Obama calls an audible on convention

Barack Obama’s decision to give his nomination acceptance speech at a 76,000-seat football stadium will heighten the drama of the four-day Democratic National Convention.

It also will heighten the cost -- a potentially major headache for planners.

The convention host committee reported last month that it was almost $12 million shy of the $40.6 million it vowed to raise -- even before Obama switched his Aug. 28 speech to Invesco Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos.

“It is true that they haven’t raised all the money that they were hoping to raise, but that has happened in every convention for quite some years,” said Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman.

Dean declined to say how much it would cost to move the speech from the 21,000-seat Pepsi Center, the arena where the rest of the convention will take place.

But with Obama’s campaign now helping to raise money for the convention, Dean said there was no need to worry.

“Are there some last-minute changes? Yes,” Dean told reporters on a conference call. “Are all conventions smooth? No. None of them ever are.”

-- Michael Finnegan