Supershuttle

Three rows of seats.
The shotgun seat makes ten passengers.

I sit on the edge in the middle row, but have to squeeze to the middle as the tenth passenger hurries to the vehicle.

The drive from the Denver airport to downtown Denver is long.

The man behind me to my left is here today from Los Angeles to support his friend who is performing stand up comedy tonight at the DNC. He tries on a couple of occasions to make the car laugh, but fails miserably each time.

The guy directly behind me is from Marin. He graduated High School in 2006 and his hat is slightly crooked in a modernly hip way that I do not completely understand and makes me feel old. He works for a nonprofit in Washington D.C. that is dedicated to delivering clean water to third world nations. He’s here for the party and hopes to rub elbows with some legislators who can help his cause.

The guy behind me to my right is an donor from Minnesota. He’s the only one wearing a sport coat. He gets going about Al Franken’s chances of beating the Republican incumbent, Norm Colman (the one who won Paul Wellstone’s seat over Walter Mondale in a special election years ago). Al Franken is a liberal comedian and satirist. Many of you know him as Stuart Smally from Saturday Night Live “I’m smart enough, I’m good enough, and gosh darn it, people like me. He has also written books one of the most notable of which is Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them about the conservative media/hate machine. Our conversation started when he enthusiastically congratulated me on the birth of my daughter. He’s pissed that Franken wrote a column in Playboy, but he still likes his chances. Franken is also going to play an important part in weather or not Minnesota turns blue in November. Right now folks are worried because “it’s purple” meaning it’s a toss up between McCain and Obama.

Woman to my left is from Arkansas. She works for non profit group. She has come to Denver in an effort to make Hillary Clinton President. “But she lost the primary”, I gently respond with. She claims it’s because no one in Arkansas will support Obama. She claims “He is causing low turnout.” I reply that I am sorry for her state but, he is responsible for record turnouts in many different parts of the country. Especially among youth voters. The most stinging comment of note from her: “If she doesn’t get the nomination, I think she should form a third party… she could really win this thing.”

The Woman to my left – the one who hurried to catch the bus- works for Andre Carson, a Democrat Congressmen from Indianapolis. He won a special election for a seat that was filled by his grandmother for ten years. See died a little over a year ago. At age thirty-three he is one of the youngest Representatives in the House. He is also the second Muslim ever to serve in the U.S House of Representatives. After winning the special election less than a year ago in 2007, he then compete in the 2008 Democratic primary a few months ago, and now he must win against a Republican for his seat once again in November. Three elections in less than a year. The oldest person on his staff is thirty one.

The woman riding shotgun never says a word.

The woman in front of me to my right works in Chicago. I seem to remember something vaguely about her working for Mayor Daly, but I think I am wrong. Her boyfriend lives in San Francisco and wants her to move there. She’s frustrated by the fact that she doesn’t understand why she needs to be in Denver. He called while we were in the car, boyfriend called with a realization of which she shared with the whole car: “I get it now… this Convention is kind of like the Superbowl for you, isn’t it?” I tell her the Bay Area is awesome. She says the homes are too expensive. The rest of the county is getting hit much harder than the Bay Area has with this housing crash.

The woman in front of me to my left is the head of the Bay Area Nurses Association. I ask her if she needs any stethoscopes. She thinks Dianne Feinstein is going to leave her Senate post and run for Governor of California. Who would run for her Senate seat then? My money’s on Newsom. I told her I would ask him on Wednesday when I’m in the VIP room at his concert.

I am the only Delegate in the car.

At least three people ask to see if I can get them a ticket onto the floor.