“I haven’t actually spoken to Barack because he’s busy, really busy. This morning, he was in the john. I was knocking on the door. All I got to say was ‘Love ya.’”

“Yes, he does that too. I know you don’t think he does.” — Maya Soetoro-Ng, Barack Obama’s sister, acknowledging that her brother — who has obtained a cult-like following among some supporters — has normal, human bodily functions.

Soetoro-Ng spoke at breakfast meeting with delegates to the Democratic National Convention from Arkansas and Hawaii.

Fans of the television show “Lost” got a surprise treat Thursday during a joint meeting with the Hawaii delegation to the Democratic National Convention.

Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin on the popular show, found himself at breakfast with the Hawaiian group. “Lost” is filmed in Hawaii.

“We’re going from the state of our last great president to the state of our next great president,” said Kim. Barack Obama is a Hawaii native.

“So I think there’s a bit of history in this room right now and I’m glad to be a part of it,” he added.

He was accompanied by Kelly Hu, an actress and former Miss Hawaii. Hu starred as Lady Deathstrike in X2, the sequel to the X-Men movie. She was also in the movie “The Scorpion King.”

Hu said she and Kim took a red-eye flight from Hawaii to Denver overnight Thursday. They were in town for Obama’s acceptance speech tonight at Invesco Field.

Obama’s sister is scheduled to speak at the joint delegation meeting.

Arkansas, Hawaii, and Delaware delegations are all staying in the same hotel.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, noted the unique grouping: Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas, Obama in Hawaii and Joe Biden, the vice presidential nominee, is a senator from Delaware.

“Isn’t this a great day where we can put Arkansas and Delaware and Hawaii together, this day was destined to happen,: Abercrombie said.

He added an aside to the group from Arkansas: “Who would have believed that Bill Clinton was going to come out of Arkansas and win not only the first time but kick $#! the second time?”

Arkansas delegates to the Democratic National Convention cast 37 votes for Barack Obama during Democrats’ official roll call to nominate their presidential choice this afternoon.

Eight votes went to Hillary Clinton, who earlier Wednesday released her pledged delegates to vote for Obama if they so chose.

Rebecca Gwatney, who announced the state Democrats’ votes inside the convention hall, said they heeded Hillary Clinton’s call for unity within the party.

Clinton won the state’s Democratic primary overwhelmingly on Feb. 5. Before Wednesday, her pledged delegates from Arkansas outnumbered Obama’s nearly 4-to-1.

Initially, the secretary of the convention incorrectly announced the state’s tally as unanimous for Obama.

State Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana, who is seated with the state’s delegation, said Gwatney’s microphone was mistakenly cut off before she read the vote totals.

Here is her statement in its entirety, courtesy of the Democratic Party of Arkansas:

On behalf of the great state of Arkansas, the adopted home of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the state that provided her with her largest margin of 70 percent in the 2008 Democratic primary, and a state with an admiration for Bill and Hillary Clinton that is unmatched throughout this country, I am proud tonight to follow Sen. Clinton’s call for unity, and to unite behind Sen. Barack Obama and elect him the next president of the United States.

Arkansas casts 37 votes for Barack Obama and eight for Sen. Clinton.

Together we will take back the White House.

Arkansas delegates expect a frenzied crowd to welcome former President Bill Clinton tonight when he speaks at the Democratic National Convention.

Clinton, governor of Arkansas for more than a decade, will take the stage at 8 p.m. Central. Like his wife on Tuesday, Clinton is likely to endorse Barack Obama and call for Hillary Clinton supporters to rally around the presumptive Democratic nominee for the general election.

Delegates last night got a preview of what to expect when the former president enters the Pepsi Center tonight.

Fayetteville’s David Whitaker said almost every convention-goer turned to watch Bill Clinton when he arrived last night for his wife’s speech.

“I felt sorry for the speaker at the rostrum because when President Clinton entered, I swear, the poor speaker lost our attention for five minutes as people looked and craned their necks and waved,” Whitaker said.

“I fully expect when the president enters the room that place is going to come apart,” he added.

Remarks made by the former president in the past have added to speculation that he is not completely behind Obama’s presidential bid.

Arkansans said such speculation is nonsense generated by the opposition party.

“The talk about tension is Republican garbage,” said Don Bishop of Harrison. “That is not going on and it is not relevant at this convention. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton support Barack Obama, period.”

Arkansans are probably pretty tired today after an official delegation party that lasted well into the night Tuesday.

The party was billed as a tribute to the late Bill Gwatney, who would have been 49 Tuesday. Music was provided by a group that plays at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock. Gwatney chose the musicians before his death Aug. 13, Arkansas Democratic Party officials said.

Former President Bill Clinton did not attend, though he was expected. Among the high profile guests were Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, according to state Rep. Steve Harrelson who is blogging at the convention.

Kaine was on the short list of vice presidential contenders.

Incoming state House Speaker Robbie Wills of Conway billed the event as a “real Who’s Who of Arkansas Democratic politics.” Wills is helping Harrelson, D-Texarkana, on his Web log, Under the Dome, this week.

Harrelson was designated by the Democratic Party as the “official” Arkansas blogger of the convention. He has a prime seat with the Arkansas delegation at the Pepsi Center.

The late-night party was at The Tavern, a nightclub in the trendy LoDo section of Denver. The club’s Web site boasts that its rooftop deck was named one of the “Top 10 Best Rooftops in America” by Playboy magazine.

