Rocky Mountain oysters to go

A Fox News crew, after shooting some footage at the historic Buckhorn Exchange on Tuesday, took a to-go order of Rocky Mountain oysters back to the Pepsi Center.

They offered a sampling of the Western delicacy to attendees of the Democratic National Convention, including some adventurous politicians, and asked them to guess what they were eating.

Angela Norkus, manager of the 115-year-old Buckhorn, has seen "The Look" a lot over the years when the question comes up.

"We tell our servers to say, 'It's the south end of a north bound bull,' " she said. "Or we point."

The Buckhorn, founded by former Indian scout and sharpshooter Henry Zietz, serves about 2 tons of deep-fried bull testicles a year.

One of my favorite Rocky Mountain oyster stories: About a year before the Summit of the Eight was in Denver in 1997, an advance team from Britain made a trip to The Fort, the late Sam Arnold's wild game restaurant.

When Arnold, who often wore buckskin shirts, brought out a sample platter of the oysters, without explanation, a female member of the fact-finding team had a question.

"Are they vegetarian?"

MEN ON A MISSION

I've covered Olympics, Super Bowls, World Series and spent nine years in Las Vegas, most of it in the red carpet jungle, so this isn't my first rodeo.

But it's my first political convention, so maybe that's another way of saying you haven't earned your journalism stripes until you covered the chaos of the World Cup of politics.

So, there I was walking up 15th Street in lower downtown at high noon Tuesday, when I found myself in the middle of a mock military maneuver.

Men dressed in fatigues, pretending to be aiming weapons, acted out a patrol in a combat zone.

They pointed their imaginary rifles down alleys, up at rooftops and took prone positions during stop sign breaks.

I tried to talk to the young man bringing up the rear, but he was all business.

Later, we saw former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich engage in a conversation with the leader.

We were told they were Iraqi vets against the war.

DISSENTING VOICES

Fox News entertainment columnist Roger Friedman couldn't resist a cheap shot at the heavy security blanket in and around Denver for the DNC.

In a column Tuesday criticizing Denver for what he perceived as a lack of preparation and transportation disorganization, Friedman added, "The Denver police do seem to love their riot gear and machine guns, however. They're positioned in places like the 16th Street pedestrian mall, which is far from any action and hardly has any decent shopping. It's not that they're unfriendly -- they just seem to be poorly located."

Friedman is based in Los Angeles, site of the 2000 DNC and home of the five-minute commute.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Chelsea Clinton and folksinging icon Judy Collins have a Colorado connection. When Collins stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom during the Clinton years in the White House, and paid $7,499 to the party, President Clinton told Collins he was a fan of her music and named Chelsea after Collins' 1969 hit "Chelsea Morning."

SIGHTINGS

Ben Affleck, dining at Elway's in Cherry Creek on Tuesday. "I think I lost my wife," said a DNC delegate from Tennessee, whose wife rushed off to see the actor. "But Ben can afford her." ... Republicans Mitt Romney and Karl Rove, making surprise appearances at Hillary Clinton's speech on Tuesday. Also there, a limping Kim Kardashian and boyfriend Reggie Bush, and Charles Barkley. Kucinich and wife Elizabeth, having lunch in the MySpace.com corner of the Curtis Hotel on Tuesday. Kucinich, 61, and the red-haired Brit, 30, celebrated their third anniversary Thursday. ... Actress Anne Hathaway, heading for an elevator at the Pepsi Center after hearing Michelle Obama's speech Monday.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Kick things off with a song from Dennis Kucinich." -- From David Letterman's "Top Ten Ways to Make the Democratic Convention More Fun."

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.