Four weeks from today, Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for president -- in the heart of Denver. As we continue the countdown, we're offering daily highlights of life in the Mile High City, can't-miss sights and sounds: the very Best of Denver. Day 1: Confluence Park.

Denver got its start at the confluence of two rivers, where a couple of gold panners found signs of color in the summer of 1858, exactly 150 years ago.

Today, Confluence Park is solid gold. This point where Cherry Creek takes off from the South Platte River is as close to a beach as Denver gets, a lush oasis in the middle of the city, a place to hang out for the day or to use as a starting point for an adventure down the bikepath or up the Greenway. On this morning, dog owners frolic with their pets in the middle of the Platte, while a kid in an inner tube floats past; two bums sleep under a walkway, undisturbed by the posse of new mothers running above, pushing their sleeping babies ahead in strollers; executives make deals on the Starbucks deck outside of REI, their words running on as I read the plaque with a poem by Thomas Hornsby Ferril, a Denver poet whose rivers of words still run through this city:

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The courtroom of U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger was packed on July 29 for the all-day trial over whether the Democratic National Convention security arrangements being planned by the city and the Secret Service pass the Constitutional smell test. The lawsuit was originally filed in May by the ACLU on behalf of numerous groups that wish to hold events and demonstrations during convention week, such as Recreate 68 and Escuela Tlatelolco.

At issue are a variety of complaints the ACLU has with the designated parade route for marches, the proposed “public viewing area” adjacent to the Pepsi Center, and several parade permits the city has denied. In the courtroom, discussion ranged from biochemical weapons to the precise location of air conditioners attached to the media tents. Krieger is expected to give her ruling in a few days.

Given that this reporter fell asleep briefly around the fifth hour of testimony, this blog post will leave out the precise details of the trial in favor of some highlights after the jump. --Jared Jacang Maher

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Leticia Van de Putte: "We’ve got to put a tremendous effort into making sure that Colorado and Nevada and New Mexico shift totally for Barack Obama."

Leticia Van de Putte wears many hats in a state that’s known for some major headwear. As a Texas state senator, the chair of the state Senate Democratic Caucus, a pharmacist and the mother of six, her nomination as a convention co-chair only adds to an already manic schedule.

She achieved national attention by leading the 2003 walkout of the “Texas Eleven”— 11 Democratic senators who left the Texas state house and holed up in New Mexico, where their 45-day stay temporarily prevented Republicans from establishing a quorum and passing redistricting legislation that benefited the GOP. Her star has also been on the rise this year, as she was selected to give the Spanish-speaking Democratic response to President Bush’s final State of the Union address in January.

Here, she talks about the highs and lows of having the convention in Denver, and explains in great detail the importance of the Latino vote to Democrats, with particular attention to her Spanish-speaking response to the State of the Union and this year’s first-ever Spanish language simulcast of the convention.

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From Colorado Public Radio: Colorado Matters this morning aired a great interview with Kennedy adviser Ted Sorensen, who addressed the potential impact of Obama's acceptance speech. Hear the interview -- and Kennedy's "New Frontier" speech -- at kcfr.org.

It’s possible I’m getting swept up in DNC fever.

As a journalist, I’m paying extra attention to it for sure. But as a Denver native whose father is an historian, I appreciate the pomp and spectacle the event will bring, as well as the ground-breaking significance of a black candidate, and I like to imagine what things were like a hundred years ago at the last Democratic convention held here.

I guess that explains why I shelled out $50 for a century-old postcard with a black-and-white picture of an electric sign depicting a woman handing the key to the city to a donkey.

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The Rocky Mountain News's "Bet made on carbon offsets" article on Saturday started with this: "Thanks to a windmill that tolls day and night producing clean electricity, the tiny eastern plains outpost of Wray has landed in the center of the fast-moving, carbon-offset world."

When he read that, Brad Jones, our Best of Denver 2008 blogger, threw a stick in the story's spokes with a piece on his facethestate.com. In a nutshell: the windmill doesn't work.

Legislators and community activists in the area had been complaining about the problems for some time; the weekly paper in Wray printed a piece on their concerns last Thursday. Jones had heard some of the same tips, and started looking into them about a week ago. He even interviewed Ron Howard, superintendent of the Wray School District, whose rosy quote ends the News's piece: "In tough times, we'll take all the money we can get. But this is a lot more than just a money thing for us."

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Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin:"Some of that healing and unification has started with Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama and their respective camps. The convention, however, has to advance that."

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin might be Howard Dean’s most experienced choice among his three nominated co-chairs of the Democratic National Convention. She’s not a career politician—her first term as Atlanta’s mayor was her first ever elected office—but as the city’s former Chief Administrative Officer, she oversaw Atlanta’s hosting of the 1988 Democratic convention and volunteered for the most difficult beat on the job: supervising the safety and security of the public-protest areas.

In this interview, Franklin tells Demver about the importance of having the convention in Denver and offers advice to Mayor Hickenlooper on how to deal with the pressures and problems of hosting a national convention.

Westword (Joe Horton): What's the importance of having the convention in Denver?

Shirley Franklin: Denver is a great city. It’s a community that pulls itself together around a lot of issues. I was in Denver at the invitation of the mayor along with other mayors in January to talk about the issue of homelessness and how we as mayors address issues of poverty and homelessness in our community. That caused me to really understand how a mayor who is from the business community and who’s an entrepreneur himself has been able to galvanize support. And in order to host the convention, Denver has reached out to civic leaders as well as to business leaders all over the country.

