July 30

With the Convention wrapping up after Kerry delivered, by all accounts, the speech he needed to give, the rival camps hit the road; taking their message to effectively a few thousand undecided voters in a few key swing states.

Kerry was clearly more animated than usual, more anxious to impress and seemingly more passionate. Just the thing for the traditional post-convention bounce?

The Bush team meanwhile begins its "Heart and Soul of America" tour of battleground states tomorrow with an interesting new policy twist.

Elsewhere, David Letterman had a dig at Teresa Heinz Kerry's onscreen gaffe from the other night - showing the "shove it" clip, then asking, "Who does she think she is, Dick Cheney?"

Finally, another Kerry song watch - ABC News's The Note like the use of Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender" - although it wasn't actually used in the balloon drop, when it would have been much more effective dovetailing after U2's "Beautiful Day".

says The Note: (Note hint: major political reporters LOVE that song, and the expected upcoming "surprise" announcement about Springsteen is teed up quite nicely by the tune's use … .).

July 29 (late breaking blog...)

You'd think, if you were the White House, that if you got caught doing something maybe you shouldn't really ought to have been doing; and then that thing you wanted to happen happens.... you'd think that maybe you'd be a bit shame-faced about it?

Or is it just that you figure maybe no-one cares?

July 29

John Kerry takes the podium tonight at the Democratic convention to deliver the speech of his life.

As the ABC Nightline team says in its daily email:

John Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention tonight is scheduled for about 55 minutes. Think about that. 55 minutes. I challenge you to go and stand in front of a mirror right now and talk for 55 minutes. You have to introduce yourself, talk about your vision for the country and, of course, make people like you. When you think about it, it is probably one of the toughest things we ask of politicians. Whether you support John Kerry or the President (who will be making his own case in a few weeks), on some level you have to admire the fact that people are able to do that. So tonight we just get to sit back and listen.

Ron Brownstein in the LA Times makes an interesting point that, even with Kerry's bounce from the convention, the worrying thing is that the president's approval rating refuses to sink. He says:

"(But)..several recent surveys have shown Bush's job approval rating slightly improving as Iraq slips more from the front pages; among persuadable voters in the Annenberg survey, Bush's approval rating rose from 44% last month to 50% now, placing him right at the level that has historically separated winning, from losing, incumbents."

The high point of the speeches at the gathering thus far - leaving aside the address by former President Bill Clinton, arguably the finest public speaker of his generation - has probably the keynote speech by Barack Obama.

The upbeat reaction to his address (as one blog put it: "Obama's been lauded") has resulted in plenty of positive ink.

Mother Jones has a nice piece from "inside the bubble of the bubble" on media coverage.

Michael Moore's 'showdown' with Bill O'Reilly was worth a watch, even if we didn't really gain any insights we weren't expecting.

Finally; this week's best bumper sticker so far portrays Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft with the slogan "Don't Change Horsemen in the Middle of an Apocalypse."

July 26

The Convention gets under way, with a milestone - it's the first to be covered by fully accredited bloggers alongside the mainstream press.

Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post quotes Jay Rosen (who posts his own preview from Newsday) as saying:

"By coming and making news of the event, you're saying this is important. Then you get there as reporters and say this is all fake. If it's that bad, why are you here?"

As Steve Outing reminds us in Editor and Publisher: Much (OK, too much) has been written by media outlets far and wide over the last few days about the independent bloggers covering the Democratic National Convention this week. But let's not forget that there are a bunch of journalists from mainstream media organizations blogging, too.

Bill Clinton is the big ticket tonight, with Bloomberg reporting a Quinnipiac University survey that shows the former President's address will be watched by almost half of the country's registered voters.

Finally, despite frequent reports of some kind of concert event in New York to coincide with the GOP convention, the LA Times reports that someone's doing some creative thinking about swing states:

"Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and a deep roster of other rock stars will unite for politically minded concerts this fall that will give voice to dissatisfaction with the Bush administration."

Other acts named include Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Steve Earle, Dixie Chicks and the Dave Matthews Band, with the idea being that rather than one big festival-like jamboree, there'll be a series of shows with maybe two or three of those acts on each bill.

It also sounds like they'll specifically target cities in "swing states" such as Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania

An official announcement is apparently set for August 4th in New York.

July 25

On the eve of the Democratic Convention in Boston, a couple of interesting poll numbers for the Dems to ponder. Time magazine has a poll showing that while 53 per cent of respondents believe it's time for a new president, Kerry leads Bush only by 46 per cent to 43, and "While nearly 70 per cent of voters say they know a great deal about Bush, only 29 per cent say the same about the Senator", stressing the need for Kerry to use the stage-managed convention and his 'Freedom Trail' journey there to define himself more sharply.

On the road, a Columbus Dispatch poll shows Bush ahead slightly in the battleground state of Ohio, his lead increasing when Ralph Nader is factored into the equation. The paper also says both Bush and Kerry will be campaigning in the state next week.

On the uptick for Kerry, though, Newsweek's numbers show the challenger easily in front among young voters, even though they may not necessarily be supporters of the Democratic party.

The Washington Post thinks history favours Kerry, while the New York Times has a nice piece on incumbency and popular trust.

In the media corner; Fahrenheit 9/11 has topped the $100m box office mark. Read some of the reader reviews in the New York Times - the ones from former and current Republicans are perhaps the most telling.

In a similar vein, Robert Greenwald's documentary "OutFoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" seems to be creating the same sort of stir - particularly by reprising Fahrenheit's local houseparty showings and viral marketing campaign - even though it went straight to video distribution.

Finally, kudos to Gregg and Evan Spiridellis for "This Land"