If you get past the Jesus trucks circling the perimeter of uptown Charlotte, there's a party. Or there was a party, until it was rained out. Monday was Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention, sort of. It was actually sort of a pre-convention street party that ended suddenly when the sky opened and dropped a bucket full of rain right when James Taylor came on the stage.

I'm sure the ubiquitous anti-abortion protesters attributed it to an act of God. More likely just an act of the weather, which decided it was time for North Carolina to get some rain after a couple of weeks of balmy weather. Go figure.

For every delegate at this convention, I'm convinced there's a ratio of bloggers and other media that runs around 7:1. The usual players are here, of course. Fox News, ABC, NBC, C-SPAN, and all the local stations doing local color interviews on every street corner with the perfectly coiffed Guy on the Street.

Speaking for me, I felt more like Anderson Cooper without the producer or cameraman. Doing a one-person gig in Charlotte this week is an exercise in focus and observation, and today was Mistake Day. Take the interview with Dennis Kucinich the Bloomberg guy was doing on the street. I snuck in there with my camera and mic, but you know what happens when you forget to hit the power on the mic? That's right. You get a great interview with Kucinich talking and no sound.

Awesome. I only need to make the same mistake once. The next one will have sound, too.

It's also likely the next one will be made in the rain, since we seem to have attracted a big storm to the area. I'm sure the Jesus signholding people would say it was God's will. I blame climate change.

Here's the bottom line: There are a lot of people here, really motivated, energetic, and fired up. They're registering voters, they're talking to people, and they're committed to coming out of this convention with a burst of energy across the country.

Monday was a party. Today the substance will start rolling down. Stay tuned.