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West Virginia

Total Number of Delegates: 39
Pledged: 28
Unpledged: 11

How to Recognize a West Virginia Delegate:
If a Sasquatch sighting is ever confirmed, it will no doubt happen in West Virginia. There already are rumors circulating that the state's governor, Joe Manchin III, is actually a shaved version of a yeti creature whose policies benefit only him and his Sasquatch cronies. As proof, detractors point to the severe lack of government economic incentives that perpetually forces college graduates to leave the state to find work, resulting in a 10 percent population loss since 1950. As a result, the only jobs available are in coal mines, where humans cannot see or disturb the Sasquatches!

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Note: Update below.

The press advisory from Michael Huttner of ProgressNow Action identifies Carol Kreck, pictured above, as a "60-year-old librarian" -- a description that's technically accurate, but which plays on at least a couple of stereotypes, as noted in this More Messages blog about Kreck's arrest outside a John McCain town hall meeting held at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on July 7. Implying that Kreck is a timid victim simply because of her current profession insults librarians even as it ignores the decades she spent as a tough-nosed reporter for the Denver Post.

To prove she's got no back-down in her, Kreck will be outside a 10 a.m. July 25 McCain event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel along with a number of other protesters, including representatives of veterans groups such as Leon Rodriguez (who -- full disclosure -- happens to be my wife's uncle). Oh yeah: She'll have the same "McCain = Bush" sign with her that got her ticketed in the first place.

Click "More" to see the ProgressNow press release, with more information about the protest, as well as the video of Kreck's previous brush with the boys in blue. -- Michael Roberts

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Eighty grand. Obama on the mic. Think there might be a goosebump or two?

While we waited for Howard Dean and other Democrats to finish their tour of Invesco Field at Mile High, standing under an incredibly blue sky on the green, green turf, several of us took off our shoes and dug our toes into the incredibly thick, even grass. "I've been paying for this place," said one photographer of the taxpayer-subsidized football stadium. "I might as well."

And certainly Dean didn't blame us. "This place is great -- makes me want to be a Bronco," the Democratic National Committee chair said when he came out and stood on the spot, or close enough, where five weeks from tonight Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for president.

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The Secret Service has been in contact with officials from Elitch Gardens to possibly utilize the amusement park’s 300 foot observational tower as a security-watch post during the Democratic National Convention.

“We still don’t know yet,” says Elitch spokesperson Megan Barber. “We’re still in discussions.” While she cannot go into details, Barber says that many possible security issues are being worked out.

Equipped with an elevator and a covered deck, the iconic, steel-truss tower (Denver's version of the Space Needle, and named the Total Tower when it opened a decade ago) offers a perfect view of the grounds surrounding the Pepsi Center, including the protest “Demonstration Area” in Lot A. The amusement park will be hosting private events for the media and delegates August 22 and 23. The park will be closed to the public during the week of the convention. – Jared Jacang Maher

There’s just something about hand puppets of furry animals. No matter how many real knives or bullet belts they’re armed with, they’re still sooo effin’ cute!

At least, that’s what an unauthorized “audio visual cell” of national anarchist outfit Unconventional Action was going for yesterday when they posted this cheeky/scary Youtube video. The 2 ½ minute spot depicts a fake press conference with agitator agitprops “Beaver with Cleaver” and “Cat with Bat” discussing “the disruption, subversion and total destruction of this year’s Republican and Democratic National Convention.”

The duo gives specific instructions on which city “sectors” disorganizers should focus on in St.Paul, the site of the GOP confab. Sadly, no details on Denver. (Please, just don’t harm LoDo!) But they do pump their comrades up with some protest-porn footage of people smashing windows, ripping down structures and tossing stones and Molotov cocktails at police. Hmm, what could they mean by this? A hidden message, perhaps?

It concludes with a list of websites, including www.Dncdisruption08.org and
www.Recreate68.org.

Good thing they’re just hand puppets. – Jared Jacang Maher

Football season starts in two and half weeks with the Broncos’ first preseason game, on August 9 in Houston.

From there, the team comes back to Denver for games against Dallas, on August 16, and Green Bay, on August 22 – a matchup that will have added media scrutiny depending on whether retired-then-unretired quarterback Brett Favre is still with the team or battling with management.

Regardless, 70,000 football fans tromping through Invesco Field two weekends in a row probably won't help the Democratic National Convention organizers who need to get the stadium in shape for Barack Obama, who plans to accept the Democratic presidential nomination there on August 28 – just a few short days after the Broncos vs. Packers rumble.

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Welcome to the Internet, where weirdness is as close as your mouse.

Today's example: The video clip below, which allows users to insert any name they'd like into a mock news story about swelling support for an unknown presidential candidate. Of course, I entered my name, which magically pops up on a bus board, a newspaper and even a tramp stamp tattooed on a very unlikely lower back.

Check it out for yourself by clicking "More," and start your own campaign here. -- Michael Roberts

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Thus far, John McCain's political ads have displayed unexpected subtlety -- and a spot that's been airing in these parts of late displays that quality again. The commercial is aimed at Latino voters, and twice over the course of its minute and five seconds, the camera lingers on Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo grumpily listening to Big John speak at a debate earlier in the campaign season. Tancredo has no great love for McCain, as he made clear in this extended Q&A. McCain, meanwhile, is clearly positioning himself as the anti-Tancredo when it comes to immigration policy, and that's a risky strategy, since he's going to need plenty of seal-the-border zealots in his camp if he's to have a chance in November. Still, there's something amusingly sly about the way he uses Tancredo to send a visual message to voters: "Look at this loon. He hates me!"

Check out the spot, complete with the sort of Spanish subtitles that Tancredo would undoubtedly despise, by clicking "More." -- Michael Roberts

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