Behind the Green Door

Democrats promised the greenest convention ever! Recycling and carbon credits, of course, but nothing was too small for eagle-eyed environmentalists -- such as "sustainably harvested wood" hotel keys instead of little plastic cards to unlock room doors.

A local company gave 70,000 biodegradable keys to local hotels (printed with the Denver 2008 logo). "We think it's cool," said Susan Stiff, a PR exec for Westin, Sheraton and other local hotels. "It's very Colorado."

Just one teensy problem. "They didn't work," said lawyer Stephen Skinner, an elected Barack Obama delegate from West Virginia. "At all." Skinner got one of the balsalike cards as he checked into the downtown Magnolia Hotel and had to slog back to the lobby for a traditional plastic key. "When I went to the front desk, they said we've been having problems with all of these," he said. "It's a noble cause, a noble attempt -- but sometimes, we have to realize that carbon is a part of our daily life. And sometimes plastic actually works."

And our colleague Alec MacGillis ran into Ned Lamont, the Connecticut cable industry entrepreneur who used some of his own millions in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Dem-now-indie Sen. Joe Lieberman, making his trek to the Marriott Tech Center front desk to get help with his little balsa key.

Stiff told us she's heard of very few problems. "If a guest does ask for a plastic key, of course we'll give them a plastic key." Whew!