Denver Trip 2008: 2008

Saturday, August 30, 2008

I'm sitting in the Denver airport right now, can't believe I'm going home. What a trip. Let me backtrack a little. After I posted last (wednesday afternoon i think), not too much happened- I worked Security (0kay- "access control") at the Convention Center for a Viewing Party of the Pepsi Center. Then met up with the normal crew, got a late dinner aaround 10:30, and headed back to the bus to go to Regis. We saw Keith Olberman on the way, which was awesome, and I got a picture and my press badge autographed.

But I'm sure you're more concerned with the Invesco Field acceptance speech!! Thursday we woke up around 10am (first day of sleeping in!), got dressed, picked up Subway and called a cab. Of course the cab never showed, so we took the packed city bus down to the stadium. No parking allowed at the stadium (I think for security reasons) but nearby businesses were selling parking spaces for $60. Ouch! We finially got there.....and by 'there', I mean really, really far from the enterence. Walked down streets, a steep hill, and through aisles and aisles in the parking lot. We finally got into Invesco around 1:30, 2:00ish and found our seats. John and I were in the 200-level (Invesco goes from 100-level to 500-level) in front of the jumbotron. Ashley, Kyle, and Mitch were also 200-level but were much farther back, so we eventually snuck them down to our seats. We had a pretty good view; obviously we were far away but the 100-level seats in our section had their views blocked by all the media tents, so we were appreciative of our view!! For a bit, there wasn't anything going on on the field but we could see into the media tents of MSNBC, FOX, CNN, etc. so we kept busy by watching them tape shows, watching Katie Couric get her makeup done, Michelle Obama walking in and out of tents, etc. Then some bluegrass country band played a couple songs, they took another break, and it started to get more interesting. Unfortunately, my plane is boarding so I've got to stop, but later tonight I will put up pictures and finish blogging!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Convention Day 3

NEW UPDATES AS OF 6pm

I guess this blog is transitioning from a description of what I've done to a photo album. That's okay,though, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

It's only 2:00 but I feel really productive. Here's the update:
Woke up today at 5:00 am to shower and get ready for the day...Boarded the 6:15 public bus with 4 Iowa students and our professor to go to the breakfast held by the Iowa Delegation. Every morning, they have a delicious buffet-style breakfast (sponsored by a donor) and do housekeeping, passing out credentials, socializing, speakers, etc. Today our (Iowa City) district's Representative Dave Loebsack sat with us and had an off-the-record breakfast. Awesome guy. I got a picture with him yesterday when I worked at the hotel, but here's one from today with the whole Iowa group. (he's in the middle with the black jacket)

I also talked to another districts Representative, Bruce Braley...but I didn't know it was him until someone said hello to him and used his name. Another easy to talk to politician, but I'm actually glad I didn't know who he was when we talked- it made it a lot easier. Here's a picture of the Iowa group with Rep. Braley (in the middle, white shirt)

During breakfast, we found out Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin, which was a JACKPOT! The Speaker of the House (and arguably the most powerful woman in politics) and an Illinois Senator....Didn't really make 100% sense to me what they were doing at a fairly small Iowa breakfast, but I liked it! Side note- I think Nancy Pelosi may have her eyes on the Presidency someday, because Iowa is an important starting point, and I can't think of another reason for her to appear.
But anyways, here is Dick Durbin talking-the layout of the room was odd, there were more tables behind the ones shown, then the doorway where people with cameras stood, then lots more tables and the food behind that.

And of course I asked if I could get a picture with the Senator when he was finished, and told him I'm from Lake County...Should have put on my Illinois pin before we took this!

Here are a couple pictures of Nancy Pelosi...and on the way out, I tried to get a picture but I didn't know she was going to walk so close to me that her jacket brushed up aginst me. It was neat, but I would have put the camera down and tried to smile or something if I had known.

