Much like the anticipation for both Clinton's and Mrs. Obama, the speculation, guesses, and advice for Obama's big speech tonight at Invesco is running hot. From local talk radio this morning to the editors of both the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post to a coupla guys I spoke with as we shared stools at breakfast at Tom's Diner in Capitol Hill.

Everyone seems to have a take. The good news is there's no possible right or wrong for anyone. There's just the experience to come.

What I do know is this. this city for a few hours this afternoon and evening is virtually ground zero for the nation's attention. Think about that for a second. Denver is poised to make a very serious claim on the cherished pecking order of places where Big Things Happen. The symbolism is pretty deep. A western city, not one of the standard big shoulder 'burg's on the coasts is only one example of many.

The Rocky Mountains and Barack Obama. As deliciously unlikely a locale for a man of mixed race and feathered journey as could be possible. But that's the beauty of it. It feels right.

Here in Capitol Hill there is a strong African American presence to be seen and felt. More than one might think when one considers Denver, but it fits here among a decidedly consistent African American presence in Denver this week that illuminates the many layers of our experience and our hard earned place in the American mosaic.

As much as we tend to be a patchwork quilt, stitched together at cultural borders, the experience in denver this week speaks to an inverse of that.

While the African American delegates may not be what one would expect at first thought to be the dominant color in that quilt, it matters not. We are here in a quantity that satisfies, an emotional bearing that fills me up at the most unexpected turns and a general sense, that yes, Democrats can in fact be the personification of what Joe Biden spoke to so well last night; that no man considers himself above another.

There are so many evidences and demonstrations of grace among people here. It's as if everyone has heard a call to be more than you were than when you left home. You can't help but be caught up in it in your own way.

I had a fascinating morning here on the bike, exploring in the 65 degree (full tilt sunny) stillness. While on my ride I came across the campus of East High School, probably the loveliest campus I've ever seen for a high school. It also happens to be, as I just discovered from one of the employees here ate Starbucks not too far away, the alma mater of actor's Don Cheadle and 70's icon Pam Grier.

What I adored about it was the percentage of African American students jogging or walking around the lake in their school issue red shorts and white t-shirts. The discovery very much fit with my week.

What also fit was at City Park across the street. The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, that is without question the most breath taking MLK tribute I have ever beheld. Expansive, bold, with an emotional scale very much befitting the man and his legacy.

You can imagine what it meant to literally stumble (pedal?) across this on the 45th anniversary of King's "I Have A Dream" speech and the undertow of not just Obama's speech tonight. As I sat in the stillness of it, taking in the density of both the granite it sits on, the gravitas of the anniversary and what I have been witnessing here came through.

There are no accidents. I now feel prepared to receive what will take place tonight. I am so grateful for the blessing of the time there. A true blessing.

I'll be at Invesco this afternoon (gotta be there by two for security) and tonight for what may prove to be one of the most heralded markers in the American politic.

I'm most happy for the city of Denver, the entirety of the population and everyone who is here from somewhere else. I'll follow up late this evening with a re-cap of the night.

Gene