John McCain's campaign has released a new :60 second web video highlighting Barack Obama's lack of experience in the context of a dangerous world. It's essentially a video montage of other people's words.

Have a look at what's brewing down south:



Rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are already being evacuated in anticipation of Gustav. We'll be looking at a split-screen Republican Convention alright, with landfall expected late Monday or early Tuesday.

On this, the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a storm responsible for the deaths of 1,836 people, President Bush has signaled that he might not want give his speech on the night that another big one comes ashore near New Orleans.

Denver, CO - Fox News, among others, are gleefully reporting that Bill Clinton is skipping Barack Obama's acceptance speech tonight:

In another sign of lingering discord between the Clinton and Obama camps, FOX News confirmed Wednesday that former President Bill Clinton will not attend Barack Obama's Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver Thursday night.

Please, take a cold shower, Fox. Sources say that this is Obama's moment, and that the former President leaving before the acceptance speech is nothing new.

This attempt to paint the relationship between Obama and the Clintons as an extended episode of The Hills is not the exclusive purview of Fox. Having 24 hours of coverage to fill lends itself to this kind of simplistic, melodramatic framing.

Hopefully, the cable news networks will continue their recent trend of lockerroom girlfighting and leave the gossip out of the campaigns. That's change we can believe in.

If reports about the cooperative relationship between convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and federal investigators are to be believed, "scores of other persons not yet charged," should be pretty nervous about the news that prosecutors are looking to reward Abramoff's cooperation by cutting his sentence.

From The Washington Post:

If a federal judge in Washington accepts the recommendation from the Justice Department, Abramoff would serve no more than another three years and three months in prison, not accounting for credit for good behavior awarded by the Bureau of Prisons. Abramoff's attorneys are seeking even more leniency that could have him released from prison by 2010.

So far, Abramoff's cooperation has resulted in prison time for former Republican U.S. Representative Bob Ney of Ohio and former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles.

Given the politicization of the Justice Department during the tenure of the Bush Administration I would feel a lot more comfortable about rewarding Abramoff's good work after the "scores of other persons not yet charged" are charged.

Friday, in Ohio, at 11am EST, John McCain will allegedly announce his choice for as a Vice Presidential running mate. Between now and then, between the buzz from Denver, there will be plenty of speculation and useless guessing as to who that person will be.

Consider this post part of the flotsam.

Today, sources report, McCain will notify (and presumably ask) the person to join him on the ticket. Drudge reports they may even leak it tonight during the DNC's final night of speeches.

Most of the focus is on former nomination rival Mitt Romney. Also Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN). The range of options goes so far as to include 2004 Democrat Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) or former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman.

All of these mentioned are more probable than my prediction.

But as my primary predictions proved, my folly knows no bounds.

John Kasich is my guess for McCain's running mate.

As we slouch toward Invesco later today (I'm too tired to even "slog"), some quick thoughts:

The McCain Disclaimer

As of Day 3, Democrats are squandering their convention - and it's their own fault. Even though it was clear that they needed to use this week to take apart John McCain's candidacy (and fill in the blanks on Barack Obama), every speaker insists on starting his/her attack on McCain with a tribute, a McCain Disclaimer...

John McCain is a good friend and a great American - perhaps the greatest living American hero - maybe even the greatest living hero dead or alive - and that includes fictional characters - and a man who has shown astonishing courage on the battlefield, in the Senate, underwater and in outer space ... but I really don't like his tax plan.

If I'm watching at home, I'm thinking "Wow, he sounds great. Even Democrats like him! I'm voting for this McCain guy. Okay, what's on CW?"

Even Bill Clinton, in an undeniably rock-star appearance, introduced the topic of McCain this way:

The Republicans in a few days will nominate a good man who has served our country heroically and who suffered terribly in a Vietnamese prison camp. He loves his country every bit as much as we do. As a senator, he has shown his independence of right-wing orthodoxy on some very important issues.

That's quite an encomium - and not one that the Republicans are likely to bestow on Obama at their convention. That's because they know how to campaign: ruthlessly

Where are the Celebrities?!

The McCain ad painting Obama as a celebrity like Paris and Britney has obviously been damaging, maybe devastating. Never has an ad so crappily produced had such impact. (Okay, the "I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up" ad probably cost $20 to produce and became iconic.)

Anyway, as of last month, everyone expected Denver to become an all-star salute. And yet pre-Invesco, at least, I've seen only a smattering of celebs. (Angela Bassett, Chevy Chase, Anne Hathaway...) The Kerry Convention was packed to the gills with A-listers.

My hunch is that the Obama campaign wants them to stay away - far far away. They simply don't help. So where are they hiding?

