Random wanderings among the luminaries in the Pepsi Center last night. Clockwise, from top left: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and son Austin; Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and wife Jane; Jackie and Sen. Chris Dodd(D-CT).

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire on party unity: "Someone told me about a 74-year-old delegate who claims she's going to vote for McCain. I asked, "Where is she? Show me! There's no one like that in our delegation..."

Illinois Senator and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin: "We have five (Senate) races that look great...we're looking to expand that to eight, nine or even more, which is music to a Majority Whip's ears".

Sen. Durbin seemed particularly optimistic about Kay Hagan (D)'s challenge to Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina. He also expressed optimism (albeit with a Cubs fan's touch of sadness) that a White Sox fan could, and would, be elected President of the United States.

Daily Kos contributing editor BarbinMD: "Ask Durbin if (Durbin's housemate Senator Chuck) Schumer is a slob".

U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega: "Cornyn has voted with Bush 98% of the time...I don't agree with my wife 98% of the time!"

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer: "I own one house".

U.S. Senate candidate Scott Kleeb: "We need Nebraska to get to 60 seats...excuse me, 61. Forgot about Joe Lieberman".

Chuck Schumer: "John McCain is a fancy-pants".

Stroll through the tree-lined streets of downtown Denver and indicia of massive security are everywhere, from Denver police patroling on bicycles to S.W.A.T. teams cruising around on foot and on vehicles, like that pictured here.

The Pepsi Center itself, where most of the convention activities have been taking place, may as well have a moat around it. A huge perimeter has been set up around the Pepsi Center itself, and, as a non-VIP (that is, without a "Backstage" pass or "Podium" pass) you can't even touch that perimeter unless you have one of four passes:

(1)  Perimeter:  Yay! You get inside the perimeter, but get to wander around the parking lot all day, staring wistfully at the gated CNN Grill, where the staffers are giving out free ice cream--but only if you have a CNN pass.

(2) Arena: Lucky you! You get to actually step inside the Pepsi Center!   But sorry, you cannot actually sit down in the arena seats and you aren't allowed in upper levels.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200 dollars.

(3) Hall:  Get your camera ready because you've just won a trip to the arena itself!  Nevermind that it may just be at the upper level, you totally rock.

(4) Floor: Floor passes are green.  I think they're green because everyone turns green with envy when they see someone walking around with a Floor pass.  Floor passes, literally enough, get you on the floor of the convention.

As credentialed bloggers, your friendly Daily Kos staff has Hall passes, and access to rotating Floor passes.  This means that we can trade in our Hall pass for a Floor pass, but only for 30 minutes at a time.  If you don't return from the floor in 30 minutes, you turn into a pumpkin.

Getting your hands on a Floor pass is like getting your hands on a Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  You get to be part of a dazzling and almost surreal experience.  You're in a sea of thousands of people, you can stand in front of the stage as if you were at a rock concert (no moshing, though, please), and hey, gee whiz, there's Anderson Cooper sitting two feet away from me.

For tonight's festivities at Invesco Field, word around here is that people should anticipate waiting in line for several hours to pass through security.

Hours in the glaring sun to see Barack Obama, Howard Dean, Al Gore, and Bon Jovi?

Yeah. It's worth it.

The right wing noise machine has been screeching away these past months about files stored at the Daley Library in Illinois relating to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an education reform group. Both Barack Obama and William Ayers served on the group's board. Over 1,000 files were recently released, and as all in the reality-based community already knew, there's nothing really there:

A partial examination of the documents did not reveal anything startling about the link between Obama, the Democratic presidential contender, and Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground, a Vietnam-era anti-war group that claimed responsibility for several bombings.

The Chicago Sun-Times similarly reports that the documents reveal "scant" details about interactions between Obama and Ayers.

Poor wingers, hoping to find "smoking gun" evidence that Ayers and Obama were BFFs. It's ok, though.  Now they can direct all their energy towards proving that Obama's birth Hawaiian birth certificate was forged by brainwashed Islamo-fascist Keebler elves hiding in Russian forests.  Get to it, guys!

