While most eyes were fixed on St. Paul and the McCain-Palin festival, a not very quiet throng of Ron Paul supporting Republicans, Libertarians and independents of similar bent gathered across the river in Minneapolis for the Ron Paul convention. A sold out house awaited the diminutive Texas Republican, where more than ten thousand tickets were sold in advance for $17.76 and another thousand were issued at the door. “Freedom brings people together,” Paul said before a sold-out crowd at...

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, who recently won my award for Best Obama Surrogate by accusing Barack of playing politics with Hurricane Gustav has outdone himself today. Sitting down for a chat with the editorial board of the Washington Post, he uttered a line he will likely be choking on all through dinner tonight. Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain’s presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview...

No, it’s not a new Fox TV reality show. But my radio co-host Cindy is on the ground at the GOP convention in Minneapolis and has the video of some of the crazy goings on to be found outside the convention center. Take a look! UPDATE: I should have noted earlier that Cindy will be on the air with me again today on Mid Stream Radio at yet another different time… 2 pm Eastern, 11 am pacific. She’s having brunch with former Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson right now...

Actually, we’ll put two questions to the readership this morning. Both of them come, at different times, from Political Punch. Feel free to take a crack at them. First: “What would the response be if Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and his wife Michelle had a pregnant unmarried teenage daughter?” In preparing your response to this one, allow me to offer another point of interest. Do the respective candidate’s individual stances on questions of pro-choice vs. pro-life affect...

At this point it has almost become tedious… one can only jam one’s head against the same brick wall so many times before the roughshod imprints begin to dent the cranium too far. But in the ongoing saga of the vetting of Sarah Palin (which we have been repeatedly assured by the McCain team was done thoroughly and carefully before Friday’s surprising announcement) there is yet another crack in the wall coming out of the convention. We had heard hints of this. But just moments ago,...

On Friday, as part of a list of potential issues which looked as if they might complicate (if not stick a knife in) the Republican ticket following the selection of Sarah Palin, I wondered “if the following would turn into a story.” The “following” in that case was a set of pictures which began circulating of the Governor questioning whether or not she was actually pregnant this year. Well, it most certainly did turn into a story that raged all weekend across the blogosphere....

You have to give McCain campaign manager Rick Davis credit for one thing: he’s quickly becoming a master of the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” strategy. Or perhaps we could better characterize it as a page from the “Do as I say, not as I do” school book. As we continue to await Gustav’s unwelcome arrival somewhere to the West of New Orleans today, Rick was busy – and no, I’m not making this up – criticizing Barack Obama for “playing politics” with the storm. “Look...

During her speech upon being introduced as John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin scored big points with the fiscal conservative crowd. “I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere,” Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan’s Gravina Island bridge. Well, it seems that much like John Kerry on a certain infamous vote, she was for it before she was against it. The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge...

Pardon the snarky headline, but today I witnessed something which may well have me heading for the fainting couch. Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama actually came out with a decision which was completely in step with the choice made by President George W. Bush and I was nodding my head in agreement with both of them. President Bush announced today that not only would he not be at the convention on Monday as planned, but would not be in New Orleans either. Choosing to stay out of the way...

It is somewhat disappointing to observe the varied responses to what is now being known as “Troopergate” regarding presumptive Republican Vice Presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Questions abound in the media seeking to address Palin’s involvement. Did she lie about it? Was there a cover-up? An investigation at the state level is underway and I’m confident answers will be provided in due time. All of this, however, seems to miss a much larger issue: what was the Alaskan...

Much discussion has taken place over the theory that large, generational shifts in American politics do not happen overnight with a shooting star grabbing the biggest brass ring in national government, but down at the state and local levels. From one of the small town papers out near my neck of the woods, there is a brief story which might provide a look at this type of shift. Baker and Chapman, both Democrats, are the only names on the Nov. 4 ballot for two seats on the board, which will be reduced...

Even as all eyes turn to the impending storms in the south with their possible impact on the upcoming Republican convention, and lips are flapping over Sarah Palin’s nomination, it is worth remembering the unfolding story on the Russo-Georgian border. No matter who next occupies the West Wing, they will need to step into the office with an effective, comprehensive plan for dealing with an increasingly complicated situation in Eastern Europe. In the early 1300’s, the medieval version of Georgia...

Holly already updated you on Hurricane Gustav, which is shaping up to be monster and setting its sights on the Gulf Coast. (Right on its heels, we may have Hurricane Hanna shooting up the same pipe, sadly.) And John McCain is already hinting that he may either postpone the GOP convention this week, or drastically alter the format and schedule to reflect the serious nature of the possibly impending crisis. One would be hard pressed to argue with the wisdom of such a decision if our attention is needed...

