DENVER--I have just arrived at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos, for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Thousands of the 75,000 expected audience members have already filled the stands; keep in mind, Obama is not expected to appear until sometime in the 8 o'clock hour, at least five hours from now.
Here's the man of the hour (or of several hours from now, anyway).
A lot of people in the stands are simply chilling, taking in the high-altitude sun, and snapping photos of the occasional media celebrity passing by. A good handful of people are also sitting with their laptops open, fighting the glare, and attempting to post their blog entries.
I have found a cozy perch to write this post in the CBS media tent located at one of the stadium end zones. (I'm writing on my Treo; outlets and Internet connections come at a premium!) It's out of the sun and there are box lunches to nibble on, but the perks stop there. Evening News producers, writers, and correspondents are huddled together, some casually killing time, some freaking out over deadlines that are seemingly an eternity away.
Without a doubt, there is electricity in the air. Like a halftime show, the stadium production team has provided a wide smattering of video entertainment. We just watched a tribute to President Lyndon Johnson, who would have turned 100 Wednesday. That was followed by the winner of a YouTube video contest who explained in roughly three minutes why he's voting for Barack Obama. The music interludes have also been clearly calculated to represent a wide variety of tastes to appeal to a broad demographic: the National for the young hipsters, Simon & Garfunkel for the boomers , and some good ol' country-western for the Colorado natives (who are expected to make up half the crowd).
Ooh, Michelle Obama sighting at the ABC media platform! I may be a seasoned journalist, immune to political hype, but on this stage, on this night, she's like a rock star.
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