After the breakfast ended, everyone chatted with each other for a bit. One of the delegates I was talking to asked if I had met Christie yet...I said no, and she introduced me to Christie Vilsak, wife of Tom Vilsak- the former governor of Iowa and Presidential Candidate. She talked to me about women in politics, how nervous she was when she spoke at the 2004 Dem. National Convention, and I came away with the impression of what a sincere, intelligent woman she is. I hope she someday runs for an office in Iowa. Here's a picture of us together

Then the delegate I mentioned asked if I wanted to go to a forum on healthcare, so John, Kyle, and I went with her. It was in a huge ballroom, and on the way in, the guys recognized Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. We took a QUICK picture with him because he was in a hurry,

and went into the ballroom. There were lots and lots of big, 10-person tables with posters, buttons, stickers, and pamphets on them. We stood in the back for a minute because we had walked in late, but a police officer tapped on Kyle's shoulder and whispered, "there are a bunch of empty seats up front". For whatever reason, there were many empty seats up at one of the tables in the front row, right of the stage. So we walked quietly up there, sat down, looked at the program, and could not believe who was speaking. We saw Gov. Ed Rendell (that explained why he was in such a hurry!), Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, former Senator Tom Daschle, and HILLARY CLINTON!
Here is part of the room behind me from my seat....I really have no idea how no one had taken this table yet.

My view, camera unzoomed, of the podium. This

Gov. Patrick

HILLARY walking out onstage

I snuck up a little to take this picture. It was great seeing Hillary today, right after her speech last night and because she released her delegates today. She was extremely pro-Obama, pro-Democrat, and even though health care has been her issue for years, she expressed confidence that Senator Obama will find the best solution to the crisis.

unzoomed again...great seats

So like I said, I was excited to see Nancy Pelosi because some consider her the most powerful female politician in America.....Others argue the title goes to Senator Clinton- I was fortunate enough to see them both in one morning! AND 5 Governors! AND many of Iowa's most influential politicians. To say this has been an eventful morning would be quite an understatement.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Picture-mania

CONVENTION HAS STARTED! this post is just going to be a lot of random, out of order pictures!

This would have been cooler if I had posted these on Friday, when I saw the Pepsi Center...you've probably seen it on tv by now, but here are some pics of our tour before it was finished. Here is the view from outside on the street

Walking from the corridor into the Pepsi Center

Walking in to see all the lights and podium

From the 200-level seating, Missouri delegation section. Illinois and Iowa are both up front on the floor, and behind/above us are a lot of tv crews

Newspaper/ radio sit in the stair-like platform on the left,you can see the ring of some tv studios in the background

Things are crazy downtown- these first few pics are from when a couple of the guys and I got caught in a big anti-abortion protest. Things got pretty tense, but nothing happened, just a lot of yelling. There are police/secret service/SWAT teams EVERYWHERE...literally. Look up on a building, there will be a couple on the roof. Go in a resteraunt and there will be a few cops on break eating. They ride horses, segways, SUV's, motorcycles, on foot, bike...everything.
A long row of cops on horses

Even the horses get riot gear!

Group of bike cops

You can see in this picture (this was when we got to the corner and were trying to cross the street) that one has a video camera- there is one about every half block taping everything going on, I assume so that if something happens they have a record.

This is also trying to cross the street, I don't know if you can tell but some have sandbag guns and those long sticks they use to hit people.

These next few are from this morning, I tagged along with my friend Mitch to the hotel where the Iowans are staying to help work front desk, give directions, etc.
Here I am with Iowa Governor Chet Culver- he gave a speech at the Iowa breakfast and speaks today at the Pepsi Center too

Here's me with long-time Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (I went to the Harkin Steak Fry last year and saw him speak there too...I'll probably go again this year because he's up for reelection. (He'll probably win in a landslide))

Here's me with Representative Dave Lobesak...really nice guy, I think the Iowa students are going to breakfast with him tomorrow

Told you this was jumpy...these next two are from Friday again, from the newspeople that stopped and interviewed some of our group. Here is John getting interviewed

Here is some of the people I was with and the cameraman (right) and reporter (black shirt to the right of me)

More backtracking, here are a couple of the more recent speakers:
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter answering questions

CSPAN panel

Howard Dean (former Presidential Candidate, currently the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee)

Ed Rendell, current Governor of Pennsylvania (big Clinton supporter, talked a lot about what it will take to get Hillary voters to swing to Obama)

We also had Pat Williams, a former Congressman from Montana come and talk, but I guess I forgot to get a picture of him

Back to Friday night- Here's a picture of me, Hana (goes to George Washington Univ. and interns for Senator Kennedy...side note-even she didn't know he would show up in Denver yesterday!), and Ashley at the Rockies game. Yes, I wore a Cubs shirt

Sun setting over Coors Field, you can see mountains on the horizon :)

Pictures from the theme park saturday- the typical group in the entrance

Ashley and I exctied about our prizes Saturday at six flags

And to end, a few random pictures from Monday
Protesters

Kyle after talking to Chris Matthews (Hardball) and getting his autograph

Outdoor stage- we got there just in time to find out Hillary Clinton had just finished getting interviewed on MSNBC

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Weekend update

To start with- I'm watching TV right now and there is a tornado warning...who knew? I know it's been a few days since I’ve written, but I’ve been insanely busy.

