Freaks and Geeks

Welcome to the circus that is the area surrounding the Xcel Center.

I'm not quite sure I understand their map. They offered to give me some free literature on the subject, but I passed.

Here's something fun. On the back it had a picture of John McCain holding a dead fetus. Not kidding. And, the Hawaii delegation watches it all from afar.

Where the Elephants Roam

With only one day (praise Jesus!) left in the convention, I guess I should post some pictures of our RNC workspace.

They really rolled out the red ($360) carpet for us here.

This time, instead of working in a freezing tent, we're in a freezing gymnasium. Also, the overhead lights have gone from non-existent, to interrogation-bright. I believe I've lost all sense of time.

Here's a handy map of the Xcel Center complex. It's not handy at all because the complex is actually more of a giant maze and not one of the 4,000 volunteers wondering around here have any idea where anything is.

A view of a another gymnasium-type workspace adjacent to ours. The random car down there is some sort of promotional thing. The journalists walking by it can barely afford bikes, so I'm not sure it was the most brilliant marketing strategy.

The convention floor. This is the view from the press stand.

Tomorrow, all of these balloons will fall on John McCain's head.

And, finally: proof that I'm actually here (and that St. Paul is windy).

The CNN Grill Episode 2: Blitzer Strikes Back

Well, they shipped the CNN Grill and all their fancy neon signs over to St. Paul. Don't ask me how they did it. I'm too tired to care.


I took this shot is from the inside of the security zone, thus making the Grill look like even more of a fortress.



MSNBC just can't compete. They've got a tent in a park somewhere and a couple of cameras:



Fight on Chris Matthews. Fight on.

Lines for Obama

This afternoon, as I was making my 3rd walk of the day from the parking garage to our workspace, I snapped a few photos of the crazy-ass line to get into Invesco.

That's the parking garage on the left. On the right is a shit-ton of hope mongers.

It's hard to see, but the line runs behind that row of cars. It's a long, long road to Invesco.

There are always long lines at Obama events due to a combination of heavy security and the popularity of the candidate. However, this was Obama line x 100.

Hill Takes the Stand

Last night my colleague and I headed over to our press seats in the Pepsi Center to watch Sen. Clinton's speech. It will be the only time I spend inside the convention hall among the partisans and media circus this week. Tonight I'm in the tents with the towels. Tomorrow, two of our correspondents head to Invesco and the rest of us party it up with Captain Morgan (more on that later).

I was lucky that this was my night in the Hall. The frenzied media speculation about Hill's speech had reached a fevered pitch and there was an electric feeling of anticipation in the air. Would she be gracious and supportive? Would we believe it? Would Chris Matthews's head explode from the excitement of it all?*

The view from the press stands affords an excellent view of the audience, and zero view of the speaker. But no matter. I've seen Hillary speak live enough times to know that she'll be wearing a pantsuit of some color, and will talk about health care or a village or something.

Anyway, the reaction of the audience was pretty crazy. These people LOVE her:

And they say Obama is a rock star.

*It has to happen sooner or later.

Does the WSJ Hate Michelle Obama?

Because -seriously- this is the worst photo ever:

Her tongue is sticking out for Christ's sake. And poor Sasha just looks bored. Cute, but bored.

The Fourth Estate

And now, an exclusive look at our glamourous Denver convention workspace:


This is our very organized filing area. It's quite dark and cave-like at night. The DNC's overhead lighting scheme is lacking in the tents. One of our correspondents scored a Michelle banner from the convention floor.

Workspace dividers, not uniters. (Also note the trash bins. The DNC is pushing everyone to sort their trash. They've actually got people stationed in front of them during the day. Earlier, a nice volunteer and I had a lengthy discussion on which bin my Starbucks cup should go in.)

And, finally: the fortress of solitude. That cube on the left is our competitor's workspace. They threw down some major cash for the walls. We'll have them in Minneapolis, so they can suck it.