Whew!

Wednesday in Denver

Hi everyone....
Yesterday is a blurr. Did not have a minute to sit and write.
The morning started with the usual breakfast at our hotel
John and I missed the first speaker, a Kennedy family member. (We slept in until 7:30)
Governor Rendell spoke, asking delegates to be unified and vote for Obama. He stressed that they should vote their conscience and do what was right for them, but hoped that PA would be united for Obama.

After the breakfast we went back to our hotel room to begin organizing for our trip home. There are so many goodie canvas bags filled with all sorts of surprises. All hospitality gifts from various businesses. Went through each bag, deciding what comes home and what stays in Denver.

Off to downtown Denver with a delegate that has rented a car.

Before departing for Denver, the Clinton campaign called us to invite us to a gathering at the Convention Center on Wednesday at 1:15 PM. What I thought was going to be a small intimate group of delegates from PA ended up being an invitation to all of her delegates. The line to get into the room was backed up through the Convention Center.

There must have been over 2,000 people. One of the things that struck me was that there were as many men as women.

Hillary came into the room and the place exploded........ After things quieted down she thanked everyone for their hard work, for showing up today and got right to the point. She was here to release her delegates and ask them to vote for Obama. Hillary said,
"I cast my vote for Obama this morning"....The crowd applauded for a long time. Hillary talked about unity..... and the importance of being one with our voices. It was a wonderful, emotional speech. There were people crying.

There was one woman.... An older woman.... (When I say older, since I am sixty-ish you get my jest). She seemed a bit cranky, but I tried to strike up a conversation. She looked at her watch and said, "I knew it, they set this up so that all of the Hillary delegates would not be at the Pepsi Center in time for the roll call and the vote". Ten minutes later people were told that roll call would be an hour later. So much for her conspiracy theory.....

We left the Convention Center and walked another 15 blocks to a lovely Italian Restaurant where the Boeing people were sponsoring a hospitality gathering for PA Delegates. More delicious food and lots of conversations....

Early roll call so the delegates depart for the Pepsi Center and I (for the first time) take a cab to the Convention Center. Ended up sharing a ride with four executives from Southwest Airlines. Not too sure that they were all that happy to be sharing the cab with a dem but they said they could not walk any further.

Since I had a ticket into the convention center I was able to forgo the security check. Stood in line next to a lovely young woman and we began chatting about the amount of security everywhere. Turns out that she works for Chicago, Mayor Daly in his Washington D.C. office. We decided to sit together to watch the live feed from the Pepsi Center.

She had missed Mayor Daly and was disappointed, but decided to stay for one or two more speakers. She ended up spending the entire evening.

About an hour into the program my new friend noticed an empty backpack about four seats to her left with no one around. Needless to say we both agreed that we should alert the police. The police were quick to respond and by the time the policy arrived, so did the owner of the backpack.

There is something energizing about being in a large room with so many people. As we all left the auditorium, we talked with strangers as though we have known them for all of our life. Everyone was energized, enthused and happy....

I said goodbye to my friend and headed across the street to catch the rail back to our hotel.

Back at the hotel John and I meet up to have a glass of wine and talk about the day. He told me that he sat next to Harris Wolford on the convention floor.
Rob McCord (candidate for State Treas.) sat in front of him. John says that on Monday the DNC set the stage and Tuesday and Wednesday the momentum that the last two nights they have been stepping up the rhetoric against the Republicans.

Off to bed... We are up early Thursday to hear a "surprise" speaker for breakfast.

Boeing has invited us to a Hospitality luncheon at a wonderful Italian Restaurant downtown. Today we find a fellow delegate that has rented a car, so several of us chip in and give him money for gas and parking. It took us ten minutes to get to downtown Denver by car.

More walking.........

Thursday in Denver

Up at 6:30 to get downstairs before 8:30 AM.
There is to be a "surprise" guest speaker for the PA Delegation at breakfast.
As we enter the hallway leading to the Ball Room there are two metal detectors (the ones you walk through) set up and the usual tables where you place your purse, keys and anything metal. Secret Service are everywhere.

Governor Rendell welcomes everyone and gave the usual housekeeping items for the day. (Instructions on the day).

John and I were seated at a table next to an emergency exit in the front of the room. Suddenly there were Secret Service everywhere. Standing at the door, behind me (where I sat) and around the stage.

Senator Casey spoke and introduced Vice Presidential Candidate Joseph Biden from Scranton, PA by way of Delaware.

It was all wonderful. Senator Biden's wife Jill accompanied him. It was Biden's first speech since accepting the VP Nomination last night! Everyone is talking about what a wonderful man he is. Seemed that every other person in the room has met him or somehow been touched by the Senator.

After the speeches the Senator left the stage and came down to the ballroom floor. Secret Service everywhere...... people surrounding him, so deep that you could not see the Senator.

It was at this time that I decided that John and I should have our picture taken with the Senator. We agreed to stay close and try to work our way up through the crowd. Everyone was courteous... and we did it.... We approached the Senator and asked if we could stand for a picture.

Having traveled all this way, and not making it onto the convention floor for even a minute, I decided that a picture with the Senator would be my reward.  And it is....

We have been asking for four tickets to the Mile High Stadium since before leaving PA.
Now I ask you, 71,000 tickets and all we want are four tickets!! John automatically received a ticket for himself and a guest. But get this; the guest is not permitted to ride on the delegate bus. John says that every time he gets on a delegate bus there is a policeman with a large duffle bag.

John has a business associate that lives here in Denver and since we began this journey they have talked of getting together when we are in Denver. Then the Mile High Stadium acceptance speech came along and it was decided that we would all meet up for the event.

We have been able to locate two guest tickets from delegates that are here alone. But the tickets are in different parts of the stadium.

The buses start leaving at 2 PM .. We were told that due to security, we should be prepared to do quite a bit of walking.

The action starts at 3 PM Mountain time.

I had been planning to Skype with my book club friends back home this evening. With the time differences, I was sure that we could Skype at 3:00 Denver time...which would be 5 PM back in PA. (Or 3:30 here, 5:30 there).

Never thought that we would have to leave the hotel by 2 to 3 to be at the stadium. This will be a six or seven hour adventure.

Must run.........Have stayed too long. we are due back in the Ball Room for lunch.

Sorry that I do not have time to clean this up for reading.........

We leave our hotel at 5:30 tomorrow morning to catch our plane home...

Will try to send a line late tonight..........

Thanks again to everyone that helped get petitions signed and who voted for John as delegate to this historic Democratic Convention

Love, Colleen