Brian Schweitzer and Hillary

Brian Schweitzer did a pretty good job in his speech. Following Mark Warner, if he simply stayed awake he had to be an improvement. But he excelled, especially as it went along. Finally, when he had everyone standing and yelling, it was a great moment. It was also nice to see someone at the podium who was so animated.

One tweak: I prefer a little more passion -- not just animation and facial gestures -- a little more edge, with the frustration we have about Bush and McCain being real and deep. I don't want lines that sound rehearsed or forced, I was it straight from the gut, that kind of connection that says we take this very very personally and we will not tolerate four more years of the same.


Hillary

She doesn't have the greatest speaking voice, face it. A lot of her tone has a very artificial feel to it, unpleasant like chewing on aluminum foil. (I supported her in the primaries; I just don't like to hear her speak.) But she capped off the night with the best speech of the night, and obviously the most necessary speech. She needed to put aside all this baloney about a divided party. Obviously, there is nothing about John McCain that by nature should appeal to her voters. A vote for McCain instead of Obama would just be sour grapes and a self-destructive act. It was great that Hillary laid it out and made that crystal clear. She seemed pretty sincere about how bad McCain would be, even though I would have left out the line about being his friend and how great and courageous he is.