Obama's speech - a slide show from the cheap seats
After a night of sleeping wedged into a love seat just big enough for my cat and a surreal day of hunting for a ticket to Obama's speech at Mile High Stadium, I am in no mood for games. I've run into too many alleged "journalists" looking for disaffected Hillary delegates (of which I've yet to find) and I'm beyond patience.I want some fucking unity. I want it now.I've traveled from LA to Denver to be a part of history. Devoid of credentials, unable to get into the convention at the Pepsi Center, my world for the next few days will instead revolve around Denver's 16th Street pedestrian mall (think 3d Street Promenade). A lot of the bars are here, which means most of the delegates, which means all of the media, cops and protesters. I track down some fabulous expresso from the local lesbian coffee house and begin my day in earnest. The night before it had become pretty clear to me that my chances of getting a ticket for the Obama speech had gone from slim to none. Every person I asked had the same deer-in-the-headlights look on their face when I brought the subject up. Clearly drastic action was called for.Time to hit Craig's List.Out of the 70,000 tickets available, some 40,000 went to Colorado and other western swing states. They "sold" out within 24 hours (they were actually free). In an effort to keep down scalping, the Obama campaign didn't mail out the physical tickets only the week before. Recipients had to call in or log in on the internet and provide their names and contact information, along with the serial number on the ticket. Once registered, the tickets become non-transferrable. The told us if your ID doesn't match the info you provided when the ticket is scanned at the stadium they won't let you in (this turned out not to be true - they just scanned the ticket and let you in)Of course this didn't stop the scalping at all. I logged on to the Denver Craig's List and found half a dozen tickets for sale. Yet almost as soon I attempted to contact a potential seller, the link would be erased. What started out as straightforward illicit transaction quickly became a game of whack-o-mole.As the day wore on I watched as prices climbed from $100 a ticket to a $1,000 a pair. A $1,000 a pair for apolitical speech. No wonder McCain is do desperate to smear Obama as being a celebrity. He's green-eyed envious.But as the day wears on, the idea of paying for a piece of history just becomes depressing. For hours I walk the Mall, my iPhone held out like a divining rod as I change tactics, trying to get an extra ticket from some of the few contacts I have in Denver. Low on battery, I'm almost ready to give it up when lightning strikes.The rest, as they say, is history.............If you like what you see, please donate to my fundraising page<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CYZuq0IqRmg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CYZuq0IqRmg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