John Kerry last night, delivering instant classic smackdown:

I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same "Rove" tactics and the same "Rove" staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.

Gallup has the beginning of a bounce:

Democratic candidate Barack Obama has gained ground in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking average from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and now leads Republican John McCain among registered voters by a 48% to 42% margin.

The "official" bounce is on Monday, the day Gallup uses to compare to previous years; a typical Gallup bounce is 5 points. While the value of the yardstick is arguable, nonetheless for the Nervous Nellies looking for a bounce, here are your tea leaves. - DemFromCT

Time Shown as local – Denver, Colorado MST

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (LOCAL)

Live Performances (before gavel)
Yonder Mountain String Band Performance
Jeff Austin, Adam Aijala, Ben Kaufmann, Dave Johnston

Voter Registration Presentation

Remarks
The Honorable Luis Gutierrez
Member of the US House of Representatives, Illinois

David Plouffe
Obama Campaign Manager

Ray Rivera
Obama State Director, Colorado

Call to Order
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Permanent Chair, Democratic National Convention
Member and Speaker of the US House of Representatives, California

Invocation
Rabbi David Saperstein
Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism – Washington, DC

Presentation of Colors
Disabled American Veterans

Pledge of Allegiance
Shawn Johnson
US Olympic Gymnast

National Anthem
Jennifer Hudson
Academy award-winning singer and Broadway performer

Welcome
Elbra Wedgeworth
President/Chair, Denver Host Committee

Presentation of Resolutions
Democratic National Committee Vice-Chairs
Mark Brewer
The Honorable Linda Chavez-Thompson
The Honorable Mike Honda
The Honorable Lottie Shackelford
Susan Turnbull

Remarks
Honorable Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor of Colorado

The Honorable Ed Perlmutter
Member of the US House of Representatives, Colorado

The Honorable John Salazar
Member of the US House of Representatives, Colorado

The Honorable Diana DeGette
Member of the US House of Representatives, Colorado

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (LOCAL)

Video & Remarks
The Honorable Howard Dean
Former Governor of Vermont
Chair of the Democratic Party

Video & Remarks: Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King
The Honorable John Lewis
Member of the US House of Representatives, Georgia
Rev. Bernice King
Daughter of the late Dr. King
Martin Luther King III
Oldest son of the late Dr. King

Remarks
The Honorable Bill Richardson
Governor, New Mexico

Live Performances
will.i.am
Accompanied by John Legend (piano), Agape Choir, and band

Sheryl Crow
Singer/songwriter

Remarks
Ray Rivera
Obama State Director, Colorado

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (LOCAL)

Remarks
The Honorable Jan Schakowsky
Member of the US House of Representatives, Illinois

The Honorable Mark Udall
Member of the US House of Representatives, Colorado

The Honorable Tim Kaine
Governor of Virginia

Live Performance
Stevie Wonder  

Remarks
The Honorable Al Gore
Former Vice President of the United States

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (LOCAL)

Remarks
John Kuniholm
Wounded Iraq veteran

Live Performance
Michael McDonald
Singer/songwriter

Remarks
Susan Eisenhower
Granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Retired Generals Tribute
Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration (Ret)
Accompanied by additional generals

American Voices Program
Roy Gross
Monica Early
Wes Moore
Janet Lynn Monacco
Nate Fick
Teresa Asenap
Pamela Cash-Roper
Barney Smith

Remarks
The Honorable Dick Durbin
US Senator, Illinois

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM (LOCAL)

Video/Remarks
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA
DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

Benediction
Pastor Joel Hunter
Senior Pastor of Northland in Central Florida

Adjournment
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Permanent Chair, Democratic National Convention

Yesterday my governor, Christine Gregoire, came by the Big Tent and I had a chance to chat with her about the fabled Washington delegation disunity (Seattle Times "chief political reporter" David Postman was a bit of a wanker on that one), Western governors (there's a lot of Dems among them), and her opponent Dino Rossi's extremely cavalier attitude toward women's health. He actually equates pharmacies choosing to stock emergency contraception with a grocery or hardware store choosing which products to stock. Really. The guy's a troglodyte.

