Denver Experience part 3

The most pleasant surprise of the convention was that there are tons of things to do for non-delegate attendees. Caucuses were held at the convention center for each sub-group and anyone can attend these meeting for free. I fit into rural, senior, and women groups. Bobbie’s daughter, Suzie, slipped into the GLBT, Black and NY delegation meetings. Jessie Jackson, and Hillary stopped in these events and their talks were more spontaneous and relaxed than at the nighttime convention.

I am a MSNBC viewer so when we found the outdoor stage for that TV station we knew our favorite pundits had to be close. Late on Tuesday night Keith Olbermann came down to the bottom level to greet and talk to us fans. Getting a good picture was impossible but I did get a picture of his cool black limo driving away. My favorite female commentator Rachel Maddow, just had to be around somewhere but I didn’t recognized her at first. She casually left the stage with 2 staffers, walking through the remaining small crowd. Knowing Maddow’s eccentric personality I shouldn’t have been surprised to see here dressed in a green-stripped polo shirt, horned rimmed glasses and red tennis shoes. She answered questions and held a mini discussion about the convention.

We frequently ran into the same volunteers as we rode the bus to and from town. Every one of them was excited because they had snagged tickets for Obama’s Thursday night event- everyone, that is,except for the three of us. When we got off the bus a volunteer gave us a card with an updated schedule for tonight’s event- Howard Dean, Bill Richardson, Al Gore, Dick Durbin and Barack Obama- all my favorite male politicians. This was starting to get painful. We tried not to let our mood sink but we were sooo close but no tickets. We checked our phones for messages, nothing.


We did have reservations for the IL Democratic Women’s luncheon that I knew would have both well-known female politicians and friends. Our bus never came, probably due to the reroute around the Invesco Center. But our angels sent a woman to us who had been driving VIPS in a black SUV. She shouted out the window asking if we needed a ride. She dropped us off directly outside the Marriot where our luncheon was held. Our good luck continues when we happened to walk directly by Durbin’s staffer sitting at a table with a stack of tickets. She casually asked if we still needed some for tonight’s event. We couldn’t believe that ----WE were going to Obama’s acceptance speech!

It was great to see friendly faces at the luncheon including several state politicians. We all knew that the event would have to be shortened so we could stand in line to get into the convention. The speakers abbreviated their talk until Lisa Madigan, IL’s attorney general, was at the podium. Several impatient attendees just got up and left but I did enjoy her long review about Obama’s great record in the IL Senate. At the end of her dragged out speech she brightened up as you looked at the back of the room and stated, “Now I know you will not be disappointed because I want to introduce OUR senator, Barack Obama”

In he walked with his big toothy grin, followed by 3 secret service guards. We learned later that this unscheduled stop, did not require heightened security. He stated, “I thought I would just stop by and practice my speech for tonight.” He thanked us for all the good work we, especially the women of IL, have done for the party and him. After his brief talk he took his time to shake hands and take pictures with him. Like a true groupie, I stood on top of a chair the whole time and just watched and listened. Suzie came back thrilled. She got a hug from Obama. If our experience would have ended here, we would have been satisfied.

If you want to check out us women going crazy when Obama showed up at our luncheon go to minute 2 of this video

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#26444864


Fun things to do in Denver
1. Sit in the middle of the 16th Street mall and eat vendor ice cream
2. Visit the Tattered Book Store at the north end of 16th Street
3. Take a ride on the light rails, it is a fast smooth ride
4. Ride the buses and enjoy the friendliness of the locals

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