Obama speech moved; 7,000 S.C. ticketholders out of luck

The site of President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech today has been switched to Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena from Bank of America Stadium because of concerns about thunderstorms.

“We share the disappointment of over 65,000 people who signed up for community credentials to be there with the president,” the Democratic National Convention Committee said. About 7,000 of those ticketholders were from South Carolina. The committee said Obama will address those community members in a conference call this afternoon.

Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina dismissed the risks of speaking “during a light September rain,” speculating the decision to move the speech to the smaller arena had more to do with fears of low attendance than precipitation.

Watching the convention

NBC will start its coverage of the Democratic convention at 9 p.m. ABC and CBS will join in at 10 p.m. (Fox has not covered either convention.) Looking for more? C-Span begins its coverage in the afternoon. Also, CNN starts coverage at 7 p.m. Fox News and MSNBC are covering the convention during their regular nightly news-and-talk shows.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of Columbia, originally to speak Tuesday, is to address the convention about 8:30 tonight.