For one week in August, Politicalbetting.com will be reporting from Denver

Back in March, I sent in some application forms to the DNC and RNC so that PoliticalBetting.com could be credentialled alongside other media outlets to cover the Nominating Conventions from Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul respectively.

The RNC gave us an unequivocal rejection (the Right seems less interested in what Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) called “a Series of Tubes“ than the Left) but the Democrats have made some accommodation for the blogosphere. Whilst the Convention Centre itself is reserved for syndicated networks and their ilk, and the Floor reserved for an activist Democrat blogger from each state, there will be a New Media center across the street called the Big Tent.

Organised by ProgressNow.org in conjunction with Daily Kos, and sponsored by people like Google and Digg, there will be hundreds of journalists, bloggers, and political junkies covering all four days of coverage, finishing in the INVESCO Bronco Stadium to hear Barack Obama accept his party’s nomination. The Big Tent have a daily billing of top political speakers who will be addressing the massed netroots on the campaign and the message.

The competition for places at the Big Tent was also fierce – you can imagine that every political blogger in the country wants to be there – so it was with great joy that I opened my e-mail on Monday to find that the UK’s most-read political blog has been offered a pass.

So, on 23rd August, I will be flying out to Denver to join the political circus – I’m hoping to file regular updates on the particulars of the Convention, and perhaps pick up the gossip from the 50 states about strategy, on-the-ground activism, or even the whispers as to who party insiders suspect will get the nod to be VP. I’m taking a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order to understand the complex parliamentary shenanigans, and will try and make sure that you are the first to hear the pertinent rumblings of political news from across the Pond.

I am going to flatter, blackmail, and bribe my way to try and secure some interviews – Markos Moulitsas will certainly be in attendance and has agreed to a chat, and I’ll be meeting the BBC’s North America Editor, Justin Webb, so feel free to send me your questions for them both. I’m hoping some of the DCCC and DSCC crowd will be amenable to passing on their insights, and that the campaign managers for some of the close Congressional and Gubernatorial races will be prepared to sit down for five minutes too.

In preparation for the trip, I’ve been keeping a personal diary on Daily Kos, trying to make some friends and attracts some knowledgeable traffic from their 24m readers over to pb.com, and also to raise some awareness as to what is happening in both the UK and in the British blogosphere. I’ve been cross posting some of the articles here, writing some introductions to UK politics, and using up the drafts that aren’t good enough for all you discerning types! If you are interested in reading my diary over the coming months (more for the comments than anything else – there are some Creatures, and some absolute stars) you can find it here – you’ll need to expand most of the articles beyond the Intro, and don’t forget to answer the polls!!

Anyhow, I thought I would share the good news, and start to build some expectation of the sort of coverage you can expect if you stay tuned to pb.com. I think it is an enormous tribute to Mike that he has built a site that now has a global reputation, and is prioritised over American blogs in its coverage of US politics for the quality of its writing and the size of its overseas readership.

PB – the UK’s most-read political blog – goes Global!

Morus