EDIT: I’m on the Drudge Report! I’m in the bottom left-hand corner in the picture at the very top!

This morning, I embarked on a fun little journey to see Hillary Clinton’s concession speech with another incoming American University freshman (who took some wonderful photos, which will be uploaded shortly). I’ll spare you the details and get to the interesting stuff:

* I spoke to the press about Hillary. A reporter for a station I wasn’t able to identify was interviewing two weepy women, claiming that Clinton had been “robbed” of the nomination and that the Clintons were — she wasn’t kidding — “decent” people. When they finished, I stopped the reporter and camera crew and asked for an interview, since I had something to remark upon about the delegate allocation process. I said that, as a Republican, I gained surprising newfound respect for Hillary Clinton during the campaign and that it probably bothers the Clinton supporters most that the person that she lost to wasn’t some elder statesman with an extensive resume, but a neophyte pol that has only managed to pass a single bill since he’s arrived in the Senate — oh, but he can give a good speech; Yes, He Can! I used the disparity between the Nebraska caucus and non-binding primary (the latter of which more than twice as many votes were cast and Obama won by a 32-percent-smaller margin) and asked why, exactly, the former was used to allocate delegates: how on Earth is that fair? Especially coming from the party that, in 2000, was hellbent on counting every last vote because the popular will was what really counted — oh, no, but now, Rules Is Rules! I was asked why I was interested in seeing Hillary if I was a Republican, and I remarked that I held a degree of respect for her and that the Democratic race fascinated me.

* Fox News captured me on camera while Hillary was shaking peoples’ hands. I got to shake hands with Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea Clinton. How did I get so close? Not because I was one of the first in line, but…because my friend and I entered through the VIP entrance!

Of course, we weren’t VIPs. When we entered the building, we saw a large, closed-in rectangular area where people were filing in from the opposite side. We wandered around with a couple of ladies trying to figure out how to get in, but to no avail. We asked a staffer how one could obtain access to the area, and she explained that staffers, delegates, and elected officials were to stand there. I persisted and asked if there was any way to get in there, and she told me — hush-hush, of course — how to get there. Security, she explained, didn’t check credentials.

Indeed they didn’t. We were granted access without a problem. We filed into the rectangular area, took a spot in the front (this is about 10:20, now), and waited. And then we realized — hey! Let’s try to get on TV by going to the backdrop. But then we ran into that staffer, who said that “since she got us the hook-up, we can’t be wandering around” — and yes, that means that we can’t walk all the way back to the backdrop — we weren’t supposed to be there. Fair game, I said. Since we were in the second or third row, I thought, that was fine.

So we waited. And waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. After about 90 minutes went by, Terry McAuliffe started making the rounds, eliciting cheers from the Clintonites surrounding us (all of whom were 20-30 years older than we were; nobody seemed suspicious, for some reason).

After over 2 1/2 hours of standing (and amusing texts with my mom), Hillary finally appeared, to seemingly endless applause from the audience, which surely numbered in the range of thousands. There were scattered pissed-off looks in the crowd as Hillary enthusiastically supported Obama, but overall, even the more ardent anti-Obama Hillbots that I’d talked to went along with Hillary and cheered at the prospect of voting for Obama. After the speech ended, the Clintons circled the area and shook hands with the people up front — which I was one of, of course. The press swarmed the area and definitely took some photographs in my direction, so I’ll be checking the Sunday papers tomorrow…

The moral of today’s story is: those who ask, receive! Press interviews and VIP access, baby. Overall, a fun, interesting day spent with some of the craziest Clintonites on Earth.

Questions and comments are welcome!