Convention Fun, part four

The Parties of Convention Week

Gosh. That's about all I can say about Wednesday through Friday of convention week. By a complete set of chance circumstances, I had the good fortune of meeting a bunch of Hillary Clinton delegates and got into two of the best parties of the convention. This requires a bit of a backstory.

So Angela Cobian, a good friend of mine, has been working on the Mark Udall for Senate campaign and decided to introduce me to a friend of hers, Ryan, who had also been working here in Denver this summer. Ryan was in town for the convention before flying back to school in Boston, so we decided to enjoy some convention festivities. Wednesday we all got tickets to a political comedy show, which was okay at best (one of the guys was terrific, he writes for Salon, but the rest were eh). After that, we think we'll go into downtown Denver in order to hang around and see some famous people.

Well Ryan had met a few of the delegates this week, and called one of them to see if anything was going on. Victor, who was from Texas, told us to come to LODO's on Market St. for a party hosted by America's Credit Unions. America's Credit Unions, you ask? Why yes. We know, it sounded really lame. Ummm...it wasn't. It was simply put the best party I have ever been to in my life.

We walk into the bar (Victor can get three of us in) and proceed to start ordering drinks (it's an open bar). Needless to say, that means that we would get nicer stuff than we could normally purchase ourselves. I was introduced to a few members of the Texas delegation, and two guys from South Carolina, along with a bunch of people from Colorado. At one point, I had a ten minute conversation with Mark Ferrandino, a state representative here, about education policy and the upcoming elections, which was lots of fun. Mark is the youngest state rep in CO (he's 29) and also the first openly gay man elected to the Colorado statehouse. He's got a really bright future in front of him, and so I got his card (the first of many that night). There was great music, and the people were so friendly. We stayed until 2:30, when I poured myself into a cab to make the 30 block ride home (leaving my car downtown...look how responsible I am). The best part of the whole night was just how good a mood everyone was in. I was in a group of all Hillary delegates, not a single Obama supporter in the primary among the dozen or so of them. They all had "Clintonites for Obama" or "Hillary Supporters for Obama" buttons on and couldn't say enough about how great the convention has been for both candidates. They were sad of course, but thrilled to be a part of this history. 

Thursday night was just the icing on the cake. First of all, I got tickets to Invesco to see Obama's speech. I got a call at 4 pm from Lauren Gutstadt, my new favorite human on the planet, saying she had a ticket. More importantly, when I got there at 6:30, she had a way to sneak me into section 108 of the stadium. FOURTH ROW. I was in the posse of Virginia governor Tim Kaine. Ashley Judd was right behind us (If you saw her on tv, which you might have, we were 5 seats to her left and 3 rows in front of her...that's right, we had better seats than Ashley Judd). 

The speech was masterful. "Political Symphony" was the wonderful description David Gergen gave it. Everything about the event was spectacular. I'll have pictures up in the next few days, showing you just how close we were to the floor. I was close enough for John Kerry to wave at me. It was pretty sweet. 

That night saw the end of the convention though, and with it, the last night for shenanigans. So Ryan, Danae and myself headed out the the final party, which we thought could be the hardest to get into. It was the Texas delegation party, and thus the third biggest of the night (after the Google/Vanity Fair party and the California event). It was at the Pinnacle Club at the top of the Qwest Building here in Denver (floor 38). More importantly, it had lots of security. So we have to mention several of the people's names who were are there to see, and they skeptically let us inside. The party is being put on by the co-chair of the entire convention, TX senator Leticia van der Pute, who is also a great dancer as we learned around 1 am. Beyond the free food and the drinks that were flowing, the party had a big band playing everyone's favorite oldies dance music. Just awesome. The last twenty minutes were spent chanting for Obama in 2008. This was the face of a party that was ready to head straight for November. Especially with John McCain's beauty-queen VP Sarah Palin on the other end of the ticket....but I digress. 

Friday morning, after waking up late, we decided to take the Texans on a hike over outside Littleton. We got a great view of the front range and a slightly obscured view of the Flatirons over nearer Boulder, and the Texans seemed to really enjoy themselves, except for Ruby during the short period when there was a rattlesnake traversing the trail with us. I just can't say enough good things about these people though: young and engaged with the process, passionate, and people who put the country ahead of our particular candidate (unlike, you know, certain Republican candidates). Moreover, they were a blast. 

I've caught the bug. Four years from now, I'll be running for a national delegate position. I can't imagine not being at the convention now. It's just too much of  a transcendent event.

