The kickoff party in Denver...

When I start my day with an airport shuttle picking me up at 5:55 a.m., I don't expect to be at a party at an amusement park late that night. But I was because I didn;t come to Denver just to sit around!

Last night was the media party at Elitch Gardens which is right next to the Pepsi Center where all the official convention business will be taking place. I met up with my old pal Bridget Johnson (p[ictured with me at left) who just started a new job as an editorial writer for the Rocky Mountain News. It was so great to hang out and win stuffed animals.Everyone won stuffed animals. It was fun and festive. But you can;t help but wonder how someone was gonna fit a giant stuffed lion or Batman into their luggage.

There was tons of free food and booze. I didn;t drink any alcohol but I did indulge in a fuinnel cake which wasn't quite at Orange County Fair level but still pretty darned good. I was chowing on my funnel cake as Bridget played a game, she looked up at me and burst out laughing. I didn't realize I had powdered sugar ALL OVER my black polo shirt. All over.

I didn't really know who was who as far as dignitaries go and they were in a VIP area where pipsqueaks like me were not allowed. But I did read in the Denver Post this morning that NY Post columnist Cindy Adams (the 80 year old with a beehive and eye make-up that looks like it was applied with a spatula (meow!) was denied access to the VIP area for not having the right credentials. I'll bet she was steamed! Hopefully, she had a funnel cake and all was better.

Anyway, tons of people, lots of fun. And, protesters outside, of course. As Bridget and I were walking to the parking lot, a dude with a megaphone and a banner looks at us and says through the megaphone: "A vote foir Obama is a vote for dead babies!" We walked past him then I burst out laughing. Not at dead babies but just at how random and ridiculous it was. There was no one else around - that little chant was just for us.

And finally, a funny moment at the end. Bridget finds her Volkswagon convertable in the lot right away and I, of course, have forgotten where the hell I parked my rental car. She says, "Hop in and we'll find it." She remarks, "Wouldn;t it be funny if it was just like 3o feet away. That would be so 'LA Story." It wasn;t 30 feet away, it was TWENTY feet away.

WE absolutely cracked up.

Well, I'm off to downtoiwn Denver for a meeting at the Post, a party with Spike Lee and dinner with friends after. I'm staying at the unbelievable house of Post columnist and ESPN personality Woody Paige ("Around the Horn") who is just a fantastic host. I'm sitting in his study as I write this. Tomorrow, I may write from one of the decks overlooking the stream. Or maybe I'll use the ground floor deck. It's so tough to choose.

I could get used to this!