Here's tonight's speaker list. While Pepsi Center speeches begin at 3pm, the prime time program is 7 to 9 pm MT. Michelle Obama is the final speaker.

The program will close with a benediction by Don Miller, described as a "Best-selling author & public speaker focusing on Christian spirituality." I'll be gone as soon as Michelle has finished speaking.

After that, I plan to attend a special cocktail reception at the Denver Art Museum celebrating the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution. It's from 9pm to midnight. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be among the speakers.

Thanks to Atrios for taking and posting this photo of CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin and me from the Salon Party Saturday night.

This is an open thread.

It's fair to say, as does this Indianapolis Star editorial, that there's a crisis in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Ten IMPD officers have been arrested, jailed or targeted for investigation in the past four months. The latest in a string of scandals involves officer Anthony Smith, charged on Thursday with seven felonies, including rape. He is accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman while on duty last week.

[more ...]

I'm getting ready to head downtown, to the Big Tent, the Streets, the Pepsi Center and to check out CNN's The Grill Room.

I'm glad to see Big Tent Democrat's post that Hillary is asking her supporters to focus on electing the next Democratic President.

I'll be as clear as I can: TalkLeft and all three of its authors, and this week's guest contributor, support the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. I have since the day Hillary dropped out in June, asking readers to respect her and her decision.

Despite my aversion to Sen. Joe Biden on the ticket, keep in mind it's my individual reaction to his decades spent promoting ill-advised and draconian crime legislation. It in no way means that the Democratic ticket isn't the preferred one over the other options in November. [More...]

Ben Smith reports about Hillary's remarks to the New York delegation:

"I'm Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message," Clinton tells the New York delegation of McCain's ad that features her old criticism of Obama.

Here is Hillary's message:

Clinton says Democrats are gathered in Denver for a "clear and specific purpose and that is to elect Barack Obama President of the United States [. . .] Now I ask each and every one of you to work as hard for Obama as you worked for me," she said.

By Big Tent Democrat

A New York Times/CBS News poll of delegates to the Democratic National Convention found:

More than half of the delegates that Mrs. Clinton won in the primaries now say they are enthusiastic supporters of Mr. Obama, and they also believe he will win the presidential election in November, the poll found. Three in 10 say they support Mr. Obama but have reservations about him or they support him only because he is the party’s nominee. Five percent say they do not support him yet.

When Hillary Clinton's name is placed in nomination: [more ...]

I do not know how it looks from the ground in Denver, but on cable TV the story is All About The Clintons. As predictable as it was, apparently the fact that the Convention Narrative today is Dem Divided/What About The Clintons? comes as a great shock to the Obama camp and his supporters, both in the Media and on the blogs.

Picking Joe Biden (who is only mentioned in passing on TV today), which was the best Obama could do once he ruled out picking Hillary, especially the way it was rolled out, pretty much guaranteed this result. Obama should have known this would happen, and assuming he did, he chose this path.

To change the subject, Ted Kennedy is being flown out from Boston tonight for the tribute to him. But let's face it, the Media can't resist the chance to attack the Clintons, so it won't work very well. The good news is old Republican habits die hard and, on MSNBC, GOP talking head Barbara Comstock just smeared the Clintons saying it was the same old Clintons, all about them. If I was on Obama's team, I would get that clip up on You Tube.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

NYTimes:

During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday. Campaign officials acknowledged that the connection between the Bidens and MBNA, the enormous financial services company then based in their home state of Delaware, was one of the most sensitive issues they examined while vetting the senator for a spot on the ticket.

Mr. Biden’s support for the bankruptcy changes, which were signed into law in 2005, puts him at odds with Mr. Obama of Illinois, who opposed the bill and has criticized the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, for supporting it. Consumer advocates and other Democratic allies remain sharply critical of Mr. Biden’s actions, saying in recent days that they could hamper the campaign’s efforts to attack the Republicans over their handling of the nation’s credit crisis.

Baggage. Every pol has some.

By Big Tent Democrat.

I am the type of Democrat that will vote straight party ticket, from top to bottom, in a general election. They have my vote and usually my support. But I am not all Democratic voters. No politician is entitled to anyone's support or vote.

But what you see projected from the Obama camp and Democrats of late is the notion that Barack Obama is entitled to the support of all Democratic voters. No matter what you, I, pundits and bloggers think, that is not how politics works. If Obama can learn just one thing from Bill and Hillary Clinton, it has to be the ability to fight for every vote. To NOT act like you are entitled to anybody's vote. To act like you believe you have to earn their votes. More . . .

It turns out that the rest of the political world has caught up to me and Paul Krugman:

The central fact of this year’s election is that voters are fed up with Republican rule. The only way Mr. McCain can win the presidential race is if it becomes a contest of personalities rather than parties . . .

The Obama campaign, on the other hand, doesn’t need to convince voters either that he’s the awesomest candidate ever or that Mr. McCain is a villain. All it has to do is tarnish Mr. McCain’s image enough so that voters see this as a race between a Democrat and a Republican. And that’s a race the Democrat will easily win.

(Emphasis supplied.) You hear this from everyone now, including David Axelrod on ABC's This Week yesterday. So it is out with the Politics of Change, the Post Partisan Unity Schtick, in with the Politics of Contrast. About time.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

My sources tell me that Bruce Springsteen will close the Democratic Convention with an acoustic performance after Sen. Barack Obama finishes speaking Thursday night at Invesco Field. The Washington Post speculated about this yesterday

and the Las Vegas Review Journal reports it as fact.

The LVRJ says Bon Jovi is in negotiations to be the warmup act for Obama.

My earlier post on possible musical acts for Thursday night is here.

Hi. It's Sunday night and we just finished dinner here at Jerri's house where Lynn Goldsmith has now joined us for the week.  As the actual Convention inches closer, and I finished the final exam today for Journalism, I'm starting to feel those pangs again without Hunter. So, it's a blessing to be witnessing this (hopefully) historic DNC with two amazing women and listen to them talk, over a shared Pad Thai stir fry tonight, about their experiences at the1969 protest in Washington. [more...]

The protests in Denver began today. There was some attempt by protesters to block streets. It was peaceful with little resemblance to protests of conventions past.

What happened instead was a street-fair display of disparate causes, from anti-war fervor to climate control, immigrant rights and the legalization of marijuana. Participants paraded through the streets of downtown Denver peacefully as police — aided by the Secret Service, FBI and National Guard — kept watch from bikes, rooftops and helicopters.

Cindy Sheehan and Recreate '68 began the morning with a protest event on the steps of the state capitol in Denver. Later, there was a march from Civic Center Park to the Pepsi Center.

Cindy Sheehan spoke as did Glenn Spagnuolo of Recreate '68, Ron Kovic and the rap duo Dead Presidents. Recreate '68 had its own security guys at the base of the Capitol steps, wearing red bandannas. [More...]