I’m here at the Hyatt in downtown Denver where I watched the Obama-Biden appearance with a few dozen Democrats huddled around flat-screen TVs by the bar. I’d say the reaction to Biden’s speech was positive — they erupted into applause and laughter throughout.

I struck up a conversation with an Obama volunteer from Portland, Oregon, and told him who I write for. After the speech, he came over and confidently said, “you guys are in trouble.”

Though he acknowledged that Biden could be a “loose cannon,” he thinks he’s a known quantity who will bring experience to the ticket.

He was also convinced that Obama was not going to be like John Kerry, but would be prepared to fight back against Republican attacks — especially because he took on the Clinton Machine. “That’s like taking on the frickin’ mafia,” he exclaimed.

My new friend said the McCain gaffe on his houses was “a gift” and that seemed to be a particularly popular line of attack with this crowd.

They just ate it up when Biden spoke of economic problems at Americans’ kitchen tables and joked that McCain would “have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit.”