I've spent a great deal of time up in Montana the past couple of years. First, I went up with Jerome Armstrong to do research for our book Crashing the Gate. We met with Schweitzer, with then-candidate Jon Tester, and lots of cool local activists then working to turn Montana blue. We even experience a moment of a lifetime when -- having to get from Big Sandy in eastern Montana to Whitefish in western Montana -- we flew a chartered single-prop plane, through Glacier National Park.

We loved it so much, we went back again to work on the book (catching Pearl Jam's fundraiser concert for Tester while we were there).

I got to spend a fair amount of time with the governor as part of our research. There are two stories that stand out.

The Montana State House is a relic from a bygone era -- it sports little security. Really, nothing more than two bored looking cops at a desk in the center of the main floor rotunda. They didn't even look up as we walked in. We followed someone's instructions to the governor's office, where you could just walk in. Schweitzer tells the story of the tourists he once caught in his office eating lunch at his conference table. They had a great conversation until the tourists asked Schweitzer what he did for a living. A funny story, but not one of the ones I'm telling today.

In any case, the receptionist checked with Schweitzer and announced we could go into the office. I walked in, and on his computer monitor on his desk, was Daily Kos. Smiling, I pointed to the monitor and laughed, "nice touch". He laughed right back, "Yeah, I thought so." It was at that point that I realized that here was a guy who loved political showmanship, but also didn't take himself too seriously. Yeah, putting up my site was a bit of bullshit theater, but he didn't pretend otherwise. I found that quite charming and we both got a good laugh out of it.

The second is a story he tells about his dog Jag (which he seems to pronounce "Jake") -- once determined to be the most popular "politician" in Montana by a polling outfit. Jag has the run of the state house, and has become the official state mascot. He is beloved. At a Republican fundraiser, a "stuffed jag" was auctioned off, leading to days of outrage when the news leaked.

In any case, Schweitzer tells of being on the campaign trail, when looking for food after a long day, they entered a bar with neon signs at the windows. Schweitzer ordered his eats, while the waitstaff played with Jag. Finally, a waitress asked if they could give Jag something to eat, and getting a "yes", brought him out some filet mignon. Jag obviously lapped it up -- and Schweitzer tells this part of the story by enthusiastically licking his chops. From that day on, they couldn't pass any food establishment with neon signs on the window without Jag sitting hopefully by the door. That behavior was eventually cured when, finally entering one such establishment one day, Jag was served hamburger meat. Poor Jag, suddenly a prima dona, sniffed dejectedly at what was offered and refused to eat it.

Now in real life, I'm sure Jag (being a dog) lapped up whatever crap meat was given to him, but then that story wouldn't be as fun, and if there's an overriding principle to Schweitzer's personality, it's the desire to have fun, politics included. If that means mythifying his wildly popular dog for a good story, then so be it.

One more story. This was back in 2005, as the governor and Republicans in the legislature wrangled over the budget. One day, Schweiter called in some Republicans to his office, and they arrived thinking negotiations were in order. But when they got there, Schweitzer launched into a tirade and threatened the Republicans with a vigorous Democratic effort to capture the seats. Then, as a coup de grace, he slammed his fist on the table and opened it up, leaving several bullets on the table.

The Republicans rushed out to the steps of the capitol and held a press conference about how deranged and unhinged Schweitzer was. This, being Montana, that whining led to this reaction from the local press:

GOP legislators mewled like girlie-men this week over the arm-twisting some of them have gotten from Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer. They say the governor is threatening and harassing freshman Republican legislators to get them to support some of his legislative proposals.

They make it sound like Montana's brawny new governor is serving up knuckle sandwiches in the foyer. That might qualify as harassment, even here in the Wild West. But, as it turns out, all they're whining about is that the Democrat threatens to campaign against Republicans when they run for re-election if they don't support his proposals.

They call that harassment? They're pathetic!

Oh, no! It's worse: He's inviting them into his office to harp at them. What's next? Maybe he'll wave a press release at them! [...]

