Those of you who rely on sleeping pills or a shot of bourbon to help you fall asleep will not need your sleeping aids tonight. Simply tune in the Republican National Convention, where the prime time speaking agenda will include the sleep-talking Sen. Fred Thompson and the equally snooze-inducing Sen Joe Lieberman. George Bush, rumored to still be the President of the United States, will appear by satellite.

Thompson is pinch hitting for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger, who suddenly found himself with better things to do.

The day John McCain appointed Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee, I wrote:

Did John McCain just repeat George McGovern's fatal mistake? How long will Palin stay on the ticket? Will McCain recover any better than McGovern?

It had nothing to do with Eagleton's particular problems, but how McGovern came to choose him, failed to adequately vet him, and then waffled when the problems arose, effectively costing him the election. I wrote about this recently when reviewing the new Gonzo film about Hunter S. Thompson:

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was arrested in Minneapolis today. According to the description of the video, she and two others are charged with conspiracy to riot. According to Coldsnaplegal, she was pepper-sprayed while handcuffed.

Karl Rove was not speaking about himself when he used the phrase "big, blowhard dufus" at the Republican National Convention. He pinned that label instead on Joe Biden. Told of the insult, Biden

smiled and called Rove “a great American.” Then he turned and walked away.

It's nice to see that Biden wasn't goaded into an insult-hurling contest by Rove's tactics. Asked when he and Barack Obama would resume full-fledged campaigning in light of Hurricane Gustav, Biden responded:

“I don’t think we’ll have any problem resuming the campaign,” Biden said, and then smiled again. “You see Karl Rove doesn’t have any problem resuming the campaign. He didn’t get the memo.”

Three poll results are out today, showing a substantial convention bounce for Sen. Barack Obama and Joe Biden..

• CBS: Obama leads McCain by 8, poll results here (pdf.)
• USA Today: Obama leads McCain by 7.
• Gallup: Obama leads McCain by 6.

A CNN poll shows no bounce. The question is, will it hold and what will McCain's be? Gallup says McCain went up 2 points because of his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, while there was no increase for Obama selecting Biden.

Some analysis of convention bumps is here. I like the Obama campaign's position that it is not interested in polls, only in the battleground states and getting out Obama voters. I've always thought the big battleground states are the key to this election.

Cindy McCain and Laura Bush spoke at the Republican National Convention today, urging support for victims of Hurricane Gustav.

Originally, President Bush and Dick Cheney had been scheduled to speak but the storm caused them to cancel those plans.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has retained counsel to represent her in an legislative investigation into whether she abused her power in Troopergate.

Anchorage attorney Thomas V. Van Flein has requested a copy of all witness statements and documentary evidence from the Legislature's investigator, Stephen Branchflower.

Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat, responded on behalf of Branchflower, saying he instructed Branchflower not to comply with the request.

Lawyering up is the smart thing to do. She probably should have done it months ago. Retaining a lawyer bears no connection to guilt. No inference of wrong-doing should be drawn from it. [More...]

Republicans sure know how to party.

As residents of New Orleans were fleeing Hurricane Gustav, top Republican party officials donned pink boas and swigged vodka shots at a wild whirl of corporate and lobbyist-paid parties this weekend in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Really, you can't have a good party without pink boas and vodka shots. Attendees at the "corporate and lobbyist-paid parties" apparently didn't get the memo that Republicans are supposed to feign concern for those whose lives are being disrupted by Hurricane Gustav.

Here's the funniest line of the linked ABC story: [more ...]

John McCain, according to a scrawl on the bottom of the MSNBC tv screen, may not go to Minneapolis-St. Paul at all and give his acceptance speech instead from the Gulf. [Hat tip Scribe.}

Could he be any more transparent? What's he running for, Panderer-in Chief?

CBS says it's an attempt by the party to "redeem" itself on the competence issue.

Hillary Clinton's advisers tell the New York Times she will increase her campaigning for the Obama/Biden ticket. One reason: McCain's choice of Sarah Palin and Palin's co-opting of her campaign theme.

Mrs. Clinton’s friends said she was galled that Ms. Palin might try to capitalize on a movement that Mrs. Clinton, of New York, built among women in the primaries....Guy Cecil, the former political director of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, said it was “insulting” for Republicans to compare Ms. Palin to Mrs. Clinton.

Hillary's advisers have no problem making the inexperience argument against Palin: [More...]

Howard Wolfson explains how Obama's speech in Denver made him a solid Obama supporter:

For 18 months, I listened to Obama on television, sometimes intently, often just barely -- background noise to a running series of conference calls and meetings and e-mails. In person, my attention undivided, I saw something of what so many others had seen for so long.

Progress in America is never cheap, and even today history exacts a price for Obama's victory -- the dreams of electing the first female president, the dreams of so many who rushed toward Hillary Clinton on rope lines across America and refused to give up her hand and their hopes. Today these dreams are giving way to another kind of progress.

For me, the presidential campaign began in a crowded Iowa hall, where I saw a man my age lift up a daughter around my daughter's age and tell her that one day she could be president. Last week things came nearly full circle, when I saw another man my age lift up another child and say the very same thing.

Nice piece by Howard.

By Big Tent Democrat

Actually, in real life, he does, but I am really sick of the silly "Obama plays poker" arguments regarding politics. Obama is playing politics, not poker, and quite well. Here is an example:

A reader e-mailed me explaining the choice this way: Obama plays poker, McCain plays craps. Poker relies on a steady understanding of the probabilities and the willingness to bet when you have a good hand. Craps requires the willingness to bet and bet big, even though you know the house is against you.

In politics, no one is going to fold before election day. And in terms of issues, you won't know who won the hand until election day. It turns out, imo, that Obama was dealt a sweet political hand - George W. Bush, the worst President in history. And now he is playing the hand by the book (Biden as VP, hammering on Bush's Third Term, etc.) There is no poker involved. As for McCain, he has a lousy hand and is drawing new cards (the Palin pick), playing draw poker, not craps. (Oh no, now I am doing it.)

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only