Anatomy of a Subplot  —  The Democratic convention now teeters on the brink of a media disaster thanks to real news that threatens to distract reporters from the scripted show.  —  And wouldn't you know, it's all about the Clintons.  The trouble with the news-free nature of modern conventions …

Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins tasked with ‘causing trouble’ at Democratic convention.  —  Yesterday, Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins waded into the Re-create '68 protest outside the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where he was greeted with expletives as he antagonized the crowd by asking …

SURE-TO-BE-WRONG-PREDICTION: WHY MCCAIN WILL CHOOSE LIEBERMAN.  —  Consensus around DC seems to be that John McCain would love to pick his friend Joe Lieberman, but won't.  It's possible that that consensus, built atop the same ace reporting that gave us vice presidents Evan Bayh and Chet Edwards, will prove correct.

Obama to DOJ: Block terrorist ad  —  Sen. Barack Obama has launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire's efforts to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative television ads.  —  Obama's campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding …

Focused  —  I attended a Frank Luntz focus group consisting of 21 undecided voters (Add: equally divided between men and women, a range of ages—20s to 70s, I'd say) yesterday and the results were stunning: bad news for both Obama and McCain, but slightly worse—I think—for Obama.  Some observations:

Cindy McCain's Mission to Georgia  —  It's not every aspiring First Lady whose comfort zone is a war zone, but such is the case for Cindy McCain, who left Monday on a mission to Georgia to assess the civilian casualties caused by the Russian invasion.  —  McCain is traveling …

McCain's Yankee Doodle Daddy  —  Elizabeth Holmes reports from Phoenix on the presidential race.  —  John McCain made it clear who his daddy was Monday morning.  —  Daddy Yankee, the hip-hop star from Puerto Rico, endorsed the Republican candidate Monday morning.

National Organization for Women president calls for Jones' resignation after ‘Uncle Tom’ remark  —  DENVER — The chief of Illinois' National Organization for Women chapter today called on Barack Obama's “political godfather” to resign immediately from the Illinois state Senate for calling …

Are the Denver Dems Downing Stocks?  —  Are the Denver Dems downing the stock market today?  The Dow is off 230 points, starting right from the get-go.  So-called market analysts are blaming financials and the credit crunch as they always do.  But there's more.

Zombie: The Denver Games — Opening Ceremony  —  (Zombie's reports are cross-posted at Pajamas Media.)  —  Although the Democratic National Convention doesn't start until today, Monday, August 25, the protests against the convention started the day before on Sunday.

Obama's Misfire  —  I want to echo what Yuval says, as well as Jennifer Rubin over at Contentions.  Senator Obama's new ad, trying to explain his association with the unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, may rank as among the worst tactical mistakes of the campaign.

Jonah On Elitism  —  This post seems to have struck a nerve.  And not to be elitist, of course, but he means “affects” not “effects”.  And the sentence, … requires a subjunctive.  I think what Jonah means is that it's ok to be part of a nepotistic, moneyed elite but not ok if you work …

WHY BIDEN'S PLAGIARISM SHOULDN'T BE FORGOTTEN.  —  Teachers and scholars consider the unattributed use of someone else's words and ideas to be a very serious offense, but the public doesn't seem to mind much, at least when it comes to politics.  The incidents of plagiarism and fabrication …