Talk about audacious: To challenge a flawed system while dominating it, to oust one of the greatest Democratic establishment candidates ever, to introduce the democratizing concept of grassroots-netroots activism to the political process, to defeat racist stereotypes, to proclaim the arrival of the post-Boomer era, and to do it while staying (seemingly, at least) relatively committed to his core principles. To anyone who has been cynical about politics, this man has proved that a persistent citizen of ordinary means is capable of asserting himself in the power structure and that change (as much as I hate that vague word) is possible.

Plenty has been written deconstructing the policies he presented (loved the 10-year end of oil addiction), the atmosphere (once in a lifetime, cheesy fireworks), and the Clinton’s graciousness (they were team players). What I took from the week, and his speech in particular, was something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently: If we want to actualize the things we’re talking about, those of us who are invested in this candidacy and the set of ideas it represents must fully commit ourselves immediately to two things. GOTV (for you non-political junkies, this means “Get Out the Vote”) and Activism ‘09.

We still have two months and a tough general election to get through, and our foremost responsibility, particularly as young professionals, is to prove that our engagement is not hype by showing up at the polls on Nov. 4. Everything I’ve seen to this point indicates that this will happen, but I am committed to redoubling my efforts to make sure that all my pals are registered and working their own circles.

Beyond that, though, we have to be preparing each other for what happens after we win. 2009 is going to suck. There’s nothing sexy happening, like it was this year. Eli Manning may throw another Hail Mary to win the Super Bowl, but otherwise we’ve got no hot elections, no Olympics, etc. We’re just going to have a shitty economy, a war to end, continued high gas prices, and a lot of HOPE with no resolution. The reason the campaign has been successful is because so many people have personally invested, donating time, money, phone calls, door-walking. If we just check his name on the ballot box and go back to life as it was before, the movement will fail. I’ve been thinking about dedicating the energy I’ve given to Barack to at least a couple of the core issues I care about most after the election, and I’m trying to encourage my friends to do the same.

To give is worth it. This last year and a half has connected me with so many inspiring individuals, even in the sea of superficial starf&*#ers in Los Angeles. To have kicked off this year in Iowa, with people still telling me we were crazy to think we could do this, and to be all together in Denver this week celebrating a hard-fought victory is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever had. I’m so proud of everyone’s hard work.

Check out the Flickr gallery >> for photos or read the Twitter feed for the play-by-play of my convention experience. We’ll break things down in more detail on Wilshire & Washington Wednesday, along with thoughts from Ted’s trip to the RNC in Minneapolis. We’ll also hear from my new favorite blogger, The Nation’s Ari Melber, if he’s not jet setting around on BO’s plane.

AND, if you’ve got the stomach to process news from the RNC, I highly recommend reading Media Lizzy’s coverage. For a conservative, she’s not half bad.

I spent the morning with pals at the Manifest Hope gallery, which was an amazing collection of work created by artists who were inspired by BO’s candidacy. (I took about 1,000 photos, which I will upload to Flickr tomorrow morning.) Spike Lee was there and he signed a bunch of kids’ shoes, which was pretty hilarious.

It was nice to take it easy after the hullabaloo that surrounded HRC’s speech last night. We watched at a bar near the Pepsi Center, and it might as well have been Super Bowl Sunday. Blaise teased me mercilessly, but I must confess that I teared up during the cheesy women empowerment film when Chelsea introduced her and also when she noted that her mother was born before women could vote and her daughter was able to vote for her mother for President. I admire how gracious she was and that she got the job done for Team Democrats, although I doubt she’s personally as supportive of BO as she proclaimed. I’m eagerly awaiting Bill’s remarks as I type … that will be pretty revealing in terms of how the old guard is going to go down.

We spent last night at a party for up-and-coming elected officials, hosted by my LA City Councilman Eric Garcetti. I enjoyed some spirited conversations with policy-wonk types while Shepard Fairey DJed. All week it’s felt like I’ve been transported to a dark bar in Adams Morgan, flanked by preppy Hill dudes everywhere I turn, and this crowd was a little more low-key, which was a welcome change.

The best part of yesterday, though, was a conversation I had with a local woman I wound up having a beer with while waiting for Blaise and Melissa. She’d tried to volunteer to help at the convention and hadn’t been contacted back (which happens with the excess of volunteers). She’d left work early hoping to check out the action and meet inspired people. I encouraged her to make a My.BO account and try again (even my grandma has one!) because I’ve had such a fun experience on the trail this last year. It reminded me that even if I’m not at the Kanye concert tonight or rubbing elbows with Nancy Pelosi at Pepsi, what I care about most is the activism of everyone I’ve met. No matter what media reports say about Hillary not saying he’s ready to leave or buzz about McCain’s veep announcement, it’s the grassroots/netroots crowd that is collectively leading this election and I’m so glad that I’ve been a small part of it.

Tonight we’ll be at the Manifest Hope concert with some pals from Iowa and Oregon, then it’s up and early to trek out to Invesco tomorrow morning for the big day. I hope Barackstar is bringing his A game to kick off the general election.

While a lot of the usual arguments were being made, Will.i.am stole the show (to much applause) by talking about passion and inspiration. Noting that stepping out politically as he has this year is “detrimental” to his career, he said “I’m willing to take that risk for my country” because he’s been so inspired by BO. He was also convinced that the web would enable more people to connect and communicate without the corporate revenue-driven model that predominates creativity and information. And for my E & P readers, he also argued that entertainment information is a viable source of news (which I’m not entirely convinced on; it really should be more of an entry point).

