From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger
O'FALLON, MO -- While Gov. Sarah Palin gave essentially the same speech today as she has twice before, one big thing was missing -- any reference to Hillary Clinton.

Palin, the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, spoke alongside McCain and two former Republican presidential challengers -- Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney -- at a minor league baseball stadium here.

She began her speech by talking about her trip to Mississippi earlier in the day, and calling on people in the Gulf region to obey warnings to evacuation.

"To the citizens of the Gulf Coast area, your lives and many others are in balance," she said. "And success of law enforcement and emergency workers and our great National Guard depends on your cooperation."

After that, she went back to the stump speech she delivered on Friday and Saturday. But she skipped the entire section in which she highlighted the achievement of having a woman on the ticket -- as well as her praise for those who came before her, Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton. Yesterday, when campaigning in Pennsylvania, she received some boos from the audience when Clinton's name was mentioned.

It is unclear why the campaign cut the paragraphs, which were widely praised Friday for appealing to Clinton supporters who may feel disenfranchised by the Obama campaign, especially after Clinton was passed over for the vice presidential nomination.

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
For exactly five months -- from Jan. 3 to June 3 -- we covered more than 50 Democratic primary races. And during that stretch of time, almost every Tuesday (and even some weekends) would bring us a different round of contests, for which we'd stay at work past midnight, analyze each and every exit poll, breathlessly weigh each candidate's strengths and weaknesses, and forecast their delegate hauls.

There were the initial Iowa and New Hampshire contests. Then Nevada and South Carolina. Super Tuesday. Chesapeake Tuesday. Wisconsin. Junior Super Tuesday (Ohio, Texas). Pennsylvania. Indiana and North Carolina. West Virginia. Kentucky and Oregon. Puerto Rico! And finally Montana and South Dakota.

That long -- and exhausting -- nominating process enabled Obama to win a majority of pledged delegates, then more superdelegates, and finally the nomination.

But during Wednesday's roll-call vote at the Democratic convention, which was capped when Clinton moved to nominate Obama by acclamation, this thought came to mind: None of those contests actually mattered, at least when it came to the eventual numbers.

The first evidence of that was when Arizona, a state Clinton won on Super Tuesday, announced that Obama picked up 48 delegates to Clinton's 27. Next, Arkansas -- a state Clinton carried by winning 70% of the vote -- backed Obama unanimously.

And remember that divisive fight over Florida and Michigan, which culminated in that Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting in DC? Well, for Florida, Obama won 136 delegates to Clinton's 51. And for Michigan, where Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot, the Illinois senator hauled in 125 delegates to Clinton's 27.

Of course, those tallies would have been much different had Clinton not suspended her candidacy more than two months ago.

Nevertheless, Wednesday did make even us political junkies wonder: Can we get those five months back?

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
NBC's Brian Williams asked John McCain on Nightly News tonight if Palin was the best choice given that he's a 72-year-old cancer survivor.

McCain defended the choice, citing Palin's experience, including being a governor, mayor and even working on the PTA.

"Facts are funny things," McCain said, adding that she's "been in office longer than" Obama.

He added, in fact, it's "almost ludicrous to compare her experience with his -- it's no contest."

Williams followed up and asked, though, if she was the best choice.

"Oh sure," McCain said, "in every way." He went on to again cite her "executive experience."

"Frankly, it inspires me," he said.

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
The Republicans have canceled most activities for tomorrow, the first day of its national convention, because of the approaching Hurricane Gustav -- expected to hit the Gulf region tomorrow.

Republicans will hold only a procedural session from 4 p.m. ET to about 6:30 pm ET to call the convention to order and also vote on rules and the platform.

All speeches are canceled and campaign manager Rick Davis called for a halt on political rhetoric.

McCain spoke via satellite to a packed room of reporters at the Republican National Convention. He encouraged Republicans to take off their "Republican hats" and put on their "American hats."

The activities that will occur tomorrow:
-- the call to order
-- receiving the report from the credentials committee
-- adopting the rules
-- electing the officers
-- and adopting the party platform.

All else -- what happens on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; whether McCain and Palin will be present to accept their nominations; who might speak on the remaining days; is all still to be determined, Davis said.

The storm, its strength and its aftermath will dictate what the Republicans do.

Davis said in the news conference that he is encouraging Republican donors present at convention to contribute to to-be-determined Gulf charities and wants all delegations to be respectful and sensitive to the situation.

From NBC's Ben Weltman and Domenico Montanaro
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Some observations from the red-carpet-lined Republican convention floor…

The most obvious thing when walking in the hall -- after the giant screen waving American flag on stage -- are the plethora of "Country First" slogans engulfing the arena.

In fact, "Country First" appears prominently in 23 places around the arena at varying sizes and on LCD screens.

There are two American flags draped from high podiums that are about 20-feet long, and there are seven waving ones on LCD screens, including the huge one on stage, which is about 30-feet high.

The seating is perhaps a window into the states the McCain campaign thinks are important. Hint: It's not Guam or the Northern Marianas Islands. They are way in the back and the Northern Marianas sign is barely legible and covered over by a black drape.

