Eric Boehlert writes:

At the Democratic National Convention in 1992, Jerry Brown, who finished a very distant second to the party's nominee, had his name placed into nomination and addressed the assembled convention. . . .Brown "did not specifically endorse presidential nominee Bill Clinton."

[J]ust hours before the 1988 convention began, Jackson's supporters threatened to place the candidate's name into nomination for the vice presidency, which would have created a massive floor fight between Jackson and Dukakis' pick, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas. . . . Jackson did not specifically endorse Dukakis.

Eric leaves out the deservedly lionized (pun intended) Ted Kennedy's actions at the 1980 Convention. Eric points to CNN's Keating Holland's piece, and writes:

Your turn.

Well, we have now seen 3 polls taken fully after Joe Biden was named as Barack Obama's VP choice and the news is not good. First we have the CNN poll which has a tie.

Today the Rasmussen and Gallup trackers are fully post -Biden as VP. Ras has a tie. Gallup has McCain up 2.

Perhaps the Convention will help. But it seems clear that Joe Biden did not. UPDATE - This is not a knock on Biden. He can not be Hillary Clinton. This is a knock on Obama for not maximizing his chances to win in November,

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

John Harris pens an article titled Can Clintons Get Over It? I think the question is can Obama Dems, the Media and the Left Blogs get over it? Harris writes:

For the next two days, a convention that belongs to Obama will be dominated by the same two people who dominated the Democratic Party for the last generation and who have come to Denver in much different roles than they wanted. She speaks Tuesday. It’s his turn Wednesday.

Look, if the Media and the blogs did not obsess on the Clintons, maybe they would not dominate it. For example, Joe Biden speaks on Wednesday night and Mark Warner delivers the keynote address tonight. Why does the Media think these folks will not dominate the nights? You know why, because as much as John Harris and the Media and the Left blogs wishes this were true:

Yesterday's city in crisis (as the result of police misconduct) was Indianapolis, where ten officers "have been arrested, jailed or targeted for investigation in the past four months." The crisis is one of confidence in the police department.

Today's city in crisis is the much smaller community of Madison, CT, where a crisis in confidence is compounded by a budgetary crisis.

In just two months, the town has used its entire legal budget investigating misconduct among officers.

Eight Madison police officers have been arrested within the last two years and the police chief has been suspended.

Where I am it is the afternoon. Where a lot of you are, it is still the morning. So I am calling this "Tuesday Open Thread." I suspect there will be a few more today.

This is an Open Thread.

Tonight is Hillary Night! Just kidding, although clearly Hillary Clinton will be the dominant protagonist.

It's a done deal, but Jay Cost explains why Obama should have picked Hillary Clinton:

The Democratic Party is powerful because it is broad. It can compete just about anywhere in the United States while the Republican Party cannot. However, its breadth carries with it an enhanced possibility of crippling division. Accordingly, every Democratic nominee should do everything within reason to achieve unity - which, I would note, has been a premise of Obama's campaign. Most nominees need not worry about unity because their act of securing the nomination did not rend the party. However, Obama's nomination has rent it. Selecting Hillary would have been a reasonable step in reuniting it. I think he should have taken it.

(Emphasis supplied.) Precisely.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only.

Eugene Robinson tells Dems not to worry:

People here complain that the polls are too close for comfort, forgetting that there is rarely anything comfortable about a presidential contest. When was the last time a non-incumbent Democrat cruised easily to the White House? Clinton, remember, won only a 43 percent plurality of the popular vote in 1992. You have to go all the way back to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. Why would anyone think for a moment that Obama could win this without a fight?

Actually, that is sort of the worry Gene. There have not been many Democrats period winning Presidential elections lately. As for the polls, Jimmy Carter led by 30 and won by 2. Dukakis led by 17 and lost. Oh by the way, Bill Clinton won easily. The contest was not really in doubt in 1992. Gore won narrowly in 2000, with tight polls all the way. There you have the 4 "Democratic non-incumbents" of the past 32 years. Let's not discuss the other ones - McGovern, Mondale, Humphrey, Stevenson - you get my drift.

You see Gene, following YOUR advice, the Democratic Party seemed to be following a policy of trying to distance itself from the ONE GUY who actually WON Presidential elections. That worries some of us. Indeed, given your bad advice on this, I am not real happy right now with the political situation. I am worried.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Am I the only one who got a picture of Frank Sinatra's wife Barbara Marx? I took it at the Huffington Post Oasis today at the Big Tent site. (Added: It's Barbara Marx Hubbard.)

• Here's Arianna outside the Big Tent.
• Here's the scene outside the Big Tent.
• Here's Anita inside the Big Tent.
• Here's a profile shot of Arianna talking.

On to the Pepsi Center.[More...]

Michelle Obama did a great job I thought. It was important political work as well, as she improved her own image and the end, when Barack Obama appeared via satellite and the Obama kids were impossibly cute, was terrific political theatre.

The Teddy Kennedy segment was moving.

The rest of the Convention night, at least on television, was terrible. Just terrible. As bad as I have ever seen. Boring, aimless, pointless. I have no idea why this was done but it can not happen again. Of course Hillary Clinton's speech will likely be a highlight. But what about the rest of the night? No repeat of last night please. If a glove was laid upon McCain and the Republicans, I did not see it.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Here's some photos taken up close of Michelle Obama and Teddy Kennedy (and his son):

• Michelle
• Michelle
• Michelle
• Michelle and brother
• Teddy and Caroline
• Teddy and Son

The three women at Casa TalkLeft this week, me, Anita Thompson and Lynn Goldsmith, are all bone tired. There's no other word that says it better.

Lynn carries huge bags of cameras, lenses and whatever else from early am to midnight when she returns. Then she has at least another 3 hours of going through her hundreds of photos to send into Corbis.

Anita is much younger than Lynn and more like me in temperment. We're kind of like energizer bunnies. we go and go and go and then we drop.

Right now, all three of us are ready to crash. We have to get up early to get tomrrow's media passes and then I have a breakfast and Anita has a manuscript due. Lynn and her myriad of camera equipment will be long gone.

So if anyone wakes up early with things on their mind, here's an open thread to fill us all in.