We don't like one of Schweitzer's legislative proposals any better than some Republicans do [...] But we certainly have more respect for Schweitzer and his willingness to push for something he believes in than we do for Republican legislators who whimper about intimidation rather than standing up for what they believe in.

I've never found a press account confirming the "bullets" part, and for all I know it's more myth-making. Stories in Montana are so crazy, sometimes I think it's the land of the tall tale. But I've had people swear they saw it happen, so perhaps I'm just being cynical. But for me, it doesn't really matter, because that last sentence quoted above made me swoon. Remember, we've built this site in large part bitching about whimpering Democrats afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Yet in Montana we had, thanks to Schweitzer, the exact opposite happening. It's no accident that Democrats are suddenly winning in Montana, and that Obama is neck and neck with McCain in the state.

One last thing: How many politicians speak Arabic (not quite fluent, admits Schweitzer, but conversational-level) or are trained scientists (soil science)? He comes off as folksy, but there's substance behind the showmanship.

And how many politicians feature a campaign ad with the candidate scraping shit off his shoe?

The word "historic" has been a near mantra when describing Barack Obama's candidacy. Yesterday, his nomination as the first black candidate for a major political party caused delegates, political commentators and viewers alike to tear up at the grand significance of that moment.

A new Washington Post poll provides a snapshot of how Obama's candidacy has stirred hopes in the hearts of black voters:

Nearly two-thirds of black voters in the new poll said they could see one of their children becoming president, up 11 percentage points from the fall of 1992. At 47 percent, whites are about where they were back then on the question.

As an aside, the poll also reveals this interesting tidbit:

For white voters, the pride issue helps to predict their preference in the voting booth. Obama is the choice of 59 percent of those whites who said he has made them more proud, while Sen. John McCain, his Republican opponent, is favored by 57 percent of those who said Obama's being the first African American nominee has no effect on their level of pride.

The power of words has taken center stage at this convention.  Speeches from Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and many others who have spoken over the last three days have brought cheering crowds to their feet and have brought tears of joy to the eyes of many.  Here are some word clouds from the convention (click image to enlarge):

Joe Biden:

Bill Clinton:

Hillary Clinton:

To try out your own hand at illustrating the convention's speeches, head on over to Wordle.

Schweitzer was the hit of the conventioneers Tuesday night, and he made a pretty good impression at the Big Tent yesterday. Goldy asked a few questions and caught his Q&A session here.

Biden, yesterday, on John McCain's service:

"These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader."

And the McCain camp's weak tea response:

The McCain campaign immediately struck back at Biden last night, saying, "Joe Biden is right. We need more than a good soldier, we need a leader with the experience and judgment to serve as commander in chief from day one. That leader is John McCain."

Something's missing from this response...something doesn't read quite right...oh, that's right. No mention of McCain as prisoner of war.  

I guess when you're told that being in a prison for five and a half years does not qualify you to be president, you can't really reach out and play the POW card without looking, well, silly. Bravo to Biden for disarming McCain of his ubiquitous "POW defense."  Day 1 on the VP candidate job, and Biden is already demonstrating that Obama made a wise choice.

Money must grow on trees. Somewhere, in some tucked away valley in some remote corner of this world, there must be an entire orchard of Money Trees, where hundred dollar bills hang oh-so-delicately from dainty branches in the summer, and where cool winds cause gold coins to crisply jingle to the ground in the fall. That's the only way I can explain how The Hill and others can justify paying Dick Morris to opine on politics.

In case you missed it, convention week has shown us a new side of Dick Morris, Morris the Prophet.  This isn't your typical concern trolling, folks. No, with his columns this week, Morris transcends all levels of reality, peers past pesky things like facts and logic and stares straight into the future of our Democratic Party.  

First, Morris gave us a preview of Hillary's speech this week, writing in a Hill column entitled "The better Hillary does, the worse for Obama" that:

By not putting Hillary on his ticket and then giving her a primetime speech at the convention on Tuesday, Obama has the worst of both possible worlds. The better Hillary’s speech, the more people ask why she was passed over for vice president. This column is written before Mrs. Clinton spoke on Tuesday night, but she will not blow this opportunity to shine in front of a larger national audience than she has ever had. She will crisply articulate her programs and proposals and will come across as forceful, committed and energetic.

