Via Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly:

…the Democratic National Committee said yesterday that the four finalists to host the 2012 national convention are Charlotte, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.

What are our chances?

Al and Tipper Gore have announced their separation after 40 years of marriage.

Yeah, I was there for the kiss, but I didn’t get a photo. It was still going to be a few more years before I acquired a digital camera. The photos I did manage to get from the Missouri delegation (seated front and center, right behind Tennessee) came from a compact 35 mm job that was supposed to be idiot proof. That is until the back of the camera opened in security and exposed an entire roll of film.

Yes, that’s Al Gore at the podium.

Yes, I was there, live, for the kiss, along with twenty something thousand other people.

It’s interesting that today almost everyone in the media has been replaying that kiss from ten years ago. As if those ten years haven’t passed and the kiss has no meaning because of today’s announcement.

I was standing on my chair, continually harassed by the safety people to not do so while everyone else was doing the same thing during Al Gore’s speech, and I turned toward the New Mexico delegation to photograph the crowd. I snapped this picture as I started to fall. It turns out there was a reason the safety people didn’t want us standing on the chairs.

I sometimes wonder if the past ten years have been a nightmare alternate reality. I wonder what things would have been like if December 12, 2000 had turned out differently.

What did you think of the speech last night? What were your favorite lines? Least favorite?

The entire text of the speech is here.

The latest three-day Gallup Poll Daily tracking average (Aug. 25-27) is directly coincident with the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, and is no doubt beginning to reflect the typical convention “bounce” that Gallup has observed in most party conventions in recent decades…

It was Obama 45%, McSame 44%. It’s now Obama 48%, McSame 42%.

Update:

The Gallup Poll Daily tracking average released on August 29 – Obama 49%, McSame 41%.

Who subsequently wonders why McCaskill didn’t get a primetime slot to give a red meat speech. Unbelievable!

Here’s the speech in case you missed it:

On second viewing, McCaskill didn’t grate on me the way it did the first time. The negatives are still there – she looks like she’s working way too hard to be enthusiastic, she’s got some awkward metaphors, and she quotes Obama a little too much.

On the plus side, McCaskill sure does know how to deliver some great anti-McCain lines with a smile, doesn’t she? She really shined in that role on Monday night, which otherwise largely ignored McCain.

I think it’s orbiting Saturn right now.