DENVER - As a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, Mike Matejka feels he's got a front row seat to history.

Although Matejka is at the convention as a Hillary Clinton delegate, he said the election of Barack Obama as president would be "a wonderful sign of the diversity of America.

"I feel like a part of something historic," Matejka said. Obama "pushes politics based on what we can be, instead of what we're afraid of."

Matejka, a former Bloomington alderman, is the government affairs director of the Great Plains Laborers District Council. As such, he admires Obama's background as a community organizer.

"Politics is a way in which he (Obama) attempts to assist and aid people," Matejka said.

Matejka, who arrived in Denver Sunday and will leave Friday, said people at the convention are "just incredible." He has attended "all kinds of seminars and caucuses" and is looking forward to Obama's acceptance speech tonight, which he expects will be one of hope.

This is Matejka's first convention, as it is Peggy Swerdlik's.

While Matejka is a delegate, Swerdlik is a volunteer. The Normal woman has helped coordinate various events since arriving at the convention Aug. 19. She will return home Friday.

Among other things, she's volunteered as a hall monitor and caucus assistant, delivering needed paperwork to party officials.

Like Matejka, she views the event as one to remember.

"We had a woman (Clinton) and now a black man. Everyone you talk to says it's historic," said the retired special education professor from Illinois State University.

She expects Obama to give details of how he will address issues of national importance in tonight's acceptance speech.

"I know he's inspirational, but I want to hear specifics," she said.