A Proposal

If you watched any local (Phoenix) news coverage, you probably saw this, but two of our delegates got engaged at the convention last night - Ruben Gallego and Kate Widland. It was really funny because Ruben and Kate are the whips, and they're supposed to tell us when to hold up our signs and stuff. Well, Kate wasn't there, and Ruben was really distracted wondering where Kate was because he was planning to propose. Kate said everyone kept texting her to find out where she was, so she thought she was in trouble. Anyway, when she got there, Ruben gave the signal to hold up the "special signs".

She said yes. I'm sure it was a proposal neither of them will ever forget. Hopefully, we will be much more disciplined about our sign holding tonight because our whips will both be paying attention to what we're doing. Congratulations Ruben and Kate!!

At the Pepsi Center

Getting around to the different events has been somewhat challenging. Denver is kind of spread out, like Phoenix, and although public transportation is a little better, nothing is really walkable. I thought that the Convention Center and the Pepsi Center were the same thing, but they're not - silly me. Most of the daytime events are around the Convention Center and then we have to get to the Pepsi Center for the convention around 3.

Anyway, although it probably looks way better on TV, here is a picture of the convention floor:

When I first walked in, I was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm here! It was pretty amazing.

The Arizona delegation is seated right below the boxes for the Biden and Obama families (so, lots of opportunites to see us on TV):

That is how close we are to Joe Biden. He got way more attention last night than he ever did during his Presidential race. I think he was kind of enjoying it.

One of the highlights of the evening was the tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy. Also, Michelle Obama's speech was absolutely amazing. I cried.

P.S. We aren't allowed to bring computers on the floor, except for Ted, who is our official blogger (linked on the side). If you want live blogging, I recommend going there, except that his battery ran out before Michelle's speech.

Political Chum

Walking around downtown where all the events are is really fun. Denver is a great city and the weather is beautiful! There are convention-goers everywhere and all kinds of campaign-related stuff for sale on the street corners. The best I've seen so far are these Obama dolls.

A Day of Inspiration

On Monday, I attended the event Unconventional Women, which was put on by a group of organizations, mostly nonpartisan, that work to increase women in elected office. It was incredibly inspirational. The highlight for me was hearing from two freshman Senators, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. They talked about their experiences as women in the U.S. Senate (there are still only 16 of them!). Also, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York talked about her new book: Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated - Why Women's Lives Are Not Getting Any Easier. I plan to go get a copy.

Then I headed to the Women's Equalitea (get it - a tea about equality) sponsored by NOW and the Feminist Majority Foundation. To get in, we had to walk though the throng of abortion protestors - they actually had delivery trucks with really awful pictures all over the sides driving around the block. Because women's equality is really only about abortion. What made me really sad about it is that these are the same protestors who sit outside of women's health clinics, so even women just going in for a routine exam or birth control have to go through that. This poses a barrier for them accessing necessary healthcare. So, we still have a long way to go. The event itself was great - I love Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California! All of the speakers paid tribute to Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Ohio who died last week and was a great champion for women's issues.

Didn't Mean to Disappoint

The schedule they have us on here is GRUELING!! Breakfast at 7am, events, caucuses, more events, the convention floor, parties, sleep a few hours, repeat. So, I know you all are waiting for my posts so that you can vicariously be here, but when I got back to the hotel last night (this morning), my computer was freezing up and I was too tired. I'll try to do better!

A Word on Obama

I fell in love with Obama when I saw his speech at the 2004 Convention. It was one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever seen. At the time I thought, he will be President someday. But as you know by now, I am a Clinton delegate. She was my candidate. And I'm still having a little trouble getting on board the Obama train. (Please don't attack me - I'm a Democrat!! Not voting for McCain, will work to get Obama elected.) I think I was still holding out a little hope that he might shock everyone and pick her as his running mate. Anyway, I really need to fall in love with him again, and am hoping his speech on Thursday night does that for me.

Sunday Night

There is a group of Hillary delegates from AZ known as the Fab Five - Dana, Debra, Bree, Michael, and Angie. They travelled to several states to volunteer for Clinton, and everywhere they went, Hillary won. Last night we met up with them for drinks and dinner and then headed to the Tri-State Reception here in the hotel for the delegates of AZ, WA, and OR, who are all staying here. The excitement of all those here for the convention is quite contagious.

Today I am headed to the Unconventional Women event, sponsored by the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation; Latina Initiative; Women's Voices. Women Vote; and the White House Project. Michelle Obama is the featured speaker at the convention tonight.

Edit: Forgot to mention that some guy's shirt caught on fire at the reception - I guess he was leaning on a wall where there were candles in these holes. I tried to get a picture, but I couldn't find him.