The Democratic Party is all in for Hillary Clinton. (PBS)

8:27 p.m. PDT: The day ended a lot differently than it started. Can the Democratic Party keep the momentum going? Can Hillary Clinton move more toward the left? Can she get Bernie Sanders supporters to support her? If she can, America will have its first female president. If she can’t, America may have its first dictator.

We will be back with another live blog on Day 2. See you on Tuesday.

8:26 p.m. PDT: The Clinton machine is going to need to alter its approach to beat Donald Trump. He will win the fear game and has the edge in capturing the anti-establishment vote. Many of those people were part of the Bernie Sanders movement. Some may vote for Trump, but a more likely scenario is they vote for a third-party option like Jill Stein, the Green Party’s likely nominee. For Clinton to appeal to the anti-establishment crowd, she needs to humanize — and humble — herself. She needs to show the public the side of herself that makes all her colleagues love her so much (at least if we are to believe the narrative being pushed). She needs to become warmer, more relatable to everyday people, if that is possible. In other words, Hillary Clinton needs to channel the spirits of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy and take the progressive road less traveled.

Does she have it in her?

8:25 p.m. PDT: Bill Blum sums up his thoughts for Day 1:

Bernie Sanders was the last speaker on the opening night’s program of the Democratic convention. He followed Cory Booker, Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Warren, each of whom delivered rousing and energizing speeches in favor of the party’s nominee, Hillary Clinton. Sanders—who took the stage to the most resounding applause of the night, unlike his afternoon speech, when he was booed by his own supporters—also delivered a moving oration on Clinton’s behalf. Monday night, faced with the grim reality that his campaign is over, Sanders began by acknowledging his profound disappointment in the outcome of his unsuccessful nomination bid, and he promised to continue the “political revolution” that was the centerpiece of his campaign. And then he pivoted, attempting to thread the needle between the necessity of derailing Donald Trump and declaring his unequivocal support for Clinton. “This election has never been about Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or myself,” he said. Rather, he urged, the election is about all the issues he championed during the primary season: women’s rights and immigrants’ rights, the need for universal health care and environmental protection, and the absolute necessity of keeping the Supreme Court out of the hands of Trump. Hillary Clinton, Sanders thundered over and over again, was the candidate to bring the issues to a successful resolution. But as convincing as Sanders sounded, I couldn’t help but reflect on the central question I raised back in May 2015, when I began covering the Sanders campaign for Truthdig: Whether, in the end, Sanders would fall in line with the inevitable anointment of Clinton and urge his supporters—many of whom see Clinton as an unrepentant war hawk and pawn of Wall Street—to follow suit. We now have an answer.

8:22 p.m. PDT: Bernie Sanders closes his speech with a strong endorsement of Hillary Clinton: She will make an outstanding president. Bill Clinton likes what he hears.

8:21 p.m. PDT: Chants of “No TPP” reverberate through the crowd.

8:20 p.m. PDT: Democracy is about disagreeing. Sanders says they produced the most progressive platform in the history of Democratic party. Raise your hand if you remain skeptical.

8:19 p.m.: Like clockwork, Donald Trump smells an opportunity to get in the news cycle:

8:11 p.m. PDT: Sanders sends a personal message to his supporters: The revolution will be judged by your behavior. We need to come together.

8:05 p.m. PDT: Did Hillary win the nomination fair and square? If Sanders had talked about the emails from the beginning, if he had talked about voting irregularities, would he have been giving his speech on Thursday night instead of Monday? Some people call him the “sheepdog,” “Judas goat” and worse. Ralph Nader isn’t one of those people. Nader thinks Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton is a brilliant political move. He also thinks having to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton creates “a very unstable situation.” “Our country deserves better,” Nader says. He is right about that. The corporate duopoly is not a true democracy. Our government has become a plutocracy. One president wouldn’t change that. Change needs to start at the grass-roots level and will take time. We’ll see whether the movement Bernie Sanders started can maintain its momentum or becomes a footnote in the history books.

