Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Now we know this much about how the candidates picked running mates: Barack Obama made a presidential choice, while John McCain played politics.

Still, campaigns are about politics and McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is designed to win, not govern.

Joe Biden, the Democratic running mate, is likely to have more impact in the White House than on the campaign trail - if Obama wins the election. Palin is just the opposite. The vice presidency would be a training camp for her, compared to Biden.

On the political front, a computer modeling program could not have produced a better result for McCain.

Palin's political strengths in this campaign:

• New Face: Known Republicans are so unpopular these days that introducing an entirely new face to the national scene could help reboot the party's image.
• Gender Play: While out of sync with women who only vote for pro-choice candidates on abortion, Palin will try to inherit the gender imiperative left by Hillary Rodham Clinton's bitter defeat for the Democratic nomination.
• Conservative Excitement: Despite McCain's mostly successful play for party conservatives over the summer, Palin is well known to many as a trustworthy advocate. She can build enthusiasm among those who want to see what they call "common sense" reform within the party itself. Conservatives no longer have to hold their noses to vote for McCain.
• Washington Outsider: Palin is the only candidate on either party's ticket who can run against Washington as someone who hasn't served there. She's the only non-senator running. Considering that governors traditionally fare better than senators in presidential races, that alone makes her a promising choice for Republicans.
• A Convention Talking Point: Most importantly for the short term, the Palin pick suddenly makes the upcoming Republican convention far more interesting. As a new face and a truly surprising choice, Palin presents the news media with plenty to do in vetting her with GOP delegates.

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Friday 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM EST

Produced by CQ's Andrew Satter

Craig takes you behind the scenes of Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field.

Democrats who have been clamoring for more tough words, less poetry and hard-hitting attacks on Republicans got exactly what they wanted tonight in Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Denver.

Clearly conscious of the charge that he is an empty suit devoid of specifics, Obama delivered a laundry list of agenda items. In short, he defined change instead of just calling for it.

And Obama devoted much of his text to direct attacks on expected GOP nominee John McCain, while forcefully countering charges aimed his way.

If one word could sum up this speech -- and the mood of many voters -- it was when Obama decried what he labeled as Washington's failures of the past eight years and all but shouted, "Enough!" The powerful way in which he delivered that word echoed around the stadium, ringing ears and raising cheers among this crowd of 85,000.

In short, Obama played street-smart offense and defense in this speech. No empty rhetoric this time. More prose than poetry. Perhaps he plans to save the lofty stuff for if he gets the chance to deliver an Inaugural Address.

Now on CQ Politics: Full Speech Text

Closing the beer stands was probably the smartest thing done for handling this massive crowd at Denver's Mile High Stadium. This must be the most sober crowd of 80,000 ever to gather in a major league football stadium.

But these folks don't need booze to got nuts. I got to the stadium hours ago and, despite standing in lines for as long as four hours, Barack Obama's supporters are not complaining. Many have never been to a national political convention. And as Carole Watson, a Detroit community organizer told me, "I'm 69 years old, honey, and I've waited my whole life for a moment like this. I'd wait 40 hours if necessary."

This thread is for discussion of what Obama enthusiasts believe to be a speech that will be talked about for generations.

Crowds fill Denver's Mile High Stadium hours before Barack Obama's acceptance speech (photo credit: Craig Crawford)

Produced by CQ's Andrew Satter

Craig talks to Democratic Convention delegates moments after Barack Obama's official nomination on Wednesday.

I don't know her real name, but she's Obama Girl -- and I met her today. Posing for pictures outside the Democratic Convention on Wednesday, Obama Girl struck a pose for anyone who asked. So I did. Maybe I'm not immune to Obama fever after all.

Setting aside crabby pundits like me, there is no denying an afterglow in Denver today following Hillary Rodham Clinton's spellbinder speech on Tuesday night.