Convention Fun, part drei

Hillary

So I promised a quick post about Hillary's speech, and I have to say that as I've spent the past few days digesting the convention I have become even more emphatic with my praise for her speech and poise at the convention. Beyond knowing that she spent 18 months in the hardest fought primary campaign in the modern era and that she has been now vilified by both the left and the right, she spoke with such passion and such grace that I couldn't help but beam with happiness throughout the speech: both for supporting her historic candidacy itself, but also for the unity our party has going forward to elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden in November. 

I was at Union Station for Hillary's speech, watching the MSNBC coverage. It was, for the most part, mediocre. Pat Buchanan is a blowhard, Chris Matthews was off his game (and a little angry) and Norah O'Donnell sounds like she has never ever read a book about politics, let alone has covered it on the national stage for half a decade. The one bright shining light was Rachel Maddow, who deservedly has been given her own primetime show on the network and is my favorite political journalist not named Tim Russert (R.I.P). Her analysis of each speech, particularly Mark Warner's subpar keynote address, was spot-on. Watch her show. And read her backstory, because she's led a pretty amazing life for a 34 year old. 

Back to the speeches though. The night started with the best quote of the convention, from PA Senator Bob Casey:

"John McCain likes to say he's a maverick. But he's voted with President Bush over 90 percent of the time. I'm sorry. That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick".

Now, I'm no Bob Casey fan, but he won me over with his passionate defense of Obama last night. Mark Warner, on the other hand, spoke as though we weren't Democrats, feverishly defending a post-partisan America that simply doesn't (and never should) exist. Ugh. I was a huge Warner fan coming into this campaign. I came away underwhelmed. 

That didn't last long though, because as soon as Hillary took the podium I was enthralled. Some of you probably don't know my backstory on Hillary Clinton: I used to hate her. Up through early last year, even, I railed against her running for the presidency and hoped she would stay in the Senate, away from the limelight. Watching the debates and the campaign unfold, though, I realized that my hatred for her was just a re-hashing of rightwing talking points: that she's a bitch, that she's too liberal, that she's this-and-that. Well, come June 2007 I was on the bandwagon, and by March of this year I had donated, phone banked, campaigned, caucused, and met Hillary Clinton, and was elected as a delegate for Hillary by my peers at CC (there weren't many of us, but we were passionate!). 

As she spoke, I was reminded of every reason I had for supporting Hillary for president. She has been knocked around by Republicans for 20 years and refused to back down. She fights back, and when she throws a punch it sticks to those she's aiming for. Within a minute of her speech, I knew what the next 9 weeks of the campaign would be like:

No way, No how, No McCain! Barack Obama is my candidate for President.

Hillary is the type of Democrat who takes a stand; rather than being anti-Republican, she is pro-Democrat. She spoke wonderfully about universal health care, about women's and gay rights, about ending the war, and finally about Barack and Michelle Obama. She only used the word "I" four times. This was a rallying cry to all Democrats, and she didn't let the symbolism of speaking on the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage go to waste:

My mother was born before women had the right to vote. This year, my daughter was able to vote for her mother for President of the United States. We've come a long way...this campaign you all put 18 million cracks in the highest glass ceiling in the United States.

When her speech ended, the crowd around me (mostly Obama supporters, rather than Hillary voters) erupted. I heard one man next to me say "if there is a Democrat out there who doesn't respect and admire Hillary Clinton right now, they haven't been paying attention."

I left Union Station later that night, knowing that that speech would stay with me for the rest of my life, as the culmination of a hard fought campaign that left this country better off than it was when it began.

Convention Fun, part deux

Hillary Clinton, Rachel Maddow, Protests and Politics

Wow. Just wow. Watching Hillary Clinton speak last night made me remember just how much respect and admiration I have for that woman. I know that a lot of people out there don't like Hillary. Very few of them can give me a real reason (and no, saying she's a socialist or a bitch are not reasons). I can't see it. She gave me chills, and if you know me at all, that's hard to do. 

But more on Hillary later. There are many more convention stories to be told before that. 

We'll start on Sunday. Sunday was actually a kind of lazy day for the convention unless you were going to one of the secondary kickoff parties (which I wasn't). I wandered around town though and got a feel for where everything was going to be. FYI, the coolest part of the convention might just be the Big Tent, where all the bloggers are being housed. Now, the convention should have given out more blogging credentials, especially to state-based blogs, but the people who were there were having a blast and just seemed to be ecstatic about being here. More importantly, they have free New Belgium beer flowing for everyone. It's crowded, but a sweet set-up (and somewhere I'd love to be in 4 years, depending on my location at the time). Sunday evening, Ash and I went out to dinner and were right next door to the Chicago Democrats party, and caught some of Dick Durbin's interviews and saw Tammy Duckworth, one of my political idols. For those of you who don't know her, Tammy lost a leg in a helicopter crash in Iraq and ran for Congress as a Democrat when she came home. She's tough as hell, and it's too bad she's not in Congress right now. 