The states with preferential seating -- front and center: Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado; on either side of the stage: Arizona (McCain's home state), and battlegrounds New Hampshire, Missouri, Michigan, Virginia, Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Minnesota.

And interestingly, we did not see anything that said Palin on it, except for a few stickers you could count on one hand.

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Joe Biden is already conceding one thing to Sarah Palin.

"Well, there's obvious differences," he joked during a roundtable discussion on the economy this afternoon. "She's good looking."

Biden was trying to make a serious point about the different perspective he said each ticket has on the economy, but the crowd began to chuckle when he said there was a "gigantic" difference between Obama and McCain and himself and "my vice presidential opponent." After complimenting Palin's looks, someone in the crowd shouted back that Biden was "gorgeous."

"Oh, I tell you what! Would you make sure Jill hears that?" he replied. "I haven't heard that in a long, long, long time."

He added that hanging out with a "lean, young-looking" Obama was starting to make him "feel pretty old." But he continued on with his intended message, which was that the Democratic team would work to give the middle class a "fighting chance."

"John McCain looks to the past," he said, saying he'd give tax breaks for corporations and oil interest instead of working people. "John McCain's proposal -- he leaves out 100 million American families without a single red cent," he said. "Barack Obama's going to give 95 percent of the American people a tax cut."
Biden began by saying he offered a prayer at morning mass for the people of the Gulf Coast, and urged those in the audience to do the same.

"These folks have been through, you know, they've been through hell, and pray God this Gustav decides to take a turn or something, but it doesn't look real good now," he said.

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
TOLEDO, Ohio -- At an economy town hall here Sunday afternoon, Obama said his rival's pick for vice president was against equal pay for equal work.

"We're gonna make sure that equal pay for equal work is a reality in this country," he said. "You know, John McCain's new VP nominee seems like a very engaging person, a nice person, but I've got to say, she's opposed like John McCain is to equal pay for equal work. That doesn't make much sense to me."

When asked what Obama was basing that line on, campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki linked Palin to McCain's agenda.

"Sen. McCain has a clear record of opposing equal pay and as his running mate Gov. Palin is tasked with promoting his agenda," she said.

Obama is hoping to win over many of Hillary Clinton's women supporters by focusing on kitchen-table issues and on policies of importance to women. McCain's selection of Palin, a mother of five, is widely seen as part of an effort to appeal to some of these same voters as well as to women in general.

"I've got two daughters and when I think about them, I say to myself, I want to make sure that those girls have exactly the same opportunities as anybody's sons will," Obama continued. "That's why were gonna fight for equal pay for equal work. That's why were gonna fight for sick days for workers if their child is sick or they've got an ailing parent. That's why were gonna make sure that we expand family leave so that more people can utilize it and so that women who are in the workforce are able to balance work and family. And men too."

Obama and Biden each spoke briefly before fielding questions from the audience of invitation-only guests, on trade, healthcare, revitalizing cities and other issues. They were on the third day of a bus tour through battleground states and were set to split up later in the day to begin campaigning separately.

*** UPDATE *** Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella issued this response:  "For Barack Obama to accuse Gov. Sarah Palin of opposing equal opportunity for women, when she actually opposes the trial lawyers' effort to overturn the longstanding statute of limitations in America's courts -- is not only an absurd accusation, it's a disgrace." But if we're reading this statement correctly, this means that Palin backed the Supreme Court's 5-4 majority decision that invalidated Lily Ledbetter's equal-pay lawsuit.

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
LIMA, OH -- After attending church service at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Obama kept the focus on Hurricane Gustav during a brief press conference here, telling reporters he was prepared to mobilize a network of volunteers to help the victims of the storm once it was clear what kind of aid was needed.

"I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary," he told said, according to a pool report. "So it becomes a question of what people on the ground need and once we determine that then we can activate our email list of a couple of million people who want to give back."

Obama said he was monitoring the situation and that officials in the area were doing everything they could "to execute a effective evacuation, but we need people's cooperation so that's the message I'm going to be sending throughout the day."

He said donations from his millions-strong email list of volunteers and donors could include cash, and he responded to the news that John McCain, his wife Cindy, and his running mate Sarah Palin were traveling to Mississippi today at the invitation of Gov. Haley Barbour.

"A big storm like this raises bipartisan concerns, and I think for John to want to find out what's going on is fine," he said. "The thing that I always am concerned about in the middle of a storm is whether we're drawing resources away from folks on the ground because the Secret Service and various security requirements sometimes it pulls police, fire ,and other departments away from concentrating on the job. I'm assuming that where he went that wasn't an issue. We're going to try to stay clear of the area until things have settled down and then we'll probably try to figure out how we can be as helpful as possible."

Vice presidential nominee Joe Biden went to a Catholic Church, St. Brendan's in Hilliard. The two were set to meet up in Toledo to host a discussion on the economy.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
In Mississippi today, McCain said that with Hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast, the GOP convention will change from a party to a call for action, according to the pool report.

