INVESCO Recap

Last Thursday, [some 80,000 people and] I had the hottest ticket in town: a credential for the last night of the Democratic National Convention, at INVESCO Field at Mile High, in Denver. Here is an abridged:

At 2:30 p.m., Ron Elving, NPR's senior Washington editor; Jordana Hochman and Nicole Beemsterboer, both of Morning Edition; and Sean Bowditch, a producer on NPR's national desk, headed over to the Pepsi Center, to catch a shuttle to the football stadium.

Sean Bowditch, Ron Elving, Nicole Beemsterboer, Jordana Hochman wait for the bus.

Source: David Gura/NPR

 

The security line was shorter than we expected (10 minutes). Once inside, I walked down to the floor, where television reporters and producers were a dime a dozen. Ted Koppel, who joins us from time to time, to talk about foreign policy, was there, chatting with his former colleague, Jeff Greenfield.

Jeff Greenfield and Ted Koppel.

Source: David Gura/NPR

 

(Trust me, the conversation was more lighthearted than that picture makes it seem.)

It took hours for the show to get underway. Doors opened at 1:00 p.m., and plenty of people showed up to stake claim to good seats. By 4:30 p.m., the place was almost full.

Crowded.

Source: David Gura/NPR

 

The crowd -- and the line-up -- were interspersed with celebrities -- from Hollywood and Washington. Will.I.Am, John Legend, and Sheryl Crow played on stage. From our seats, we saw Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson.

The Reverend

Source: David Gura/NPR

 

And Ashley Judd.

This reporter -- and a movie star.

Source: Amy Walters/NPR

 

As I told friends afterward, the afternoon and evening went by quickly. It was, as many political pundits said, amazing stagecraft. Music flowed seamlessly into videos into speeches. I can't describe the energy in that stadium when, once the biographical video about Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) ended, the candidate stepped onto the stage. As I looked around, everyone was on his feet, clapping, yelling, squinting to see him.

David Gura

10:51 AM ET | 09- 3-2008 | permalink

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Rollin'

Buildings in downtown Denver are covered with signs. The logo for the Democratic National Convention, a mountain scene with stars, is omnipresent. That now-iconic rendering of Obama, printed by Shepard Fairey, has been plastered everywhere. That said, I thought this image was especially eye-catching:

Good advertising.

David Gura, NPR

 

And pretty awesome.

David Gura

10:48 AM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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On The Floor

"And the crowd goes wild..."

David Gura, NPR

 

As I wrote yesterday, security here at the Democratic National Convention is heavy. Credentials are hard to come by, and the lines to get into the Pepsi Center are long.

There are more than 40 NPR employees here, working on our coverage. Engineers, producers, editors, and reporters. And although almost everyone has a perimeter pass, which lets us into the area surrounding the Pepsi Center and INVESCO Field at Mile High, there aren't enough arena and floor credentials to go around.

Reporters get them, of course. And a few producers and editors do too. Our Political Junkie, Ken Rudin, was on the floor last night, wrangling guests for Debbie Elliot and Audie Cornish. If there are any to spare, left unused, our boss passes them out. Last night, from 8:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m., I got hold of a coveted floor credential, just in time for Michelle Obama's speech.

A few producers and I walked from our workspace to the Pepsi Center. On the way over, we passed Bill O'Reilly (so tall!), Arianna Huffington (so small!), and Vernon Jordan (also tall!). Once we got inside the [first] set of gates, we had to walk another few-hundred yards to the security line, which was really just a giant mass of delegates and journalists.

Inside the Pepsi Center, we took the escalators up to "Radio Row," a part of the concourse filled with tables for an assortment of local and national radio broadcasters. I picked up my pass there, and walked down to the floor, by the delegates from Delaware and Illinois, between the NBC News and CBS News sets.

Minutes later, the lights in the hall dimmed. A video, narrated by Michelle Obama's mother, introduced us to the evening's main speaker. Then her brother, the coach of the men's basketball team at Oregon State University, took to the stage. The crowd went wild, and not for the first time. Volunteers made their way through the audience, passing out posters. When he asked the crowd to welcome his sister, signs and hands were up in the air, obscuring the stage.

Back at the workplace, after the speech, we swapped notes. Who liked the speech? Who didn't? What was she trying to get across? And what did we think of the Obama daughters?

Tonight: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner are scheduled to speak. If I make it in, I'll report back tomorrow.

David Gura

12:05 PM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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Play Ball

Democrats play ball.

Source: David Gura/NPR

 

I'm in Denver, mere miles from where I was born, helping with NPR's coverage of the Democratic National Convention. Needless to say, it's beautiful here. No humidity!

The centerpiece of our convention coverage is a series of interviews called "This American Moment." Every day, we'll ask a different artist, writer, scholar, thinker, or politician to put this campaign -- and this election -- in context. What does it mean to them? How does it fit into history? And what is at stake in the fields in which they work? This week, we'll hear from Lani Guinier, Jorge Ramos, Christopher Hitchens, and Jimmy Carter.

Since I landed on Thursday night, journalists and Democratic delegates have flooded the city. Needless to say, security here is tight. The perimeter around the Pepsi Center and INVESCO Field at Mile High, built of concrete barriers and chainlink fencing, is formidable. Police officers, from Denver and beyond, are on most street corners, wearing menacing-looking outfits. (Last night, on the way to dinner, I passed a white Humvee. Officers in riot gear clung to the side of the SUV.)

A few days ago, I grabbed a small pizza at one of my favorite Denver restaurants, the Wazee Supper Club. The bartender told me that he and his staff had been briefed about what to do if there are riots or bomb threats. (He didn't seem worried.) He said that many other bars and restaurants downtown had been rented out. If you watch CNN this week, take a close look at their studios. They took over a bar called Brooklyn's, just steps away from the Pepsi Center.

Some family friends had a pair of spare tickets to the Rockies game yesterday. In beautiful Coors Field, I watched the local team stage a pretty good comeback against the Cincinnati Reds. As you can see in the photograph above, which I snapped from our seats, there were a few sports-loving Democratic delegates in the crowd.

Our office space is in a hotel downtown, just a few minutes away from the arena and football stadium. Picture a large hotel conference room, crammed with laptops, telephones, television screens, and sundry audio equipment. In two adjacent rooms, engineers have built small studios for guests. (Ted Koppel, with whom Neal is going to speak later, will be here soon.)

I'll provide updates during the week. With photos! If you have any questions for me, leave 'em here.

David Gura

12:20 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink

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