How very Ms. Cleo of Mr. Morris to divine that Hillary Clinton would focus on her agenda. Of course, Hillary's speech focused on the Democratic Party agenda as a whole, because, after all, this is the Democratic National Convention, not the Clinton National Convention (although Morris's mistake may be understandable, given the media's coverage of the event).

But wait! Morris isn't done flexing his mental abilities. Not only was he able to see into the future this week and tell us what Clinton would say, but he also turned his omnipotent mind's eye on the fairer sex and predicted this:

Women from coast to coast will watch her and wonder why she isn’t on the ticket [...] Obama has a huge problem with female voters [...] He didn’t help himself with these women by not choosing Hillary. Now, when Hillary spends all of Tuesday night showing what a grievous omission leaving her off the ticket really was, the electoral consequences for Obama are likely to be horrific.

Dick Morris: Taking the pulse of the female electorate by telepathically groping women, one voter at a time. By pulling a Mel Gibson and telling us What Women Want, Morris foresees "horrific" consequences for Obama, presumably because women "from coast to coast" will be so furious that Obama didn't pick a woman for VP that they will flock to a decidedly anti-woman candidate, or just stay at home altogether. And clearly, true prophecy springs forth from the mouth of Morris, as these numbers foretell:

Obama's lead among women is currently between 10 and 15 points, with McCain running 10 points behind George W. Bush in 2004 and 5 points behind Bush in 2000.

Horrific! Quick! Get me a flyswatter! I think I hear locusts coming!

It is not enough that Morris warns us of the coming cataclysms for our party, but today, in a column entitled "What's Up With Bill," he also pens a piece on Bill Clinton, disclosing exactly how the the former president will conduct himself in the months to come:

Bill Clinton’s strategy is to take refuge in his carefully cultivated reputation for being undisciplined and borderline-eccentric to drop bombs on Obama in such a way that Hillary can escape blame. [...]

Enter Bill. All through the primaries, he played the role of a negative Greek chorus, dropping attacks on Obama in opaque and eccentric language whose very vagueness permitted him to dance away from the blame for going negative when it suited him. [...]

Bill’s antics are the harbinger of how he will act throughout the whole campaign. In public he will support Obama while delivering remarks that, somehow, are always misunderstood!

A revelation so stunning, it merits an exclamation point!  

Perhaps Morris should adapt his prescient columns into a quatrain format, to be published in leather-bound volumes and preserved for posterity.  That way, one day, future generations can sit below a grove of Money Trees and read page after page of talent as real as the hundred-dollar bills providing shade above them.

Tropical Storm Gustav has regained near hurricane strength this morning and may poses a threat to the US and Mexico next week. There is a lot of uncertainty and always a chance the storm will fizzle out or move away from populated areas. But an educated guess based on current data suggests something like a 50/50 chance that Gustav could make landfall early next week as a hurricane somewhere on the US Gulf Coast.

The image right shows the Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential (TCHP) for the Gulf of Mexico on August 24, 2008. The TCHP is a measure of storm producing and storm intensifying heat potential contained in given volume of ocean (The units are Kilojoules per square centimeter, not degrees).

The arrows between the Yucatan and west end of Cuba that turn and flow past the tip of Florida represent the Loop Current. The Loop is a massive current of warm, deep water that acts like a turbo-charger on any atmopsheric heat engine that might pass nearby. And, sometimes, pieces of the current break off ... Jeff Masters takes it from there:

When a Loop Current Eddy breaks off in the Gulf of Mexico at the height of hurricane season, it can lead to a dangerous situation where a vast reservoir of energy is available to any hurricane that might cross over. This occurred in 2005, when a Loop Current Eddy separated in July, just before Hurricane Katrina passed over and "bombed" into a Category 5 hurricane. ... This year, we had another Loop Current Eddy break off in July. This eddy is now positioned due south of New Orleans (Figure 2), and this eddy has similar levels of heat energy to the 2005 eddy that powered Katrina and Rita. Should Gustav pass over or just to the left of this eddy, we can expect the storm to significantly intensify.

