Last night, Marlowe’s steakhouse was the scene of the IL delegation welcome party. It was a 4-6 pm open bar party on the 16th street mall. It was the first official IL party and, boy, it did not disappoint. Ok, maybe it disappointed a bit. No one made a scene and the press wasn’t let in. So we had to stand outside like the paparazzi on TMZ waiting for a politician to roll by and do a few sound bytes. I was tempted to start playing the full paparazzi role by barking at people as they came out. “Hey, Dick Mell! Dick! Dick! What are you wearing? What hot ordinance are you workin’ on?” But instead I just took pictures and tried to stay out of the way. The first day was a treat. I am staying with Rob Wildeboer and Amanda Vinicky from Illinois Public Radio. We worked long into the night producing features and editing photos. Amanda went to the farmers’ market earlier and I contributed by fixing Rob’s computer, which really meant I called our IT guy Drew. The IL delegation is staying at the Denver Marriott. When I walked in, the jazz lounge quartet was setting up for what probably is going to be a raucous night of “Mac the Knife.” I might go down there tonight just to see what IL politician takes the mic. My bet is on Emil. Denver folk seem nice enough. The bus-riding crew needs some work. When I asked someone if the Sheridan was off Broadway, the person responded with a curt “I don’t know, dude” and when a teen cut in line and was chastised by an old lady, he told her to “shut up.” Come on Denver, this is the town Mork & Mindy made famous, you can do better than that! This morning we are covering the IL delegation breakfast and prepare for the main event, which are the Illinois’ speeches tonight at the Pepsi Center. Attorney General Lisa Madigan, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and State Comptroller Dan Hynes (plus others) are speaking tonight. I wish they would theme the night by job title - it would be awesome if they had a “Comptroller night” at the next DNC. I have a bunch of tape and video to share today. I’ll get it up as soon as I can. Until then, nanu-nanu!