Many were red-eyed having flown early and long to get to Denver, attempting to escape the coming of Tropical Storm Fay at our local airports back home, but Alabama Delegates streamed into Denver steadily Saturday evening and early Sunday morning. Our official delegation is 78 persons; however, I expect over 300 Alabama faithful to be on hand in Denver.

Our home hotel is the Doubletree at Stapleton, but we are spread out among several Denver hotels. Our early morning caucus events will take place at the Doubletree Ballroom next to Georgia. Alabama also has established a site two blocks from the Pepsi Center called Sweet Home AlObama. We will have pre and post events as well as watch parties there. I expect you will see Sweet Home AlObama on the national news. It is unique and already drawing lots of attention. We have lots of T-shirts and gifts available there including an Obama Y’all T-shirt which is unique in Denver. Other states have events downtown, but only Alabama has an HQ there. Our staff did a great job.

Today we travel by bus to The Fort, a historical place about 20 miles outside of Denver where we will have fellowship and a brunch. Lt Gov Jim Folsom will be the honoree. I am slated to have DNC briefings and walk-throughs of the events today as well. I am humbled to have been asked to address the welcoming ceremony of the convention tonight at the Colorado Convention Center. All 56 delegations will be in attendance. It will honor the work done to rebuild the coast after Hurricane Katrina. I will speak about the many thousands of church members, scouts, Carpenters for Christ, civic clubs and college students who went to the coast at their own expense to shovel, haul and repair the lives and homes of people they did not know. That is the American and human spirit in action. I saw the many church vans pulling trailers for over two years going down I-85 and I-65 bringing love, hope and restoration to broken communities and people. If you are one of those people, we will celebrate and give thanks for you tonight!

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Pepsi center to the NBC booth to do an interview for Montgomery’s WSFA and also got the opportunity to an interview with the national team. A friend emailed me from LA today saying he saw me on TV there. I was commenting on the Joe Biden selection. There are 10,000 media covering 4,400 delegates and many of us will get our 10 seconds of fame talking with media or a movie star. I’d like to meet the country singer Toby Keith who is supporting Obama…How Do You Like Me Now by Keith is one of my favorites…and his patriotic songs as well.

Tomorrow will mark the first official day of the convention and we will convene at 7AM to begin the day. Former All SEC quarterback from Tennessee and current Blue Dog Democrat Heath Shuler from North Carolina will give us a pep talk. Heath has been a great role model and image for the party and we are glad to host him at the breakfast. We may get more questions about football than presidential politics, but that’s OK. Football fever for an Auburn grad like me is almost exciting as a political convention.

Tickets are tougher to get here than the Auburn-Alabama game at Auburn when we were on probation and there was a TV blackout. I look forward to chatting with you. I am super busy but sense the historical and immense importance of this week. Have a great day.

Joe