Here’s a tip for the Democratic Party. You are holding your nominating convention in Denver. You know, the Mile High City. Need proof? Look to the west. That big wall there? Those are the Rocky Mountains. They also come in handy when you’re driving around town. You can’t get lost because you always know which way is west. Those mountains have a way of reminding you of that.

And that’s my point. Denver is in the Mountain Time Zone. I know some of this “inside” Denver stuff because I lived there for a few years back in the ’70s. Got my degree from the University of Colorado.

I was thinking about the Mountain Time Zone – and the fact that nobody lives there – last night as I struggled unsuccessfully to stay awake to hear Michelle Obama officially open the convention at which her husband will be nominated for president.

The people in Denver and other locales in the Mountain Time Zone are used to events taking place at odd times. Especially televised events, and in particular nationally televised events.

Like, oh for instance, dinosaurs such as these shindigs the two major political parties hold every four years to nominate their candidates for the highest office in the land.

The Mountain Time Zone is two hours behind us here on the East Coast. TV does not look especially kindly on the Mountain Time Zone. That’s because they know no one lives there, at least when it comes to ratings. So the denizens of the Mountain Time Zone basically hold events whenever TV tells them to. For instance, Monday Night Football kicks off at 7 p.m. in Denver.

So can someone explain to me why Michelle Obama did not step to the microphone last night before 10:30 p.m. That’s actually my guess. I was long gone at that point. I was flipping furiously between the Democrats and the Phillies when I succumbed to Mr. Sand Man.

I didn’t see the end of the Phillies game. Nor did I see the emotional appearance of Sen. Ted Kennedy, battling cancer, at the podium in Denver. So Michelle Obama had no shot with me.

Why not have her speak at 8 p.m., or even 9? It’s not like there is any great drama involved here. Obama will be nominated for president; joined by his choice for vice president, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.

By the way, if you’re interested in a local angle on what’s happening at the convention in Denver, You can check out Gerald Lawrence’s blog here.

If there’s any drama in this Democratic fun fest, it might come tonight, when it’s Hillary Clinton’s turn to address the faithful. Hopefully she’ll speak a little earlier than Michelle Obama did.

Every word, every facial tic and expression will be examined with a microscope to see if she’s just putting on a good front, or if she in fact is on board with Obama taking the mantle she surely believed was hers to claim.

But unless they bump up her speech by a couple of hours, or she suddenly joins the New York Mets’ bullpen, I doubt I will be seeing her.