The Clintons and Obamas are not the Carringtons and Colbys

Perhaps because we're in Denver, the setting for the '80s nighttime soap Dynasty, the press has pushed the narrative of dueling families hard. Sorry, it's just not working.

I'm not sure which nighttime soap paradigm makes sense with the Obamas and Clintons, but the Carringtons and Colbys are clearly Republican. (I'm assuming that Alexis Colby, Joan Collins' character, was naturalized at one point, if only for tax purposes.)

Help me out here: Is it my imagination or wasn't there an episode of Dynasty where Alexis hosted a party (at La Mirage, I think) and Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford made real-life cameo appearances? If the RNC had been held in Denver, that's what it would have looked like.

Chelsea's Turn

Speaking of dynasties, Chelsea Clinton made a splash this week with her introduction of her mother. She was poised, attractive and warm. (Many Americans still had never heard her speak. Others who thought they had were hearing Marnie Nixon, who for years dubbed her own voice in for a shy Chelsea.)

Look, Hillary and Bill both delivered great speeches this week, though Hillary's was a tad Mad Lib-ish in its endorsement of Obama. (Come on, you could have plugged Mike Gravel's name in there. It was that unpersonalized.)

But it's time for a new Clinton:


The Temple of Obama

If Obama can make a balloon drop happen in an open-air stadium, then he really is a messiah.

Okay, I'm off to Invesco. That this is happening on the 45th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech is worthy of reflection - and unworthy of snark. I'm very very lucky to be here. Thanks for reading.


Above: At 4:47pm MST Hillary Clinton casts New York's votes for Obama and moves that he be nominated by acclamation. I took this picture from a platform a few feet away. Pretty cool.

Another day, another warning. Add Karl Rove to the chorus of conservatives dead-set against the notion of Joe Lieberman being added to McCain's ticket. In fact, according to Politico:

Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact John McCain to withdraw his name from vice presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation.

Rove, it seems, wants Mitt Romney. I guess if McCain picks Lieberman, he can claim he still has his old "Maverick" mojo working. But it sure seems that what little excitement conservatives have been able to muster for McCain will be swiftly deflated.

. . . Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his most famous speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial's Doric columns.



Tonight, Barack Obama will address the nation as the Democratic party's first African American nominee. So, is Obama's candidacy evidence that we are moving closer to King's vision of racial equality? To be sure, the inauguration of a black president will not magically wipe away the bigotry that has festered in our country for so long. But even more absurd is the notion that an Obama administration would somehow be a setback for race relations. That old argument has been used whenever blacks, women, or other minorities have broken through the barriers that stopped them from realizing their rightful place in society.

We can't let a woman run the company, because if she fails no one will ever want a female CEO again. Those poor black children won't be safe in the all-white school, so let's keep them segregated. Later, perhaps, these fretting voices tell us, but we're not ready for such changes now. You see, that's the telling line of attack against Obama these days: He's not ready. It's a criticism that, to my mind, says more about the person (or party) making it, than it does Obama.

By saying that Obama lacks the experience to be president, the debate seems to shift to a simple matter of qualifications. It's as though, in order to make Republicans happy, Obama simply needs to serve a few more years in the Senate. Then he'll be ready. Not now, Barack. Later. Of course, then you'll go up against some Republican governor, and be hit with the charge that you lack "executive experience."

Well, some of us interpret King's dream a little differently.

Many people are saying it was John Kerry's. The networks largely ignored it, but you can watch it below. It makes you wonder what might have been. Too bad Kerry couldn't muster this kind of performance when it mattered 4 years ago...

Tommy Christopher

(Denver, CO) - As the delegates filed out tonight, their heads dancing with dreams of a hot, sweaty night at Invesco Field, Caleb Howe and I shanghaied the elated masses to ask them this question:

How can the Republicans top this?

Frank Dixon: "Blow the roof off the Humphrey Dome."

Drew: "Do it a few days later."

Fiona: (14 yrs old) "Slamming Obama would be a good way to get the crowd riled up."

Christina: "He's either got to do it in a room with two people, or invite everyone in the world. Or they could cancel their convention and donate all the funds that were going into it."

Tommy Nagins: "Nominate a good VP candidate. If McCain picked Colin Powell, I think a lot of the black vote would switch from Obama."

Minnie Samuel: "Accept people of any sexual affiliation, they could promote contraceptive measures instead of using fear on abortion, and if they could convince Governor Chris Gregoire, the greatest Governor on this planet, to come speak there, I might consider switching."

Jackie: "Get a new candidate and change the party."

Karen Spear: "Choose a woman as Vice President. Carly Fiorina."

Those are all fine ideas, but I'm still sold on the Bush Bang Bus.