Friday started as usual, breakfast in the dorm cafeteria, then over to the Ranger Dome for speakers. We started with Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, who talked about energy and the future of Colorado-they are putting in huge wind farms, solar panels, etc. Another topic was the protestors at the Convention- Denver is expecting 20,000 protestors throughout the week….TWENTY THOUSAND! But he did laugh and made a comment that he welcomes them with open arms, because even protesters will have to eat while they’re here, and the state will gladly take their money. Then we had a C-SPAN panel to talk about the media, which was interesting, and there was a really opinionated radio talk show host but I didn’t really take notes so I won’t talk about them any more. After the morning session, we got on busses to go across town to the Pepsi Center. The Pepsi Center is the main location of the Convention activities- I will post pictures below. Though the Convention doesn’t start until Monday, it looked amazing and I was awestruck with the building. We got to sit in the middle section and take pictures and see the floor (my friend James was working security and stood at the podium) and the news boxes above, where a couple stations were setting up. There were already protesters outside (anti-abortion) and janitors hosing off the chalk messages written on the sidewalks. Saw a LOT of TV crews outside and saw CNN’s John Roberts. Then we had about 2 hours to kill downtown so a couple of us went with my Professor to ESPN Zone to watch the Cubs game and eat. An older man was joking with me and trash talking me for being a Cubs fan, and when I asked him where he was from he said the south side of Chicago and that he was in Denver as security for Mayor Daley. I only talked to him for a few minutes, but I’m glad I did. Then we walked over to the Denver Convention Center (the other location for DNC activities), but on the way there was a local TV crew that wanted to interview us for the nightly news. We did that, but never saw it air because we were out that night. Anyways, we finished the interview, got some coffee and went to the Convention Center to hear Howard Dean speak. He’s now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He didn’t speak for very long, which was understandable because he must be very busy this weekend. Then we changed clothes and headed over the Coors Field for the Colorado Rockies/Cincinnati Reds game. The Rockies lost, but our decent seats were only $10 and Ashley had never been to a game, so it was a good time. We got back and heard about Obama’s VP choice, so I watched some CNN. I got a text from Obama at 1:49 am confirming his choice for Biden, which I wasn’t very happy about…But I guess it got leaked so they had to confirm it.

Side note: being in Denver, dressed very professionally, wearing our Washington Center credentials around our necks, in a time where you never know who could be important, has really made me feel like a celebrity. Twice, I’ve had older ladies take pictures of my friends and me standing around with their camera phones. I went into a hotel to see if they had an outgoing mail slot to send a b-day card and the front desk was bending over backward to see if I needed any other assistance.

SATURDAY
Didn’t do much, but found out my volunteer hours that I’m supposed to be putting in for the whole week are basically non-existent. I am working only one night, so I spent a lot of time calling Super delegates from Iowa and Illinois. I’m hoping one of them will need someone to put in some time for them, or do SOMETHING. There was a media party at night at Six Flags Elitch Gardens, which we almost didn’t go. It sounded like a bunch of political media people standing around in suits talking about nothing, so the Iowa guys, Ashley, and I talked about skipping it. We thought there might be a little free food though, so we picked up some media passes and headed over. It was an AMAZING night. We got there and had to show our media passes to get in for free- the park was closed to the public. We tried to pay for a locker to put our purses away, but they gave us a key for free. Then people gave us maps of the park and told us every ride and game was open. All the food stands (popcorn, hot dogs, cotton candy, elephant ears) and drinks (Gatorade, lemonades, bottled water) were open too- for free. I played games and when I lost, they gave me stuffed animal prizes-for free. There were beer tents with wine, mixed drinks, mojitos, beer like Blue Moon, Coors, etc- FOR FREE. No tips accepted either. It was the most fun I think I’ll have at an amusement park, ever. For three and a half hours, we ran around and did literally everything there was to do. When the night was ending, there was a fireworks display. But not just one set of fireworks, they went off from three different locations at the corners of the park in sync. Unbelievable.