Since I’m jetting off to The Big Tent now, I’m going to bullet point some other things that stood out to me:

- Rahm Emanuel argued that the web is 2008’s equivalent to Bush’s tactic of mobilizing church groups in 2004. He also said the next step is how the example of BO’s candidacy will lead local politicians to implement new media strategies.
- Charlie Rose asked George Stephanopoulos why the Republicans haven’t embraced the internet (because they’re too busy gabbing on talk radio!!) and he said they didn’t have the right talent, like BO has Facebook’s Chris Hughes.
- SNL guy (sorry I can’t remember your name right now! I’ll look it up later!) said that he is most interested in seeing how comments evolve in 2012, which is one of the things I’m interested in too. They are such a great value in terms of interactivity and expanding the conversation, but they’re expensive to moderate and crowded with drivel.
- I also caught up with WaPost publisher Katharine Weymouth and talked about preserving reporting resources for newspaper brands in the new media realm and she really seemed to get it. She was realistic about the non-competitive nature of the web. She also said she thinks readers will enjoy vertical-driven information, where they can access the things they like most. We both expressed concern with that model, however, that readers would not benefit from the stumbled-upon factor of news they don’t seek out directly. I suggested that it may be made up for through social networking, since friend recommendations and sites like Digg serve as entry point to news you weren’t necessarily tuned into.
- And finally, I was pleased to see my former governor, Gray Davis, working the crowd. I wondered what happened to that guy! Call it a comeback?

I’ll be interviewing Digg’s marketing director on W&W at 4:30, and Digby joins us at 6pm for the regularly scheduled show. And now … off to search for disgruntled HRC supporters!!
UPDATE: My agent notes that SNL guy is Fred Armisen. Thx!!

What are Hilary’s supporters up to in Denver? Why won’t they support Obama, and is the media just propping up Clinton’s prospects to cause controversy in the Democratic Party? Ted speaks with her loyal supporters on the convention floor to dig up the answers.

Also, I sit in on Ariana Huffington’s panel on the big fight between new media bloggers and old media journalists: if Digby and Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter walk into a bar, do either come out? And finally,I review Morgan Spurlock’s sparkling new movie, “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?”

Listen here or click the play button on the blue Blog Talk Radio box >> to listen. Tune in all week long for daily BlogTalkRadio shows directly from Denver!

And let’s talk about rickshaws. My previous experience with them consisted of that one episode of “Seinfeld” when Kramer buys one to great disaster. Today, though, after walking for an hour to pick up my tickets to this week’s various parties, it was hot and I was sweating so badly that I commissioned a rickshaw driver. I’ve always thought it was a little weird to be pulled in a person-drawn contraption and I felt very ackward chit chatting with my driver while I watched him peddle away. (Although, I was getting quite a workout trying to hang on to my laptop and grip the safety bar so as not to fall out on a particularly steep incline en route to the convention center!)

The streets were just lulling to action this morning on my walk. Lot of Obama buttons and Yosi’s HOPE shirts. Some enthusiastic Nader supporters protesting in a park. We’re all gearing up for the action to kick off tonight!

My pal, the brilliant Max and the Marginalized rocker-blogger, Max Bernstein, and I are stationed centrally in a lovely studio pad we found on Craig’s List. My posse, including Wilshire & Washington producer, Blaise Nutter, and my lovely intern, Melissa Velasco, just got to town and we’ll be hanging at the Starz Green Room across the street from the Pepsi Center all day before we head to Drinking Liberally’s 40 Leaders Under 40 party and Rock the Vote’s shindig tonight.

We’ll have daily reports on Wilshire & Washington at 5pm PST. I’ll also be writing from the SeaChange Ideas Forum for Off the Bus on HuffPost, along with my rocker-blogger pal, Max Bernstein. If you want instant updates, sign up for the Twitter feed to get my play-by-play text messages.

I’m pretty excited for this trip. Not only will it be the culmination of a year and half’s hard work and a reunion with my Obama campaign peeps, it’s going to be an amazing learning experience.

On the eve of the trip, I enjoyed this reflective post from E&P’s Greg Mitchell, where he remembers covering his first convention, the notorious 1968 event in Chicago.

Wish me luck!

“I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton’s historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion,” Senator Barack Obama said in a statement.

Surely HRC supporters will be up in arms that she has to share the convention spotlight with him, but it’s also a subtle reminder of why she doesn’t add anything to the ticket: She’s redundant. We need an old Southerner who has had either financial or military success. All but the most militant PUMAs will hold their nose and vote for BO in November; Obama needs to close the deal with traditional red state voters.

From Politico’s story on the announcement of Warner’s keynote:

Reflecting new Democratic optimism about the South, former Virginia governor Mark R. Warner will keynote the party’s national convention in Denver two weeks from now.

Warner appealed successfully to NASCAR Democrats in his election as governor, running strongly in rural areas and with working-class social conservatives. …

Warner’s a rising star in the party, paired with the established force of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on the second night of the convention. The duo is designed as a powerful display of the strength of the Democratic Party headed into the fall.

Wilshire & Washington will be live daily at both conventions. I’m busy, busy right now getting ready to leave for Denver next week. W&W producer Blaise Nutter and I will be live blogging from the SeaChange Ideas Forum, a fantastic week-long program of high-level panel discussions and films at the Starz Green Room, right across the street from the Pepsi Center. Whoo-hoo!