I was listening to McCain's nomination acceptance speech on the radio on the way to the airport yesterday and it sounded so different than it did in the arena. I actually got to hear the fiery end to the speech, the part where he said: Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make Read more

Now that it's all done but sweeping up the balloons, the New York Times, ever the data-doyenne, has a different way of looking at who said what these conventions. Bubbles of varying sizes show the amount of times per 25,000 words uttered, that certain phrases were used. Interestingly, the "opponent's name" count varies pretty wildly — the Democrats used McCain's name 78 times to the Read more

Since I made up my mind to vote for John McCain, I've been waiting for this night — and by the sounds of the crowd, an arena full of people agreed with me. The build up to John McCain was appropriately quick and tough and everyone was beyond anxious to get to the goods and see how McCain would follow Palin's speech. It felt different in the crowd. Yesterday's raucous relief was replaced with an Read more

Tonight's floor session just started and I've already teared up once. I don't stand a chance. Trace Adkins sang the opening national anthem — no accompaniment, just his booming voice — and after one line, the whole crowd started to join him. Tentatively at first, then by the end the hall was ablaze with song. There is a heck of a lot of red worn in this hall tonight, and people are ready for Read more

With a ramped up convention, comes amped up comedy. The Daily Show was out in full-force yesterday, with Samantha Bee interviewing the more creatively dressed delegates. In this scene she was doing a little role-play, pretending to be Bristol Palin while the lovely delegate played Sarah. Hilarity ensued. Get Flash to see this player. var so1918979 = new Read more

No sooner had Sarah Palin's speech ended last night and the cheers faded were people clamoring to hear the response and analysis to it. I was the star of my shuttle bus for having the first-shot email from the Obama camp on my phone — I did a dramatic reading of it for my bus-mates. The first shot included, "The speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Read more

Ah! Now this is more like it! The arena was rocking tonight, and it finally felt like a real convention. Fast forward to the end, they loved Sarah Palin — and it's crystal clear the Republicans are fired up! It was a packed line up and here are the highlights: GOPAC Chairman Michael Steele was the first speaker to rouse the full arena saying, "So, do you want to put your country first? Then Read more