The last balloon has popped, the last piece confetti has fluttered to the ground and the last word has been spoken by Democrats who wrapped up their nominating convention Thursday.

Did presidential hopeful Barack Obama win over doubters, was he able to spell out enough details about his plans if elected, and did his attacks trying to tie rival Republican John McCain to the Bush administration work?

Let us know your thoughts and what you want to see from the Republicans in St. Paul next week.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Obama arrives to deliver his acceptance speech)

In the hours before Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver, Yoel Lefkowitz talks about what he wants to hear the candidate, and what it will take to win the support of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community.

Reuters Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Adam Pasick is the U.S Consumer Media Editor for Reuters.com.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Democratic National Convention. We’ll be moving to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention next week.

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DENVER - The English-language channel of the Arabic news network Al Jazeera is getting a Colorado reception as frosty as a cold Coors Light.

Al Jazeera English is broadcasting from Golden, Colo., home of the Coors Brewing Company , as part of its coverage of the Democratic National Convention, as well as from the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field.

The broadcasts from small-town Colorado are intended to show their international audience a slice of Americana, according to political program editor Julian Ingle. Only one satellite provider and a handful of cable companies carry Al Jazeera English in the United States, but the network is available in 120 million homes in 80 countries.

“We’re doing something that no international network has done before,” Ingle said.

But residents of Golden weren’t quite as happy with their visitors. A handful said welcoming the station, known for airing Osama bin Laden’s video messages, was offensive to U.S. veterans.

“It’s a wrong association, it’s a misconception,” Ingle said, pointing out that many major media outlets broadcast bin Laden’s messages.

A recent Golden city council meeting drew about twenty people who discussed Al Jazeera English’s coverage.

“It was pretty fairly balanced across the board, people in favor of them coming and people who weren’t,” said Golden communications manager Sabrina D’Agosta.

In the end, the council did not ask the station to change its plans. “It is not for government to tell them that they can’t come, for us to deny them of their constitutional rights,” D’Agosta said.

But critics did win another battle: Golden City Manager Mike Bestor withdrew an invitation for the network to broadcast from his backyard barbecue.

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– Reporting by Shannon Bond and Beth Marlowe, recent graduates of the Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, who are interning for Reuters at the Democratic National Convetion.

Photo: A tourist listens to a tour guide speak about beer at the Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado October 16, 2007. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

The following video was made by Huffington Post’s Off the Bus, a partner in the Reuters Inside the Tent project.

The video was created by Hunter Weeks, who worked with Off The Bus reporters Dawn Teo, Nathaniel Bach, M.S. Bellows, Jr. and Kelly Nuxoll.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. TK is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are TK own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Democratic National Convention. We’ll be moving to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention next week.

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And the Obama campaign thought their biggest worry was getting the right mix of substance and style in tonight’s big speech. Not so much.

The task now seems to be either: a) recapturing the attention of 15,000 journalists busy Googling the difference between Doric and Ionic columns, or b) attacking McCain’s lack of global experience because his campaign is mixing up the Romans and Greeks.
Someone should have put a primer on Classical Architecture and History in the DNC convention guide.

The controversy of course is the unveiling of preparations for Obama’s speech at Denver’s massive football stadium, Invesco Field, which has been transformed into what the McCain campaign has called “The Temple of Obama.”

A stage featuring huge plywood columns painted off-white to look like marble has been set up at the 50-yard line of Invesco Field, and Obama is expected to stride out from between the columns to address some 75,000 supporters — all choreographed for a massive prime-time American television audience.

If the clean white columns were supposed to evoke Washington’s Capitol building or even the White House — some generic presidential-like setting — they have instead sparked a (Roman?) fountain of jokes about Greek Gods and Roman ruins.

A snarky memo from the McCain campaign betrayed the difficulty critics have when faced with such a juicy target — deciding on a single funny nickname for the venue seems as hard as picking a vice presidential nominee that won’t offend the Republican base.

“Today, workers at Invesco Field are putting the final touches on the newest wonder of the modern political world — The Temple of Obama (”The Barackopolis”),” Deputy Communications Director Brian Rogers noted in an e-mail to “interested parties”.

Rogers went on to advise a dress code for the event, complete with photos of various toga styles from “the Nobleman” to “The Senator”. Instructions on how to “wrap your toga” were included.

“Nothing says ‘out of touch with regular Americans’ like Greek columns,” lamented the Huffington Post, urging the Obama campaign to tear down the columns before it is too late.

