If they had it to do over, it’s a good bet that Barack Obama’s campaign would not have moved the final night of the Democratic convention from a cozy basketball arena to an open-air football stadium.

The change in venue, concocted back in those heady days just after June 3 when every quantitative and qualitative indicator pointed to a sweeping Democratic victory this fall, created the expectation that Obama, a man renowned for his inspirational oratory, would deliver a speech with a scope as expansive as the setting.

But something funny happened between then and now: The media started asking the tough questions that it hadn’t during the primaries and John McCain and his Republican allies began pounding away – day after day – at a caricature of Obama as smooth-talking and substance-less creation of the media, a man who knew how to make a crowd feel good for a few minutes but who hadn’t the first clue how to make their everyday lives better as president.  read more »

What kind of day has Tim Pawlenty had? The kind where your value on the Intrade Republican vice-presidential future markets shoots up by more than 50 points -- while your chief opponent's stock plummets by 31. The Minnesota governor is now trading roughly where Joe Biden was just before word of his selection by Barack Obama broke.

As Prepared:

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama

“The American Promise”

Democratic Convention

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Denver, Colorado

As Prepared for Delivery

To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation;

With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest – a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours -- Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you.

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Barack Obama's campaign not only made its candidate a rock star, but it turned a few ordinary people into minor celebrities.

And here's one.

It's Greg Smith, a Manhattan doorman who donated $25 to Obama's campaign and got a pesonal response from the candidate. That got Smith considerable media attention, including an interview on CNN.

I first met Smith at a party in New York City the night Obama won the Ohio caucus. In the hallway at Invesco Field just now, Smith recalled "I cried like a baby."

Gore just finished, to the most raucous reception so far. Here's the prepared text of his speech:

One of the greatest gifts of our democracy is the opportunity it offers us every four years to change course. It¹s not a guarantee; it¹s only an opportunity. The question facing us is, simply put, will we seize this opportunity for change? That¹s why I came here tonight: to tell you why I feel so strongly that we must seize this opportunity to elect Barack Obama President of the United States. Eight years ago, some said there was not much difference between the nominees of the two major parties and it didn¹t really matter who became president.  read more »

The vice-presidential selection process can be like the build-up to a big game. The contestants often look roughly even on paper – one with a particular strength in this area, the other with stand-out credentials in that area – and a reasonable case can be made for either’s superiority. But then you actually get to see them on the same field and immediately realize what a gross mismatch it actually is.

A good example of this in sports is the 2007 college football title game, an even-seeming contest between 12-0 Ohio State and 12-1 Florida that quickly turned into a thorough Gator rout.  read more »

Ever since the Obama campaign announced that Barack Obama would be giving his acceptance speech of the Democratic nomination inside Invesco Field at Mile High—the enormous stadium where the Denver Broncos play football—critics and supporters alike have wondered whether the spectacle played too readily into the “Obama as celebrity” storyline that the McCain campaign has pushed so hard.

Already will.i.am, Sheryl Crow and other recording artists have performed live. The smooth female voice announcing the political speakers and performing artists is identical to the one that introduces actors at the Academy Awards.

But whatever the risks, there is at least one guaranteed upside to gathering such a big captive audience which was revealed by Ray Rivera, the chair of the Obama campaign in Colorado.  read more »

I just ran into City Councilman Hiram Monserrate in a hallway at Invesco Field.

"I've never seen people waiting on lines for hours" so that they "could hear a presidential candidate speak."

"Democrats," he said, this is our year."

Which is one way to look at the long lines of people snaking around the stadium. Several reporters I was standing with on the fourth floor were stunned at their length, wondering aloud whether those people currently on line would be in the stadium when Barack Obama is scheduled to speak later tonight.

A quick review of the most prominently featured speakers over the first three days of the Democratic convention – which ones helped, which ones hurt, and which ones did neither.  read more »

The Obama campaign has just released some excerpts from tonight's speech by Barack Obama.

It'll be interesting to see if he delivers the following line as prepared: "We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country."

One president--Bill Clinton--is noticeably absent from that list.

After the jump, all of the excerpts put out by the campaign.  read more »