Explaining that the rubber bird represented would-be first lady Teresa Heinz Kerry, Smigel enacted a quick kiss between the puppets.

At last, Triumph led those who had been locked out in a rousing round of “God Bless America.”

And like that, with a few brief answers to questions posed by the media gathered by the FleetCenter’s entrance—including to one who asked Smigel who he was—he was gone.

UNDERCOVER

Finally, as those kept out of the convention made their way out past the black metal barriers around the FleetCenter, some were met by the oddest sight yet—a red, white and blue bandana-wearing man shouting “Win with Dean! Lose with Kerry! Draft Dean!”

“You know you want Dean,” the hand-written placard he carried read, referring to the former Vermont governor whose initially promising bid for the Democratic nomination swiftly disintegrated after the first primaries in January and February. “Kerry’s a loser.”But asked about his purpose, Bob Barrett, 36, of Lynnfield, Mass., slid the first sign away to let another show.

“W kicks terrorist ass!” the second placard screamed.

Revealing quietly that he was in fact a self-proclaimed “member of the vast right-wing conspiracy,” Barrett explained his covert op.

“What I’m trying to do is get Democrats to walk away feeling really bad about their candidate,” he said.

—Stephen M. Marks contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Simon W. Vozick-Levinson can be reached at vozick@fas.harvard.edu.