8 am - 9 am Continental Breakfast
After registration on November 13, visiting media received bagels and Danish. The coffee in glass mugs, which fit the Democratic National Convention green theme, also added a touch of class. Every time I bobbled, spilling down the front of my dry-clean-only dress with
Dynasty-style shoulder pads, I imagined the mug flinging from my unsteady hand, shattering against the wall, a shard impaling some poor journalist's eye. Perhaps John Edwards could represent the victim. I mean, if he doesn't win the nomination. At the very least, my clumsiness would make the news somewhere.
9 am - 9:45 am Welcome and Convention Overview
In the main Pepsi Center arena, where I envisioned Hillary and Obama doing a half-time Convention show shooting half-court hoops, maybe even winning a delegate or two, a single blue balloon floated, tied to a chair across the room from the podium. Seemingly a feeble decoration, it was, in fact, representational of the platform speaker's position at the upcoming event. Photojournalists, adjust your lenses!
9:45 am - 10:45 am Walk-Through of the Pepsi Center
On the promised quick-paced Walk-Through (my father-in-law would have lapped us six times,) we got to see Levels One, Two and Three, as well as view future parking lot staging areas, where I once attended a Cirque du Soleil show in a tent. As the Media Director talked, probably about how we had no chance of getting placed in a Skybox, I noticed either an electronic device or nine tiny hoop piercings up the rim of his ear; maybe one for each convention he has worked, like what sailors used to do crossing the equator.
10:45 am - 11:15 am General Q & A Session
Most questions were answered with some approximation of "We'll get back to you on that," potentially driving up the cost of newspapers and increasing the need for more and louder broadcast commercials everywhere after media outlets funded their employees' junkets here to glean this information. Oh, well, journalists deserve a getaway, and I bet they flew economy.
11:15 - 11:45 Break-Out Sessions (Bloggers - Press Lounge, Ground Floor)
An online newspaper publisher bemoaned the lack of respect for alternative media, suggesting Democrats were missing a valuable resource and ideological ally; an assertion which may or may not distinguish between bloggers and traditional media.
Assured of inclusion, blogger press credentials are limited, probably because there are so many of us. The elite Convention State Blogger Corps will number 56, one for each state and territory. I missed naming a few territories when a citizenship test was published in the newspaper, which may disqualify me.
Veteran bloggers feared confinement to a "blogger ghetto," balancing laptops on their laps, like at the Boston convention. Those uncredentialed may hang out across the street where
ProgressNow
Action hopes to have a blogger refuge, trotting out Party dignitaries and important people for interviews, which doesn't seem that different from the Convention.
11:45 Lunch
Howard Dean gave essentially the same speech during the
Kickoff Rally and probably thousands of whistle stops across the country, especially in early primary states. The free lunch was no Iowa Harkin Steak Fry, but it was pretty good.