Fun convention kitsch: I got handed an XL condom from a street vendor that said "Protect Yourself from John McCain." There are 10 of them, apparently, all with facts about women's rights on the back. Mine said "#10: John McCain has voted against women's rights 125 in Congress." When women, especially Hillary women, even think about supporting McCain, know that this is where he stands. He's also spoken out against a bill that would guarantee women equal pay for equal work. Yeah, sounds like someone that we Democrats should support...

Monday though brought me my first taste of riled-up convention street life. I've never seen Denver this bustling. You can't walk down the street without seeing protesters and police every block. I got to see a protester get beat down (deservedly) by a cop for trying to charge a group of anti-abortion protesters. These weren't your run-of-the-mill anti-abortion protesters though. OH NO. One was shouting about how the Old Testament tells women to stay in the kitchen (funny, I don't remember reading that) and one had a sign about how God was a Republican. Now, I think these people are pretty abhorrent, but they shouldn't be hit. So good job Denver PD (who have actually been phenomenal this week. I can't speak highly enough of the interactions I've had with cops so far). 

Now Scott Weaver (or Scoots, as I'll call him here) and Mike Freeman (Hustler) both came down to see me Monday. We decided, after a couple of drinks, to go to a party I was invited to by a member of our think tank, Liz. It was the "40 under 40: Emerging Young Dems" party, sponsored by Google, and it was at Lure, possibly the most pretentious place in Denver. Well, turns out that there was a list. And they weren't letting you in if you weren't on it. SO needless to say, I refused to be deterred. I go right up to the girl, and tell her my name. When it's not on the list, I tell her "that's funny," and then ask if two other names are on the list. I knew a couple of people supposed to be there, so I took a stab. Well, both of them were on the list. I'm giving her my ID to write down my name when a bouncer comes over and says that only people on the list can get in right now, and to come back in 30. Ugh...so close. Well, we leave, only a little dejected, and go to a bar to grab some drinks. This ends up being way more fun anyway, and all in all it was a good night 3 for the convention. I found out that the 40s party ended up being a real bummer, so I wasn't too upset.  

Hillary really deserves her own posting, so I'm going to leave it at Sunday and Monday for this one. I'll write about Hill later tonight though, before I go out to a political comedy show (because I'm a dork) and spend the night on the town. I hope life is as fun for you wherever you are as it is here. 

Convention Fun, part one

The Kickoff Party

Well, there might not be a better time for political junkies (with the exception of election day itself) than the weeks of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. It does get so much better, though, when it's happening in your city and even your neighborhood. That is my life right now. I thought I'd give you at least a little piece of what's been going on here at the convention, over several posts, so you can better play armchair political quarterback at home.

First off, let me say that I don't have credentials. This is true for everyone who isn't a delegate (there are 4,300+), reporter or state-based blogger, Colorado politician/non-profit director or head of a major union/democratic donor. This means that only about 7,000 people are really "in the know" here, with thousands more volunteering. I am not one of them. My stories prove that you don't have to be in order to have a great time here.

Almost everyone thinks that the convention starts Monday. Oh no no no. The convention really has three different start points: one for Coloradans (Saturday afternoon), on for the media (Saturday night) and one for the delegates and convention-goers (Monday morning). Saturday consists of two big parties; one is put on by a local law firm which also serves as the head counsel for the Convention Committee and a local polling outfit. We called it the RBI/Isaacson party. I say we because I got to go. My boss, Carol, who I effusively praise whenever I get the chance, was invited to this event, and two of our friends at RBI, Toral and Niki, came by on Friday afternoon to pick some stuff up from us. They casually mentioned the party, and I was handed an invitation and told to RSVP. I'm thinking there is no way I can do that the night before the party, but I call anyway because as any of you reading this know, I have no scruples when it comes to politics. Well, they say that it's fine, and that I should be there between 5 and 8 at this martini bar called the Corner Office. Done and done. Then they ask me if I'm bringing a date. Without thinking I say "yes", we end our conversation, and then I realize I don't actually have a date. So I call up Ash Merscher and ask her to be my fake-date arm candy for the evening, she says yes, and we're on our way.