8:03 p.m. PDT A lot of tears in the crowd. Cathartic moment for Bernie Sanders supporters.

7:57 p.m. PDT: “No one is more disappointed than me,” says Bernie. “But our political revolution continues.”

This election is not about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or me. This election is about the needs of the American people, and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren.

This election is about ending the 40-year decline of our middle class. The reality that 47 million men, women and children live in poverty. If we do not transform our economy, our children will have a lower standard of living than their parents.

The top one-tenth of 1 percent has much wealth as 90 percent of the people. That is unacceptable.

This election is about remembering where we were seven years ago after Republican trickle-down economics. We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.

We need leadership that brings people together and makes us stronger.

He’s hitting all of his major talking points.

7:54 p.m. PDT: Thanks for voting for the political revolution. Thanks for the 1,486 pledged delegates. Thank you, thank you, thank you. A lot of people in the arena are crying. More sadness than joy.

7:51 p.m. PDT: The moment of truth. Chants of “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie” rain down on the convention. He is soaking in the love. Will Hillary Clinton feel the same kind of love?

7:48 p.m. PDT: Keith Ellison introduces Bernie Sanders. But first a video showing ordinary people doing American things.

7:33 p.m. PDT: Elizabeth Warren’s speech in a nutshell: Donald Trump is a bad, hate-filled con man. It’s all Trump, Trump, Trump. This plays into Trump’s hands. The Democrats need to stop playing the fear card. Instead of saying Hillary Clinton is not Donald Trump, how about talking about Hillary Clinton’s America? After about 10 minutes of talking Trump, Warren explains why “We’re with her”: higher minimum wage, debt-free college, Social Security expansion, protecting retirement accounts, no trade deals, getting big money out politics, returning government to the people. Lots of corporate platitudes that sound good. But is that reality? Will that be reality?

7:27 p.m. PDT: Protesters are shouting “We trusted you. We trusted you. We trusted.” A lot of people feel betrayed by politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. Warren admits “the system is rigged.” So how do we fix it? We need more solutions.

7:24 p.m. PDT: Now here’s Elizabeth Warren. Donald Trump is salivating. How long before we hear from The Donald?

7:05 p.m.: We have reached the A-list portion of the evening. Say hello to the first lady, Michelle Obama:

I want someone with the proven strength to persevere. Someone who knows the issues are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.

When you have the military codes at your fingertips, you need to be steady, measured and well-informed.

There but for the grace of God go I.

I want a president that believes all people matter.

With this election, “I’m with her.”

It’s about leaving something better for our kids.

Every day, I wake up in a house that was built by slaves.

A woman can be president of the United States.

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that we need to make it greater.

This right now is the greatest country on earth.

The power of uplifting words. Mic drop. Michelle Obama brings down the house.

7:03 p.m. PDT: Michelle Obama video now showing at the convention. It was produced by J.J. Abrams, the director of “Stars Wars: The Force Awakens.” It ends with her in a light-saber fight between her and Melania Trump. JUST KIDDING! But how great would that be?

6:58 p.m. PDT: Tim Kaine was not a household name outside Washington, D.C., before Hillary Clinton named him her vice presidential running mate. He was not the choice of progressives. Yes, he was a safe pick. But he has spent life helping others, and he gave a strong first speech on the campaign trail as he introduced himself to the world:

6:54 p.m. PDT: We will rise. Cory Booker wraps up his speech with a unifying message and gets a loud ovation.

6:51 p.m. PDT: The Unifier or the Betrayer? Bernie Sanders doesn’t seem too nervous about the speech he’ll give soon. He is in the crowd holding one of his grandchildren. Can he bring all of his supporters into the tent to vote for Hillary Clinton?

6:50 p.m. PDT: A little mocking of Trump by Democrats, but a lot more talk of being “stronger together.” Some people just would like to see Democrats be “stronger.”