"We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans," McCain said. "We'll change our program and I'll be announcing details of it in the next few hours. But there's very little doubt that we have to go from a party event to a call to the nation for action, action to help our fellow citizens in this time of tragedy and disaster, action in the form of volunteering, donations, reaching out our hands and our hearts and our wallets to the people who are under such great threat from this great natural disaster. I pledge that tomorrow night, and if necessary, throughout our convention if necessary, to act as Americans not Republicans, because America needs us now no matter whether we are Republican or Democrat."

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
McCain advisors say the senior officials are hunkered down working on plans to determine what is "most appropriate" for this week.

They expect Rick Davis to provide details some time this afternoon.

It is expected that Cindy McCain will still travel to St. Paul today.

Her schedule for tomorrow is in flux.

There are plans for Gov. Palin to go home to Alaska briefly -- she only packed for a couple days last week. Her schedule may change too.

After they settle on an initial plan, they expect to reach out to party leaders and donors as well.

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
HOUSTON, Texas -- The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, reappeared here Sunday.

Wrights spoke glowingly of Obama while preaching at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, as part of a message that God takes "the ordinary and turns it into the extraordinary."

The former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, whose sermons created a political firestorm around Obama during the primary season, struck a conciliatory tone, as he talked about the Democratic nominee's achievement in a riff that included references to the racial injustice that has been a part of America's history.  

"Twenty years ago, a scrawny little kid with a pointed nose and big ears -- mama from Kansas and daddy from Kenya," he began. "An ordinary black boy raised in a single-parent home. The boy walked into my office 20 years ago to talk about his dream for a community that concentrated on things that we could achieve in common, things that united us rather than to focus on all the problems and the issues in the community about which we disagree or the things that divided us."

Wright also spoke of the Rev. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks among other examples of God turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, before mentioning the Illinois senator and giving a short summary of his journey through Harvard Law School to the state Senate to the U.S. Senate to his position as the Democratic nominee.

"The Lord turned the ordinary into the extraordinary. Y'all just saw it this past week. It was on national television," Wright said to applause. "This ordinary boy just might be, come November, the 4th, this ordinary boy from a single parent home with a daddy from Kenya and a mama from Kansas. This ordinary boy just might be the first president in the history of the United States to have a black woman sleeping at 1600 Pennsylvania, legally."
 
Wright's sometimes racially charged preaching was criticized as unpatriotic and divisive. Obama's connection to the pastor became a political liability for him, as cable media, for weeks, repeatedly ran the most incendiary video clips of some of Wright's sermons -- seemingly on a loop.

Obama eventually denounced Wright, calling his message divisive and saying it ran counter to everything he had worked for in his career. He and his wife Michelle subsequently left Trinity in late May.

Wright has spoken at Wheeler, a black church in downtown Houston, many times over the years and has led revivals at the church.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** A split-screen convention: As the day wears on, we should be getting more detail on what the GOP convention will look like tomorrow with Hurricane Gustav approaching the Gulf Coast. Already this morning, we have confirmation that President Bush will most likely not be attending. Now that doesn't mean he won't address the gathering; it just means he's not coming to Minnesota in person. McCain and Palin are headed to Jackson, MS, at the invitation of Gov. Barbour, giving McCain another opportunity to not look like Bush. In many ways, while some may think Gustav is some sort of bad GOP omen, it's also an opportunity for McCain to show himself to be more attentive to a situation like this than Bush was during Katrina. The McCain camp knows they have a fine line to walk, needing to show compassion and leadership while also not trying to look like they are taking some political advantage. The fact is, the GOP convention is going to get some attention and the attention they get will likely be focused on recovery efforts and that could go a long way to healing the wounds caused by Bush during the Katrina fiasco.

*** Off the radar: While many folks are wondering how the GOP ticket is going to break through Gustav, it appears they'll get more attention than Obama-Biden right now. Attention to the Dem ticket is nearly nil. They are getting plenty of local coverage during their initial tour and will get some major play on "60 Minutes" tonight. But since the announcement of Palin and the strengthening of Gustav, coverage of Obama-Biden has slowed to a trickle. What this means for any convention bounce is unclear. There was always going to be a weird vibe to the post-convention trip for Obama-Biden simply because attention was going to go to McCain so quickly. With the naming of Palin, it accelerated the drying up of Obama-Biden national coverage.

*** So why Palin? Neil Newhouse, the GOP half of the NBC/WSJ poll, has put together some interesting charts that may clue folks in as to why McCain had to pick a woman. Among white women in the August NBC/WSJ poll, Obama led McCain 43%-42%. Four years ago, Bush won white women over Kerry, 55%-44%. Clearly, McCain is underperforming among white women right now. More than one in three of the undecided voters in our last poll were white women. In addition, the enthusiasm gap between base Obama supporters and base McCain supporters has been cavernous. Anecdotally, the GOP is seeing an excitement in the last 48 hours over Palin -- particularly among social conservatives -- that has them believing they may just yet get close to equally the grass-roots activism they propelled Bush to a second term in 2004. By the way, Palin, speaking in Pennsylvania yesterday, was booed when she mentioned Hillary by name. Maybe that was a good thing to say during the announcement speech but maybe mentioning Ferraro and Clinton in the stump ought to end.

