About 20 people showed up to my backyard last night, not to watch the speech, but to listen. We were a community including young and old, but all connected. We were there for change.
Update from the Denver Airport 5:27pm EST: Above all I need to thank my wife who held down the fort for me so I could take this trip. I missed you, Henry, and Meredith, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in a number of hours. And yes, I did get you something very nice, dear.
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Going to the convention was a huge deal for this blog of ours. And when I say ours, I mean the owners, front page editors, members, diary writers, commenters, and readers of this blog.
So I want to say “thank you” to all of you. Without all of the work you’ve done, this blog would not have risen to such a prominent place as to allow us the privilege of undertaking a trip such as this.
I want to thank my family and friends who also helped finance this trip.
I also want to thank my hosts at Casa Frankenoid. They were kind enough to put me up at no charge. Thank you Frankenoid, to you and to your family for bringing me into your home and being such gracious hosts. If any of you readers haven’t yet, I suggest you check out her weekly Garden Blogging over at SquareState.net. She has some great pictures of her amazing garden. Her husband tells me that sometimes he’s allowed to help her.
This is what I was thinking through the day after I got bumped from the press box. I was very pissed off at the time. Here I was in Denver to blog the convention, and I’m a first-hand witness to history and...I can’t blog it
That’s why it’s called irony.
But in the grand scheme of things, all the hassles with security, long lines going in and getting out, and not being able to blog it live, are miniscule compared to the privilege I was given to be there when Sen. Barack Obama accepted our party’s nomination for President of the United States of America. This was history. One of our country's most proud moments. A barrier has been broken in our country's constant struggle to live up to its ideals.
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I can’t live-blog this event. Instead, I’m going to type my thoughts about tonight, what’s going on around me, as they come into my head, and I’ll post them later as one post. Laura and I are sitting in Section 100, row 16 of Invesco Field (which some people here refer to as "the diaphragm" given it's shape).
As many of you know from previous posts and through my micro-blogging on Twitter, I've spent most of my time in Denver working at the Big Tent.
There are over 500 bloggers from around the country (including some of the territories) that are using the Big Tent as a Ground Zero of sorts. A ticket at $100 gets a blogger 4 days of access, 2 great meals a day, free smoothies and chair massages from the Google Retreat Center, free local micro-brewed beer not to mention the opportunity to network with other bloggers like you've probably never done before. That's on top of the Digg Stage on the 2nd level of the Tent (no, it's not a magical Harry Potter tent) where panels run all day long. The Tent features air conditioning (with almost a zero-carbon footprint thanks to water-cooled air, versus Freon) lots and lots of couches, and wireless. All in all, it's not a bad gig.
The Big Tent is something that's never been done before. And because you've got all these bloggers in one place, it's still very much a novelty to the rest of the world. So the media, both local, national and abroad, come in droves. So do the celebrities. And that's where my job comes in.
The 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver is a long street closed to traffic except for shuttle buses and police vehicles. It’s clean, neat, and has the usual cast of chain shops and restaurants found at many indoor and outdoor mall across the country: Johnny Rockets, Chili’s. etc. But every third store it seems is a souvenir shop.
Both Biden and Bill gave great speeches. Barack showing up at the end was a nice touch, seeing the Democratic Party's Team together. Only one more day...
It's getting late. Bobble Obama is very tired from another long day at the convention. So I'm going to let him get some rest.
Every day this is what I go through to get and use my Blogger Credential. You must get a new credential for your blog every day; there’s a credential for each day of the week.
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Your first goal is to obtain the credential itself. To do this you must go to the hotel where the blogger credentials are being given out: the Hampton Inn and Suites.
Once inside the Hampton Inn, go to the elevators; make a right, then a quick left. Take the elevator to the third floor. Turn left. Turn left again. There you can enter the small conference room where the credentials are stored.
National speaker/activist and founder of Green for All Van Jones speaks with me at the Big Tent at the Denver DNC (with Emptywheel chiming/directing in the background).
For those of us that were lucky enough to be at Netroots Nation last month, we were treated to hearing Van Jones speak. Jones who is a champion of fighting social inequality and environmental destruction is arguably one of the best speakers I've heard in the recent past, and joining me on the Van Jones bandwagon is our own PerfectStormer who can also testify to his greatness.
Van was kind enough to speak with me about Michigan Senate Republicans fool-hardy plan for 8 new coal plants in Michigan, how we turn Detroit around AND protect our environmental future, and why Al Gore is so very right. And now that I'm no longer fighting YouTube for hours on end to upload videos, you can watch it here. :-)
One of the biggest reasons many people come to this gathering of Democrats that occurs only once every four years is to party. There is heavy emphasis on the "party" in the Democratic Party.
Monday night I went to a party hosted by some Michigan politicians, and this is what it was like,
I left the party with the Anita Ekberg look-alike and folowed her in all her busty blond babeness through the streets of Denver until we came across a fountain with a large pool that looks like this during the day,
Not content to eat a sandwich in the very crowded, very loud, and very warm Big Tent, I opted instead for a burrito at the Chipotle around the corner and down the block.
As I was eating, about a dozen people wearing blue McCain T-shirts walked in. Outside, a man in a red shirt was holding up a big yellow sign with black letters that said, “Jesus Saves.” Thanks to my warped metal-headed youth, the Slayer song of the same name immediately came to my mind.
Fortified with lunch, I took the 16th street Mall shuttle bus down to the Civic Center. It was 92 degrees outside. Inside the non-air-conditioned bus it felt like 102 degrees, especially when it was jam-packed with convention-related visitors.
