Washington Journal, Part 2
After being overwhelmed by the humidity the first couple of days at UNITY, I instead got overwhelmed by the sheer number of people the rest of the time. (Final totals were about 8,000 attendees -- a record gathering of journalists.)

Thursday was the John Kerry speech, which sounded a lot like his acceptance speech at the Convention with a couple of little wrinkles to appease the crowd. It also sounded like the Convention with the raucous reception given by the crowd. Great, let's just fuel the flames of the "liberal media."

Thus, it was perfect to contrast that with the Bush speech Friday, which was actually more entertaining, although not always for the right reasons. He's a lot more folksy, which probably doesn't go over as well with this crowd, which (as part of the nature of the profession) needs to prove it's slightly smarter than their audience. And unfortunately, he absolutely flubbed one question on tribal sovereignty, sounding like a ninth-grader who hadn't done his homework. I suppose he let his words speak for themselves, which led to a colder reaction, plus lots of chuckles and guffaws both with and at him.

Granted, not everyone there covers politics or are even supposed to be "objective," but at such a high-profile event, you'd like to think many of the journalists there would try to keep an even keel. Hopefully that won't affect the next UNITY convention in four years when they try to get both candidates again.

As for other stuff at the convention ...
• Jerry Stackhouse is a very bright guy when spoke about his relations with the press at a sportswriters panel.
• I'd like to know who decided to schedule nearly half of the new media panels all at the same time. (I opted for a panel on Flash, which I now really need to take a class on.) However, the Saturday afternoon online panel was solid, and it was also a good place to meet with some other higher-ranking people in the business.
• There were plenty of good panels, but I wish I had more time to take all of them in. It actually seemed like there wasn't enough time for all of them. And other times, I just felt like I was grazing.
• Oh yeah, I did meet Morimoto and shake his hand at the AAJA banquet, although it was a mess trying to get his picture, so no photo evidence. However, he did do an amusing bit with Joie Chen, who helped auction off a chef's shirt signed by Morimoto and dinner at his restaurant in Philadelphia. Plus, he unveiled the secret ingredient ... SPAM (cans of the stuff were provided as a preview for next year's convention in Minneapolis). I think I even saw some cans of SPAM autographed by Morimoto.
• Speaking of the banquet, Connie Chung turned into Mark Russell with her take on the election to the tune of "Love and Marriage." It had to be seen to be believed.
• Despite all the gravity of the convention, it's still a great place to meet new people and see lots of old friends, co-workers and classmates. After a while, you keep on running into the same people over and over again, despite the 8,000+ people in attendance. That included the managing editor of the Seattle Times I had met on the bus back from Camden Yards on Tuesday.
• Among the parties and receptions I found my way to was a huge one at a reporter's place that has a reputation for being a hot spot for young DC elite.
• The convention was a solid experience in all, although I also realize I have no game, which is sad given some of the people I came across during the week.

But speaking of games, I saw plenty of quizbowl folks this week, including dinner with Tricia, Tim and J-Kel on Thursday (where they got to see the multitudes of conventioneers at the Grand Hyatt). Then it was back to Tricia's on Sunday to play a whole bunch of Burns and Muck Masters rounds with a bunch more people -- good times had by all. At least I know there'll plenty of good people around should DC be in my future.