1. The phrase "Don't you know who I am?" works wonders for accessing backstage and after-parties because, in reality, no one knows who anyone is.
2. Although the convention is a national stage, local politics still run the show. State delegates care a lot more about who will run next for state legislator than they do about social security.
3. The media will flock to wherever they see an old person and a young person dancing together in the aisles. It's golden material.
4. The young staffers who pass out the credentials have the most power in American politics for one week at least. While Jim Roosevelt (chairman of the party's Rules Committee and FDR's grandson) wandered the convention hall looking for a pass for his wife, 21-year-olds were trading backstage passes like baseball cards.
5. The proximity and accessibility of local celebrities far outshine those speaking on stage and on television. When 86-year-old former Senator George McGovern, the 1972 presidential nominee, walked through the Massachusetts delegation on Thursday evening, not even Barack Obama could hold their attention.
6. The Kennedy men are just as handsome and charming as they're reputed to be.
7. People actually pose -- sometimes even following stage directions from photographers -- for those heartfelt and thoughtful pictures that are splashed on the front pages of newspapers.
8. Wolf Blitzer is short.
9. The whips (the young volunteers who hand out the signs and tell the audience when to hold them up) might actually whip you with a sign if you don't take one.
10. Men in politics wink more naturally and more frequently than any other category of man.
2. Although the convention is a national stage, local politics still run the show. State delegates care a lot more about who will run next for state legislator than they do about social security.
3. The media will flock to wherever they see an old person and a young person dancing together in the aisles. It's golden material.
4. The young staffers who pass out the credentials have the most power in American politics for one week at least. While Jim Roosevelt (chairman of the party's Rules Committee and FDR's grandson) wandered the convention hall looking for a pass for his wife, 21-year-olds were trading backstage passes like baseball cards.
5. The proximity and accessibility of local celebrities far outshine those speaking on stage and on television. When 86-year-old former Senator George McGovern, the 1972 presidential nominee, walked through the Massachusetts delegation on Thursday evening, not even Barack Obama could hold their attention.
6. The Kennedy men are just as handsome and charming as they're reputed to be.
7. People actually pose -- sometimes even following stage directions from photographers -- for those heartfelt and thoughtful pictures that are splashed on the front pages of newspapers.
8. Wolf Blitzer is short.
9. The whips (the young volunteers who hand out the signs and tell the audience when to hold them up) might actually whip you with a sign if you don't take one.
10. Men in politics wink more naturally and more frequently than any other category of man.
