It Just Keeps Getting Better and Better!

Submitted by k-morman on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 12:53am.

The past two days have been absolutely terrific. Both yesterday and today,
we got an insider's perspective on the Convention from the very people who are
making it happen. Yesterday the executive producer of the Convention, Ricky
Kershner, talked to us about the production side of the Convention, as opposed
to the political aspect of it. He himself said that he was not very political,
so it was a different perspective then we had been exposed to. The next speaker
was Reverend Leah Daughtry, the CEO of the Democratic National Convention
Committee. I have to say that she was one of my favorite speakers. She conveyed
a message of not rising to judge people and accepting others for who they are.
She also spoke of how she got into politics to help people and sometimes that
gets lost in all of the political games played. This really resonated with me
because that is why I want to get involved in politics - to help people.

After our speakers, we went to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. It was our
first real venture into the mountains and it was absolutely gorgeous and one of
the most amazing sights I have ever seen. The amphitheatre is actually a
natural one made out of the stone of Red Rocks. After, we went to downtown
Denver and explored the Capital, where we saw the proof of why it is the Mile
High City. The Denver Civic Center where the Civic Center, Art Museum, and the
Denver Public Library are located was another stop that evening.

Today, we got more insight into the Convention preparations today when the
Deputy CEO's for In the Hall Operations and Outside the Hall Operations, Travis
Dredd and Cameron Moody respectively. They discussed all of the preparations
that have gone into the Convention and the last minute details that still have
to go into it. One thing that has become apparent to me after hearing all of
the speakers in charge of the Convention and experiencing Denver that it is the
perfect city to host this Convention and that it has been very well planned
from the beginning, a year-and-a-half-ago. We had my favorite speaker of the
seminar today, TR Reid, journalist for the Washington Post. He provided a much
different perspective than any other speaker we have had to this point. He was
a tremendous public speaker and used tremendous personal anecdotes of his
experiences with different candidates.

There was also a lot of excitement today because we received our placements
for Convention week. I will be a volunteer for Rock the Vote among a few other
placements. It will be very a very exciting week needless to say! I will tell
you more when I know some more information.

We had a reception this evening at INVESCO Field at Mile High, the Denver
Broncos football stadium where Barack Obama will make his nomination acceptance
speech. It was sponsored by Regis University, our hosts for the Convention and
was held in the Mile Hi Club seat lounge. But, we only got to this event after
an interesting afternoon and early evening.

On our initial night in Denver, we went to the Tattered Cover book store,
where we discovered that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, would be signing
her new book, Know Your Power on Wednesday night. After not knowing
whether we would be able to go or not, this afternoon Sam Kinstle and I finally
were sure that we could go and had it okayed by all of the necessary people.
After taking a taxi to the bookstore, we got our tickets and sat down for a Q
& A session followed by the book signing. It was a tremendously
interesting experience because of the protestors who were present at the Q
& A. Needless to say, they were thrown out after saying there remarks, but
it was our first real exposure to protestors while in Denver. We Northerners
were even commended by the Pelosi security team because Sam started a cheer for
the Speaker while the protestors were creating a ruckus. We got our books
signed and then it was off to our reception at INVESCO.

After walking to the Pepsi Center to get to INVESCO, we were diverted by
security to take the long way around to INVESCO. After walking along the fence,
we finally cut across a parking lot where we met another security guard. He was
helping us find our way around when we spotted a Grey Line bus that has been
busing us to and from Denver. We flagged him down and he took us to INVESCO for
our reception. Needless to say, the bus driver was our new hero.

Each day, there has been something to top what happened the day before, so I
can't wait to see what happens tomorrow on our journey in Denver!