Special Guest Post and Report by Alexandra M. Svokos

On Wednesday the 27th I woke up extra early (7am) in order to pick up our convention credentials and go to a special 2008 Rocky Mountain Roundtable event. This was the first session of the International Relations Roundtable.

First we walked down to the place where you pick up your convention credentials. Every day you have to pick them up and even show government issued photo ID in order to get the credentials. The credentials are basically just passes. Everyone wears them on a lanyard around the neck. Orange is “arena,” purple is “hall,” and green is “floor.”

After picking up our credentials we walked to Boettcher Hall for the roundtable. Because we had VIP tickets, we were able to sit in the front section. Unfortunately, the seats were set up in such a way that it is impossible to get out of the room without forcing everyone in your row to stand up so you can pass. Naturally, about twenty minutes in I really had to use the bathroom. Sorry, everyone in my row.

The roundtable was moderated by Tom Brokaw and featured my buddy Madeleine Albright, Richard Holbrooke (former ambassador of the UN), Jessica Mathews in a leg brace (president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Richard Haas (president of the Council on Foreign Relations), and Vin Weber (former Republican Congressman from Minnesota).

The event began with Geoff Garin, a pollster, giving a slideshow presentation of Americans’ concerns and such. Right now, America’s biggest concern is the economy, compared with earlier years when it was terrorism and the war in Iraq. Tom Brokaw then took over and led the discussion. At one point it was suggested that Brokaw run for president and everyone cheered in agreement. About 500 high school students from local Denver schools were in attendance, much to my chagrin, and were able to ask some questions. One question, linking Iraq to the current crisis in Georgia, even had Holbrooke pause to think.

Probably the most interesting and terrifying part of the roundtable was the last question: what keeps you up at night? Holbrooke was the first to answer and he really legitly scared me. His major concern is viruses in Indonesia. There are some viruses in Indonesia, such as human-spread avian flu, that only exist there – for now. Holbrooke explained that if these viruses spread to other parts of the world, Indonesia will not give anyone, including the World Health Organization, information about the virus itself or how to treat it. Why? Some form of idealism. Told you it was scary. Albright’s answer was more general. She said she was worried about the consequences of what we are doing now. She provided the example of the US training men in Afghanistan and then Osama Bin Laden attacking us years later.

After the roundtable we walked around downtown Denver. We were given a bunch of free stuff by people on the streets like a sick “Vote for Jimmy” pin from some sandwich store…the guy told us that “a vote for Jimmy is a vote for sandwiches.” We had to take the pins. We also found the CNN street station where you can answer or ask questions in a little booth to get a hat or t-shirt, write your opinion on a giant piece of paper, talk about the league of first-time voters, and make your own “I’m anti-____” or “I’m pro-____.” My sister, Erin, cleverly made one that reads “I’m anti-Voldemort.”

We wanted to get to the Pepsi Center early in case it filled up quickly. So we arrived at about 2. Our suite was on the first floor and we stopped there to eat first. Then we, and our newly-arrived, first-day-at-the-convention cousins and aunt went onto the floor. Sadly, we couldn’t find Anderson Cooper. We did run into Kal Penn though.

“Hi were you on 24?”
“Yes.” SWEET.

My sister Erin came running and giggling up to us because Katie Couric had just passed and told Erin she liked her dress.

The convention was called to order and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios said the opening prayer thing. Greek Orthodox!? Demetrios?! Inredible!

We decided to again sit on the floor for the night. A roll call was called to vote for the presidential nominees, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The states were called in alphabetical order. Each state talked about themselves for a while and then announced who they gave their votes to. In general every state gave about 80% votes to Obama and 20% to Clinton. Illinois, homestate of Obama, passed their votes. Then the drama really ensued. New Mexico yielded their votes to Illinois who in turn yielded their votes to New York. AND THEN Hillary showed up in the New York section!

She asked that the rules be suspended and moved that Obama be selected as the Democratic nominee. Everybody in the building seconded it and, voila, Obama is the official nominee!


Seeing ruckus on the walking space of the floor, my cousin and I decided to go down and investigate. First there was this producer guy, I think, who I know I know but can’t remember who he is… We found out the ruckus was caused by none other than Jamie Foxx! Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of him because of the huge amount of crowd. As we were in front of the CNN station, I ended up being stuck in front of that creepy guy, James Carville. Hello there, you scare me.

Further down the road we ran into Spike Lee who was just “trying to find my seat” as everyone was just trying to interview him and take pictures.

Bored and bruised, we pushed our way back to our seats. There we were given these sweet American flags. John Kerry made a good speech and even made fun of himself a little, calling McCain a flip-flopper like others had called him a flip-flopper four years ago. Bill Clinton spoke. He was pretty good but really not that eloquent or passionate. It was very straight forward vote for Obama kind of stuff. But the people love him, my God. When he first came onstage, they cheered for like five straight minutes and waved those flags. Hillary beamed from up in her suite. She’s so cute.


Oh! Yeah, Melissa Etheridge had performed earlier. Around when Clinton spoke she was interviewed by Fox News who happened to be right in front of us. Hello Melissa! Ralph Nadar was also interviewed there, it was cool.

The big speaker of the night was Joe Biden, the VP nominee. He was great, really. I didn’t know him at all, to tell you the truth, before Obama picked him, but now I love him. He’s a terrific speaker and has a tear-jerker of a life story. In 1972 his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash, his two sons severely injured. He had just been elected to the senate and, not wanting to leave his sons, was actually sworn in at his son’s bed in the hospital. Biden rides public transportation home every night and people like him. And he was born in Scranton – home of The Office! His mother was in the crowd and he gave us the advice she gave him: “no one is better than you, you are everyone’s equal, and everyone is equal to you.”

Biden finished his speech and his second wife, Jill, told him that there was a surprise. Oh boy – Barack Obama!!!!

“Now you see why I picked him as my running mate,” Obama said. Hm, that sounds awfully a lot like what he said about his wife too. Weird. The crowd flipped out and Biden’s whole family came onstage. He walked around for a bit with the youngest member before following Obama backstage.

Only one day left of the convention to hear about, popsensers!