6:38 p.m. PDT: Rising political star Cory Booker talks about inclusivity and justice and gratitude. The New Jersey senator had been mentioned as a possible choice for Hillary Clinton’s running mate. But now was not his time. One day, though, don’t be surprised to see him running for president. “Patriotism is love of country, but you can’t love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen,” Booker says. He continues down the love path: “We are called to be a nation of love. … If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

The message mirrors one seen on signs seen throughout the arena: Love Trumps Hate.

6:29 p.m. PDT: The Donald Trump Show featured reality stars. The Hillary Clinton Show features Hollywood stars. Former “desperate housewife” Eva Longoria is up.

6:23 p.m. PDT: Paul Simon has arrived to sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” No Garfunkel, no problem.

Divided by day, the prime-time night of the Democratic convention has much more of a variety-show feel than the “We love red meat,” xenophobic, flag-waving show of jingoism that was Day 1 of the Republican convention. Somewhere, Dean Martin is smiling.

6:14 p.m. PDT: The emotional temperature of the room has changed. People have lightened up. Now, here’s Sarah Silverman, with Al Franken. Remember her?

Franken makes an ask. If you go to Hillary Clinton’s website, you could be with her, literally: You could win a trip to Philadelphia on Thursday. They better have backup servers in place to handle all of the web traffic coming their way.

Silverman was a hardcore “Feel the Bern” supporter, but she has come around to Hillary Clinton. She closes with “Boo-yaa, Baba Booey.” But it’s not over. Franken and Silverman have been asked to stretch their bit. So she adds this nugget: “To the Bernie or Bust people, you’re being ridiculous.”

6:09 p.m. PDT: Earlier in the day, the DNC issued a public apology to Bernie Sanders for the biased primary campaign it conducted. A broadcaster on Pacifica Radio compared the apology to someone stealing your wallet: First, the person apologizes for stealing your wallet — then offers to sell it back to you. Thanks, DNC. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

5:52 p.m. PDT: Hello, Al Franken. He introduces himself as “a global expert on right-wing megalomaniacs.” Says he got his doctorate in megalomania from Trump University. Franken, now a Minnesota senator, has still got the comedic chops from his “Saturday Night Live” writing days. In Franken’s speech alone, we have more jokes than the entire Republican convention combined.

Leave it to a comedian to unify the convention.

5:45 p.m. PDT: The woman card gets played for the first time of the night — by a woman, Kirsten Gillibrand. The senator from New York restates Clinton’s strong record of supporting women’s rights. Gillibrand is excited that Clinton could be the first person in the White House to have the perspective of a mother and grandmother. Having a woman be the president of the United States would be a great thing; no one can argue with that. But it cannot be the only thing.

5:36 p.m. PDT: Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook puts a positive spin on the negative reactions to start the convention. “It’s been boisterous. It’s been fun.” Yeah, all that booing has to be a hoot for Clinton. About as fun as a root canal.

Nevertheless, Mook is confident the convention will be end up being a success: “This is the first night. There are lots of strong feelings. I am confident we will come out of this convention [in a good place.] … Hillary has fought all of her life for working families. They are going to hear that story. … Hillary Clinton is a workhorse, not a show horse.”

Whether you are pro- or anti-Clinton, Mook is the kind of person you want managing your campaign.

5:25 p.m. PDT: Ohio Gov. John Kasich didn’t show up at the Republican convention in Cleveland last week. But Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is in the house at the Democratic convention. He says he thinks “fairness” will be the difference for Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump in November.