*** McCain's decision-making process: With the news that McCain met Palin once before making the decision to tap her as his No.2, it's bringing a new focus on McCain's decision-making. Clearly, as he's written, he makes many decisions from the gut, and this one is no different. But can the Obama campaign turn how McCain made this decision against him, while not looking like they are pouncing on Palin? It may be the best way the Obama camp can go after this pick. In addition, it's hard to figure out what this pick means when it comes to figuring out how McCain will govern. Does it mean he'll always be a president who makes gut decisions? (Just think again back to that Sunday New York Times piece on McCain's reaction to 9/11.) It's certainly a counter to how Obama went about his vetting process.

*** Palin's previous presidential support: There's been a lot of speculation, fueled by Pat Buchanan, that Palin was a supporter of Buchanan's in 1996 or in 2000. In '99, she was photographed at a Buchanan even in Wasilla, wearing a Buchanan button. Well, here's a letter to the editor Palin wrote that year after that photo appeared. Palin: "As mayor of Wasilla, I am proud to welcome all presidential candidates to our city. This is true regardless of their party, or the latest odds of their winning. When presidential candidates visit our community, I am always happy to meet them. I'll even put on their button when handed one as a polite gesture of respect. Though no reporter interviewed me for the Associated Press article on the recent visit by a presidential candidate, the article may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing this candidate, as opposed to welcoming his visit to Wasilla. As mayor, I will welcome all the candidates in Wasilla."

*** On the trail: McCain and Palin go to Mississippi before campaigning in O'Fallon, MO. Obama and Biden begin their day with a discussion on the economy in Toledo, OH and later hold a rally in Battle Creek, MI.

Countdown to GOP convention: 1 day
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 65 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 142 days

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Advisers say McCain will go to Mississippi today at the invitation of
the governor to be briefed on plans for Gustav, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
reports. These advisers say McCain has talked to Secretary Chertoff and
governors Barbour, Riley, Jindal, and Crist. They also say amid
contingency planning for the convention, "the gavel will come down" and
"business will be done" but "we are not having a party."

Per NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli, Obama yesterday called the threat posed by
Hurricane Gustav "a very serious situation," and Joe Biden warned that
the storm could be worse than Katrina, as the two running mates warned
residents of the Gulf Coast to heed all warnings. "Even if you've
ridden out this storm before, even if you think that it may pass over,
even if you think that you can wait until last minute, this is going to
be, potentially, very, very serious," Obama told reporters after a
campaign event in Dublin, OH. "For your own safety and your family's
safety, people have to follow the instructions of the officials there
to make sure that this evacuation is going smoothly."

Obama said he and Biden had spoken with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal,
FEMA director Hank Paulson, Sen. Mary Landrieu, and New Orleans Mayor
Ray Nagin. Biden said that because the eastern, more powerful half of
the storm may pass over New Orleans, the impact could be more severe
than Katrina's. "Those folks who rode out, do not ride out again --
ride out of town," he said. "

With the storm forecast showing it could make landfall just as the
Republican National Convention is set to begin, Obama was asked if he
thought President Bush should still attend. He said he didn't "want to
weigh into the White House decision-making," and said the priority has
to be on monitoring efforts on the ground closely. He also said he did
not want to be a "distraction" himself when asked if he would visit the
region. "I will do whatever is required that is useful but right now
the main thing that's useful us letting everyone evacuate out there
now; please evacuate the area," he said.

The Los Angeles Times
says Gustav "is predicted to make landfall west of New Orleans as early
as Monday, just days after the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
But National Weather Service officials cautioned that the hurricane's
path could shift and that it could strike anywhere from Texas to
Florida in the next few days. Apart from humanitarian concerns, the
GOP's image-makers are mindful of the public relations and political
cost if the party appears to be partying in Minnesota while Americans
are battling to survive a devastating hurricane."

"You know it just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster, so we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers, too," McCain said.

The news that Bush isn't expected to attend the GOP convention comes at the same time as a New York Times Magazine piece notes the friction between the Bush and McCain camps. "Anxious denizens of Bushworld worry that McCain will beat himself and in the process take down their best chance for deliverance when it comes to the verdict of history. One former Bush aide who spends his days publicly bashing Barack Obama sat down for lunch with me recently and before the appetizers even arrived lamented that the Democrat will probably crush McCain. He ruefully called Obama one of the three most talented political figures of his lifetime, along with John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Bush's political guru, Karl Rove, in conversations with friends this summer, could hardly restrain his exasperation at what he saw as the McCain team's dysfunctional organization and sclerotic message. And the president himself … privately rails about what he considers McCain's undisciplined approach to the campaign and grouses about McCain's efforts to distance himself from the administration."

