Denver- DNC Day 1 Perspectives & Climate

SPIRIT OF THE DNC
There are people throughout the airport holding signs that say “Questions?” and are working in conjunction with the DNC and the McDonald employees are all wearing obama t-shirts.

There are three secret service workers standing in front of me. they discussed how wearing sunglasses allows them to see where a bullet is coming from if one is shot out. The guy I take to be a senior official is commenting that the convention center is not very good from a security standpoint. If they need to rush in emergency help, it’s in a gridlock and not very easy to get in and out of.

To my right is a huddle of three people, one of whom said he worked on the Dukakis campaign. They said selecting Biden has been a growing evolution. How he responds with sense. Biden is a dog. At one point he was going to be B’s press secretary. They talked about how Kennedy is doing better.

Our luggage is taking an abominably long time and we find out over the loudspeaker that it’s because Nancy Pelosi was on our flight along with secret service. The flight number is erased from the screen but slowly our bags are making their way along the carousel.

In the shuttle I meet Jamie who is a volunteer in the press office and has just flown in from Washington DC where he works on the Senate Budget in the areas of defense and foreign affairs. David is sitting to my right and he works in the press office with the House Foreign Affairs. The other passenger, Gary is a lobbyist from California. We ride downtown as David and I discuss the Georgia / Russian matter of Ossetia.

We pass street corners flanked with cops close to the convention center. There is a heightened sense of energy and alert in the air.

Tonight after we set up our booth and were back in the hotel, we heard booming cracks outside and ran to the window to see fireworks exploding for a good five minutes. The hotel lobby is playing the Star Spangled Banner.

It is all very kinetic, this energy, this possibility afloat in the air. Stay tuned. Tomorrow we may crash a DNC after-hours party.