4:38 p.m. PDT: Truthdig columnist Bill Blum will be sharing his thoughts during this evening’s prime-time show. Here is his first installment, a preview of Bernie Sanders’ speech:

It will be interesting to see how and if Bernie Sanders can recover this evening when he addresses a full session of the convention after his own supporters nearly booed him off the stage during an afternoon address he delivered in support of Hillary Clinton inside a ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. “Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in,” Sanders told an assembled throng of his backers. “Trump is a bully and a demagogue.” Calling Trump a “danger to the future” of the country, Sanders underscored the necessity of defeating him. But while the crowd cheered wildly as Sanders called for Trump’s undoing, they jeered with equal force when he urged them to unite behind the Clinton-Kaine ticket. They were having none of the narrative of “lesser-evilism” Sanders was serving. All I could think of as I listened to Sanders struggling to be heard above the din of disapproval was that the Democratic Party was self-destructing and quite possibly handing the election to a neofascist. We’ll see if Sanders fares better Monday night.

4:05 p.m. PDT: We now interrupt this live blog for a message from Mark Twain: “Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.”

Wise man.

3:33 p.m. PDT: Did Debbie Wasserman Schultz think she wouldn’t get caught? In May, after the chaos that erupted at the Nevada State Democratic Convention, Wasserman Schultz defended the DNC. “The Democratic National Committee remains neutral in this primary, based on our rules,” she said on CNN to Wolf Blitzer at the time. Many people suspected bias back then. Now those suspicions have been confirmed by Friday’s WikiLeaks release of DNC emails. “We’ve known all along these were the kinds of things that we’ve suspected,” Bernie Sanders delegate Karen Bernal said. “And now to actually have proof about it should surprise no one.”

There is another troubling aspect to the Wasserman Schultz #DNCleaks case. After her resignation as chairwoman of the DNC, she was named honorary chair of the Hillary Clinton campaign team. Here was Hillary’s statement on the matter.

I want to thank my longtime friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her leadership of the Democratic National Committee over the past five years. I am grateful to Debbie for getting the Democratic Party to this year’s historic convention in Philadelphia, and I know that this week’s events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership. There’s simply no one better at taking the fight to the Republicans than Debbie — which is why I am glad that she has agreed to serve as honorary chair of my campaign’s 50-state program to gain ground and elect Democrats in every part of the country, and will continue to serve as a surrogate for my campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states. I look forward to campaigning with Debbie in Florida and helping her in her re-election bid–because as President, I will need fighters like Debbie in Congress who are ready on day one to get to work for the American people.

President Barack Obama also thanked Wasserman Schultz with a public statement.

For the last eight years, Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has had my back. … I called her to let her know that I am grateful. Her leadership of the DNC has meant that we had someone who brought Democrats together not just for my re-election campaign, but for accomplishing the shared goals we have had for our country.

Talk about circling the wagons. How does Wasserman Schultz — a person who has proved to be ethically challenged — get this royal treatment? Does she have some compromising, unseemly photos of the president and former secretary of state? Maybe they’re just as ethically challenged? Whatever the case, the optics don’t look good. Even if the new position for Wasserman Schultz has no official responsibility and was just extended to her as a face-saving gesture, this type of Beltway back-slapping perpetuates the “game is rigged” narrative. Why did Clinton have to make such a public declaration? Just leave the honorary chair part out of the statement, and let Wasserman Schultz work in the shadows. She has experience in that arena.

The bigger problem for Hillary Clinton is her trust issues — many people consider her to be as honest as a used car salesperson. To earn their trust, she is going to have to change the way she conducts herself and be more transparent. Disassociating with Wasserman Schultz would have helped more in that regard, than saying “Atta, girl.”

3:27 p.m. PDT: Yes, Bernie Sanders has endorsed Hillary Clinton, but his delegates continue to have mixed feelings about following his lead. Truthdig contributor Sonali Kolhatkar, reporting straight from Philadelphia, spoke with some of them, and they remain furious with Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic National Committee for tipping the scales in Clinton’s favor during the primary campaign. “It in fact hurts me a lot that the party I grew up wanting to be a part of is so corrupt,” Manuel Zapata, a Sanders delegate and longtime Democrat, told Kolhatkar:

3:14 p.m. PDT: Not everyone is with Her. Many people still are feeling the Bern. The challenge for the Democratic Party is getting people to translate their love of Bernie Sanders into support for Hillary Clinton. Robert Scheer witnessed this conundrum while watching Sanders delegates talk:

A star is born. The only galvanizing speaker so far was Diane Russell, a Maine legislator and Bernie delegate who recounted the successful rules committee fight to severely reduce the role of superdelegates in the future. “We did not win this by selling out,” Russell said. “We won this by standing up.” She received a huge applause for her message that the Democrats be the “party of the 99 percent” that “it is not for sale.” But she lowered the enthusiasm when she quickly endorsed Hilary at the end.

