Tuesday

Sorry I haven't been writing. I have been spending a lot of time sleeping, trying to get over this cold. I'm functional, if not exactly healthy.

I'l try to go more or less chronologically, though I may wander.

Sunday night was the opener, with the big New Orleans party. As I was standing on front of the stage dancing to Tab Benoit and the Save the Wetlands All-Stars ( there's a catchy name for you), I was struck by the marvelous diversity of the delegates: a black couple from Alaska, the Hawaiian delegation in matching Hawaiian shorts/pantsuits, people of every shape and description all dancing and cheering for New Orleans recovery and Democratic candidates. I couldn't help but compare our party to the other party- and we do look more like America than the Republicans do.

Monday morning we had our first delegation breakfast, sponsored by Tyco Electronics. They make mobile communication devices, and would like to sell some to Maine. I have decided that I will try to ask every sponsor of an event for our delegation what exactly they hope to get out of sponsorship. Tyco is pretty straightforward, they just want to get their brand name out there. Other sponsors are less forthcoming; more on that later.

Insert random celebrity sighting here: Sunday night, at a reception for civil rights organizations, Danny Glover. I don't know whether I'm numb from all the fatigue and cold medicines, or whether I am just jaded, but I find it amusing the extent to which celebrities get some people all ga-ga and frantic to get a picture taken with them or of them.

As long as we're talking celebrities, here's who I have seen so far, in no order at all: Caroline Kennedy, Howard Dean ( breakfast this morning), Chris Matthews, Sen. Joe Biden ( I was nearly knocked over a man in a wheelchair by the Secret Service), Bill Richardson, some famous talking head whose name I can't recall, and probably dozens of celebriities I have seen but didn't recognize.

Here's a little bit of what a convention is like: You try to find your way to an event, on the way you meet someone from somewhere, and have a fascinating 5 minute discussion, whereupon everybody moves on. You pick up material that you hope to read, which of course you'll never get a chance to read because there are so many other things going on.

Another piece of the convention experience: swag. Eveyrbody is promoting their company/product/organization, so one is given all sorts of free stuff. When we went to pick up our credentials, we were all given a bag full of goodies. The bag itself is union-made, natch, assembled by Goodwill Industries, and features the AT&T logo on one side, the Coca-Colo logo on the other.

Inside we find:
-an AT&T ringtone gift card,
-a Ford Escape Hybrid green whistle, compass, and flashlight keyring,
-a couple of cans of Joint Juice, a dietary supplement with glucosamine ( what, they think we're all arthritic?),
-a VISA/US Bank Nalgene water bottle, with health and enviironment tips,
-a miniature emergency radio from Protecting America.org,
- a foam lump of coal from Peabody Coal Co. ("Coal Can Do That"),
-the ever-popular Kraft Macaroni and Cheese "Democrats in 2008" with stars and donkey dinner,
-coupons from lots of local merchants,
-SEIU refrigerator magnet slogan composition kit,
- a glossy catalog promoting Cherry Creek Mall, featuring an ad for the PUMA store ( was that deliberate?)
-JARGON ALERT: PUMA stand for "Party Unity My Ass", the Hillary Clinton dead-enders.
-a box of Ibuprofen from Walgreens
-a UPS envlope and labels,
-FedEX lip balm,
- an AT&T pin,
-an invitation to Solar Fest, a solar power fair at Coors Field,
-a blurb from The CELL ( Center for Empowered Living and Learning), talking about worldwide terrorism,
-mints from ProLogis and UPS,
-and more paper advertising than I care to catalog.

Everywhere one turns, there is advertising. Attractive young women in crisp white shirts and khakis pass out icy cold water bottles touting how clean coal is. ( Bet they have never shoveled coal.) Street teams publicizing products or websites are everywhere. It all becomes a blur, at least to me. Again, could be fatigue and cold medicines, but I am thinking a lot of money is getting spent on ads that nobody will pay attemtion to.

Starting to fade here, more later.