It was Women’s Night at the convention and Hillary Clinton was to speak. The crowd was huge and spilled out into the aisles, much to the dismay of the fire marshal. Folks were ordered into seats or out of the way, which led to some interesting seating arrangements as non-delegates (family, friends, or party staffers for whom floor passes seemed to divide and multiply as various swaps and trades got people onto the floor) squeezed multiple people into single seats.

Gov. Sebelius was among the evening’s speakers, which was exciting for the Kansas delegation. And Montana Gov. Schweitzer, who so entertained us at breakfast, offered a similarly rousing speech that got the crowd whetted for the big event – Hillary’s speech.

The TV commentators keep suggesting there’s division between the Clinton and Obama supporters, but I’m not seeing it firsthand. There was unity on the floor. Sadness for the Clinton delegates, certainly, but mostly I observed a great deal of Clinton support from Obama delegates, and Obama support from Clinton delegates. I was stopped by a reporter who wanted me to complete the sentence, “Hillary Clinton is….” I was suspicious he was hoping I’d say something negative. But if so, I disappointed him. Her speech was, as Olbermann gushed, “out of the park”. Tears were running down more than a few cheeks in the convention hall. She owned the room.

Convention viewers see all the placards going up around the hall during the speeches. What may not be evident to television viewers is how the placards get there. It is an amazing organizational accomplishment. Convention staff in neon green vests swarm down the aisles with armfuls of placards or bags of flags or pole banners. The delegates quickly pass them along the rows. The rows are narrow and we’re crammed into our seats with all our personal belongings shoved under our chairs. By the end of the evening each delegate is trying to juggle a half-dozen props in a 2 ½ foot space while pressed shoulder to shoulder with excited delegates who are also juggling a half-dozen props. Pretty challenging, actually. The DNC orchestrates which props go up when, and contacts in each delegation spread the word. Lest anyone think that this careful planning spoils it all, let me assure you to the contrary. The coordinated effort adds to the sense of camaraderie and collective action, and it fuels the enthusiasm and celebratory atmosphere. Think watching your favorite team at the National Championship. For political junkies, this is the equivalent.

It was an incredible evening, after which the Kansas delegation was invited to a BNSF reception on a beautifully restored passenger train. I hadn’t planned to attend (remember the mantra?), but was so wound up after the exciting night on the floor, and since so many members of the delegation were heading over I decided to join the long procession through LODO (Lower Downtown)’s swarming crowd of revelry. We passed Senator Evan Bayh en route. And we also had to walk by a few protesters, one of whom was shouting at us that we were “too stupid to vote”. Union Station was the venue for the reception, and it is, of course, also the backdrop for MSNBC. There’s a constant crowd surrounding their platform.

We shuttled back to the hotel, an exhausted but exhilarated group of delegates. When I returned to the room, I discovered I had lost my cell phone somewhere between the shuttle bus and my room. Panic ensued, but fortunately the front desk was able to reassure me that someone from one of the 2 hotel delegations had reported to them that a cell phone had been found on the bus and that they were going to take it to the delegate breakfast the next morning. Surely it was mine.