DNC Day 3: Day of the Big Dog

Wednesday morning I hopped out of bed and pulled the curtains open, ready to tackle day three of the convention. Having one full day under my belt, I felt like I knew the ropes as well as I was going to this go around. When my feet hit the floor, I was reminded how far I had hiked and more specifically, how bad my feet and legs hurt. I would be willing to bet I walked at least five and more likely closer to ten miles a day at the convention. For a fellow who punches keyboard for a living, that is a lot of hiking. Sore legs and all, nothing could contain my downright giddiness at the prospect of seeing Bill Clinton speak live. If you passed me on the streets of Denver that day, I was the one stuttering about going to see the "big dog". I was supposed to get to go see him in Tupelo at the Furniture Market this year, but it snowed and I did not want to try my luck driving in the snow.

I tanked up on a big breakfast at my hotel and made my way to the bus stop with two nice young fellows from California who were part of a Young Democrat delegation. We waited for about 30 minutes for our bus, while one of them ranted about everything that had annoyed him so far at the convention. He mentioned that he wanted to get in to politics. I did not have the heart to tell him that he had the diplomacy skills of a hand grenade.

The word on the street for Wednesday was to watch out for the protesters. Things were supposed to take a turn for the worse as the protests were scheduled to be stepped up. I never saw this amount to anything, but I was warned nevertheless. After riding the RTD (bus) to my usual stop on Market Street, I exited the bus and entered in to a long conversation with a gentlemen with a thick British accent about Naomi Klein's latest book, "The Shock Doctrine". He was the first person I have met that had read the book. I then quickly hopped on the Mall Line to make the ride towards my credentials.

With Wednesday's credentials in hand, I made my way down the Mall Line again to the Big tent. Here it was around 11:00 and I had nothing to do but blog and soak in the action. I found a seat close to the interview corner of the tent. Next to me were bloggers from Washington state, Alabama, South Dakota, and England. There was a girl standing close to me that had on a shirt that read, "I blogged your girlfriend", utterly classic. It was time to get down to the business of blogging. I started working on organizing my notes and began work on several blogs, some of which have yet to come to fruition. It was hard to concentrate, due to the zoo-like atmosphere of the Big Tent. There was a microphone in the corner, with someone making announcements every five minutes. Markos was posted along the wall granting someone an interview every hour or so it seemed. The Kos bunch was set up on some couches in the back of the tent. Here I met Brownsox and Plutonium Page, two well known front pagers for Daily Kos. Brownsox wanted to talk to me about the Musgrove race.

One thing I took away from the Big Tent was the overall excitement for the Musgrove Wicker race. I must have answered questions what felt like 100 times over the four days. I really wish Ronnie Musgrove would have come to Denver and shown up at the Big Tent. He would have been well received. On this Wednesday I had the privilege of shaking Senator John Tester's of Montana hand. He gave a brief interview followed by a round of shaking hands. He, along with Senator Webb, were my two favorites of the class of 2006. Tester reminds me of a Mississippi Democrat in the way he carried the red state of Montana. He is an organic farmer, who is pro-gun, and sports a flat top. Every time I saw an ad for him he was standing on a farm, or in front of a tractor. He neutralized the GOP attack (like Childers) and then whooped them with good ole economic populism.

The roll call vote was very exciting inside the tent. We all stood and cheered when our state's delegation was called on. I was the lone ranger for Mississippi, but did my best to let the others know there was one redneck in the house. As honored guest after honored guest made their way around the tent, with the microphone belting out each new arrival, I found it increasingly hard to blog. Before long I looked up and realized it was getting close to 5:00. I wanted to see Bill Clinton speak and thought it might be best to try and head on over to the Pepsi Center. The line this time was twice as long as long as the day before. I was not worried after the night before, I just figured it would work out. Boy was I wrong.

I finally made it inside to find all of the curtains to the portals I was assigned to use pulled shut. Apparently the DNCC gave out an extra 3,000 credentials than they had seats. Unfortunately for me, I was a part of the unlucky 3,000 for night three. About that time, I heard "...President Bill Clinton", from inside the arena. My heart sank, but I decided make the best of it and gathered around one of the many big screens that were set up in the corridor. By the time he started talking there was at least 50 of us gathered around this one TV. In our group was young, old, black, white, and a latino fellow wearing a union hard hat with every union pin made this decade adoring his hat band. He was all smiles during Bill's speech. That scene was repeated every other portal where another group would be gathered around a TV. There were easily well over a 1,000 folks out in the hall on just my level, not to mention the other two or three levels of the arena. We cheered and laughed as Bill gave his speech. He is still the best speaker out there, minus a fellow named Obama.

I then decided to watch the rest of the night from the comfort of the Big Tent, where there was free food and free beer. I missed the John Kerry speech in my haste to make it back from the Pepsi Center to the Big Tent. Day three had its share of disappointments for me, but all in all it was a winner. I learned that I better head to Invesco early if I wanted make sure I was able to see Obama speak. After Biden's speech, which was my favorite of the night, I decided it was time for some fun in Denver. The RTD ran up until 11:25, so I had an hour an a half to mill around downtown Denver. I took some great pictures that are being transferred and cleaned up by a friend of mine. Time got away from me, and I had to run two blocks in five minutes to make it to the bus stop in time to get home.

Next up Day 4, the big day, the big speech!!