With the speech just hours away, the columns will likely stay. Historically inaccurate jokes about togas, chariots and Icarus will flourish.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are scrambling to refocus reporter funnybones on the imminent celebration of John McCain’s 72nd birthday on Friday.

Invitations are out for a “More-of-the-Same Birthday Party” in Dayton and Youngstown, Ohio, to coincide with the expected announcement in that state on Friday of McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

The events will feature a “mobile billboard” of McCain, Bush and a birthday cake. And yes, they’re promising 72 candles. No word on the dress code, but flame-retardant clothing may be advised.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg (Obama does a late-night walk through  at Invesco field where he will give his acceptance speech.)

DENVER - Democrat Barack Obama spent long hours crafting the speech in which he will make history by formally accepting his party’s presidential nomination.

The White House contender looked to past nominee acceptance speeches for ideas, including those of Bill Clinton in 1992, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and John F. Kennedy in 1960, according to Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod.

Obama worked largely by himself on the first draft, writing it out long-hand on legal pads and then typing it into a computer for review by his top aides.

Obama, the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. party, will speak before 75,000 people at the huge Invesco football stadium in Denver. His speech coincides with the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The Illinois senator, who is running neck-and-neck with Republican John McCain, will lay out his vision for change in his speech and also hopes to tie in his life story as the son of a single-mother to the struggles faced by ordinary Americans.

But Obama, known for his lofty rhetoric, may also show a scrappier side to himself in going after McCain more aggressively, in a nod to some Democrats who feel that up to now his attacks have been too tepid.

“I think he’s going to make a case about the choices people face. I mean he’s said he’ll make a respectful argument but I don’t think he’ll shy away from making those contrasts where there appropriate,” Axelrod told reporters as the candidate traveled to Denver on Wednesday.

Obama has said his upcoming speech may be more “workman-like” than the 2004 convention speech he gave in Boston that catapulted him to fame.

But it probably won’t lack the broad sweep that marks many of Obama’s speeches, including some he has delivered on topics from the war in Iraq to the U.S. financial crisis.

While many White House contenders — as well as U.S. presidents — rely on teams of speechwriters to prepare the early drafts of important address, Obama takes a much more hands-on approach.

As the author of two bestselling books, he is easily the best speechwriter on the campaign, Axelrod said.

“He knows what he wants to say and he generally says it better than anybody else would,” the Obama adviser said.

But Obama needs quiet to do his best work and during his time as an Illinois state senator, he sometimes had to resort to ducking into the men’s room to write. Over the past week, he worked late into the night at a Chicago hotel room.

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DENVER — Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, 65, admits he’s getting a little touchy about the fact that he’s so much older than running mate Barack Obama , 47.

“If I hear one more time he was 11 years old when I went to the Senate, I’m going to smack somebody,” Biden joked, drawing laughter and applause at a breakfast meeting with convention delegates from Biden’s native state of Pennsylvania.

A smiling Biden, first elected to the Senate 35 years ago, noted there are just four senators in the 100-member chamber with more senority than him.

“But there are still 44 older than me,” Biden said, prompting more laughter.

On a serious note, Biden said he and Obama must capture Pennsylvania on Election Day to take the White House in their battle against Republican John McCain.

“We cannot win without winning Pennsylvania and it is that simple,” said Biden, who was born and raised in Scranton, Penn., and later moved to Delaware where he was elected to the Senate in 1972.

Promising to spend plenty of time campaigning in the state, Biden, affectionately known as “Pennsylvania’s third senator” for the work he has done for it in Congress, Biden said to sustained cheers and applause, “I’m coming home.”

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Pedicab driver Laura Caldwell shares her stories from the Democratic National Convention: Military helicopters, armored golf carts, and teenage anarchists with the utmost respect for traffic laws. This video was shot by fellow pedicab operator Teri Robnett, a contributor to Reuters Inside the Tent.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Robnett is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are her own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Democratic National Convention. We’ll be moving to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention next week.

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Craigslist founder Craig Newmark talks to Laurence O’Donnell, a political pundit as well as producer and writer on “The West Wing,” about how the nominating conventions can only be truly appreciated by watching them on TV.

Newmark is a contributor to Inside the Tent, which has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. He is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are his own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Democratic National Convention. We’ll be moving to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention next week.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

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Kristine Fallstone, whose son was killed in an Army training exercise after he spent a year in Iraq, talks to Inside the Tent contributor Kathleen Miller about her support for Barack Obama and her evangelical Christian faith.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Miller is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are her own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Democratic National Convention. We’ll be moving to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention next week.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.