Just blocks away, the party was far out of reach

Homeless people lined up at St. Francis Interfaith Center for free food blocks away from the convention yesterday. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe staff)

DENVER - Not far from the Pepsi Center, a few dozen lost souls queued up Wednesday morning at 11 in the alley behind St. Francis Interfaith Center. Most stood silently as they approached the opening in the fence where they received a cup of chicken soup, a sandwich, a piece of cake, and a cold drink.

"Yesterday, I did some yard work," a bedraggled man shouted to someone in the line. "I had a beer in one hand and a rake in the other," he said.

These are the invisible, the homeless who live outside the margins of society in Denver as it hosted the glittering Democratic National Convention, unfolding each day less than half a mile away from this soup kitchen. For days, this city was a bazaar of commercial excess and political expression, teeming with groups and individuals who sold products, promoted a cause, and clamored for the attention of the 15,000-strong media throng. Heavily armed police were everywhere, a reminder that all is not normal in the post 9/11 era.

To hold this four-day extravaganza, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent by corporations and government to amuse, pamper, and protect the visitors. Not a nickel will find its way to this soup kitchen. The only attention these homeless men received was from police shooing them back into the shadows.

A reporter asked if anyone in line had any interest in the convention. A lanky man, with a graying pony tail and sunglasses barked, "Get out of my face," but another volunteered that he saw some of Hillary Clinton's speech on television the night before.

"I was part of that middle class she talked about until two years ago," Chris Troncosa said. "I had a house, kids, and a job at Denver Water."

Then his life spiraled downward - divorce, jail time for a sex crime, estrangement from his two children, and his house on South Yates Street in foreclosure. At 42, he has lost everything and is unemployable, he said. The government programs the Democrats like to talk up aren't designed to help people like him, he said.

"I made a mistake, and I paid a price," Troncosa said between spoonfuls of chicken rice soup. He said he'd eat the cake but take the sandwich back to a friend at the shelter, if he returned there early enough to get a bed. "I want to work. I don't want to be homeless, but it's like I'm invisible," he said.

On almost every corner of downtown Denver, you could find people working to be visible, trying to make waves or make money.

On Tuesday, 13 anti-abortion demonstrators, including two Catholic priests and a Baptist minister, were arrested in an act of civil disobedience downtown and about 100 antiwar demonstrators were arrested in a clash with police near the Civic Center.

Supporters of John McCain waged guerrilla warfare at areas where Democrats and reporters could be found. On Tuesday several McCain partisans, all of whom declined to give their names, argued sharply with Charles Kammer, a convention delegate from Wooster, Ohio, who challenged their claim that Barack Obama's healthcare plan constitutes "socialized" medicine.

On many corners, advocates for restricting immigration handed out fliers with a message apparently tailored to appeal to a Democratic audience, urging reductions in legal immigration to avoid overpopulation and environmental devastation. "It's not directly pointed to illegal immigration," said one of the activists, who would only identify himself as Fred, a 73-year-old retired civil engineer from nearby Lakewood.

Fred said he is a Minuteman, a gentlemanly member of the group of self-appointed armed border observers. He said he has made seven trips to the Mexican border. "We are there to observe and report - that's all," Fred said, describing himself as a Republican but a "conservative first and foremost."

A few blocks away, Paul Mitchell, a laid-back 67-year-old Christian evangelical from outside Los Angeles, held a sign that could be picked up by cameras at the makeshift MSNBC set behind Union Station. He fashioned a slogan with an "Obama kind of" message, he said. "Lookin' for Change/Then do what Christ said/And Repent," it read. Mitchell said he has been attending conventions for several decades.

The night before, Mitchell said, he confronted Democratic delegates as they left the convention hall. "I told them they're stupid people and should not be allowed to vote," he said. "A bunch of women started barking at me."

Besides free speech, another quintessentially American ideal - capitalism - thrived in the carnival-like atmosphere of Denver.

Passersby were offered free condoms and diet-plan peanut fudge bars. The horde of news media representatives received special attention. Upon their arrival at their work stations last weekend, everyone received a keepsake tote bag, adorned with the corporate logos of AT&T and Coca-Cola. Each bag was stocked with freebies, including a Visa/USBank water bottle and a dietary supplement called Joint Juice.

Not everyone partook of the giveaways, however.

Back at the St. Francis center, Chris Troncosa said he's been shut out of the party. He said he went over to the 16th Street Mall, an upscale shopping district, but couldn't get any of the free snacks or other goodies being handed out. "If they see someone in a suit, they rush over because they know he has money. But once they see you and your backpack, they back away," he said.