More: McCain has not called the president for advice, so Bush vents his frustrations and criticisms of Obama during phone calls and get-togethers with current and former advisers. (He and Rove still meet for lunch every few weeks.) They say that the elevation of some veterans from their team, like Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace, to key positions within the campaign is making a difference, and there have been signs lately that more order has been imposed on the operation. People in both the McCain and Bush camps take heart in polls showing a closer race than many initially expected. But longstanding suspicions are hard to overcome. 'You've got a lot of people in that campaign who really dislike the president,' a McCain insider said. 'There's still a lot of people who carry a torch for the 2000 campaign.' Among them, members of the McCain camp say, is the candidate's wife, Cindy, who remains bitter over the personal attacks on her family eight years ago."

Per a new USA Today/Gallup poll,
51% say they have never heard of Sarah Palin, while 22% have a
favorable impression of her and 7% have a negative one. "There is also
wide uncertainty about whether she's qualified to be president. In the
poll, taken Friday, 39% say she is ready to serve as president if
needed, 33% say she isn't, and 29% have no opinion. That's the lowest
vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose
then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988. In
comparison, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was seen as qualified by 57%-18%
after Democrat Barack Obama chose him as a running mate last week."

That said, the Palin pick has "electrified conservative activists," the Politico's Martin
writes. "By tapping the anti-abortion and pro-gun Alaska governor just
ahead of his convention, which is set to start here Monday, McCain
hasn't just won approval from a skeptical Republican base -- he's
ignited a wave of elation and emotion that has led some grassroots
activists to weep with joy."

Maureen Dowd
writes, "The legacy of Geraldine Ferraro was supposed to be that no one
would ever go on a blind date with history again. But that crazy
maverick and gambler McCain does it, and conservatives and evangelicals
rally around him in admiration of his refreshingly cynical choice of
Sarah, an evangelical Protestant and anti-abortion crusader who became
a hero when she decided to have her baby, who has Down syndrome, and
when she urged schools to debate creationism as well as that stuffy old
evolution thing."

The New York Times
notes that McCain's choice of Palin has forced both campaigns to
recalibrate their messages and electoral strategies. "Mr. Obama's
campaign does not plan to go directly after Ms. Palin in the days
ahead. Instead, it is planning to increase its attacks on Mr. McCain
for his opposition to pay equity legislation and abortion rights - two
issues of paramount concern to many women - as it tries to head off his
effort to use Ms. Palin to draw Democratic and independent women who
had supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton."

"Mr. McCain's advisers said that rallying wavering women would be one
of Ms. Palin's main jobs in the weeks ahead. They said her campaign
schedule would take her to areas in swing states like Ohio and
Pennsylvania where there were pockets of women who had supported Mrs.
Clinton in the primaries."

But they might want to rethink Palin trumpeting Clinton's achievements before GOP voters - because mentioning Clinton's name drew a chorus of boos. Palin, NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger reports, acknowledged yesterday the role Clinton's and Geraldine Ferarro's candidacies had played for other women, including herself. But when Palin said that Clinton "showed determination and grace in her own campaign," there were an audible boos smattered amid the cheers. Palin ignored the boos and continued on with her speech.

The Washington Post puts the "Troopergate" scandal in the context of a family feud between the Palins and an ex-brother-in-law. Yet the facts remain the same as the paper's reporting from the previous day. "In January 2007, Palin's husband, Todd … invited Monegan to the governor's office. Todd Palin asked Monegan to look into the Wooten matter. Monegan did and later told Todd there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed."

"Monegan told The Washington Post that Palin called him a few days later on his cellphone, and that he told her the same thing. She brought it up again in February 2007 in the state capitol building and Monegan warned her to stay at arm's length. Monegan said Palin mostly backed off, but kept raising the matter indirectly through e-mails. In the fall of 2007, Monegan said he alerted her to a bad jury verdict against a trooper in rural Alaska, and she replied by mentioning Wooten, but not by name… In July, Palin's chief of staff told Monegan he was being fired because the governor wanted to 'go in a different direction,' Monegan said."

At yesterday's Obama-Biden press conference, when asked what it said about McCain's judgment that he chose someone with little national security or foreign policy experience, Obama simply said she was a "compelling person" with a "great person" and "engaging personality."

"I think that ultimately, she subscribes to the same economic theories and foreign policy theories as John McCain does," he added.

Asked to respond to the McCain camp's statement that Palin has more executive experience than he and Biden, Obama simply defended his own choice. "I think you guys can take a look at Gov. Palin's record [and] Joe Biden's record and make your own judgments in terms of who you think has what it takes to be an outstanding vice president," he said. "I feel confident about my choice. I'll let John McCain talk about his."

A campaign surrogate had some stronger words about the Republican ticket earlier in the day, saying the Palin selection showed a failure of judgment on McCain's part. "Palin was mayor of a town half the size of Bexley," Sen. Sherrod Brown told a large, boisterous Buckeye State crowd. "Nothing against Bexley, but I don't know that the mayor of Bexley's really quite ready to be in the White House."

