"Maybe you should find a place to stay. Some place where they never change the sheets. And you just roll around Denver all day. You just roll around Denver all day." -- Warren Zevon

A tough nun who ran my high school used to tell all of us that on the first day of classes every year her stomach would tighten, her blood pressure would zoom up to the heavens, and she'd get a case of the flop-sweats as we all filed into the building. I never thought I'd be able to empathize with a nun, but that was my initial feeling landing here in Denver yesterday morning.

Between this convention and next week's, the "Inside City Hall" crew is putting together 16 special shows on the road – something that could present a challenge, despite our rigorous program of mental and physical training this summer that involved massive amounts of juniper juice and the constant monitoring of the Drudge Report and ESPN.com.

Things were made even more tense yesterday morning when I noticed that on my plane were MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough. Would they smack-talk NY1? Or would it be a collegial bloody-mary soaked flight all the way to Colorado where we swapped stories about Sargent Shriver?

Instead, I think, they pretended not to notice me or the rest of Team ICH as we entered the plane. And I realized, THEY were the ones who were intimidated, knowing that our unique – and patented – blend of national news with a healthy dose of New York thrown into the mix was an unbeatable recipe for the viewers back in Gotham. Or perhaps it was just very early in the morning.

Most of my anxiety was immediately allayed when I saw our setup here. Our technical and logistical planners at the station have performed like a hopped-up pit crew at the Indy 500. Our skybox in the Pepsi Center is simply amazing, with a superb view of the convention floor and the main stage.

We also have a gigantic trailer outside the arena that is filled with computers, televisions, and junk food. A political shut-in could thrive in that trailer for weeks; it's unnerving to be able to watch NY1 live in a Denver parking lot and act like some sort of weird tailgater.

Denver seems like a nice place for a convention, except for one thing – the hotel rooms. Many, many reporters are staying very far away from where the convention is being held this week at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field.

One reporter I know had a $120 cab ride from the airport to her hotel. There are almost no rooms for the media in the hotel where the New York delegation is staying (which is conveniently near the Pepsi Center) because the California delegation is also in the hotel.

If the convention was in midtown Manhattan, we'd be across the Verrazano, staying in Staten Island. Of course, the planners don't really care (what can they really do?) and ultimately is America not going to elect Barack Obama president because Roger Mudd had to take a 45-minute shuttle to the convention? So much for the power of the media.

Another odd thing about these gatherings, they're very much like Star Trek conventions. People who ordinarily can order a sandwich at a deli with no problem are pointed out and stared at. "OH MY GOD -- that's Chuck FREAKING Todd!"

Madeleine Albright is instantly recognized at the airport, while spinmeister Joe Trippi gets a VIP welcome from a CBS intern and driver. If someone resembles someone important in politics here, it's probably actually them.

Political conventions often can be a festival of self-importance because of the tens of thousands of groupies, flunkies, and political junkies who swarm into town. This will only be reaffirmed tonight when one of our producers tries to dropkick a rival producer over the booking of some random senator from Wyoming.

In terms of actual political news, there are lots and lots of questions about Hillary Clinton and how she's going to handle the attention/non-attention she receives at the convention.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell – a major Clinton supporter – has already twice wandered far off the reservation, talking about how Clinton wants to run for president again and that the media coverage of the primary was unfair.

Clinton is trying to limit media access to her this week and is only doing one event – a press conference with the New York media this morning. On top of that, Clinton is supposedly meeting with her pledged delegates Wednesday and formally releasing them to vote for Barack Obama. It will be interesting to see if all of her supporters follow her lead, and whether there will actually be some kind of drama on the convention floor – something that every Obama organizer is trying to avoid and every prepackaged-news-hating reporter is savoring to see.

Lastly, the big question tonight is whether Ted Kennedy will actually address the delegates. It would be a very real and dramatic moment, moments that are hard to come by in conventions that are choreographed as carefully as a major ballet.

Bob Hardt

To drop us a line, write to political_itch@ny1.com.