I saw fresh-faced first-time voters. A baby in his mother’s arms. Women decked out in the most fantastically outrageous hats I’ve ever seen. A die-hard Hillary supporter swaddled in Hillary buttons.

They came on buses. Planes. In wheelchairs. An Ohio delegate, who suffered a stroke in May, told us her desire to be here in Denver motivated her in rehab.

Outside the Pepsi Center, I spoke with three African-American delegates. One told me she never thought a black person would be nominated president in her lifetime. Her friends nodded in agreement.

The headlines are all about Barack and the Clintons, and the VP pick. For me, the real story here is that of ordinary people who came to Denver with big hearts and a lot of hope.

Next week, On Point heads to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention. There, we’ll speak with a former POW from Ohio who was in a prison camp with John McCain.

Each convention tells a different story. I’ll be listening.

That may sound silly, but the buzz on Invesco is that it is indeed a slightly odd piece of stagecraft. (Here’s a YouTube video from Cox Newspapers Ken Herman at Invesco, with worried comments from Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg.)

Lots of rehearsals going on as we came onto the field itself. Tom was at one point up on the wing of the stage, as Stevie Wonder and his conga-playing band swayed to the sweet harmonies.

Al Gore made an appearance on stage, took a look around, and prepared for his big speech. Sheryl Crow came out, strumming her song “A Change Would Do You Good.” She seemed right on message. An Obama staffer instructed a brigade of volunteers to fill any empty seats, if needed. We’ll see…

The scene at Invesco Field as of 2pm local time on Thursday, Aug. 28. (Photo: Flickr/Rocky Mountain News)

A representative “catch” in one hallway, first concourse level, 4:10 p.m., Tuesday: Gov. Bill Richardson, NBA great Charles Barkley (shown here), Congressman Dennis Kucinich; and dozens of delegates wearing all forms of colorful clothing, hats, and shirts.

I was just swimming off the set with Matt Bai from The New York Times Magazine, one of the panelists on our show last night, and he started talking about the Denver convention versus others he’s covered.

“I can’t believe how many images I’ve seen of Obama,” he said, noting all of the t-shirts, buttons, wall posters, and t.v. screens. “You know what Denver reminds me of? A developing country with a strongman dictator. Obama’s everywhere.” We laughed as hundreds of delegates, covered in Obama images, streamed into the Center.

Matt said that the Los Angeles and Boston conventions in ’00 and ’04 featured relatively little in the way of images of Al Gore or John Kerry. Of course, the alleged “celebrity cult” of Obama — which has been turned against him in attack ads — remains a genuine dilemma for the campaign. But as MSNBC reports, it’s unclear which candidate is more hung up on celebrity.

By the way, on a tangential note, Matt’s provocative recent piece for the NYT Magazine on racial politics and the election is worth a read.

But this morning, reading Susan Faludi’s essay on The New York Times’ Op-Ed page, I learned that Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight takes place on the 88th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was formally certified.

Did somebody plan this?

Faludi’s op-ed is well worth reading. She notes the historical irony of claims that Hillary Clinton’s candidacy represents a major victory for women’s equality. We’ve been here before, Faludi writes:

Shouldn’t they [Clinton's supporters] be celebrating, not protesting? After all, Hillary Clinton’s campaign made unprecedented strides. She garnered 18 million-plus votes, and proved by her solid showing that a woman could indeed be a viable candidate for the nation’s highest office. She didn’t get the gold, but in this case isn’t a silver a significant triumph?

Many Clinton supporters say no, and to understand their gloom, one has to take into account the legacy of American women’s political struggle, in which long yearned for transformational change always gives way before a chorus of “not now” and “wait your turn,” and in which every victory turns out to be partial or pyrrhic. Indeed, the greatest example of this is the victory being celebrated tonight: the passage of women’s suffrage….