The New York Daily News tracks down Palin's mother in law who is considering voting for Obama. "Sarah Palin's hometown rallied around her as mayor -- now Republicans wonder if the rest of America will warm up to the surprise pick from cold country. Though her mother-in-law has doubts. Faye Palin admitted she enjoys hearing Barack Obama speak, and still hasn't decided which way she'll vote… 'I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh. "People will say she hasn't been on the national scene long enough. But I believe she's a quick study."

More: "Scores of reporters descended Saturday on the A-frame wood hunting lodge where Sarah Palin's parents live amid hundreds of sets of trophy antlers and a taxidermy collection that includes a giant moose head and a full-grown mountain lion."

The Boston Globe focuses on McCain circa 1975 to 1977. "Elements of the John McCain voters know today were evident during his command of the unit, a shore-based squadron known as VA-174 that trained pilots and maintained roughly 50 A-7 Corsair II attack jets. He answered to his own code of morality and justice. He showed empathy for people's hardships and personal failings. He was warm toward Navy men and women on his good side, and could explode at those who weren't. In many cases, his creative approach to solving problems paid dividends; but his volatile personality, and his freewheeling social life, rubbed some people the wrong way."

From one football stadium to another… Two days after Obama and his running mate Joe Biden spoke before a crowd of some 85,000 people at the home of the Denver Broncos -- and a television audience of more than 38 million -- they brought their ticket yesterday to a high school football stadium in Dublin, OH, NBC/NJ's Athena Jones reports.

The Bidens and the Obamas were on the second day of a bus tour through battleground states, after which the senators will split up to campaign separately. They are working to win over voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan -- all places where Obama lost to Clinton in the primary season - with their focus on kitchen-table issues and an appeal to middle and working class voters. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, Sen. Sherrod Brown and former Sen. John Glenn each gave brief remarks at the event.

While Brown said John McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin showed poor judgment, Obama made no direct mention of the governor, instead speaking about a state his campaign had hoped to make competitive and focusing on what he saw as his own running mate's strengths. "After 19 months of traversing this country, traveling to every state except Alaska, which now that I think about it, I'm gonna have to go up there now," he said, sparking laughter. "In the remainder of this journey, I am gonna have with me one of the great statesmen, a man who knows how to talk to world leaders, but also knows how to treat the conductors on the Amtrak train that he takes home every night."

From NBC's Patti Culhame
The White House has confirmed the speculation that President Bush is unlikely to go to the RNC convo. Tthey are working on alternative plans but don't have anything to announce yet. Expect details mid-morning.

From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Palin's nod to Hillary Clinton may not go over well everywhere, because at a rally Saturday, the mere mention of her name brought a chorus of boos.

Palin was lauded for speaking of Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro in her speech Friday in Dayton, acknowledging the role their candidacies had played for other women, including herself. It was seen as a smart political gesture toward winning over some of the Clinton supporters who feel disenfranchised and may not vote for Obama in November.

She gave essentially the same speech today at a minor league baseball stadium outside of Pittsburgh. But when she said Saturday that Clinton "showed determination and grace in her own campaign," there were an audible boos smattered amid the cheers. Palin ignored the boos and continued on with her speech.
 
McCain and Palin were joined there by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who was himself a vice presidential prospect. Palin acknowledged Ridge, whom she said she hadn't met but was a fan of.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
McCain advisors say meetings have been underway to consider options for the RNC program due to Hurricane Gustav.

Advisors say no decisions have been made.

Sources say options could include changes to the speakers schedule and/or the addition of "service projects" to assist those affected by the storm.  One idea being floated is turning the convention into a hurricane telethon.

The campaign points out that Senator McCain spoke to this concern today saying it would be "inappropriate" to have "festivities" if the situation is as dire as forecasts suggest.

For the purposes of getting McCain's name and Palin's name on the ballot, the convention must take place this week; lots of ballot deadlines hit very soon.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** The case for Palin: For McCain, the biggest thing Sarah Palin brings is buzz. It's something the campaign has been seeking for some time. In fact, it has bothered Team McCain that it doesn't get the same "gee whiz" kind of coverage that Obama gets. Palin changes that discrepancy -- for now. She also helps McCain re-introduce himself as a change-reform candidate. Palin's whole shtick in Alaska is reformer; it's what got her into the governors mansion. Indeed, the Palin pick may signal that the McCain folks have concluded that "experience" as a message isn't a winning one, even though they spent the entire summer developing that argument. So they are hoping Palin helps redefine GOP ticket as change. What's more, she brings a historical first to the McCain campaign. And finally, there's Palin's gender, which the McCain folks hope reopens some of the Clinton-Obama wounds that the Dem convention seemed to heal.

*** The case against Palin. The biggest negative about the pick is that on its face, it looks like a political gimmick, a political calculation. And McCain's supposed to be anything but a calculating or gimmicky pol. Indeed, as the Los Angeles Times wonders, isn't McCain supposed to be the guy putting "country first" and not playing politics? The fact that McCain doesn't know Palin and spent all but a couple of hours getting to know her before making his pick is going to invite A LOT of judgment criticism. The perception is going to be that McCain panicked and wanted to do something radical to shake up the race. Well, he may have shaken up the race, but at the cost of undermining his best asset: that he was ready to lead. This decision doesn't look like it was well thought out, even as Palin has made a tremendous first impression.

