BEDTIME FOR BLOGGERS

Why am I still up?hat compells me to do this. Not much coherant is going to come out of this. I've been up since 5:30 a.m. so I could make the NM delegation breakfast. And that was after staying up late smoking cigars with the Dems. (Check out my story in today's New Mexican. ) Don't be shocked if I miss breakfast this morning. It's Tuesday, right.

A few observations:

* Nobody went swimming at Bill Richardson's pool party. Even worse, nobody got tossed in. Not even me. (Check this snapshot by guest photographer Amanda Cooper.)

* The shuttle bus took forever to get to the Pepsi Center. While going in, I stumbled across the crew from The Daily Show -- Rob Riggle, Aasif Mandvi , Larry Wilmore and John Oliver (who wasn't in the photo posted below.) They didn't seem to be doing any routine. Just exchanging greetings with delegates.

* Once I got inside, I was going down the hall looking for my workspace, a familiar face came on a TV monitor. It was none other than New Mexico's Patsy Madrid, who was talking to the delegates about the platform

* It seemed to me that on Monday the anti-abortion forces were more visible than the peace demonstrators. As I was looking for a place for a late lunch I cam across a bunch of guys on te 16th Street Mall with huge signs raging against gays, "baby killers," Muslims, liberals, drunks, Mormons, rebellious women, sex addicts and basically all my rowdy friends.

When I got out of lunch, the cops had arrived. There was a bunch on horseback as well as those in riot gear blocking the road. And on the other side of the street, there was THE DEVIL. (Again see the photos in previous post.) It doesn't get much weirder than this.
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* Gee, Joe, I didn't feel that lonely at the railroad party Sunday. Even funnier than Monahan's orignal post were the responses of my fellow Lonely Boys. Click >HERE and >HERE.

SOME SIGHTS OF THE DNC

Lots more HERE

THE PLOUFFE IS IN THE PUDDING

DENVER — Among the western states that voted for George W. Bush in 2004, New Mexico is the most likely to go for Barack Obama this year, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said Monday.

Plouffe, answering questions from a group of reporters from battleground states, claimed the recent Denver Post poll showing Obama trailing Republican John McCain in New Mexico and other Western states doesn’t concern him.

If the Democrats can register just a small fraction of the 200,000 unregistered Hispanics in New Mexico, he said, that in itself would offset the tiny margin by which Bush won the state in the last presidential election.

Voter turnout, including new and young voters also is key, Plouffe said. He said he believes Obama’s organization is superior to McCain’s in New Mexico and in other battleground states.

But Gov. Bill Richardson said the Obama campaign is going to have to work harder to win the West — especially because there’s no Westerner on the ticket.Obama and vice presidential nominee Joe Biden will have to make several visits to the state, Richardson said in an interview Monday.

BREAKFAST WITH THE DEMS

DENVER _ Monday’s breakfast for the New Mexico delegation to the 2008 Democratic National Convention was packed with speakers.

Former Denver Mayor and former Bill Clinton cabinet member Federico Pena was there to welcome the delegates and plea with Hillary Clinton supporters to get behind the Barack Obama/Joe Biden ticket.

Former Al Gore campaign manager and current CNN pundit Donna Brazile gave a short but enthusiastic pep talk to state Democrats. She praised Gov. Bill Richardson, who hadn’t yet arrived in Denver. “I feel like I’ve known Gov. Richardson all my life,” she said. “Sometimes I think he’s the original soul man. No offense, James Brown.”

Brazile hadn’t been scheduled to speak at the breakfast. However, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish saw her talking to the Washington D.C. delegation which was having breakfast across the hall at the Crowne Plaza hotel and decided to ask to speak to the New Mexico group. “Sometimes the best thing here happen by chance,” Denish said. She said she’d first met Brazile in 2000 when Denish was state party chairman and Brazile was campaigning for Gore.

One of the more unusual appeals heard at the morning meal was by Tod Sedgwick, a bird hunter who lives in Washington D.C. and a volunteer with the Obama campaign. He’s trying to organize Sportsmen for Obama groups in all 50 states.
The effort is a part of the Obama campaign’s rural outreach program, Sedgwick said. Last week in Santa Fe Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean stressed the importance of Democrats trying to peel off Republican support in rural areas.

“On the surface you wouldn’t think a guy from Chicago would be a natural advocate for sportsmen,” Sedgwick said of Obama. “He’s not pretending to be a sportsman or fisherman.”
But, Sedgwick said, sportsmen around the country are becoming increasingly concerned about deteriorating natural habitats for the fish, fowl and beast they love to pursue.

Obama, he said has a far superior record compared with Republican John McCain in preserving habitat for animals.

“He wants to open up access on public lands to hunting and fishing,” Sedgwick said.
Sedgwick said he has no illusions that Obama will win a majority of sportsman votes. For one thing many hunters are members of the National Rifle Association, which traditionally supports Republicans because of the gun control issue.

“But when you look at their voting records on gun issues, Obama’s record is virtually identical to McCain’s.

The NRA in 2004 gave McCain a lifetime grade of C-plus. That same year, based on his record in the Illinois Legislature the RNA gave Obama a lifetime grade of F. In 2007, Gun Owners of America graded Obama with an F, but gave McCain an F-minus.

