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 …

Possible Obama connection in gun arrest  —  Federal authorities have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon amid reports that a fortunate traffic stop by Aurora Police may have disrupted an assassination attempt against Barack Obama.  —  KUSA-TV is reporting that two men …

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 …

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 …

Joe Vengeance  —  Joe Lieberman says he left the Democratic Party and is stumping for John McCain out of principle.  Really?  —  Senator Joe Lieberman enters the room, but I can't see him—just a centipedelike scrum of black suits and Hasid hats that has formed around him and now moves, buzzing, toward the dais.

PARTY PEOPLE: KAREN BROWN AND BONNIE TIERNEY, CLINTON AND MCCAIN SUPPORTERS  —  TAP ran into Karen Brown and Bonnie Tierney on 16th Street in Denver, Colorado.  Brown was wearing a Hillary Clinton shirt and a John McCain button.  They weren't delegates, but they'd come down from Colorado Springs to bear witness to the convention.

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:

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 …

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.

Daddy Yankee endorsement: Another pathetic McCain pander  —  Can someone, anyone, in the McCain camp stop him from self-immolation?  Can the open-borders GOP establishment drive a bigger wedge between the conservative base and the GOP ticket?  —  Last week, it was the RNC ad touting McCain's shamnesty superiority over Obama.

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 …