2:44 p.m. PDT: Protesters are making their voices heard and presence felt. Led by Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges, social activist Cornel West and others, demonstrators marched from Philadelphia City Hall down Broad Street in the March for Our Lives with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

This is what democracy looks like:

Hedges has more acts of civil disobedience planned for Wednesday in Philadelphia:

10 a.m. PDT: Forum with Rosario Dawson, Ben Jealous and Chris Wilson at 990 Spring Garden St. Dawson is an actress. Jealous is a civic leader and former CEO and president of the NAACP.

4 p.m. PDT: Talk at Friends Center (Race Street Room), 1501 Cherry St.

Monday, 12:15 p.m. PDT: Welcome to the City of Brotherly Tension. The Democratic National Convention began Monday in Philadelphia and will run through Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. The party is expected to make Hillary Clinton its official nominee for president, but Democrats already are showing more division than unity.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic convention, is persona non grata and won’t open the show or speak during the week. She announced Sunday that she plans to resign after the convention — two days after 20,000 internal DNC emails were released by WikiLeaks showing evidence that party officials were not neutral during the primary season and favored Hillary Clinton over the insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders. After being booed at a pre-convention breakfast, Wasserman Schultz figured it was best to stay out of sight.

“I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention,” Wasserman Schultz told the Sun Sentinel. “I stepped down the other day because I wanted to make sure that having brought us to this momentous day and to Philadelphia and planned the convention that is going to be the best one that we’ve ever had in our party’s history that this needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president.”

Sanders was booed by his supporters during an address to a group of his delegates for saying, “We must elect Hillary Clinton”:

Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer, who is on the ground in Philadelphia, has been covering presidential conventions since 1956 and says he has never seen anything like the divisiveness and anger that Sanders delegates are displaying. “They are not happy with the Democratic platform or Bernie Sanders for endorsing Hillary Clinton — and they are expressing their displeasure. It is clear they are not going to go quietly into the night.”

So much for the Democratic Party being “United Together,” the theme of Day 1 of the convention. Maybe that will change over the course of the day, with first lady Michelle Obama and Sanders scheduled to speak in prime time.

Organizers are crossing their fingers that the cold introduction is not a sign of things to come. Here are the themes and featured speakers for the rest of the week:

Tuesday: A Lifetime of Fighting for Children and Families. Former President Bill Clinton will do his best to make Hillary look good.

Wednesday: Working Together. The one-two punch of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will take the stage.

Thursday: Stronger Together. Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea are the headliners.

Truthdig will be live blogging each day of the convention. Tune in for news, analysis and commentary.

Scheer will be providing dispatches for the live blog from Philadelphia. We also have Truthdig columnist and Pacifica Radio host Sonali Kolhatkar there to provide video and columns. Photojournalist Michael Nigro will provide an insider perspective of what’s happening outside the convention hall. Truthdig contributor Alan Minsky, a producer for Pacifica Radio, will summarize what happens inside the convention hall. Truthdig contributor Bill Blum will provide analysis for the live blog.

With Wall Street invading Philadelphia, the Democratic Party is hoping to trade places with Republicans and leave people feeling optimistic about the future of America.

Time will tell if the Democrats are successful.

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#2016 election#barack obama#bernie sanders#bill clinton#chelsea clinton#debbie wasserman schultz#democratic national convention#hillary clinton#joe biden#michelle obama