INVESCO dispatches: The headliners are up

Al Gore gets a raucous reception from the 75,000 strong at INVESCO.

More on the flipside.

UPDATED: Obama speech leaked: Will ‘fix broken policies’

Filing a dispatch for newspapers with very early deadlines, the AP reports that Barack Obama delivered a “historic” speech, three hours before Obama is scheduled to speak, relying on excerpts released Thursday afternoon.

McCain stickers on Denver police vehicles? No they can’t

It’s against official Denver Police Department policy, but a blogger and a DNC visitor noticed DPD vehicles sporting McCain bumperstickers this week and complained. In one case, police appear to have scraped off the stickers; in the other, the department’s internal affairs has initiated an investigation because of a motorcycle cop’s intimidating reaction.

INVESCO dispatches: Opening acts

The Yonder Mountain String Band, always a favorite in Nederland, took the stage about 30 minutes ago to a quarter-full stadium. It’s a bit of chaos down there at INVESCO but at least they’ve got good music to groove to.

More insider info inside…

Immigrant rights march kicks off downtown

Approximately 400 people marched in support of immigrant rights this morning in a “Somos Americanos” event, where members of Denver’s immigrant and Latino communities demanded an end to federal raids.

Sardines for Obama: INVESCO light rail station overwhelmed

Crowds have packed the RTD light rail only to discover — much too late — that the trains aren’t stopping at the INVESCO Field station where the Democratic National Convention will wrap up tonight with Barack Obama accepting the party’s nomination.

Porn protesters push the weirdness envelope at the DNC

On day 3 of the DNC, it’s official: we’ve seen it all on the protest front. An organization calling itself Stop Bird Porn marched on Denver’s 16th Street Mall Wednesday, warning people that “bird watchers are voyeurs who seek vicarious sexual gratification in the woods” by observing “God’s defenseless creatures mating.”

Biden on Biden

“There’s no press here but don’t worry – I’m not going to slip into a Bidenism.”

Read more of Jeff’s commentaries:
• Hickenlooper can throw one hell of a party
• Protesters police and bigots invade dnc
• Thanks for turning my city into a fortress
• ‘Saturday Night Fever’ at the DNC
• C-SPAN tricks its ride
• I love me some Police State’n, yeah!

Wounded vet backs Obama at DNC

Wounded Iraq war veteran and Blackhawk helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth added her military credentials to the list of Obama supporters who know a thing or two about the military.

‘Pickens Plan’ promotes renewable energy, economic security

“The fact that I am on stage with T. Boone Pickens just goes to show how absolutely dysfunctional our government has been,” Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club said Wednesday in Denver.

What he’s talking about is the idea that the Bush presidency’s fealty to Big Oil is now making for strange bedfellows.