No live blog of the convention last night, sorry. I was tired, and like tonight, I'm flipping back and forth between that and the Sox-Angels game. Great games and a pennant race. Too much entertainment!

A couple of quick impressions from last night. I didn't mind the Bush girls so much as some people I've read. They were what I was expecting. Kids. Mrs. Bush wasn't a polished or impressive speaker, but she has a very appealing style. Compared to Teresa...my lord...the Bush family wins hands down. You want Laura Bush to be your mom. That's what she is, America's mom. Teraaaayza makes you want to slam a door in her face. Win for the Republicans on that speech. Laura is a can't miss.

And Arnold? What a treat! A home run all the way. This isn't just partisanship. Lord knows, I'm not above taking a shot at the guy, especially for a cheep laugh, but if you missed his speech, do yourself a favor and try to catch it on video someplace online. I swear...the guy was inspiring. I don't know what's wrong with the air in the Garden, but it seems that a lot of the people who were there watching live didn't enjoy it nearly as much as those of us watching on TV at home. The conservative commentators on FOX (Kristol and Barnes) were more lukewarm than the liberals on it, and Roger L. Simon sounds downright depressed. Come on guys, it was good stuff.

OK, on to tonight. A couple of quick impressions. First of all, I'm impressed with the number of minority faces and issues they're putting in front of the cameras. You might try to say that that's hypocrisy since race isn't supposed to count to the Republicans, but that's not really true - they just don't believe that unqualified people should have an advantage due to the color of their skin alone. Besides, the reality is, people identify themselves through their ethnicity, and the Republican Party's job is to win elections. You want absolute ideological purity, vote Libertarian...but they never win anything. The fact is, these appear to be qualified, top-notch people. Delegates, elected officials and hosts - in number, not as tokens. Good move. (Aside: This Joanna de la Tores person is like a skinny Ricki Lake.) The live music is good stuff, too. Are these Republicans rocking like this? Yes, they are.

Regarding Barneycam: Wow! Karl Rove doing a Howard Dean impression. I actually thought that was funny. They'll take a lot of hits for this Barneycam thing, but I think it's pretty clever. My kid likes it, and it's showing all these top-level "arch" Republicans in a light way. Takes the edge way off. Two thumbs way up on Barneycam.

There's some dude in the audience who the camera keeps going to when the music is playing. They've done it every night since the start of the convention. He's really gettin' down! Heheheh. That's about a six beer dance for me.

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey is speaking now. A stand-up comic she ain't. Please stop smiling and laughing at yourself...OK, here's Mitt...hmmm...there's some humor here, but again, Mitt's no comic. He's stiff...ok, expected...

...eh...sorry, no great insight from me. Decent job. I like the guy, but it was no career maker. [Sox are up 12-6 right now, BTW!]

Zell Miller now: "My family is more important than my party." "Where are such statesment today? Where is the bipartisanship when we need it most?" This is powerful. "...because of a Democrat's manic obssession to bring down a Commander in Chief."

I can't excerpt this. Impossible. Wow. I heard some of the commentators who got an advance view of this speech say it was hard hitting - that ain't the half of it. This is the kind of hawkish speech only a Democrat can give (in only Nixon can go to China fashion).

"The world cannot afford an indecisive America."

Wow again. Fire and brimstone. Another one to catch on video if you missed it. I may watch it again, myself. He brought the house down. The note was too negative for the Republicans to risk doing again, but once, with Miller doing it was a good gamble.

Now Lynne Cheney is on to intro the VP. How the hell do you follow that act?

Big test for Cheney now. His chance to speak up for himself.

Speech going....audience providing the fire that Cheney himself can't...a few jokes to start, funny....Cheney is a nerd and delivers a speech like one...protester being carted out of the hall -Code Pink?...please people, I know you're doing it to keep from falling asleep, but you do not need to applaud after every sentence...Cheney is gonna need an appearance on Barneycam after this to lighten his image...this is wearying...please finish...done!

Tonight was attack night for the GOP. Cheney went for the throat, too. It's time to open the attack on Kerry's Senate record.

I think I'll watch the Miller video again before I pass out.

Lots of video here.