The Advertiser is in Denver today for the Democratic National Convention and government reporter Derrick DePledge already has filed his first set of stories in this morning's paper and online.

Few staffers are as enthusiastic about politics as DePledge, and his conscientious style of reporting and writing make him a natural to chronicle back-to-back historic events. After he's done this week in Denver, DePledge flies on to Minnesota to cover the Republican National Convention in St. Paul Sept. 1-4.

Conventions such as these are stage-managed down to the last detail and there are few real surprises. That makes DePledge's job tougher than most because he has to look beyond the speeches and rhetoric to find real news. Trust me, DePledge will be tireless in giving a local flavor of what the Hawai'i GOP and Democratic delegates are up to as well as give readers the bigger picture of what it all means.

DePledge was hired at The Advertiser nearly five years ago from Gannett News Service in Washington D.C., where he had been a correspondent for GNS and other news services for a decade. After covering Hawai'i issues for a time for GNS, he asked for a chance to move here and we jumped at the opportunity.

In 2000, he covered the national political conventions for GNS, writing about demographic trends, such as how women, white men and young people were viewing the presidential candidates, as well as the protests outside the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

He was part of a GNS team sent to Florida to document the recount and dispute between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Previously, DePledge covered U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana during his unsuccessful 1996 presidential campaign and wrote about national political trends, such as the emergence of Christian conservatives as a Republican political force and the voting patterns of young people.

He was hired here as an education reporter — a beat he handled admirably even though he wanted badly to cover politics and government — and then shifted to the state Capitol, where he is an indispensable source for statehouse coverage. He has written about local, state and national politics and government for 20 years.

His former boss, Jerry Burris, who also will be in Denver to provide columns and blogs for The Advertiser and is a political reporting legend all his own, has been impressed with DePledge and his love of politics.

Having covered national political conventions since 1976, Burris said that although there is little breaking news out of the conventions, many interesting stories await a savvy reporter.

"There are still very important events for the political parties, for public interest in politics and for the electoral process," he said. "They define the national political conversation. They are also difficult to cover, kind of like a 10-ring circus that goes from dawn to midnight, involving a fascinating cast of media, political and other players. To cover it, you need someone with high energy and a deep interest and appreciation in politics and how the political process works."

DePledge fits the bill.

"He knows politics, appreciates its complexity and takes seriously his job of communicating the impact of politics on the readers," Burris said. "With experience in Washington and the 2000 convention and at the state Capitol, Derrick is the right man for the Democratic and Republican conventions."

I won't give away all that DePledge and Burris have planned but through print and online reports readers can expect comprehensive coverage of the presidential candidates, the party platforms, the Hawai'i delegates, a daily convention schedule and the issues most important to Hawai'i.

Mark Platte is senior vice president/editor of The Advertiser. Reach him at 525-8080.