Hanging out in the convention hall at the DNC. Here are a few sights and sounds for everyone:

-- Choke on your coffee line of the night award goes to Steny Hoyer for "America is tired of country club politics." Pot? Meet kettle.

-- I think former Sen. Jack Danforth (R-Missouri) was sitting beside me for a while -- and I'm wondering if he was just visiting (Sen. Bill Nelson came up to say hi at one point) or if something else is up. Interesting speculation abounds.

-- Did an interview earlier with the Young Turks. Cenk is always a hoot, but we griped about Joe Lieberman and chatted about where things ought to be headed and the importance of Congressional races and not putting all the eggs in the presidential basket.

-- Speaking of Joe Lieberman, got to catch up with Ned Lamont earlier before he headed over to the Big Tent.

-- Was up in the luxury box area earlier. The DNC reserved some spaces for bloggers in the seated area on the floor, complete with ethernet capability. It's really great. But it's also an eye opener on who else gets backstage access. The DNC Finance people have a suite for donors and other folks to hang out, grab a drink and schmooze. Let's just say, the cheese trays looked quite posh. And the suits going in and out were more so.

-- On the other hand, there were some folks from a local union shop sitting near where I was who were able to get passes for the day today to see some of the speakers. They were so psyched, and were really excited about potential for races in their area. THAT was fun to see.

-- They are churning through speakers this evening like crazy. Frederico Pena just finished, before him was Kathleen Sebelius. Earlier this evening, Sen. Clinton introduced a series of the female Dem Senators who spoke on equal pay and a whole host of other issues. She's coming up in a bit, and I'll have more coverage as the night goes on...

UPDATE: Lily Ledbetter is speaking now. Am working on getting some interview time with her tomorrow. Cross your fingers...

UPDATE #2: Lines of the night?

Bob Casey: "John McCain isn't a maverick, he's a sidekick."

Gov. Strickland of Ohio: "George Bush was born on third base, and then he stole second."

Gov. Schweitzer of Montana:  "If you drill for oil in all of John McCain's back yards, even the ones he doesn't know he has."  (The blogger room erupts in laughter at that one...)