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Convention Week - Prelude [1]

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Date: 2024-08-19  

We arrived in Chicago on Saturday evening. The first sign of Convention involvement were the volunteers looking to intercept delegates and other arrivals. There were plenty and they were universally helpful. What surprised me was that the strategy was to give people a transit card, put them on the subway from the airport, and have them get off in The Loop where volunteers would put them on shuttles to their hotels. Not an issue for me, but I wonder how delegates from Idaho and Nebraska felt.

After checking in to our hotel, we took a stroll up Michigan Ave and noticed 1) despite the Convention, there are still plenty of ordinary tourists around (only about 12 of Chicago’s hotels are needed for the Convention crowd), 2) a substantial number of police on duty and 3) elaborate security preparations for…someone (Biden? Harris?) staying at a nearby hotel.

We started the week off relaxing with a river tour of Chicago architecture. Erika has said that Chicago is the only place in the US besides NY that “feels” like a city, and it expresses a dramatic shift of architectural styles from Beaux Arts to Art Deco to Modernist to contemporary, all squeezed on either side of the Chicago River.

Our first event was a “podium preview” with photos taken on the stage at United Center. Not particularly worth the time but it gave us some exposure to the security levels being imposed.

The evening was spent, for lack of a better term, “partying”. An old friend with deep connections to Chicago politics invited us to a Party with Illinois and DC attendees ( with Ben’s Chiki Bowl brought in for the occasion) on a rooftop with beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the skyline. (Addendum: on the way to the Party I recognized governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania on the sidewalk, and I got him to stop and chat, which some folks seem to think is an admirable skill of mine). The friend in question knows everyone and everyone had to come by to say hello and get introduced.

Finished the evening at a party for the Pennsylvania delegation, where I finally had a chance to meet the PA Party Chair (who, to date, I had only talked to online). Gov Shapiro also appeared and gave another rousing pro-Harris speech.

(Lest it sound like I was only in search of an open bar and dessert try, I had the opportunity at these shindigs to catch up with the Party Chairs of NC, PA and FL to get a handle on how well prepared they are for the ensuing election)

Tomorrow begin at 8 AM picking up credentials and full day of programs and receptions before the Convention starts. Details on day one tomorrow night (if I have enough energy.

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