(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

I had planned to write this morning on the details of getting credentialed to attend Sen. Obama’s acceptance speech at Invecso Field. Indeed, we only learned of the details for requesting such credentials Wednesday afternoon — and when I say “we”, I mean everybody; State Chairs and Vice Chairs only learned of the details Wednesday as well.

I suppose I should have anticipated the World Series-like enthusiasm for the event; we’ve seen record crowds and interest all across Colorado for our Democratic nomination process; why should it stop now? But the reality is that we have seen unprecedented interest — the response has been so overwhelming that about 24 hours after announcing the phone lines for requesting credentials, the DNCC had to shut down requests and allow only “waiting list” applications. Here’s what a press release from the Obama campaign has to say:

The Colorado Campaign for Change announced this afternoon that more than 60,000 Coloradans from across the Rocky Mountain state have requested community credentials to take part in the historic final night of the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field.

“This incredible response and excitement shows that there is a huge appetite for change in Colorado,” said Anne Filipic, the General Election Director for the Campaign for Change.

Due to demand, which has exceeded community seating capacity, the campaign will now place Coloradans who request community credentials on a waitlist. Coloradans can request to be placed on the waitlist online at co.barackobama.com/invesco or by stopping by a Campaign for Change office.

Wow. Now, even though 60,000 requests were received in one day from Coloradans, remember that we don’t even have that many seats allocated to Colorado. We’re extraordinarily fortunate that about half of the “community credentials” will go to Coloradans (and about 2/3 will go to the Rocky Mountain states, including Colorado), but every state will have an allocation of these community credentials. If you’re fortunate enough to get a Community Credential, you’ll be rubbing elbows with Obama supporters from Maine, Alabama, American Samoa, Montana — every corner of this Nation.

As we get closer to this Convention, we’re starting to get more and more clarity on what each day will look like. In one word: Busy. The Post estimated that something like 1000 different events will be occuring during Convention week in Denver. And, no, contrary to what some of you have inferred, they’re not all parties. Indeed, the days will be filled with all sorts of issues conferences, forums, and trainings. While the official website lists a lot of entertainment events (http://www.denverconvention2008.com/index.cfm?page=events), just check out the Rocky Mountain Roundtable for some pretty high-level discussions of all sorts of pressing issues:
http://www.2008rmr.org/

Whether you can get into Invesco or not, you certainly don’t want to miss out on the excitement of the Convention — there will be plenty of events around Denver (and the state) for you to attend during Convention week.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 11:03 am and is filed under National Convention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.