While Rich has been roving the streets of Denver in search of the perfect Obama Bobblehead, I've been stationed in the Big Tent all day, escorting VIPs around (aka herding cats), making sure the hundreds of media outlets are meeting/interviewing all the bloggers here, and trying to stay hydrated (Colorado is a surprisingly dry state compared to our beloved Mitten State).
As I write this, I'm in the Alliance Center, next door to the Big Tent, seated next to a blogger for the Huffington Post, and on my other side is a couple guys from one of the best web development firms in the country, who are also some of the original members of the Howard Dean's Internet Team from 2004.
Today's felt a little like being at a rock concert with an all-star line up, minus the music. I've met actress/activist Darryl Hannah, and yes, she's still incredibly tall, lanky and beautiful, environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr., national speaker/activist Van Jones (hat-tip to WK for this great photo) Sen. Patrick Leahy, and that's just to name a few. I've hung out with bloggers from CA to NY and everywhere in between, had a smoothie at the Google Retreat, and had organic chocolate at the Huffington Posts' Oasis Room - (I could have gotten a facial or massage, but I had to work, remember? :-)
Hopefully sometime tonight I'll be posting two video interviews with Van Jones and EMILY's List Executive Director Ellen Malcolm and Dept. Political Director Susan Markham up here. Think Michigan isn't going to play a big role this election season? You might think again after you hear what these folks have to say.
I'm signing off to head to the Pepsi Center for my first look at the actual Convention and fellow bloggers from BloggingforMichigan and delegate/blogger ME Miller from West Michigan Rising. Stay tuned to MichLib and don't forget to regularly check my updates via my Twitter feed.
I went to the hotel where we have to go to get our Blogger Convention Credential. Got the credential, so I’m all set for tonight.
On my way back, I took my time walking down the 16th Street Mall, taking pictures. Denver has pretty much become Obama-Town. You can buy anything Obama.
The first is the reason for the convention itself: a four-day infommercial to showcase the party (of which I am a paid member) and it’s nominee for the presidency of the U.S.
The second is the actions of those of who would disrupt or attempt to hijack the message of the infommerical: protesters and Republicans. The latter, unless Obama or Biden makes some sort of gaffe, really have no chance. This is Obama's Week.
As I sit in the Grand Rapids airport prepared to board my plane to Denver for my very first Democratic National Convention there are so many thoughts swirling through my head.
I would be excited to go to something like this anyways, but given the absolute historic and epic worth that is promised on many levels for the next 4-5 days of my life, well it just brings everything to a whole new level.
There's the obvious, the very first minority to be nominated as a presidential candidate to the hype - when was the last time our country cared as much about an election as we do this one? - to the more personal - the very opportunity to be there and experience it all, well I feel a bit like a kid trying to sleep on Christmas Eve - I wait, all systems ready to absorb each and every minute.
I'm honored to be able to be there to bring you the latest updates, news, and observations as they happen. I'll be blogging here regularly along with Rich, but if you'd like to follow me, consider checking out and subscribing to my Twitter feed. For those of you unfamiliar with Twitter, it's a micro-blogging site that allows me to post small messages from my phone. (There's a great video that explains Twitter you'll want to check out as well.)
I'll also be volunteering at the Big Tent, and thanks to the great folks at YouTube and Google, I'll be able to do some video blogging as well. So while I'm there, feel free to email me or leave comments here and let me know what types of questions you'd like me to ask our Michigan delegation and other political players.
Until then, I've got a flight to catch. See you in Denver!
Well, after months of anticipation I arrived in Denver this afternoon for the Democratic National Convention. I'm going to do my best to blog short updates about what is going on here at the Convention over the next several days.
I'll confess that I'm already pretty tired and am going to need to do some recharging tonight. As many of you may know, this past week was Welcome Week at Michigan State University. This is a busy and important time for the East Lansing community. In addition to One Book One Community and other welcome events, I decided to do a ride-along with the East Lansing Police Department on Friday night. It was a powerful learning experience that I'll need to write about some other time. Suffice to say that I was impressed with the professionalism of the men and women I spent the shift with. The problem is that I was so impressed, rather than end my ride along at midnight as I had planned, I stayed until 6:00 a.m. Needless the say that left me packing for Denver frantically at six, in order to get out the door by 8:30 a.m. and to Detroit to catch my flight by noon. It's been a long journey, but I'm thrilled to be here now.
This coming Sunday I am lucky enough to be flying out to Denver to cover the Democratic Party Convention for Michigan Liberal.
There will be a lot going on in Denver. In addition to the speeches at the convention, there are symposiums, talks, speeches, protests, and parties. Yes, I’ve even been invited to a few parties by Michigan politicians. I won’t mention them by name so as not to have their reputation tainted by publicly associating with MichLib’s Resident Smart-Ass. You’re welcome.
Now that one of the most remarkable primaries in our nation's history has concluded, attention is turning to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In less than three months, the Mile High City and the Rocky Mountain West will host this historic event for the first time since 1908.
The Convention also coincides with Denver's 150th birthday - a century-and-a-half of progress and innovation since its birth at the height of the Colorado gold rush. A hub of opportunity for people seeking new frontiers, people come to Colorado seeking much more than gold these days. The spirit of visionary zeal and limitless possibility is as strong as ever in the New West. So it's fitting that as the Democratic Party marches toward its own new frontier, it will do so through Denver.
A message to all of you in Michigan: you don't have to be in Denver - or on the Convention floor - to get in on the action though. The Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee has organized two interactive ways for people anywhere in America to get involved. We're convening a national conversation about democracy and community and invite everyone to participate.