The Aug 2008 Loop Current and breakaway hotspots are just one piece in a puzzle that's looking more and more similar to the 2004 and 2005 record setting storm seasons. If you live in or near a risk area, make plans, stock up now, know exactly where nearby shelters are. Pay attention to NHC updates, know what routes you are going to take and, if possible, your end destination in the event you have to evacuate. Better yet, for those in especially high risk areas, consider celebrating an extended Labor Day weekend well inland with friends or family.

Behold.

There are still bugs being worked, this is still very much beta. But it's almost ready. On election night, election results will stream in real-time through this widget, like those of big media sites like the NY Times and CNN.

I could try and explain all the features, but it's best that you just click around and discover them for yourself.

Most of you are familiar with Godwin's Law, the notion that if you rely on Hitler or Nazi comparisons in a debate, you automatically lose that debate.

The general election has brought us The POW. The POW is used frequently by the McCain camp and Republicans to deflect from valid criticism of John McCain's politics and policies:

When the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a close Bush ally, publicly questioned McCain’s marital infidelities, the McCain campaign responded by highlighting McCain’s background as a prisoner of war.

When Dems attacked McCain’s healthcare plan in May, McCain responded by noting his background as a prisoner of war.

Asked by a local reporter about the first thing that comes to his mind when he thinks of Pittsburgh, McCain responded by talking about his background as a prisoner of war.

Accused of possibly having heard the questions in advance of Rick Warren’s recent candidate forum, the McCain campaign responded by highlighting McCain’s background as a prisoner of war.

As with Goodwin's Law, the utterance of "POW!" this campaign season is a surefire sign that it's game over for the Republican trying to defend John McCain. After all, if you can't respond with substance, but rather have to resort to raising an issue McCain himself has previously said shouldn't be exploited in a campaign, you're pretty much backed into a corner.  

So what should we dub this diversionary tactic?  McCain's Law? POW'd? Share your ideas below, and in the meantime, check out this brilliant video:

POW!  You lose.

John McCain owns more homes than he can remember. John McCain pays at least 3 times as much per year for the salaries of household servants as the average American household earns. And John McCain thinks Americans are too lazy to do strenuous work for $50 an hour.

In April 2006, John McCain taunted workers at an AFL-CIO meeting who were concerned that immigration tends to depress wages in the US. Here's a transcript of his comments from an audio tape of the meeting:

John McCain: "I don't think I need to tell you that there are jobs that Americans will not do. I don't think I have to tell you that there are ... the backbone of our economy...

Audience members: "Pay them the right wages."

John McCain: "You know I've heard that statement before. Now, my friends, I'll offer anybody here fifty dollars an hour if you'll go pick lettuce in Yuma this season and pick for the whole season. So, ok, sign up! Ok, when you sign up, you sign up, and you'll be there for the whole season, the whole season, ok, not just one day. Because you can't do it, my friend."

Two days ago a video became available (h/t to PaulVA).

John McCain, scion of a privileged family, has been surrounded by servants his whole life. That's all John McCain really knows.

Judging by the reaction of hundreds of bloggers watching Hillary's speech in The Big Tent Tuesday night, the verdict was unanimous...she absolutely nailed it. From her opening:

I'm here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat, as a proud Senator from the state of New York, as a proud American, and as a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

...to her line that needs to be made into an ad immediately:

It makes a lot of sense that next week John McCain and George Bush will be together in the Twin Cities, because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart.

...Hillary was on fire. She skewered John McCain, gave her unequivocal support to Barack Obama and she threw down the gauntlet to her supporters, declaring that nothing less than "the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance."

From start to finish, it was a powerful speech that left no question where her loyalty lies, what she expects from her supporters, and of course, what she thinks a John McCain presidency would mean. There was so much in her speech that is worth highlighting, but for me, this was the most powerful moment of the entire speech.

My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my
daughter got to vote for her mother for President.

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and
never give up.

How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked
her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Kudos to Hillary on a job well done.