DNC Makes Colorado "Party Town" After the Gavel Falls

Denver -- If partying is the name of the game at a convention -- specifically Denver's Democratic National Convention -- who plans these parties, anyway?

In the case of the Illinois delegation's party on Tuesday, August 26, at the Denver Marriott City Center, Erin Homburger, an employee of Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, spent "months and months" planning the party for Illinois delegates, given from 11 p.m. until 2 a.m. this night. Hors d'ouevres, music, balloons, free soft drinks and a cash bar, comraderie...all the ingredients for a successful party were in place.

I sat with Erin's sister, Heidi, who couldn't enjoy dancing to the d-jay, because she recently had surgery on her left foot, which was encased in a cast. Heidi will soon be a nursing student.

Heidi brought friends Frannie Frerichs, who works for Verizon, and Cally King, who is studying for an M.S. in Public Administration at the University of Colorado. Cally noted that her father is Chief of the Denver Fire Department and has been working with the Secret Service on security for the various venues being used for the convention. She said he "couldn't wait' for the convention to be over so that his life on the job could return to normal.