, white, South Dakota)
-- Neil Hamilton (guy, white, Iowa)
-- Carol Moseley Braun (gal, black, Illinois). I’ve got little against Carol, but I’m curious as to why she’s speaking IF the other candidates don’t speak. So far Gephardt and now Carol, but what of Acting Ensign Clark? What of Holy Joe? What of Al? What of the Kuch? Basically, no one voted for Carol this last time (although she did get elected to the senate once).
DID SOMEONE ANNOUNCE DEAN? I WAS WATCHING “I LOVE THE 80S” AND MAY HAVE MISSED IT.
-- So now we come to Howard Dean (guy, white, Vermont). This will be the first time I’ve ever heard him really talk. I’ve read stuff, but he wasn’t on TV where I used to live.
-- Just as night must follow day, “We are Family” must follow Howard Dean. This is the second time (once last night, once tonight) for this song. It joins “Johnny B. Goode” and “Everyday People” in this status.
-- Christie Vilsack (gal, white, Iowa) doesn’t (or at least didn’t used to) like the way my Momma pronounces words. I don’t like Iowa. Nyah! But seriously, why is she speaking? She’s the first lady of IOWA, for the love of Mike. Surely there’s a congressional candidate from Nevada or a mayor from Hawaii or something who could talk. Even worse, she’s not much of a public speaker. And she’s dressed like Barbie.
-- Janet “Not Johnette” Napolitano (gal, white, Arizona).
-- It just hit me that I may have not counted someone from Indiana last night. I can’t think how, though, and won’t check. Sorry, Indiana!
-- And now a short film of growing up as a member of a minority group and coming to terms with how the Democratic Convention will relegate people like you largely to one portion of the festivities (OK. That wasn’t fare at all. I’m sorry. I only leave it here so that all may witness how mean and petty I can be.).
-- Dick Durbin (guy, white, Illinois). Is this Illinois night? If so, I want some CUBS.
-- No Cubs, but Barak Obama (guy, black, Illinois). Close, I guess, in that he does seem cool. I must, however, take issue with his statement to the effect that in no other country on earth would his family story (poor African immigrants made good) be possible. Dude. If he believes that to be true he needs to travel more. It is possible (and has happened) in lots of countries. In fact, it happened EARLIER in some other countries. Now, maybe he is referring specifically to the children of immigrants from Kenya. In THAT case, he may be right. Otherwise, a pretty good speech.
-- Jim Langevin (guy, white, HANDICAPPED, Rhode Island). A first for tonight and a first for the convention.
-- Ron Reagan (guy, white, California) is the first speaker I know to be an ATHEIST. Hooooo Raahhhh! The Gippling gave a stirring speech. I should point out that he was on “Fresh Air” on NPR a few days ago. If possible, you should listen to it. Good stuff.
-- Ilana Wexler (gal, white, California), the founder of “Kids for Kerry”, looks like Little Orphan Annie. Here’s what you’ll hear about her from Tucker Carlson: John Kerry, too, said a dirty word, Ilana, and he said it in a magazine kids read.
-- A children’s choir from Boston. Every color of the rainbow. Boys and girls. I’m not going to count them as they would muck up my record keeping. They are singing “Simple Gifts”, however, and that’s a good song. The West Virginia Mountaineer Marching Band should be playing behind them.
-- And now, a short film on the life and times of Teresa Heinz Kerry. I learn that she’s from Mozambique (of Portuguese heritage), and studied in South Africa and Switzerland. A fact about Massachusetts and environs: lots of Portuguese immigration to that area. In her case it is coincidence (met and married John Heinz while working with the UN, apparently, and he was a senator from Pennsylvania).
-- Chris Heinz (guy, white, Pennsylvania I guess) seems pretty affable.
-- Teresa Heinz Kerry (gal, white, and I’m sticking her in Pennsylvania) gives us SPANISH, and FRENCH, and ITALIAN, and PORTUGUESE (and what a German friend of mine stupidly referred to as Brazuelisch). Anyway, she gave a very strong speech. I guess if she were going to be an office seeker she would have already done it (she’s 65), so it’s a shame. She says good things. I could dig her as first lady. I hope she does lots of things (unlike I, Laurabot).
-- Matt Norris (?), an Indian guy from Arizona. Cool.
-- Yahya Hendi (guy, I’m guessing central Asian, D.C) is our first openly Muslim speaker and our first representative of the District.

And “Proud Kerry” plays us out . . .