H-O-P-E is a dirty 4-letter word.

Saturday, I was a delegate at the Denver County Democrat convention. It was a mob, but I am a believer in the system. I took notes during the proceedings...here they are, unaltered, with minor clarifications ...

All the white cords- I keep thinking they are Ipod cords! (little pieces of strings around everyone's neck to hold our credentials- what precinct, our candidate of choice, senate district, etc...)

One huge line, than another. (my official envelope said district 5. I was really 7. It took 3 loooooong lines for them to figure this out for me.)

Overabundance of G-L last names in district 7. (the A-F and M-Z lines had like 5 people at a time, my line had like 50.)

Diversity? Whites and Blacks (this meant that I didn't see a lot of Hispanic people and very, very few Asians.)

Met State Treasurer Cary Kennedy. Cold, slim hand. (all toothy smiles. I couldn't think of anything to say to her. After she left I did. "How's the money?")

Demos gave me wrong list, on boundary? (q.v.)

Scooter parking! (There was a large crowd of Vespas and whatnot outside. Sometimes you just gotta shake yer head and smile...)

Denvercrat! (a number of folks had that on their t-shirts)

Are Repub conventions so Chaotic? (It was insane, like a sold-out baseball game on crack or something.)

Case of pens in the backpack- I wanna steal one. (there was a guy in the mass-iine into the theater, his backpack was half open and I resisted the urge to try to take one of his pens...)

(now I sat in the huge theater...a number of party people spoke. I wrote some things down.)
I guess that feeling of those two overused terms "hope" and "change" is the pervading feeling here- but its really hard to know if it's really "real." (or what's been crammed down our maws) But at least they're playing Neil Young. My feelings here- are, I think, complicated- cynically optimistic? I've never really believed in any Presidential candidate. (which was the problem I had with my being there...I wasn't the hard-core believer that many of my fellow delegates were. I felt like I was mis-representing myself, and my candidate.)

Yes we can, a man starts a chant in our district section. The enthusiasm is, of course, encouraging but...(where will these people be in 4 years, 8?) Obama! Hillary! people everywhere shout.
Hey...if we can make politics like sports in America, we just might have a chance...a chance for what I ask myself.

haven't said the pledge (of allegiance) since grade school.

(later)
I just want a President that i don't have to worry about... (screwing up) for 8 years years I have had this weight on my head.
Barack spellcheck ( Barack was spelled incorrectly on some of our literature. The speaker noted that the name Barack was not in spellcheck.)

Hope, a negative connotation? ( I guess I felt as if all this "hope" name-dropping made it feel as if we were in very desperate situation. And i guess, in a lot ways, we are...but most of us are still overweight...so...)

Degette speaks. (A plain-spoken, wonderful woman.)

Serious woman: Obama! I love her. (this woman, in the row ahead of me, kept shouting out Obama! at the most inappropriate times....when our Senators were speaking she shouted, when taking votes, she shouted, anytime,everytime, this shrill voice, Obama! When challenged by annoyed democrats, she said free speech! Free speech! She was probably the highlight of the day.)

"let's get another kind of bush in the White House!" (tee hee!)

DNC vs. Denver Olympics ( Did you know that Denver is the only city to ever refuse the Olympics? In 1976. I think it was because then Gov. Dick Lamm had environmental concerns. I was thinking maybe the DNC could make up for that...)

(State Speaker of the House Andrew) Romanoff: Good! (An impassioned speaker, Among other reasons, he encouraged us send:)
(GB's) Stimulus checks to Democrats.
GB united the Democrats
The fact here is that while I'm here as a supporter of Obama (q.v.)

Democrat is the new black faux pas ( a remark by the CO democratic party director. She was referring to fashion, but considering that audience was probably 30-45% African-American, it didn't go down too well...)

Mitch Morrisey, DA strong- dedicated seeming looks like he could kick my ass. Training cops to recognize gay hate crimes.

Elbra Wedgworth Got us the convention 25,000 volunteers.

(and my last note. The convention went on for awhile after this, but I was getting really tired.)

the fervor of Obama supporters comparing hope to revolution are we in such times now?

- drw.