*** The vetting question. Just how well was she vetted? There's going to be a race to define Palin, and while the McCain has bought time by shocking the world with the pick, there's going to be a lot of interest by the press to dig around in Alaska. And this "Troopergate" story is perhaps just the beginning. What's more, since she isn't well know, any little thing could get blown up pretty quickly.

*** The age factor: Did anyone notice that there were more mentions of McCain's age yesterday than we've seen in months? Sure, yesterday was his birthday, and the VP pick was always going to serve as a reminder that McCain was seeking to become the oldest first-term president in history. But McCain's age has been an under-the-radar negative for him for some time (just check out any recent poll on the topic). Palin -- being an absolute unknown -- is going to get put through the "is she ready to be commander in chief?" test a little bit more than your average VP pick, simply because of McCain's age. And the more focus there is on McCain's age, the more political danger the campaign faces.

*** The bottom line: Palin has made a good first impression. She appears to be very engaging and has a great story to tell. But her pick signals that the McCain camp wasn't happy where things stood with this race, despite their public posture and their standing in the polls. And they felt the need to throw the long ball. The good news for McCain: Palin will have low bars for every moment she's on center stage (her speech yesterday, her convention speech on Wednesday, and her debate with Biden). But wow -- is this a gamble! Then again, McCain loves to gamble, he's actually someone very fond of dice games, and there's no doubt he's rolling the dice with Palin. A word of warning to Dems, courtesy of Peter Hart: Don't get overly gleeful about all the downsides of this pick. If anything, realize McCain may be falling in a 20-year pattern of shocking picks that end up not backfiring, like Spiro Agnew in '68 or Quayle in '88. Palin may actually be the GOP's destiny. Go figure.

*** Obama's response ad: The Obama camp is up with a TV ad arguing that while Palin might be McCain's VP pick, McCain's real running mate is President Bush. The ad goes: "Well, he's made his choice. But, for the rest of us … there's still no change. McCain doesn't get it, calling this broken economy 'strong.' Wants to keep spending ten-billion-a-month in Iraq. And votes with George Bush 90% of the time. So, while this may be his running-mate … America knows this is John McCain's agenda. And we can't afford four more years of the same." 
 
*** On the trail: McCain and Palin head to a rally in Washington, PA. Meanwhile, in Ohio, Obama and Biden attend a memorial service for Stephanie Tubbs Jones in Cleveland and later do a rally in Dublin.
 
Countdown to GOP convention: 2 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 66 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 143 days
 
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The New York Times' analysis points out that McCain "spent the summer arguing that a 40-something candidate with four years in major office and no significant foreign policy experience was not ready to be president. And then on Friday he picked as his running mate a 40-something candidate with two years in major office and no significant foreign policy experience."

"'The question is,' [GOP lobbyist Ed] Rogers continued, 'what does it do to the argument that Obama's not ready?' The question is particularly acute for Mr. McCain, who turned 72 on Friday and would be the oldest person elected to a first term as president if he won in November. His campaign now needs to convince the public that it can imagine in the Oval Office a candidate who has spent just two years as governor of a state with a quarter of the population of Brooklyn."

The LA Times: "Though John McCain clearly concluded that Palin could attract female voters and grab his campaign some Barack Obama-style media buzz, he also is taking a risk that in elevating a largely unknown figure, he undermines the central theme of his candidacy that he puts 'country first,' above political calculations."

"For a candidate known to possess a quick temper and an unpredictable political streak, the decision raises questions about how McCain would lead -- whether his decisions would flow from careful deliberations or gut checks in which short-term considerations or feelings outweigh the long view."

The Boston Globe: "Palin is an unorthodox selection, but could help McCain reach out to women, especially disaffected Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton. But she could be vulnerable to Democratic criticism that she is not ready to be president, a particular concern when McCain turns 72 today and would be the oldest person elected to a first term as president."

The Washington Post's Dan Balz: "John McCain's advisers predicted weeks ago that the presumptive Republican nominee would use his national convention week to try to recapture his image as a maverick reformer and shake up the presidential race. He did just that Friday with his surprise choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate."

"McCain's selection of the nationally untested Palin is the most unlikely choice of a running mate since George H.W. Bush tapped then-Sen. Dan Quayle in 1988, a move as risky as it was bold. The decision brings the senator from Arizona immediate dividends with his base and eventually, perhaps, with swing voters. But it comes at potentially significant cost to his effort to discredit Democratic nominee Barack Obama as unprepared for the presidency."

"For all the enthusiasm Palin's selection generated among conservative constituencies, many GOP strategists were privately bewildered by McCain's decision. One Republican strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid view, said in an e-mail, 'I would rather be arguing with conservatives about abortion than with the Democrats about a lack of experience on our own ticket.'"