SATURDAY QUESTION: Is Barack Obama the Sex and the City Candidate? Later today we should have fresh numbers out of Gallup which include interviews with some of the 38 million people who watched Barack Obama’s speech on Thursday night. At that point we should see if the convention’s 8 point bounce for Obama holds, grows or fades. It will likely be early next week before we begin to see the effect of the Palin nomination on these numbers. Looking ahead, though, was there a background reason...

UPDATED (Yet Again!) Keep in mind, before we wind up the Friday night activities in Blogistan, that this is still only ten hours after the announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s VP announcement caught so many of us flat-footed. In ten hours, though, the hits keep on coming. Let’s take a quick look at a few more. UPDATE: Please see Update #3 below regarding the first item in this list, re: the question of paternity on Palin’s youngest son. UPDATE SQUARED: And ALSO see Update...

We’re not even eight hours into the era of the McCain – Palin ticket, but I am quickly becoming more and more convinced that John McCain had previously decided upon T-Paw or Romney but hit the panic button and selected Sarah Palin after Obama’s Mile High Stadium speech without full vetting. Two items have already jumped to the front page. The first, of course, is what is quickly being dubbed with the overdrawn nickname of “troopergate.” During our radio show today,...

For those of you who didn’t catch the show, we had a great panel discussion today on the radio. In the first half we discussed the Obama speech from last night and, in the second half, we covered the Palin nomination. Cindy and I were joined by my producer / wife / boss Georg, (a hard core liberal, feminist Democrat) along with our Editor-in-Chief here at TMV, Joe Gandelman. We were next joined by Fausta, of Fausta’s Blog and Mr. Showtime. Toward the end of the show, Ed Morrissey of Hot...

We don’t normally do this on Fridays, but given the flurry of activity surrounding Barack Obama’s speech last night and John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin this morning, it’s simply too much to pass up. You can join us today on Mid Stream Radio at 1 pm Eastern, 10 am Pacific, and we’ll try to make sense of it all. I’ve invited a number of pundits to join us, so we’ll see who shows up. I already know that Fausta Wertz will be joining us in the second half....

Let’s get right to a round-up of blogger and pundit reactions to the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain’s vice presidential pick. (Which now seems to be a done deal.) But first I’ll offer a few “shoot from the hip” observations. While I may have been left scratching my head over Obama’s selection of Joe Biden, I’m knocked to the floor by this one. First and foremost, the entire “experience” argument in this election is completely...

I’ll give Team McCain credit for one thing this morning – they are successfully keeping the entire media focused on a series of red herrings. When the press would normally be talking about Obama’s historic acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium last night, they are busy releasing “breaking news” every ten minutes about the anticipated announcement of Big Mac’s running mate, expected to take place in Ohio today. Here’s some of the flotsam and jetsam riding...

By way of Ustream TV, you can take part in live chats during internet television shows. One of these is the daily show by my friend Ed Morrissey of Hot Air. (Yes, yes… I know. But believe it or not, some liberal, moderate, independent and libertarian types hang out there as well, though not as many Obama fans, I’ll admit.) During Obama’s speech tonight, there will be a live chat at this link which I’ll be taking part in and moderating. Feel free to stop by with your own observations...

Take a look at this page from the state of Texas and you will note something odd. (In case you don’t care to click through the jump, I’ll put in a small screen capture for you.) This is the list of valid candidates on the ballot in Texas for this fall. (Click for full size image.) The odd thing you may note is that there is only one name present in the race for president. That name is Bob Barr’s. “Well,” you might say, “not to worry. It’s only August.”...

This is turning into a down and dirty fight to the finish for the White House, but each side may still show their moments of grace. Perhaps John McCain read Tony Campell’s post earlier. Perhaps he just outflanked the worries of our Editor, Joe Gandelman. No matter what the cause, McCain is indeed releasing a new ad on the evening that Barack Obama accepts the nomination of his party to be the next president. JOHN MCCAIN: Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often the achievements...

Having had the night to sleep on the evening’s affairs in Denver, even though many of my co-authors here have already done yeoman’s work on the subject, I would reflect on some of the changes I saw in the Democrats’ presentation. Going essentially in reverse order, one of the most revealing moments of the evening for me was Joe Biden’s speech. While I have been critical of Obama’s choice in selecting him, after listening to his speech I have to say I’m at least...

Today, in the first half of our radio show, we interviewed John Martin of Republicans for Obama. Mr. Martin is a Republican living in New York City and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. You may consider this as the second in a two part series of interviews we shall call, “People voting for people from the other party.” (Tres clever, no?) In the interest of balance, we started the interview by asking John the same questions we put to Silverio Salazar previously, with the obvious exceptions...