I Was There

I still can't find the words to describe it, but here's what I saw:

It was so emotional, and something I'll never forget.

Scenes from the 16th Street Mall

The 16th Street Mall, a couple blocks from the Colorado Convention Center, has been home to many of the protests and a ton of police presence so far. Here are some of the things I saw today:

The nutjobs were out in full force:

(There's an award for the person who fits the greatest number of those categories...post your total in the comments section)

Hillary Clinton supporters have had a small yet highly noticeable presence. Here they walked down the Mall shouting "Dean must go!"

A handful of John McCain supporters hung around outside the major events with "credentials" reading "Not Ready '08."

And later on at night, two or three blocks of the Mall were shut down by dozens of police officers in riot gear, while people stood next to them with gas masks and vests reading "Cop Watch." Not sure if there was actual violence or if it was just a precaution. The Rocky Mountain News has a good slideshow of the various protests.

Updated: Jim Leach to speak at DNC Monday night

Former U.S. Congressman and current outgoing Harvard IOP Director Jim Leach (R-IA) announced today that he would be speaking at the Democratic Convention on Monday night, after he endorsed Barack Obama earlier this month.

While that may not seem like that big a deal, Rep. Leach is a well-respected moderate Republican voice in Iowa, a state that could put Obama over the top in November. Thus, his speech is being treated as extremely important by the Obama camp (I've even heard rumors that he'll be speaking after Michelle Obama, making him the marquee event Monday night, but I haven't been able to confirm that).
Update: He'll be speaking third-to-last, just before Sen. McCaskill and Michelle Obama. Ted Kennedy may also be making an appearance.

Anyone who has met Rep. Leach knows his speech won't be as...fiery...as Zell Miller's at the Republican Convention in 2004. I got a chance to talk to him today and he was his normal restrained self, but he did say he would be campaigning for Sen. Obama in Iowa.

Watch out for his speech tonight!

How to win over the media on the eve of the Convention:

Step 1: Open up the Elitch Garden amusement park to the 15,000 members of the media in Denver.

Step 2: Provide unlimited free food and drinks.

Step 3 (and this is the really important one): Make all the amusement park games free, and give a prize to everyone even if they didn't win, so everyone gets to go home with armfuls of huge stuffed animals:

I'll be posting updates this week from Denver, and don't forget to visit the newly re-launched Campus Voices for video reports from the College Democrats of America Convention as well as the DNC.