After getting lost and trying to navigate Denver streets with their new configurations (read: half of them are closed), we get to the party. Now, I'm ready to be disappointed. I figure any party I can get invited to can't be all that posh. Wrong. Ash and I walk in and get our nametags (mine is printed, funny story about that later) and our 3 free tickets for drinks, good for martinis. Naturally, we go to the bar. This place is posh though. There's a spread with sushi and creme brulee spoons (which I ate all night), there are about 150 people in suits and cocktail dresses...it's a good party. As I walk in the Lt. Gov. of CO, Barb O'Brien, is heading out, and Ash and I soon see Governor Ritter, John Hickenlooper (Denver's mayor, and a brewmaster at Wynkoop brewery), Rep. Diana DeGette, a bunch of superdelegates, and the like. We only briefly say anything to a few of them, because we're both in a bit of shock that we're here at all. So we drink, and talk with Niki, Toral and Kevin (who graduated with us at CC), wander around and whatnot.

Come about 7, everyone is getting a little more friendly, and some of the important people are leaving for the media party, the other major event that night over at Elitch Gardens. Diana DeGette, my representative and a CC grad, is surveying the room (this is while Ash is getting a drink) and I walk past. She cranes her neck to try and see what my nametag says, so I slow down so that she can. She nods, and whispers to her neighbor while pointing at me as I walk past. This happens in about 6 seconds, but it was pretty sweet to have my Congresswoman whispering something about me. What was it? IDK. Could've been that she hated my tie. I doubt it, since I'm always well put together, but you never know (especially since she was wearing this awful floral print mumu-esque top...what can you do?)

So as the night is winding down at the bar, Ash and I introduce ourselves to two of Niki's friends, who just got their master's at DU. We decide after talking to go for drinks, and after meandering around the bar for a bit, Niki and I get pulled aside by a partner at RBI, Rick, who offers us two press passes to the media party. Keep in mind that these were impossible to get before this week unless you really know someone. But it's 8:30, the event is ending at 10, and we want to hang out in LoDo. Toral, meanwhile, is drunk, so we hand off the tickets to her and her boyfriend, tell them that they owe us, and send them on their way. They're thrilled, and so are we. We head into the town to keep the night going, and wind up at Willie G's at 16th and Lawrence, one of my favorite places in Denver. We're dressed well, so they are very nice, and give us a great table with a great waiter named Dave. We drink some more, order some food, and talk politics. It was awesome, as always. Niki and I chatted about SAFE and polling, then we all talked about what convention parties we were going to try and sneak into and how we'd do it.

After two hours or so, everyone's sobering up and the night is getting away from us, so we pack it in. Niki takes Ash back to her place at DU and I make my way home. It was a great way to start the convention.

I'm leaving tons of stuff out (Ash and I getting hit on by lawyers at the bar, meeting the chairman of Britian's Liberal Democrats party, you get the idea), but overall, you get the picture.

So that was Day 1. Days 2, 3, and 4 (which were all fun, but not as crazy) are coming soon. You'll be able to hear all about running into senators, a guy Ash thought was named "Wolf Blitzen", protestors getting pepper-sprayed in front of me, the Fred Phelps brigade, and of course, Scott, Mike and me trying to sneak into one of the biggest parties at the convention (unsuccessfully).

Time to head back downtown for more coverage. Make sure you watch Hillary tonight!

On Grant Writing, Campaign Finance Violations and "Right-Wing Research"

So day 3 of the fellowship has come and almost gone. It's just after 5:30, which means I have been at COFPI for 9 hours (less the 15 minutes I took for lunch today...yes, 15 minutes) and I still have a  little more research to do before I walk home for the night. Despite the longer hours than I was expecting (45/week looks like my upcoming yearly average), I am still so excited about everything we're doing and the work I've been given, which I'm simply not qualified to do, methinks. 

This morning I went to the America Votes headquarters, which is serving as a technological headquarters for a group COFPI is involved with. It's called the (c) 3 Roundtable, and consists of 30 501(c)3 nonprofit groups here in Denver. Essentially, it makes it easier for the leaders of these groups to organize their outreach and action strategies for particular initiatives and laws while also acting as a data-sharing service, so that we can all access one another's research and publications. Today all we did was set up our GoogleGroup, which lets us share all our documents and create a master calendar. Small steps toward getting organized, but it's a start. 