The deck was indeed impressive. It offered great views of Coors Field, the baseball stadium located right across the street. On Tuesday night, visitors could see mountain vistas to the west illuminated by frequent lightning flashes in the distance.

Surely it was only a scheduling mishap that forced reporters this morning to decide whether to attend a speech by Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., or a breakfast meeting with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.

Pryor spoke at the daily Arkansas delegation breakfast just a few minutes before Lincoln hosted journalists at a restaurant across town.

Surely the senators wouldn’t want to make reporters — especially reporters for companies that only have one man in town, *ahem* — choose which senator to spurn.

The senior senator? The freshman who is up for re-election? The intimate reporters-only roundtable? The breakfast speech intended for the state’s convention delegation? The eggs benedict? The french toast? Oh, the choices!

Well, after days of prayer for the wisdom of Solomon, it turns out the choice for this blogger really didn’t matter.

Ultimately, it was Denver cab company that made the decision. After a 45-minute wait for a cab that never arrived, the ruminating over which event to attend seemed pretty worthless.

Yes, the missing taxi meant both events were missed.

AWOL cabs are the latest in a series of transportation indignities here in Denver.

There has been traffic on a Sunday that made a 15-minute errand a 2-hour ordeal. The commuter rail line runs only when there’s nothing in the street to block it. A hotel shuttle service seemingly only operates within a 5-block radius and, even then, apparently not after sundown.

So here’s hoping the eggs were tasty, Sen. Lincoln! Hope they kept your coffee warm, Sen. Pryor!

It’s off to the Pepsi Center now. It may be time to try hitchhiking.

Like scores of Hillary Clinton supporters across the country, a handful of Arkansans hit the road back to the Natural State this morning after hearing Clinton’s convention speech Tuesday night. It seems the most famous Arkansas native won’t stick around for Barack Obama’s address, either.

CNN reported that former President Bill Clinton will not be at Invesco Field on Thursday when Barack Obama formally accepts the Democrats’ presidential nomination in front of a crowd expected at 75,000 people. Hillary Clinton is expected to attend.

Delegates from Arkansas didn’t have specifics on how many Arkansas residents were in Denver just for Hillary Clinton’s speech. They made clear that no one in the state’s official delegation to the Democratic National Convention is skipping town.

“Of course, a lot of supporters wanted to hear Hillary. A lot of people flew here to hear her and then they left,” said Diana Gonzales Worthen, a delegate from Springdale.

All delegates and alternates were accounted for at a breakfast meeting this morning, said Don Bishop of Harrison.

“The Arkansas delegation will stay here until the end. We will support Barack Obama for president,” Thurman Metcalf said.

Metcalf, of Rogers, is a pledged delegate for Clinton.

The Arkansan serving as chair of the state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention was decidely vague about how the state will handle today’s presidential nomination vote.

There are questions as to whether delegates pledged to Hillary Clinton will remain loyal to her for the vote, expected to start after 4 p.m. Central. Clinton has released her delegates from their commitment so that they can vote for presumptive nominee Barack Obama.

How that shakes out with the Arkansas delegation remains to be seen

Karla Bradley of Fayetteville wouldn’t give Natural State reporters any sort of
indication how the vote would go for Arkansas’ 47 delegates. Only eight are pledged to Obama.

“We’re following the procedures to the utmost and we have informed our delegates of the procedures,” said Bradley, the first vice-chair of the state party. “What I do want to say is we are unified and we will be unified in our effort to elect Barack Obama.”

If Clinton supporters stay behind her, a narrow nomination victory for Obama could indicate lingering resentment in the party over a bitter primary campaign. A sweeping Obama win would show the unity Democrats so much want to demonstrate in Denver.

On the other hand, Clinton votes today could simply mean delegates want to recognize her for her 18 million votes. In Arkansas specifically, Clinton won 70 percent of the Democratic primary vote.

“We’re not in any way, form or fashion in the vote anti-Obama,” said Jason Willett, a delegate from Jonesboro.

Willett is Clinton’s “whip” for Arkansas, which means he will be responsible for encouraging Clinton delegates to stick with their commitment.

Hillary Clinton paid tribute to Bill Gwatney in her Democratic National Convention speech.

Clinton called Gwatney “one of our finest young leaders” and that Gwatney “believed with all his heart that America and the South could be and should be Democratic from top to bottom.”

Gwatney’s widow, Rebecca, is watching the speech with former President Bill Clinton in a private box at the convention hall.

Rebecca Gwatney was elected by the state’s Democrats to fill her late husband’s spot at the convention.

Hillary Clinton praised Rebecca Gwatney for traveling to Denver so shortly after Bill Gwatney’s Aug. 13 death.

On a night when two women senators with Arkansas ties had roles at the Democratic convention, it was only natural that the state’s first female senator was mentioned.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., brought up the late Hattie Caraway in a short videotaped message to delegates.

Caraway was the first woman ever elected to the Senate.The Democrat from Jonesboro, served from December 1931 to January 1945.

She earned the nickname “Silent Hattie” because she rarely spoke on the Senate floor.

Clinton, the former Arkansas first lady, referenced Caraway as she introduced via a video message the female senators for whom Caraway effectively opened the door.

“One day someone asked her why she never made speeches in the Senate,” Clinton said. “She said it was because ‘The men have left nothing unsaid.’ Well, they may not have left nothing unsaid, but they left plenty of things undone.”

Eight current female senators, including Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., used their convention time to set out a domestic policy agenda they hope to advance in the Senate.