For those of you who can’t be in Denver, I offer a modest photo diary. I can’t take you inside the Pepsi Center, since I don’t have credentials, but at least you’ll get a bit of the flavor of Denver under the influence of 50,000 Democrats, press and assorted other folks.
I arrived Saturday night, and headed downtown in the morning to get my NY Delegation guest "pin" and my Big Tent credentials. I spent the rest of the afternoon being a tourist, and observing various protests.
The prettiest protest by far was the Code Pink march through the pedestrian-only mall area.
The most irritating group was the anarchists, who were keeping these guys busy yesterday.
And then, of course, there are the right-wingers.
By mid-afternoon I decided to get out of the sun and check out the amazing architecture of the Denver Art Museum.
In the evening I joined the NY Delegation and guests at a reception. Attendees included our newish Governor David Patterson,
and Congressman Charlie Rangel.
It was also nice to see NY friends, including Justin Krebs, founder of Drinking Liberally and NY kossack silverleaf.
I started off today with the NY delegation again, at a breakfast. We were joined by Senator Schumer
and surprise guest, Hillary Clinton. It was there that she said, "I’m Hillary Clinton and I do NOT approve this message." She urged once again for everyone to do everything in their power to make sure Obama wins the White House.
After breakfast I waited around for a few hours hoping to snag one of the extra delegation passes to get in to the Pepsi Center tonight. Nearly 100 delegation guests were vying for only 5 credentials, which were given away by lottery (I lost).
So I finally headed over the The Big Tent. Now THIS is impressive.
The first thing I did when I got inside was head to the Google booth for a smoothie. How cool is it that Google is giving us free smoothies all day?
Here are some views of The Big Tent from the inside.
Kudos to all of the organizers and sponsors of The Big Tent. It’s fantastic that we bloggers have a way to be a part of the Convention after becoming such key players in the political process.
The press seems to think it’s pretty cool too. Everywhere you look someone is filming or photographing or interviewing bloggers. And some from the media just stop in to check it out and chat, like our friend Jonathan Alter.
A few other people who have passed through The Big Tent today:
Van Jones
And a couple of other notables ☺
Now we’re getting ready for the main speakers at the Pespi Center. I’d love to be there where the action is, but it’s also pretty great being HERE where the action is.