I got to the office and was told that I had one project: get on the phone with the Secretary of State (who recently won a primary election for Congress, like, last Tuesday), or someone high up in his organization. Seems as though ultra-conservative groups are already pulling out the stops against SAFE, and someone with the campaign had received a mailer soliciting donations from one of these groups, Colorado At Its Best. As an aside, I love how these groups name themselves...apparently, Colorado is at its best when we don't fund education. Hmmm. 

Problem was, this group isn't registered as an issue organization in Colorado, which means it can't send out mailers asking for funding. My job all of this morning and a lot of the afternoon was to research its chairperson, Dennis (big ol' douchebag), and then draft an email to the SAFE lawyers so that they could decide whether or not we are going to sue CAIB for violating campaign finance laws (as I learned today it's specifically Article 6 of Amendment 28 to the Colorado Constitution that they were violating. Again, I digress). 

So after encouraging the lawyers to give us the greenlight for a complaint, Carol gave me yet another task that I feel grossly unqualified for (almost all of my tasks, actually. I do love Carol. More on that later). It seems as though the Gill Foundation, is giving out grants to Colorado-based nonprofits to do outreach and civic engagement. Conveniently, my job is outreach and civic engagement. So I drafted a $20,000 grant proposal today to the Gill Foundation, telling them just why COFPI  should get money to mobilize voters. Grant writing is a special kind of writing. Really, it involves a good amount of bullshitting with just enough substantive political proposals so that you don't sound like you are completely full of it. I think my time at Colorado College trained me well to find that delicate balance. 

Before I get back to the last bit of work I have before leaving tonight, let's go back to Carol. So Carol Hedges is downright awesome. Her office is right across the hall from mine, and she always makes fun of me when I know something I'm not supposed to. Funny story: First day, 10:30 am, Carol and Kathy (the director of COFPI) were curious whether cigarettes were taxed on Indian reservations in Colorado. I chimed in and told them no, but that New York state had recently started a tax like that, and they kind of just looked at me. Carol told me to leave, and to come back when I had something I didn't know about. Kathy just laughed. Between telling me stories about tons of really powerful people or using the F word in staff meetings, I think Carol and I will have a good time working together this year. 

Well that's all for now. I have work to do before I head out into Capitol Hill for a night on the town. Denver microbrews, here I come.

I used to think blogs were pretentious

and I still do. But Zach and Jessica cajoled me into starting one, so here I am. 

After flying back from New Haven on Wednesday, because my flight was delayed 2 days out of JFK, I moved to Denver on Saturday (in a downpour) and started my fellowship today. I work for the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, which is a think tank and policy center that looks at the ways in which financial policies and politics in Colorado affect at-risk populations, along with low- and middle-income families. Sounds really boring, right? 

Totally wrong. After running downtown this morning to get a city parking pass (so that I don't have to move my car every 2 hours...weird Denver parking laws) I walked to work. I live two blocks away from my building, which needless to say kicks ass. The entire organization started work in a new office building today, called Sherman Plaza. All 13 of us are moving into new offices, including all of the returning policy analysts. I thought I would be given a cubicle or small desk in some sort of restored kitchenette for an office space, but I have my own office, complete with desk and closeable door. I'm living large. 

I thought my job would be data analysis, public relations and some publishing. Wow, I was wrong. Turns out there is a new law being sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the State Treasurer. Andrew and Cary (I'm supposed to call them by their first names, since they are friends of CFPI...I feel like I'm at CC again) are basically proposing to fundamentally rewrite tax policy in Colorado by creating a new mechanism to fund education programs. It's called "SAFE-Savings Account for Education" and would put hundreds of millions into Colorado's education system. It's in response to a law we have in CO called TABOR, or the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, that indexes spending in CO to the rate of inflation, and makes it impossible for elected leaders to pass tax increases without having the people of the state vote for them. Needless to say, lots of these tax increases don't pass. 

Well, turns out SAFE is a really good idea. And I'm apparently going to be coordinating grassroots outreach for the campaign. My first day, and I've been told that I need to create an overarching strategy for getting voters to the polls. It's a $5 million campaign, and I'm right in the thick of it. This is heaven. 

Beyond that, I'll be publishing some materials on tax policy (which I won't post here...don't worry, I do want you to still read this thing). But for the next 3 months, 75% of my job will involve me trying to get Amendment 20, as we think it'll be titled, to pass the ballot. It would dramatically alter Colorado policy and, in the words of my boss, signal the "death knell" for TABOR initiatives around the country. 

Should be a fun run up until November. 94 days until the election.