In the years after the ratification of suffrage, the anticipated women’s voting bloc failed to emerge, progressive legislation championed by the women’s movement was largely thwarted, female politicians made only minor inroads into elected office, and women’s advocacy groups found themselves at loggerheads. “It was clear,” said the 1920s sociologist and reformer Sophonisba Breckinridge, “that the winter of discontent in politics had come for women.”

Faludi goes on to note that “For all the talk of Hillary Clinton’s ‘breakthrough’ candidacy and other recent successes for women, progress on important fronts has stalled.” And then she runs through some pretty sobering numbers. You don’t have to be an old-school feminist, or even a woman, to appreciate the point. (Read the full piece here.)

Meanwhile, over at Slate’s XX Factor blog, where a different set of brainy women hold sway, a different mood prevailed. Reacting to Michelle Obama’s speech last night, Dahlia Lithwick (a frequent On Point guest) seems to capture it best, in a post titled (perfectly) “So That’s What Brave Looks Like”…

What I loved best about Michelle Obama’s speech tonight was that it was fearless, but in a very different way from the fearlessness modeled by Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. Here is a woman with a degree from Harvard Law School, who could have talked about law and policy and poverty, and yet she talked about her kids, her husband, and her family…. She did what everyone else in this campaign is terrified to do: She risked looking sappy and credulous and optimistic when almost everyone has abandoned “hope” and “change” for coughing up hairballs of outrage…. Good for Michelle for reminding us that to “strive for the world as it should be” is still cool, and for being so passionate about that fact that she looked to be near tears.

You don’t have to be an Obama fan, or even a Democrat, to appreciate that point. Or do you? Thoughts? I wonder what my mother, a dyed-in-the-wool Texas conservative, would say?

The convention hall inside the Pepsi Center in Denver on Monday morning, August 25.

This morning we were off and running, as the convention center doors were flung open and the chattering classes (that’s us!) were up early chattering away. We’re on the arena’s second floor, in a “booth” on “radio row,” competing for elbow room with the myriad other outlets. (Here are a few photos of our set-up.)

Just before show time, I wandered a few feet around the corner from our set with Liz Halloran of U.S. News & World Report, one of our morning panelists, to check out the convention hall. As we scanned the floor, Liz pointed out that the seating of the state delegations can speak volumes about the party’s geographical priorities and electoral strategy. No surprise then, Liz said, that states like Nevada and Montana — and host state Colorado — have prime floor spots for their delegations. It’s no secret that Obama is trying to win some western states — in recent years no easy task for a Democrat, though that may be changing.

(For more on that possibility, see Huffington Post political editor Thomas Edsall’s piece today on demography and political destiny, and Ryan Lizza’s piece on Colorado Governor Bill Ritter in The New Yorker’s latest issue. They point to new Brookings reports on the “Intermountain West” as a “new swing region” and the rise of new fast-growing metropolitan areas called “Mountain Megas.”)

The big losers in the delegation seating sweepstakes? Oklahoma, Maryland, Oregon, Arizona, among others. They’re up in the nosebleeds.

-John Wihbey

John Wihbey is a producer at On Point.

We have ambitious plans: live shows both in the morning, at 10am Eastern, and in the evening, at 7pm Eastern, so that we can offer up-to-the moment coverage and fresh analysis from newsmakers and key political watchers. Folks like Arianna Huffington, South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, Frank Rich of The New York Times, and many others. We’ll sit down with delegates from must-win battleground states and with foreign journalists to talk about Obama and world opinion.

And just like four years ago — if you remember our 2004 convention coverage from New York and Boston — it’ll be a hectic scene, and you never know who may drop by our booth.

From Denver, we’ll head to St. Paul for the Republican convention. And again, we’ll be live in the morning and evening. More on that when the time comes…

It’s going to be a busy two weeks. We’ll keep you posted right here — and we know you’ll keep the feedback coming!

-Karen Shiffman

Karen Shiffman is On Point’s senior editor.