The 2000 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention for the Democratic Party. The convention nominated Vice President Al Gore for president and Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut for vice president. The convention was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California from August 14 to August 17, 2000. Gore accepted the presidential nomination on August 17, the final night of the convention.
Logistics
Site selection
thumb|right|The Staples Center (now the [[Crypto.com Arena) was the site of the 2000 Democratic National Convention.]]
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) initially invited 28 cities to bid for the convention. The "preliminary general requirements" that the Democratic Party asked of bidding cities was to be able to provide 20,000 high-quality hotel rooms within 30 minutes of the venue, and for the venue to capable of holding 25,000 counting both fixed seating and floor seating. All except New Orleans were offering new venues that had been constructed in the 1990s. This was the second Democratic National Convention to be held in Los Angeles, with the first having been the 1960 convention. The other finalist cities would host the two following Democratic National Conventions; Boston hosted the 2004 convention while Denver hosted the 2008 convention.
Co-chairman of the committee leading Los Angeles' bid for the convention included Eli Broad and David Geffen, among others. The effort for Los Angeles to host was modeled after the private/public venture used to stage the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 2000, Republicans held their convention July 31 through August 3.
On April 16, 1999 Chair of the Democratic National Committee Joe Andrew announced that the convention would take place August 14–17.
Security
At both the 2000 major party presidential nominating conventions, security was heightened compared to that of past conventions.
Crowd control security concerns were heightened at the Democratic convention due to a number of the organizations behind the activities of the 1999 Seattle WTO protests pledging to protest in Los Angeles during the convention. Also, still in recent memory, was the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Ken Banner served as the convention's director of security.
The podium's lectern was able to be mechanically lowered beneath the stage, and the walls located behind both sides of the lectern could also be raised from on the stage.
Convention leadership
Ron Gonzales and Blanche Lincoln served as co-chairs of the convention's credentials committee. a number of members of the convention's leadership were announced. Lydia Camarillo was announced as the convention's chief executive officer (CEO). Donald J. Foley was announced as chief operating officer (COO) of the convention. Rod O'Connor was announced as the chief of staff for the convention. Jeff Modisett was announced as deputy CEO and general counsel for the convention. Katreice Banks was announced as deputy CEO for external affairs. Mona Pasquil was announced as deputy CEO for community relations. It was also announced that Yolanda Caraway would consult with the conventions for external affairs, credentials, and productions. Jaci Wilson was announced as the convention's director of housing. Ofield Dukes was announced as one of the convention's communications consultants.
On September 23, 1999, Roy Romer was announced as chair of the Democratic National Convention Committee.
On December 9, 1999, additional convention staff were announced for the Democratic National Convention Committee. Anette Avina was announced as senior advisor to the CEO and director of special projects. Travis Berry was announced as senior advisor to the chairman and director of special projects. Simone M. Greene was announced as special assistant to the COO. Cindy M. Lott was announced as deputy general counsel. Liana Shwarz was announced as special assistant to the CEO. Lou Vasta was announced as director of logistics and operations. Luis Vizcaino was announced as the DNCC's press secretary.
On February 23, 2000, the Democratic National Convention Committee announced three key members of its convention security task force. Ken Banner was announced as director of security. John Vezeris and Joseph A. Masonis were announced as managing directors of the task force.
On April 27, 2000, the Democratic National Convention Committee's production team was announced. Gary Smith was announced as executive producer, Ricky Kirshner was announced as producer, and Thomas E. Gorman was announced as director of production.
Convention officers
Terry McAuliffe served as the chair of the convention.
Balloting
Gore was nominated unanimously, and during the roll-call vote for president, Florida's delegation was given the honor of putting Gore over-the-top as the official nominee.
On the day before the convention started Bill Bradley released his delegates and directed them to vote for Gore. The votes of Bradley's delegates that wished to vote for him were registered as abstentions.
The Balloting:
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!| Candidates
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|-
| align=right | Name
| Al Gore
|-
| align=right |Certified Votes
| 4,328 (99.79%)
|-
| align=right |Abstentions
| 9 (0.21%)
|-
|align=right |total: ||4,337
|}
Senator Joe Lieberman was nominated as the party's candidate for Vice President by voice vote.
Lieberman's formal nomination took place on the closing night of the convention, despite him having delivered his acceptance speech the previous night.
The highlight of the first night of the convention was a speech given by President Bill Clinton.
Other notable speakers included Gore's opponent for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bill Bradley, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Senators Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones, Gore's roommate in college, officially nominated the vice president.
Day 1
- Joe Andrew, chair of the Democratic National Committee
- Joseph Cari Jr., national finance co-chair of the Democratic National Committee
- Dannel Malloy, mayor of Stamford, Connecticut and chair of the National Democratic Municipal Officials Conference
- Gerald McEntee, president of AFSCME
- Bill Purcell, mayor of Nashville
- Zoe Lofgren, United States congresswoman from California
- Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List
- Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union
- Kendrick Meek, Florida state senator
Chris Dodd
Harold Ford Jr.
The keynote speaker of the convention was Congressman Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee. Ford spoke on the second night of the convention.
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Al Gore delivered his presidential nomination acceptance speech on the final night of the convention.