The Delegates

7:47 PM: Where was this John Kerry when we needed him in 2004? He sounded like a righteous liberal, firmly parrying attacks on service and patriotism, unambiguous and direct.

7:42 PM: Kerry is slow to get going, but he slows down, and gets a nice reception, for his hits on McCain. These are some of the only direct shots taken on McCain tonight, and they aim right for at military and foreign policy. He calls Obama a “true friend of Georgia”.

7:35 PM: John Kerry makes the Democrats’ version of the Obama/Osama slip and says “Bush” when he means “McCain”. He seems to be rushing; Bill’s overlong reception likely ate up some valuable time.

7:30 PM: Stay-at-home Virginian and Marine wife Beth Robinson gives forth a mangled “hoorah” and elicits cackles of pitiless mirth from the furrowed brows of blogodelia.

7:27 PM: I forgot how good he was, really. Once he got warmed up, even Michelle, whose smiles seemed strained and applause pro forma when the camera cut away to her, is nodding by the end.

After all these months of grumbling about his maneuverings to support Hillary, Obama supporters are remembering why they liked Bill back then and have to give wily Willie his due.

They’re playing him out of the hall with “Addicted to Love”. How waspish.

7:11 PM: Bill hits hard on foreign-policy themes, and confirms Obama’s suitability for the job more emphatically than Hillary did. It’s substantive, direct and effective. Remember when a president could speak in complete sentences?

Why am I not in there, watching Bill get his swerve on like only he can? Dave Winer is up there with an Asus Eee, a laptop the size of a Peanut Chew, twittering. What does this convention have to do with RSS, for chrissakes?

7:04 PM: Bill enters, smoother of face than he has been in some time. He has angered many of the people in the hall over the past six months, and he gets only a few claps in blog-sur-mer, but it’s all love now. A long a throaty cheer; they won’t let him speak.

7:01 PM: As good a time as any to go over some pre-acceptance-speech worries from the UK press. Gerard Baker of the Times of London thinks that the convention has become all about the Clintons: “this has not been the launchpad for his campaign that he could - and should - have expected”. Toby Harden and Alex Spillius of the Telegraph say that Obama has recieved no detectable poll bounce yet from the Convention, and report that “Mr Obama’s advisers concede that he needs more than soaring rhetoric to win over swing voters and are concerned that the glitzy evening could be seized on by Republicans as evidence of a lack of substance”.

6:54 PM: I returned to the blogger seats up in section 244, to try and get into the hall before it is locked down for the big-ticket speeches coming up, but there was no room at the inn. A fellow “blogger” in a white linen suit has been posted up there for hours, taking calls on his Bluetooth headset, and not filing a thing. I mentally gave him the gas face.

It’s not just us that are scrambling to upgrade our access before the big show. The 200 level, around which the skyboxes and club seats are ranged, is jammed with well-coiffed types busily gladhanding and trying to get better seats. Blond and gelled leans into grey and dry-look and murmurs: “You wouldn’t happen to have any places left in your box, would you?” We pass Chuck Schumer, who is bearing his customary mischievous grin and gladhanding an enthused acquaintance. “And where is your wonderful husband? Who you convince to write checks for us?” Tiered carts of fresh hors d’oeuvres wheel past a Lexus sign and a cluster of camera light that surround Charles Rangel.

6:31 PM: Friend of The Delegates, Philadelphia congressman, and delightful taker-to-task of bigots Patrick Murphy is speaking. Northeast Philly inna haaaaaaaaaawse.

6:14 PM: I’ll take the opportunity to cruise through another underwhelming speaker — this time, the dismissably timid Harry Reid — with some Reader Outreach.

My sister appropriately chides me for missing an opportunity to link to a go-go video about DC statehood. As far as go-go goes, we are Rare Essence fans here at The Delegates, and take particular joy in the fact that they can take an Ashlee Simpson tune and turn it into a solid banger.

6:05 PM: The Guardian’s coverage of US politics has yet to reach the generally high level of its other international reporting, despite mighty effort. Steve Bell, however, continues to represent. As today’s cartoon shows, he’s not afraid to switch media either, headfaking to pastels in a departure from his usual watercolor.

On stage, Melissa Etheridge performs a gruntily earnest medley to little discernible effect.

6:00 PM: Some updates on the the Fury Counter to the Mechanism protest: they continue to march. Their destination may be a place called Cuernavaca Park and not the Pepsi Center.

5:51 PM: Breaking it up a bit. Scroll down to get yourself up to speed.