St. Paul: Thursday Night Liveblog #1

9:09 CDT: [Nate]. I think McCain's goals tonight are fairly obvious. To hit a double, reach out to the center. To hit a triple, find some way to distinguish himself from Bush. And to hit a home run, do all of the above with more specificity about the economy than "drill, baby, drill!".

8:58 CDT: [Nate]. Just kind of a slow, somber night, but obviously, that's sort of the mood they're going for. I don't think it's a bad idea to choke up on the bat a little after Palin.

8:53 CDT: [Nate] I think the more interesting story is that Obama has unleashed Clinton to go after Palin. By the way, there's just not much to say about Cindy. To quite Keith Olbermann, it's the kind of thing you'll like, if you like that kind of thing.

8:39 CDT: [Sean] The Rep. Lynn Westmoreland: “Obama is uppity” story is gaining traction. You know it if it breaks through the top of Halperin during the convention.

8:29 CDT: [Sean] All right, perhaps I need to explain more fully what the Captain’s Corner is. I alluded to it the other night, but it’s basically the free upscale bar downstairs from the Press Filing Center. There are some journalists and a bunch of RNC partygoers enjoying the hospitality and large TVs. I rationalized: “I won’t miss Tom Ridge’s speech, I’ll be down in the Captain’s Corner watching. I’ll update when I get back up.”

Nope. The guys are all watching the game down there. And while the outcome is potentially in doubt, it’s unlikely the score will result in overtime. And CNN (the other TVs down there) didn’t carry Ridge’s speech. So on Ridge… sorry, everybody… I got nothin’.

8:14 CDT: [Nate] Is that a Casio Keyboard remix of the theme song from Dallas in the Sarah Palin video?

8:08 CDT: [Sean] Graham accuses Obama of offering troops “a patronizing pat on the back.” Then steals Obama’s line: “I’m not saying Barack Obama doesn’t care, Barack Obama doesn’t get it.”

8:05 CDT: [Sean] Lindsey Graham: “Thank God for Joe Lieberman.”

8:03 CDT: [Sean] Lindsey Graham is up, and he is back on the full Obama attack. “Obama and his buddies at MoveOn.org.”

7:57 CDT: [Sean] That is either the sound of the unabridged John Fogarty "Centerfield" song and delegate dancing you hear, or, alternatively, the sound of Tim Pawlenty cursing out the convention schedulers for giving him three and half minutes. Now we have Kenny Loggins' "Highway to the Danger Zone" going.

7:51 CDT: [Sean] This is high performance art. I am not sure if Joe Gibbs knows where he is. This is not a speech about politics. This is a Joe Gibbs-about-Joe Gibbs speech. Imagine being sent to sports-cliche hell, and add 100 mentions of God, that's the speech.

7:50 CDT: [Nate] Proving that truth is stranger than our bad jokes, McCain will literally accept the nomination at 9:11 central tonight.

7:49 CDT: [Sean] Please, God, someone put this Gibbs speech up on YouTube.

7:42 CDT: [Sean] Video in the hall is somber 9/11 montage.

7:36 CDT: [Nate] Gallup has the score Giants 20, Redskins 6. Rasmussen has them ahead 14-7. But Zogby Interactive has it Redskins 11, Giants 5.

7:32 CDT: [Sean] "Footloose! Footloose! Kick off your Sunday shoes!" They raced through five speeches at breakneck speed in order to play "Footloose" for three minutes and show delegates dancing in the aisles.

7:27 CDT: [Sean] Whiplash continues. Up and down, up and down. Sam Brownback is up, and there was a whole speech (Lt. Gen. Carol Mutter, Ret.) in between. (Sorry about the score posting, I forgot about spoilers. That was an early score, and already more stuff has happened. My apologies.) Brownback tries the Clinton line: "Yes! We! Will!" It's about equally effective.

7:19 CDT: [Sean] Frist already up and done. This is fast. It's all about McCain and vouching for his character, not much Obama-bashing. Not sure if they're saving it for prime time, but I'm not hearing much of last night's mockery.

7:15 CDT: [Sean] I am going to try to convince Nate to post his roster(s) in the comments and I'll post mine. In actual RNC news, they are sprinting through the speeches, seemingly determined to get to the McCain speech on time with no cramping. Pawlenty had a brief speech, sounded safe, bread and butter. Nate says it wasn't on the nets, but we have the C-Span feed in the Xcel Press Filing Center. Pawlenty would not have been the risky pick. McCain definitely shook up the race when he opted not to do the predictable.

7:13 CDT: [Nate] Burress already has 5 catches for 84 yards but can't seem to find the end zone. Wait, this is a politics forum?

7:03 CDT: [Sean] Martinez speaking. People at the poker table used to ask me who I thought McCain should pick as a VP. I would typically reply, if there were a Latino Republican who isn't Mel Martinez, that's the way to go. If McCain gets crushed in the Latino vote, it's a macro demographic death knell.

7:00 CDT: [Sean] Welcome to our final live night coverage of the Republican National Convention from here in St. Paul! Are you ready for some footb Senators? Tonight’s featured speakers include Joe Watkins (speaking now), Mel Martinez, "Sarah Pawlenty’s" husband Tim, Bill Frist, San Brownback, Joe Gibbs, Lindsey Graham, Tom Ridge, Cindy McCain, and the nominee himself. The intro video of Sarah Palin that Rudy’s 30-minute primetime speech bumped last night is re-scheduled between Graham and Ridge in the 8pm Central hour. Finally, our long national nightmare is finally over, as the tyranny of a baseball-only summer ends. 2d quarter score: NYG 13, Washington 0. By the way, 538 Nation, we’re rooting against Plaxico Burress tonight. This 84 yard stuff early in the 2d is not cool. Not cool at all.