At the RBC meeting, it’s all about the respect?

Continuing on Pete Abel’s coverage, as of 12:25 PM Eastern time, we have concluded the statements and Q&A by the representatives of both the Clinton and Obama campaigns. This was the portion of the proceedings where the the tone really began to change. During the early speakers’ sessions, while there may have been a few elbows thrown, it was done so in a very muted, professional fashion. There was one supporter of Senator Clinton on the committee who seemed to be setting the stage for a very confrontational session later, asking only one question of each speaker – “Would you be opposed to the seating of all of Florida’s delegates?” It really did appear as if she was setting up an ambush for Rep. Wexler, who represented the Obama campaign, and she did not disappoint.

The other notable change was in the audience response. When state Senator Joyner spoke on behalf of the Clinton campaign, there was loud cheering following the many points she made. (One might presume this was primarily from the Clinton supporters in the audience.) Then Congressman Wexler took the microphone for Obama and we saw a decided change. As he spoke, he was quickly interrupted by a loud chorus of booing (the only time this seems to have happened during the meeting thus far) and the chair had to caution them all to quiet down and maintain respect for all of the speakers.

The back and forth between the two campaign representatives and the various committee members (some of whom are clearly supporters of one candidate or the other) became notably more heated than the previous questioning. Voice were raised on both sides and there were many passionate speeches. The afternoon schedule includes the more “confrontational” questions, according to the chair, so it may only get hotter from here.