Last night at the convention, I witnessed firsthand the ups and downs of being a blogger at this convention. At around 8pm, I appeared on Headline News. You can see the piece here (Windows Media format I am ashamed to say). I met several CNN bigs in the green room, I didn’t fiddle with my earpiece, it all went off pretty well. My mom even called to tell me that although she didn’t think Chris Heinz looked all that good the night before, I looked very handsome. Take that, Beantown.

I was riding high. But just moments later, out the of the corner of my eye I saw a small group gathering around someone. When I got closer, I realized that it was Omarosa. It only took a quick once over of her arena credentials (which at the Fleet serve as public resumes and status billboards) for me to realize that Omarosa had way better access than me. Welcome back down to the rung of humanity a notch or two below disliked reality television participants.

Later in the evening, the blogger clan finally found a party we could get into. It was a shindig hosted in part by some of the guys from Google. There were a couple of celebrities, a member of congress and although our blogging group is about 80% male, the party was at least 50% female. People wanted to be where we were. Incidentally, as one who survived the dot com boom/bust cycle, I should inform my fellow bloggers that just about the time women who didn’t work for an internet start-up began showing up for our parties, we went over the cliff. Nevertheless, for the moment, we were all munching on free, Greek appetizers, gulping down complimentary brews and basically living large.

A few hours later, the last of the group found ourselves riding in the back of a cab as we naively tried to find a late night anything in Boston. By the time our search was over, we ended up standing in a line at the 7-11 in Harvard Square. And thus it was hammered home that we had slid back down to the bottom of the DNC party totem pole. And our fifteen minutes of complimentary drinks? Over.

When I got back to my hotel, bleary-eyed, one moment from the night kept popping into my head. After taking some photos on the floor of the arena, I was waiting for one of the giant elevators back up to the seating areas. So was Ted Kennedy. Security officials were informing the Senator that the fire marshalls had temporarily cut off access to one of the floors because of overcrowding. Therefore, Kennedy and his entourage would not all be able to get to their luxury box.



Kennedy grew visibly and rightfully irritated. He asked why he should be penalized because too many people were on the floor? He explained again and again that he was promised a box with all of its seats empty and waiting. At one point, I’m pretty sure he asked the elevator security guy: “Do you know that my committee appropriated the funds for this convention?”

Thinking about that exchange made me a feel a little better. If Ted Kennedy has access issues at a Democratic event in Boston, then it really can happen to anyone. And by the way, when I glanced down to check out Kennedy’s access credentials, I couldn’t help but notice that Omarosa’s were better than his too.

I can still vividly remember staying up until three in the morning watching C-Span and hearing my wife call out to tell me it’s time to go to bed. But I couldn’t tear myself from the television. I was watching the raw video of John Edwards working the Iowa crowds and delivering what had become, overnight, one the best stump speeches ever delivered. And tonght offered a stringing together of those Iowa outtakes along with the extra benefit of having the dad from the mill and the mom from the post office right here in the Fleet.

And when Edwards sticks to that script, talking about two Americas and race and inequality in America (yes, those classic liberal themes), he is remarkable (although he was nowhere near his best tonight). He tells an audience that we can’t allow people of different socioeconomic backgrounds to fall behind just because it’s “wrong.” That’s my kind of politics and my kind of values. Let’s legislate fairness, not try to legislate love and science.

Race and the economic divide are also topics of discussion that have largely disappeared from our national dialogue. And not because the problems are gone. It’s just the attention.

Edwards owned the crowd and the night and delivered just what this pundit ordered. A healthy infusion of the two Americas speech that rings so clearly true to the ears of any who open their eyes to see.

I was a bit surprised that they put Edwards at a podium. He is so much better with a lapel mic that frees him to work the stage. It’s one of the odd parts of these made for TV spectacles. The visuals almost never change. It’s like watching a filmstrip with sound.

But tonight, that sound was good. And it was just what I think this Party and swing voters across the country need to hear.

It’s Wednesday night at about 8:41pm and I have this to report. Al Sharpton has been the most effective speaker so far. Including everyone.

Sharpton entered the stage with little fanfare. No music. No placards featuring his name. Just a man alone, raw, standing at a preachers podium in the colosseum.

The lions – those who were skeptical about his appearance and whether he would send the right message – were tamed and jumping through flaming hoops after the first few of verses. Don’t get me wrong. I was surprised there wasn’t more debate over whether the Rev would get a speaking slot. Is he a great leader? Nope. Has had a career of solid and remarkable leadership efforts? Come on.

But Al has grown up a bit. He not only spoke without the addition of major intro or a theme song, but it was also during an early time slot. Most the time these speeches simply rattle around among the ballons in the rafters above the murmuring masses. Only the people in front can even hear or are paying much attention.

Al ripped the attention from the back walls to the Arena floor. Judging by the press release featuring his speech, he also went way off script and became for a moment the young kid who would preach standing on a milk crate as a ten year old and mixed that skill with words to deliver the goods.

A freind who’s home in TV Land tells me that the pundits ripped Al for going too long and being too far off message. And there could be just a slight possibilty that an ego the size of the Bronx had something to do with the length and girth of the speech.

I’m not a Sharpton fan. I’m just telling you that he rocked the joint.

He had several standing ovations and left to a lengthy periods of applause. Over and over people cheered and chanted.

You may not like Al (or at least the Al of the past) and this really isn’t much of a story. But I just thought you should know something that probably will not come through on the tube.

Al Sharpton just brought the house down.

Check this analysis of how the the presidential websites are connecting or not connecting with the voters in their target group.

During an informal address earlier this week, Howard Dean described reading that morning’s edition of a major daily newspaper only to find that at least three of stories were full-on opinion pieces (Kerry needs to do this … Edwards hopes to accomplish that).

That shouldn’t surprise anyone much. When an event is this scripted – when you know every word that will come out of every mouth in advance – then what is left to write other than opinion (unless someone at the podium drops dead or drops an F bomb or a teleprompter gets fried).

John Edwards hasn’t even walked out onto the stage yet, and the NY Times already has a story about his speech online.

Remember. Four years ago, we spent days debating whether or not a guy kissing his wife on the lips was too staged and would backfire.