DNC 2012 Roundup: Michelle Obama Rallies Crowd

The Democratic National Convention officially got underway Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama culminating a night of speeches that also included Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.

Michelle Obama worked to portray her husband as someone who identifies with the middle class and she teared up in a couple of instances as she talked about their family. She also brought the crowd to tears a couple of times, including with the line: “Being president doesn’t change who you are; being president reveals who you are.” 

Castro, who has been enduring comparisons between himself and President Obama since he was announced as a DNC speaker, told his story of growing up as an immigrant in Texas and criticized Mitt Romney. (His 3-year-old daughter also got a moment in the limelight when a camera panned to her and she adorably flipped her hair a few times on TV.) 

Democrats on the first day of the convention touched on a variety of issues:

• Michelle Obama noted that the president believes “women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care.”
• Several speakers, including Castro and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, spoke Spanish from the podium, hoping to capitalize on their party's advantage with Hispanics, NPR notes.
• Gov. O’Malley invoked the U.S.’s immigrant history, noting “they did not cross an ocean, settle a continent, do hard, backbreaking work so their children and grandchildren could live in a country of less.” 
• He also noted that "Swiss bank accounts never built an American bridge." 
• Speaker Lily Ledbetter, the woman who inspired the Fair Pay Act that bears her name, also invoked Romney’s wealth, noting that “23 cents an hour may not mean a lot to someone with a Swiss bank account and money in the Cayman Islands. 

In WAMU 88.5’s coverage of the conventions: 

• Tim Kaine told WAMU's Matt Laslo why he decided to attend the convention despite a busy campaign schedule. One of the reasons? As a former Southern Governors Association chair, he "wants Democrats to play well in the South."
• Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards explained why Dems have the better pitch for women during an interview on WAMU’s Morning Edition. 
• Despite a bit of a misstep this weekend on “Face the Nation,” Gov. O’Malley is still on the up-and-up, The Hill’s Alex Bolton told WAMU host Pat Brogan during All Things Considered.
• WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show explored which corporate entities are throwing the most elaborate parties to coincide with the convention.
• The Kojo Show also compared the upcoming ballot initiative on same-sex marriage in Maryland to the fight over marriage equality in North Carolina. 

Elsewhere around the convention: 

• NPR asked Democrats at the convention whether the country is “better off” than when President Obama took office, and mostly got the answer, "It's complicated." 
• Outside the convention, Occupy protesters blocked shuttle buses, and Wandra Ashley-Williams, vice president of the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP, told Yahoo News that she hadn’t seen them at the RNC last week. "That's not good," she said. 
• Also outside the convention, 10 undocumented immigrants were arrested in a protest;  Rosario Dawson was part of that protest. 
• She wasn’t the only celebrity in attendance; Washington Post rounded up the celebrities spotted in the crowd. 
• Kal Penn launched the worst hashtag ever; but he made up for it starring in a Youtube video with the President and his old buddy, Harold. 
• Chuck Norris also made a Youtube video, but it's on the other side of the political spectrum.