There are several different worlds that you can immerse yourself in here during the Democratic convention. There’s the official track of events, with a plethora of committees and caucuses (African American, Hispanic, Ethnic, Asia Pacific Islander American, GLBT, Senior, RUral, Women’s), councils (faith, disability, youth, military & veterans) and, I’m sure, others. These are meeting during the week. These are followed by the official convention proceedings that you’ll see in prime time television.
Then there are the competing tracks of events by third parties. Progressive Democrats of American has teamed up with The Nation magazine to offer a complete week of issue presentations, The Big Tent has another complete week, and there’s a long list of press conferences, speakers, and panels on virtually every issue.
Then there’s the street events. The majority of visible protest yesterday expressed opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with anger at the inability or unwillingness of Democrats to do more to bring the wars to an end. Opposition to human rights violations, Guantanamo, etc., were part of this. Environmental causes were the next most visible, I think, with lots of attention to green energy vs. big oil. Health care, women’s issues, choice, labor, you name it, advocates are here.
Then the festivities. Meals, receptions, informal gatherings, official and unofficial, are the order of the day, starting with several last night, all of which I missed, I’m sad to say. I decided sleep had to be a priority after flying through Saturday night.
The most interesting thing was moving around Denver yesterday and catching snippets of conversation of Democrats from around the country. The people coming to this convention are immersed in their local and state politics. They’re active, opinionated, and here for politics.
Starting in the shuttle from the airport, it’s politics. Joe Lieberman should not be anywhere near Denver, from the tone of what I’ve heard. Mention Dan Inouye’s fundraising for Republican Senator Ted Stevens and you get a more muted reaction but still clear resentment from the party troops. There are splits between party leaders and the party troops which gets expressed. I haven’t heard anything except enthusiasm about Obama’s candidacy and the prospects for November and beyond.
It’s a political zoo.
And did I mention that downtown transportation was stopped in its tracks several times on Sunday? There’s a main transit/pedestian mall running along 16 Street from one end of downtown to the other. It might be 1.5 miles or so, I’m guessing. Free buses shuttle back and forth. The spot where media pick up credentials is in a pair of hotels on one end of the mall, the convention center is in there somewhere, and the Pepsi Center, site of the official proceedings, along with the Big Tent (the progressive center of things), are down on the other end.
Several times during the day the shuttles were grounded as protests, or the preparations to control protests, blocked the way through. And you can see in yesterday’s photos that the light rail was also blocked by that one late afternoon street demonstration. The train I was on sat for most of an hour before the way was cleared. That was lucky, because I could get on and off to get more photos as events unfolded.
Wow. Good news from the convention committee. According to an email received last night, state bloggers will have a hard-line ethernet connection and power while sitting with the state delegations on the convention floor. I’ll believe it when I see it, but this is good news indeed, at least for blogging during the official proceedings.
Bad news. I’m told there’s one security entrance to the Pepsi Center and one exit, so there will be lots of standing in line and delays in getting into the convention proceedings.
And getting there from here in our hotel isn’t simple. The trip takes over 30 minutes by light rail and seems much longer. Yesterday I had to transfer to get downtown to pick up credentials for today–every day requires a new set of credentials to hang around your neck for identification. Delegates get theirs here at the hotel. Media and bloggers have to slog downtown.
Today’s Denver Post reports tornadoes not far enough away from Denver for my comfort.
