Just an Ordinary Night in Denver

Pepsi Arena

Denver, Colorado

August 26, 2008

An amazing first day for me at the Democratic National Convention. I arrived in Denver and checked into my hotel room, and then proceeded to the Pepsi center for the Tuesday night festivities. I was excited to attend Tuesday. Senator Clinton's speech in my mind was one of the most important points of the convention.

A shuttle bus takes attendees from our hotel to the Pepsi Center, and I met a great person on the bus named Oscar. A delegate from Greenfield, Oscar has been volunteering for the last several weeks in New Hampshire for Barack Obama. He loves being active, and being involved in politics. We shared our experiences, and noted how while both like civic service, sometimes politics can be frustrating.

The events at the Pepsi Center were incredible. I had a nice seat up in the balcony, with a bird's eye view of the proceedings. Hillary's address was on the money, and the crowd was warmed by the Governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer. Behind Hillary, Schweitzer's speech was the best of the night. From my seat, I could see Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, and Bill Clinton.

This morning, I picked up my credential for tomorrow night's acceptance speech by Barack Obama. I attended a breakfast of the Massachusetts delegation at our hotel. Congressman Barney Frank ran the agenda, with speeches by the House Whip, Jim Clyburn, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (The Massachusetts and Maryland delegations are sharing this hotel). I ran into Governor Deval Patrick and Suffolk County Sherriff Andrea Cabral, as well as my City Councilor Mike Ross.

The Massachusetts delegation cast its votes this morning, too. My good friend Nikko Mendoza, a Massachusetts delegate, cast her vote for Hillary.

Denver Here I Come

For the next few days, I am visiting the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I woke this morning to front-page stories about Michelle Obama and Ted Kennedy speaking last night at the Pepsi Center, speeches I heard on TV.

I thought the speeches were pretty good, but unfortunately, CNN did not. They quickly proclaimed that the Democrats "wasted" day one of the convention and did not focus enough on making a contrast between Senator John McCain and Senator Obama. This follows Sunday night, when CNN led off its convention coverage by highlighting the discord between the Obama and Clinton camps. It appears the McCain spin machine, which according to the New York Times has already introduced three ads since Saturday morning, has gotten to the CNN political team.

As for me, I am sitting at JFK airport, waiting for a noontime flight to Denver. It's a pretty busy day here at JFK. JetBlue is apparently building a new terminal, and my Boston inbound flight ultimately parked at a a retrofitted temporary terminal.

My seatmate on the way to New York was coming here for work. He mentioned Senator Kennedy's speech last night, noting that while he doesn't agree with Kennedy's politics, he can't help but admire him.