At hot bistro, ALTO in the Larimer Historic District, Senate candidate and DNC keynoter Mark Warner threw a reception that in a matter of mere minutes packed completely full. According to staffer Craig Kirby, the plan was for an intimate 200 key supporters. Nevertheless, 1500 people RSVP’d

That left leading political and financial lights like Rep. Jim Moran, former DNC chair Chuck Manatt and millionaire hotel developer R. Donahue Peebles standing either in the 90 degree heat waiting on cue to get in or held in a secondary room where Warner decidely was not.

I got in, though.

But such is the phenomenal popularity of the former governor who has built a loyal core of supporters who  would follow him over a hill if asked. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Joe Biden’s foreign policy experience aside, had Mark Warner nto been running for Senate, he would have been the VP pick.

Note to self: Drop all those parties off the the “To Do” list.

Denver is not DC, and getting from one venue to the next is more than a notion, even with a car and especially if you’re shuttling or cabbing it. Maybe it’s just Sunday and people haven’t gotten into the groove yet, but the event billed as the biggest and best have clearly been overestimated in the their drawing power.

The “New Orleans Jambalaya” event coordinated by James Carville and a cadre of supporters trying to keep the focus on rebuilding post-Katrina New Orleans only drew about one-fourth of its desired crowd. Aside from the issues in transportation, there just aren’t enough delegates to fill up one event when there are several dozen choices of events at once.

One exception to that rule - the Congressional Black Caucus Institute launched a full week of events with the Red Hot Affair, held at the Cable Center. Attendees included former NAACP head Kweisi Mfume, Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, Atlanta financier Eugene Duffy, HSBC lobbyist Monique Frazier and a packed house of African American political operatives who enjoyed live R&B inside while an excellent jazz trio performed for two people and a bartender in a wonderfully-lit courtyard just 100 feet away outside.