‘It’s an Árd Fheis and All-Ireland hurling final day all together’

IT IS politics but like nothing witnessed before.

“It is an Árd Fheis and All-Ireland hurling final day all together,” said Minister Mary Hanafin who came to the Democratic Convention with an Irish delegation taking part in an international leaders’ forum.

“You have the same feeling you get with the All-Ireland where people are all scrambling for tickets, all the hawkers and hucksters, everybody trying to find a way to get in through the gates. The sheer scale of it is incredible. And yet this is a political event,” she said.

Labour party leader Eamon Gilmore who also travelled said the only political events he attended which even came close to Denver were the highly-charged Labour Party conferences in Britain during the union struggles of the 1980s.

Mr Gilmore has been attending the leaders’ forum, which was addressed by Bill Clinton on Wednesday morning in a separate convention centre teaming with political workshops and discussion groups.

Minister Hanafin’s cabinet colleague Noel Dempsey also saw similarities with the buzz of an All-Ireland final but “for four days in a row”.

“For a political junkie this is incredible,” he said.

This was his second time at a Democratic convention but he has marvelled at how the momentum has gathered through the week.

“I went right down on the floor to watch Hillary Clinton’s speech on Tuesday night and as a politician you are trying to think would you have done it differently... I thought she handled it brilliantly, you could see the emotion though,” he said.

But the television pictures beamed out of the Pepsi Center each evening are only a part of the story.

For all the discussion on Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, for some delegates the pretext of politics is merely an evening-time distraction.

Instead the all-night antics in bars around Denver push the buttons for the Democratic political elite.

Throughout Denver delegations from every state are courted by lobbyists and schmoozed by those looking for a friendly ear.

“It’s a bit like when the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis was held in the RDS and all the hotels and bars used to be packed with groups from the different counties having their own parties,” Ms Hanafin said.

On one day this week each of delegates and visitors had this choice of activities at venues in Denver’s downtown — a panel discussion with actress Charlize Theron; a morning celebration with reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson; batting practice at Coors’ Field baseball stadium; breakfast with the editor of Time Magazine Richard Stengel; or a concert with the cast of CSI New York. And the list goes on.

For those who felt generous there were also social outlets at party fundraisers.

The Democrats Leadership Circle charged $30,000 (€20,415) for a place at its breakfast table — the coffee came free.

For its part, the all-party Irish delegation has been welcomed by the Irish Americans abroad — a party for rising governor Martin O’Malley and a breakfast with Senator John Kerry.

“We were at this party and you have the governors of Maryland and Montana and they started singing and playing the tambourine and then there is a big music session and the place is just packed. It is just amazing to watch,” said Mr Dempsey.