DENVER – The Democratic National Convention you see on TV is not the same convention as experienced in the Pepsi Center.

You see delegates cheering, dancing, waving signs. You don’t see the army of men and women in lime-green vests patrolling the aisles, distributing American flags and signs and instructing delegates in their “spontaneous” demonstrations.

Humanity clogs the area behind the prime floor seats and in front of the risers. Delegates push to find their seats. Gawkers want a glimpse of network news stars broadcasting from the floor.

“My God, that’s Katie Couric!” a woman screamed as she snaked through the crowd.

Others in the lumbering mass are celebrities whose conversations cause those around them to stop and stare. A jam quickly formed when comedian and TV talk show host Bill Maher stopped to talk with Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. I couldn’t hear their conversation and was blinded by camera flashes. Kucinich’s beautiful wife, Elizabeth, stood off to the side, almost unnoticed.

Many of these wanderers are guests or staffers who have no seats – but they do have cameras and cell phones and the need to share. Others are members of the news media – who outnumber delegates here better than three to one – who must take the temperature of their delegation, again. Is the party unified yet?

So, hundreds, if not thousands, of people roam the hall – or they would if there was room to roam. We may be in a city on the wide-open plains, but here in the Pepsi Center the proximity to other human beings is worse than anything New York commuters experience on rush-hour subways. In the bottleneck, it’s hot and close and an unconventional reality.

During former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner’s keynote address Tuesday, I tried to make my way to Media General’s seats in the press stands near the podium after visiting with North Carolinians. Here’s some of what I heard from the podium and on the floor:

Warner: “The most important contest of our generation has begun…”

Lime-green vest man: “Put the signs down for now. We’ll tell you when to put them up.”

Warner: “I believe from the bottom of my heart with the right vision, the right leadership, and the energy and creativity of the American people, there is no nation that we can’t out hustle or out compete. And no American need be left out or left behind.”

Man to friend: “You coming to the party tonight?”

Friend: “Which one?”

Warner: “In America, everyone should get a fair shot.”

Lime-green vest woman speaking urgently into phone: “We have a press bottleneck between Alaska and New York! They won’t move!”

Warner: “You know America has never been afraid of the future, and we shouldn’t start now.”

Young blonde woman on a hot pink cell phone: “You can drop your bags at my place. … We’re staying at the Sheraton.”

Warner: “Barack Obama has a different vision – and a different plan…the status quo just won’t cut it.”

Lime-green vest man, shouting: “Guys, you can’t stand there. You’ve got to keep moving. Move! Move! Move!”

By MARSHA MERCER
Media General News Service

DENVER – Democratic National Convention organizers proudly tout the diversity of the 4,438 delegates at the Pepsi Center.

Blacks, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, Native Americans and members of other groups are represented in greater strength than at previous conventions.

They’ll nominate Barack Obama, who hopes to make history as the first African American president.
Multiculturalism and historic symbolism are huge with the Democrats.

So when I heard that Denver’s Native American community was welcoming the conventioneers with a Tribal Unity Day Powwow Sunday, I stopped by Civic Center Park.

Not far from protesters noisily voicing their demands on issues ranging from the Iraq war to taxing meat, was a different kind of convention, steeped in its own traditions.

At the powwow, men played drums while colorfully dressed American Indian families danced, talked and ate freshly deep-fried Indian tacos. Few Democratic delegates came to the welcome, but that didn’t seem to matter.

As I sat under the trees talking with A.J. and Ace No Braid, I sensed a disconnect between the extravaganza at the Pepsi Center and the concerns of ordinary voters.

The city’s hospitality couldn’t be warmer, but some here feel cool toward the party. The Democrats’ flashy festivities are remote from voters’ lives.

The No Braids and their daughters Lara, 10, and Larissa, 14, were dressed in beautifully beaded tribal costumes decorated with symbolic bones. They wore and carried eagle feathers. A.J. and Ace trace their roots to tribes in the Dakotas, and both are Army vets.

Their daughters are learning tribal ways, including beading. The family spends almost every weekend involved in American Indian activities.

Politics was in the air, though, and between dances, several local candidates asked for people’s votes. The response was tepid.

A.J. No Braid knows what it’s like to reach for the American dream. Her mother took out a second mortgage to help her attend a private Denver prep school, and A.J. spent a year at Dartmouth College, until finances forced her to drop out. That’s when she joined the Army.

I asked No Braid, who works in sales support for a telecom company, what she thought of Obama.

“I wanted Hillary,” she said. She caucused for Clinton earlier this year. Obama won Colorado’s caucuses.

“I really support women in leadership roles,” she said.

Ace No Braid told me didn’t care much for either Republican John McCain or Obama.

“What are either of them going to do to help people of America, to help them keep their jobs?” he asked.

No Braid, a plumber, was laid off Friday.

“We feel like we’re constantly playing catch-up,” his wife said.

The No Braids don’t hear either presidential candidate or those running for Congress talking specifically about how they’d help working families.

Come Election Day, Ace said he’ll probably vote for Obama, because he wants the war in Iraq to end.

And Obama’s historic moment? He shrugged.

Will the convention and Barack Obama reach people like the No Braids this week?

That, and not the demographics of delegates, is the challenge facing the Democrats in Denver.

By MARSHA MERCER
Media General News Service

Here come the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions – and the quadrennial whine.

You’ve heard it: The conventions are a big waste of time and money. They don’t pick the presidential nominees, and platform battles are rare. They’re orchestrated shows or, worse, infomercials.

The critics are right, to a point. There’s no suspense about the presidential nominees, harmony is the goal, and the conventions are heavily scripted. So what?

The Democratic convention that starts Monday in Denver and the Republican convention that convenes on Labor Day in St. Paul are neither pointless nor irrelevant.

Not required by the Constitution, national political conventions survive after 176 years because they still serve a purpose. Their role has evolved since the election of 1832. Today they rally the major parties and give them time in the public eye to express – and sell – their values and their presidential nominees. The conventions signal that it’s time to focus on the fall election. They encourage us to consider who we are as Americans and how we want to go forward.

While the parties do try to control every image and moment, they simply can’t. Protesters outside and emotions inside are wild cards. In the age of 24-7 blogging and unblinking cameras, the unexpected is almost inevitable.

The Democratic and Republican conventions four years ago each cost about $90 million, and more will be spent this year. Thousands of journalists, including a team from Media General, will cover the conventions. Our goal is to take our readers, viewers and Web visitors inside so they’ll be educated consumers of the political show. If the Olympics are about athletic prowess and form, the conventions are about putting forth the candidates’ style and message in political theater.

These conventions are historic, and both promise drama.

During their four days in Denver, the Democrats will try to keep the focus on nominee Barack Obama even as Hillary and Bill Clinton swan on stage and she fosters catharsis for her supporters. How will Obama, the son of a Kenyan and a Kansan, reassure voters that he’s “one of us” and not a risky choice? Meanwhile, Democrats also promise to get tough on McCain.

In St. Paul, Republicans will use their four days to make the case for John McCain in the White House during turbulent global times – without tying him to its current unpopular occupant. President Bush will speak the first night. How will McCain, who’s vying to be the oldest first-term president in history, reassure voters that he’s not too old at 72? Will McCain poke conservatives in the eye with his choice of a running mate? The GOP is unlikely to mince words about Obama.

Conventions are the off-Broadway stage of American politics. Few knew Obama until he spoke at the Democratic convention just four years ago. McCain made his national debut on the 1988 Republican convention stage. Who will be this year’s surprise star? He or she could be a contender in 2012.

So, bring on the conventions. They’re everything the critics say – and more.