Perhaps Barack Obama's supporters had set the bar so low for what Clinton needed to do that it was not such a hard target after all. Despite saying little more about Obama than she has said since quitting the Democratic race, Clinton's job was made easier by her party's desperation to at least create the appearance of togetherness.

Democrats are brushing away any grumbling about Clinton's failure to specifically recant harsh primary rhetoric, such as dismissing Obama's readiness to be commander in chief. With Election Day around the corner, Democrats are facing the reality that time is up for intra-party squabbling.

Having solidified the base, Sen. Clinton and fellow conventioneers look to Bill Clinton's speech tonight for the final piece of the puzzle - opening the argument to swing voters that Obama is for them.

Sen. Clinton's speech on Tuesday was exclusively aimed at wavering Democrats as she forcefully made the case that party issues are too important to abandon Obama.

Former Pres. Clinton now must do what he did so well in the latter primaries - persuading moderate-to-conservative independents that Obama is not the risky choice that Republicans portray.

Produced by CQ's Andrew Satter

Craig takes to the streets of Denver, where everyone has a cause or an issue they are hawking at the Democratic National Convention.

Stunning. Hillary Rodham Clinton's convention speech on Tuesday was so NOT what Barack Obama needed.

Sure, Clinton said Obama's name several times. But this was an obligatory, boiler-plate endorsement that was devoid of a single personal reference to indicate whether she had ever even met the presumed Democratic nominee.

Many of Clinton's supportive words seemed almost tacked on as an after thought. Several times Clinton listed various things she believed in, and then almost parenthetically noted that these were her reasons for backing Obama. In other words, she's for Obama because he agrees with her.

A purely policy-based endorsement was not what Obama most needed from Clinton. Everyone knows they agree on the basic issues and disagree with Republicans.

What Obama most needed was Clinton's help in persuading voters that he has the personal character, judgment and skill to actually achieve the programmatic goals that the two Democrats share. There was not even a hint of that. Clinton almost seemed to be saying that Obama is worth supporting only because he isn't a Republican.

Clinton and Obama shared the debate stage numerous times over the past year. They were competitors, but they serve together in the Senate and in this campaign she must have come to know him in some way. Surely there was something of a personal nature that Clinton could have said to underscore what was basically a one-dimensional endorsement.

Consider how Clinton referred to John McCain as her "friend" (before slamming the expected GOP nominee on policy matters). You got the impression from this speech that, on a personal level, she likes McCain better than Obama.

And there was nothing in this speech to clean up Clinton's earlier dismissal of Obama's readiness to be commander in chief while praising McCain's preparedness - a moment that the Republicans are now replaying in a television advertisement.

Still, there was enough cover in Clinton's speech for her camp to spin away talk that she did not do enough for Obama. She repeatedly said the right words for unity, they will assert. But she left much room for doubt between the lines.

With tonight's launch of the two-day Clinton mini-convention, will this mark the Democratic couple's last hurrah or the birth of new political wing?

There are too many unknown variables going forward to know the answer for sure, but Hillary Rodham Clinton's speech tonight - followed by Bill Clinton on Wednesday - present the first clues.

Of course, considering that the Clintons once ruled the entire party, even birthing a new wing would be a step down for them.

While there are no historical parallels in either party for a nomination runner-up who won 18 million votes, there are past losers who went on to become powerful forces within their parties. Ted Kennedy converted his 1980 defeat into a liberal movement that is now as strong as ever among Democrats. In 1976 Ronald Reagan's conservative revolution lost the GOP battle but went on to propel him into the White House four years later.

One admittedly superficial way to measure the predictive utility of the Clinton convention speeches might be to simply count the number of paragraphs in which they talk about themselves - and contrast that with how much text they devote to talking about Barack Obama.

The more that the Clintons talk about themselves and defend the record of their White House years, the more likely they are aiming to nurture and grow a Clinton wing within the Democratic Party.

If the bulk of their speeches are specifically dedicated to Obama, the more likely that they are prepared to step aside for a new generation.