While I do believe that the night has dragged on – yes, it is 11:33 pm and I am still up and seem to be typing without too many errors, tonight was more what I expected of a political convention than last night.  The speakers tonight were more animated and more enticing early in the evening.

24 hour news network coverage is still lacking except when the big names get up to the podium.  They all are covering from Denver – even Fox News – but PBS was the only channel that was showing the actual early speeches live on television.  I know the others are streaming speeches live on the internet but I live in the real world.  We have one computer at my house and I use it all day to work from.  I don’t want to sit at it all night and watch/listen to streaming video/audio.  My mother would never think to watch a convention – or any event that she would think of as televised – on the internet.

A few highlights from my running my batteries in my remote to almost dead tonight were in finding PBS and the Jim Lehrer News Hour.  Gwen Ifill interviewed Marie Ifill who is the president of The White House Project.  This organization, along with Emily’s List which concentrates on Democratic women and getting them elected, concentrates on helping women run for offices.

As I was watching Fox News, I caught an interview with the president of an organization called Vets for Freedom.  This organization is running an ad with three veterans of the Iraqi surge calling for Barack Obama to support Senate Resolution 636 –  a Senate resolution to recognize the strategic success of the troop surge in Iraq and express gratitude to all members of the Armed Forces who have made that success possible. The resolution, S. Res. 636, was introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut).  You can find the newest ad on their home page.  Previous ads are on YouTube.com under Vets for Freedom ad.  Is this, even though the group has been around a bit, the “swift boat” group for this year’s election?

I was enthralled with Bob Casey, Jr and Mark Warner.  As Warner spoke, I kept thinking he should be the one speaking on Thursday night.

Judy Woodruff interviewed Michelle Obama on what she thought Hillary Clinton would say tonight.  It was a compelling interview as Michelle Obama said Clinton would do what was needed.  As I watched the camera pan to Obama during Clinton’s speech, I could see her wondering where Clinton was going at times but she seemed to be smiling in the end and correct that Clinton would do what was needed.

Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana, was the unexpected hit of the night for me.  He is lively, has a unique speaking persona and really got the delegates up and moving before having to sit through the longer Clinton speech.  He is someone that should have a more prominent role in national politics if he wants it in the future.