Opinion - RealClearPolitics.com

For those interested, I will be making my choice for president public next week. The candidates, we now know, are Barack Obama and Joe Biden for the Democrats and John McCain and Sarah Palin for the Republicans. My choice will be made next week, so nothing I write here should be perceived as an endorsement of either ticket.

ST. PAUL - Some observations from last night at Xcel:

ST. PAUL -- Yesterday the McCain camp hit back hard on this front-page NYT story by Elisabeth Bumiller reporting that Sarah Palin had been a member of the Alaska Independence Party in the 1990s. Today, the paper writes:

The potential political consequences of Sarah Palin have been chewed over from every imaginable angle.

Strange to say, tonight the Republican National Convention will reach its halfway point. And although Republicans, like the city of New Orleans, may have narrowly avoided calamity from Hurricane Gustav, they've already lost the opportunity to match the carefully staged and rolled-out show Democrats put on in Denver last week.

The Left always counts its presidential chickens before they're hatched.

ST. PAUL - Let me get this straight: an anonymous blogger from the left wing site Daily Kos cobbles together snippets from newspapers, undated or misdated pictures, and other anecdotes and tidbits of information to produce a conspiracy theory that Sarah Palin is covering up the fact that her daughter, Bristol, is really the mother of Trig, the five month old baby born in April with Down's Syndrome.

A senior McCain aide defends their vetting of Palin in today's Washington Post, telling Michael Shear and Karl Vick there have been 'no surprises' thus far:

In the Headlines

The speeches are spoken. The delegates have voted.

Democrats, between sniggers of derision and snorts of disgust, contend that Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential pick is ridiculously unqualified to be president.

You can't make everybody happy all the time. That's what Barack Obama found out when he chose Joe Biden as his running mate; some Democratic fans of Hillary Clinton grumbled that she wasn't even seriously considered, while some Republicans grudgingly admitted Biden's experience and gravitas would help Obama.

There was a fair bit of talk about Bill Clinton's speech Wednesday night to the Democratic convention, and Peggy Noonan even went so far as to declare that "The Master Has Arrived." But she is wrong.

It was a fine speech. Beautifully crafted phrases that inspired, though they perhaps did not inform, floated high above the Doric columns on the stage at Invesco Field. At the same time, Barack Obama, his feet on the ground, delivered the meat and potatoes, reciting a checklist of the concerns of ordinary Americans who are hurting.

DENVER - For all the ins and outs and day to day chatter generated at conventions, the truth is that very few moments in a convention matter. How many can most people recall off the top of their heads? Probably a half dozen at most. Al Gore's kiss with Tipper and Obama's speech from 2004 are two recent ones that stand out.

DENVER - At a luncheon yesterday sponsored by Time Magazine, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told a group of reporters that while he thinks this will be a close election, he believes their ground game has them well positioned heading into the final phase of the campaign. "McCain is at more of a high water mark than we are," Plouffe said.

DENVER - There's a general consensus Romney was knocked down the list by McCain's gaffe on houses (yesterday Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said picking Romney would be "doubling down" on the out of touch theme and he also called Romney an "expert" Cayman Island tax shelters). While Hutchison*, Ridge, and Lieberman remain on the list, they are all pro-choice. By default, then, the buzz seems to be centering on Tim Pawlenty.

Like most conservatives, I look at the looming November election with a certain sense of gloom. While Senator McCain has a good shot at taking the White House, Democrats look certain to expand their majorities in both the House and Senate by considerable margins.

For a long time, Scranton, a declining old coal town tucked away in the rolling hills of Northeastern Pennsylvania, was the Rodney Dangerfield of cities.

With Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate, the Democratic Party Presidential ticket is now complete.

DENVER - I had an interesting conversation with a Hillary delegate from a Western caucus state last night in the Pepsi Center. The conversation went something like this:

DENVER - Quinnipiac is out with new surveys in the key battleground states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. All surveys were conducted August 17-24.

Barack Obama's campaign took far longer to pick his vice presidential nominee than many had anticipated. But after the wait, Obama realized the true importance of choosing a running mate: It is the only truly presidential decision any candidate gets to make before they are elected. By picking Joe Biden, Barack Obama passed that test.