Web site set for DNC bash
Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News
Published June 4, 2007 at midnight
The Democratic National Convention is still more than a year away, but a Web site devoted to Denver's biggest-ever political bash is already up and running.
08DNC.com hopes to be what editor Kevin Kearney describes as a "one-stop resource" for the estimated 35,000 delegates, media and other visitors who will descend on Denver in August 2008.
The site provides links to breaking political news, blogs and candidates' Web sites. It also offers helpful hints for out-of-towners - like if you're meeting someone at the Hyatt downtown, make sure to specify which one, to avoid confusion.
08DNC.com also includes a list of Denver-area businesses, from airport shuttles to union-shop hat manufacturers, to help party planners surfing the Internet in their Washington, D.C., offices.
While other groups such as the Denver Convention & Visitors Bureau will provide some of the same resources to convention goers, Kearney said he wants 08DNC.com to be the "unofficial guide" filled with opinionated and irreverent advice.
Kearney, co-founder of Denver-based customer service firm Your Perceptions, came up with the idea with friend Paul Gilpatrick. Both are political junkies, albeit of different party affiliations. Gilpatrick owns a Denver Web development company called HostWorks that specializes in creating portal sites, which give users a single entry point to information that's collected from sources all over the Web.
The site comes at a time when the Internet is shaping up to play a critical role in the 2008 presidential campaign, with scores of bloggers providing commentary while some candidates are using the Web as their first avenue to reach voters.
"It's a dramatic change in the use of the Internet" from previous campaigns, Gilpatrick said.
He and Kearney have plans for a similar site for the Republican convention in Minneapolis and, if 08DNC.com flourishes, they will convert it after the convention to be an online Denver city guide.
What's on 08DNC.com
• Breaking news stories
• Links to political blogs, candidates' Web sites
• DNC events calendar
• Recommendations for favorite spots in town
• Lists of local airports, meeting and event- planning services and business support services, such as equipment rental and billboard advertising
What's to come
Mapping technology and social networking services, such as ways for delegates to meet online before the convention
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