From the art exhibits at the Museo de las Americas to the aerospace spectacle of the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum to ritzy clubs and plush gardens, Denver will welcome an expected 6,000 delegates and 2,000 of their guests to the 2008 Democratic National Convention at two dozen cocktail parties before the week gets started.
The city’s committee responsible for hosting the convention announced Tuesday the 24 venues at which it will welcome the 54 delegations.
The sites include some of the city’s jewels, such as Red Rocks Amphi theatre, the Botanic Gardens and the Denver Zoo. The parties will be held Sunday, Aug. 24. The convention runs Aug. 25-28.
Top slots went to the state delegations representing the home turf of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who remain in a heated race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Obama’s Illinois delegates will be treated to a party at the Denver Art Museum. Clinton’s New York representatives will party at the Pinnacle Club.
Colorado delegates will be feted at the Governor’s Mansion.
Michigan and Florida, which broke party rules by holding primaries early, have been stripped of delegates and don’t have a party location.
The host city’s party planner, Jenny Anderson, said the venues were chosen “to showcase all that the region has to offer.”
Interestingly, Civic Center park isn’t among the venues. Though Anderson won a permit for the park for Aug. 24 and angered protesters in the process, she says she is still determining what event or events she plans to hold there.
Chuck Plunkett: 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com