SUNDAY
Today I haven’t done too much- woke up around 10 and called Patrick Harris (who picked me up from the airport last week). He came to Regis and picked up Ashley and me, and took us to Boulder CO because we’ve never been. We walked around the Pedestrian Mall (loved it) and ate lunch at a local restaurant. We sat up on the patio upstairs and could see all the mountains surrounding us. It was awesome. After lunch, he brought us home and I tried to call some more Super delegates but no one answered their phones. Now I’m just hanging out in the main lounge at Regis, watching a little TV and writing this before I have to do some academic work. I’ll add pictures later.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Sorry I missed yesterday..

No update last night- too much going on. I think I've got to start with a little bit of local publicity I got: www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808190318

And a bit of good news- there are a couple girls in my small I've gotten to know a little, one from Florida and one from Missouri. They were downtown Denver tonight for dinner and ran into Reverend Leah Daughtry (one of our speakers) on the street. They stopped to talk to her and Daughty offered them credentials (tickets int0) Invesco Field for Obama's acceptance speech next Thursday. And not only did Daughtry offer the girls tickets, she generously gave them tickets so they could bring a few Washington Center friends...and they are giving me one! Needless to say, I'm really excited to have guaranteed entrance into the stadium.

Speaking of Invesco Field, we had a reception there last night in some fancy reception lounge for season ticket holders. There were some of the speakers, Regis staff and alumni, invited guests, and Washington Center participants and faculty leaders. I didn't network as much as I probably should have, but my roommate got one of her textbooks signed by Tom Cronin (the author) and is planning to bring it home to one of her political science professors. On the bus ride back, though, I sat next to Bob Loevy, the Republican speaker I disagreed with so much....I couldn't resist telling him how I'm an Iowa resident and really enjoy the attention the candidates pay to our state :). He still didn't really listen to anything I had to say- I guess I understand because when I googled him there were pages and pages of hits about his work and opinions. I told him that I was impressed by the search results, and we got into talking about this upcoming election and what the Democrats are doing wrong. Not a bad ride home :) -See pictures below post-

Yesterday we had speakers in charge of the Convention talk to us about more planning of the convention, and one of the more interesting points to me was that there will be 15,000 members of the media in Denver for the Convention, and there are delegates and politicians in 100 different hotels. Then we had Tom (T.R) Reid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.R._Reid) from NPR and the Washington Post speak about the media press core that follows candidates. In his career, he has covered 20 American Presidential Candidates and several foreign candidates for office. One of his funnier stories was about Howard Dean- apparently he wrote an article for the Washington Post about how Howard Dean has an explosive temper. Dean read the story several days later, and yelled at Reid for writing it. One of the earlier campaigns that he enjoyed was Bill Clinton's campaign for re-election to Arkansas governor, which shows how far back and how broad of stories he has written about.

I am also going to be working Security for at least part of the Convention at one of the venues, and we had an afternoon training session with the do's and don'ts of the job, but we're not allowed to talk about what we saw at the training or what we see at the Convention..at least not yet, I think we can talk about it after it ends but I will have to check. They explained there is a lot that happens at the Convention sites that isn't public knowledge at the time it happens, and as a precaution we're not allowed to talk about specifics of our job. sorry!
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Today we had morning speakers and the afternoon free. We heard from Elbra Wedgeworth, who started the bid for the Denver Convention in the fall of 2005. I thought about it and realized that in the fall of '05, I was still in high school, hadn't even read "Dreams from my Father" yet, and even some Illinois residents were skeptical because 'Obama' sounded too much like 'Osama'. But there was Ms. Wedgeworth, fighting to get a Democratic Convention in Denver in '08. Interesting.

Our second speaker was Agent David O'Connor, Special Agent in Charge with the Secret Service. He had a hard time with the question and answer portion because he really couldn't answer any specific questions people had. But he did talk about working for the Clintons and having to go to school, concerts, etc. with Chelsea Clinton which I liked, and spent a good amount of time reminding us that during the Convention, we will probably be in the safest city in America. He had a thick Boston accent, and this is his 6th Presidential Campaign; he's worked with Gore, Buchanan, Clinton, and G.W. Bush among others, and was one of the people who got to drive the pope mobile when the Pope came to New York City!!

PICTURES FROM WEDNESDAY at Invesco Field Reception:

Here is my small group in front of the stadium. Noteable-my Professor in back with the glasses and my friend James from Youth Parliment (London) is second to left with the purple tie.