AT POLITICAL CONVENTIONS, SOMETIMES IT'S NOT WHAT'S *IN YOUR HEAD, BUT WHAT'S *ON YOUR HEAD THAT COUNTS.
SOT JOHNNIE PATTON, DNC MISSISSIPPI SUPERDELEGATE: I've used this hat for the last five conventions. I simply just change the person the nominee that's running for president.
SOT BILLYE BURNS, DNC LOUISIANA DELEGATE: The hat is four years old, I got it four years ago in Boston when we were at the Democratic convention there.
WHETHER YOU SWAY RIGHT OR LEFT, SECURING THE *RIGHT HAT IS A TOP PRIORITY FOR MANY CONVENTION GO-ERS.
SOT JOSHUA KEMPF, RNC TEXAS DELGATE: When I found out I was coming, I just went online and did an elephant hat search and found it there.
IT'S A WAY FOR PEOPLE LIKE KENDAL UNRUH TO SEND A PERSONALIZED MESSAGE.
SOT KENDAL UNRUH, RNC COLORADO DELEGATE: There weren't vendors that were selling buttons that could express emphatically enough how I felt about Sarah Palin being the vice presidential pickso I went back to the hotel and I used coasters and asked for clear packaging tape from the front desk and I thought well I'll just create my own message.
LARRY BIRD AND HARRY RUBENSTEIN ARE CURATORS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
THEY'VE BEEN COLLECTING HATS AT POLITICAL CONVENTIONS SINCE THE 1980s.
SOT HARRY RUBENSTEIN, CURATOR, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY: No one really knows the answer of how far back the convention hat goes. In a sense it probably just goes back to the time when men mostly men were delegates in the early days wore hats.
SOT EARLINE PARMON, DNC PLATFORM COMMITTEE MEMBER: I'm proudly wearing an Obama hat because it's the top of my agenda right now.
MELISSE HINKLE, UPI.COM (REPORTER STAND UP): CONVENTION HATS AREN'T JUST ABOUT PERSONAL IDENTITY, THEY'RE ALSO ABOUT UNITY. TEXAS DELEGATES HERE AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION CAN EASILY BE SPOTTED IN A CROWD WEARING THESE STETSON HATS.
SOT HARRY RUBENSTEIN: Some people do it because they know that the press likes to take photographs of people in hats and so they do it for that attention. Sometimes they do it because their children, or ya know their family members, are watching it on TV and that way they can spot them out. Other times, it's just because ya know this is a party.
SOT JOSHUA KEMPF: I think it shows that ya know, while we have serious policies, we don't take ourselves too seriously.
MEMBERS OF BOTH PARTIES SAY CONVENTION HATS ARE PART OF A TRADITION THAT'S *"HEAD"-ING INTO THE FUTURE.
SOT JOHNNIE PATTON, DNC MISSISSIPPI SUPERDELEGATE: I haven't seen as many as I have in the past but I think it will continue. A lot of the young people who are coming in didn't know that they should have this kind of regalia and stuff.
SOT ISAAC ADAMS, DNC GEORGIA DELEGATE: I don't know if it's a fashion statement that's going to catch on, but at the convention it's a utilitarian object it's very useful, it gets you a lot of conversations
[nats Melisse Hinkle, reporter: "I noticed that your whole delegation is wearing these."]
SOT STEVE THOMPSON, TEXAS DELEGATE: That's correct, yea, and it's a bad hair day for everybody.
CONVENTION SEASON IS WINDING DOWN. AND THOUGH IT MAY BE HATS OFF FOR NOW, DELEGATES SAY IT WON'T BE HATS OFF FOREVER.
FOR UPI.COM FROM THE 2008 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION IN MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA, I'M MELISSE HINKLE.
Loading...
1:59Dancing through disabilitiesby UPIVideo2,339 views
Link to this comment:
All Comments (0)