Sedgwick said that despite the claims of some gun rights activists, Obama isn’t out to confiscate guns. Obama has pointed out that many of his constituents in southern Illinois have a long tradition of hunting and fishing.

CONVENTION NOTEBOOK SUNDAY

DENVER — The Crowne Plaza hotel was a hotbed of New Mexico Democrat activity Sunday afternoon. Downstairs state Rep. Ernest Chavez, D-Albuquerque, a delegate was checking in. In the lobby bar you could spot Tom Udall’s campaign manager Amanda Cooper and political strategist Caroline Buerkle. Getting off the elevator were several members of Gov. Bill Richardson’s state police security detail, in plain clothes looking as if they were about to enjoy some time off. Party activist Bryon Paez was running around in a USMC T-shirt.

The Crowne Plaza is the official headquarters of the New Mexico delegation. The state party has an office up on the Sixth Floor. State Auditor Hector Balderas was there munching on grapes and pistachio nuts. Former state Attorney General Patricia Madrid and her husband Mike Messina was checking in. Madrid, who was a member of the DNC’s Platform Committee, showed a reporter a copy of Sunday’s Denver Post, which ran a photo of her and a short blurb highlighting her role as a “Behind the scenes” Democrat. Madrid is scheduled to speak at the convention when the platform is introduced 5 p.m. Monday.

Get your souvenirs: The Crowne Plaza is just a couple of blocks from Denver’s 16th Street Mall, which was crammed with convention goers, a few stray war protesters and an occasional street musician playing for the crowd.

And the place is crawling with reporters too. While doing some writing in the lobby of the Sheraton, I ran into Nathan Dinsdale, who used to work at The Santa Fe Reporter. On 16th Street I bumped into a former New Mexican colleague, Daniel Chacon, who now covers city hall for the Rocky Mountain News.

People filled sidewalk cafes and checked out the innumerable tables selling Obama buttons, T-shirt, bumper stickers and bobbleheads. Several storefront souvenir shops had large window displays of these items as well.

The Obama souvenir business stretched beyond the downtown area. At a convenience store parking lot on Speer Street west of I-25, a young man from Arizona named Josh Richmond was operating an Obama T-shirt stand under a tarp. He said he’d been working there since last Monday and business was good.

In addition to all the Obama items there were a few Hillary Clinton buttons. But Richmond, an Obama supporter, said he had sold very many of those.

There was some color sites in downtown Denver not as festive or pleasant as the T-shirt stands. Three large trucks could be seen in the area with huge photos of bloody fetuses. One had the printed message, “Abortion is Obama Nation.” Conventions bring out everyone.

Straight out of American Samoa: While writing this piece in a 16th Street Starbucks, I met a real live superdelegate. She was looking for directions to the Denver Convention Center.
Teri Hunkin is vice chair of the Democratic Party in American Samoa. Her brother-in-law is Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin, American Samoa’s longtime representative in Congress. As a territory, American Samoa has a non-voting representative in the House. Citizens there can’t vote in the presidential election either. Both Teri Hunkin and her brother-in-law are “huge Obama supporters.”

American Samoa has 13 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, though only four showed up, Teri Hunkin said. She said most were not able to attend because of the expense of travel. But some delegates pledged to Hillary Clinton chose not to go. Clinton won the American Samoan caucus by about a 60-40 margin.

The previous version had no photos.

DEMS DO DENVER

I found this place just a couple of blocks from the Crowne Plaza, where the New Mexico delegates are staying. No, I didn't see any of our delegates going in (and, no, I didn't go in either.)

Downtown Denver seemed bustling in anticipation of the convention. Lots of crammed sidewalk cafes, lots of folks with Dem credentials hanging from their necks wandering the streets looking like tourists. And hey, I caught a glimse of Wolf Blitzer crossing the street near CNN HQs.

I was going to park and look around for early bird New Mexicans. But instead, I decided to drive up Colfax to joint I discovered a couple of years ago -- Steve's Snappin' Dogs. I took a picture of the sign when I was here before (and it's the desktop photo of my work computer.) But it was closed when my son and I stopped in a couple of years ago, so tonight was the first time I actually ate there. Fine hotdog (I opted for the Rippin' Rockies Dog, which has green chile) but the best part was the fried green beans. What a treat!

And yes, that's the car I'm driving -- it's a New Mexican Circulation Dept. vehicle the company was nice enough to let me use. I'm so used to driving generic looking cars, it's a shock every time I see it. But at least there's no danger of me losing it.

Check back later and I'll post links to my convention preview stories in Sunday's New Mexican.

UPDATE: Here ya go ...
* Main story (What purpose do conventions serve and who pays for this party?) CLICK HERE
* A list of meals, receptions and parties for the New Mexico delegation CLICK HERE.
* The list of N.M. delegates. CLICK HERE.

IT'S BIDEN

Sometime during the last hour of The Santa Fe Opry, both The New York Times and The Washington Post -- and probably a lot of other media outlets -- reported that Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate.

I'm kind of disappointed that the secret didn't hold until the text message went out. Damned reporters!

Speaking of which, I'm driving up to Denver today (Saturday) to cover the convention for The New Mexican. Watch the paper as well as this blog for news from the DNC.