"'She really destroys the "not ready" mantra,' another strategist noted."

Per the New York Daily News: "'I want to believe this is a game-changer, but when I close my eyes I see New Orleans in 1988,' said a dumbstruck Republican operative, recalling the convention where Vice President George H.W. Bush tapped Dan Quayle. "Democrats will have a field day typecasting her as Quayle in a pantsuit.'"

Gail Collins writes sarcastically: "McCain does not believe in pandering to identity politics. He was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international Islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. And in the end he decided that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. He put down his foot! The obvious choice was Palin, the governor of Alaska, whose guard stands as our last best defense against possible attack by the resurgent Russian menace across the Bering Strait."

More seriously, she adds: "The idea that women are going to race off to vote for any candidate with the same internal plumbing is both offensive and historically wrong. When the sexes have parted company in modern elections, it's generally been because women are more likely to be Democrats, and more concerned about protecting the social safety net."

The Globe's Venocchi makes a similar point. "Choosing her is an obvious effort to attract disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. But it is so gimmicky that it stands to insult the very women it is aimed at attracting. McCain is treating women voters as if all they care about is gender. Views and experience don't matter." … "[G]iven his age, voters need a special comfort level with McCain's running mate. If McCain wins, the next vice president would be a heartbeat away from a man in his seventies. The VP doesn't matter in the voting, until it does."

The Washington Post reports, "Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is an ethics reformer under an ethics investigation that is plowing through private domestic matters. Palin is under investigation to determine whether she pressured and then fired the state police chief in July because he refused to dismiss her former brother-in-law. At the time, the governor's younger sister was involved in a bitter divorce and child custody dispute with the man, a state trooper. A bipartisan committee of the state legislature voted unanimously to hire a retired prosecutor to investigate. His report is due in October."

More: "Gov. Palin's husband, Todd Palin, met with Monegan [the fired state police chief] in January 2007, a month after his wife took office, to say that the trooper was unfit for the force. Monegan also said the governor sent him e-mails, but Monegan declined to disclose them, saying he planned to give them to the independent prosecutor. Palin initially denied that she or anyone in her administration had ever pressured Monegan to fire Wooten. She said she had raised the matter with Monegan just once, relaying the allegation that Wooten made a death threat against her father. But this summer, Palin acknowledged that a half-dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials

And: "Monegan, 57, a former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview Friday that during his 19 months on the job the governor repeatedly mentioned Wooten but 'never directly asked me to fire him.' Monegan said Todd Palin told him that Wooten 'shouldn't be a trooper.' 'I've tried to explain to him,' Monegan said, 'You can't head-hunt like this. What you need to do is back off, because if the trooper does make a mistake, and it is a terminable offense, it can look like political interference. I think he's emotionally committed in trying to see that his former brother-in-law is punished.'"

"Since long before she became Alaska's youngest -- and first female -- governor 20 months ago, Sarah Louise Heath Palin has been making her mark as an unlikely upstart," the Washington Post writes. "Yesterday, she did it again, accepting Sen. John McCain's surprise offer to be his running mate. Palin, a 44-year-old mother of five who hunts caribou and was once a beauty queen, rose to the statehouse by challenging the corruption that has become endemic in Alaska, even if it meant taking on the Republican establishment there, including the former governor and the state's congressional delegation."

The New York Times: "Though indisputably Alaskan, she rose to prominence by bucking the state's rigid Republican hierarchy, impressing voters more with gumption, warmth and charm than an established record in government."

USA Today focuses on her decision to have a child with Down Syndrome.

And here's an October 2006 Anchorage Daily News profile.

"38 million turn TVs to Democratic convention for Obama's acceptance speech." "Nielsen Media Research said more people watched Obama speak Thursday night than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final "American Idol," or the Academy Awards this year. Obama talked before a live audience of more than 84,000 people in Denver."

The New York Times covers Obama and Biden stumping in western Pennsylvania yesterday. "As the glow of their nominating convention was quickly overtaken by the announcement of the new Republican ticket, the two Democrats stayed purposely low key. They toured a biodiesel plant, stopped for ice cream and staged only one public event on their first day together as they returned to their task of trying to persuade voters beyond the Democratic activists in Denver to support their campaign."

"One day after Mr. Obama spoke before 80,000 at the stadium, and a television audience of at least 40 million, the ticket's arrival here was considerably different from recent postconvention trips. There was no Mississippi River boat tour that Al Gore conducted eight years ago, and the bus tour was far shorter than Senator John Kerry's bus tour four years ago."

From NBC's Chris Donovan
Before exiting Invesco Field Thursday night, Oprah Winfrey stopped and answered a few questions from reporters. 

She said the night was extraordinary and explained, "I have never experienced anything like that."

She said she had re-read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech in the morning and referencing King's line about making real "the promise of democracy," she said that tonight "that promise was fulfilled." 

Before leaving with an entourage that included Gayle King and Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker, she said she hoped Americans would "rise to the moment" and support Obama.