DNC day two: Bring on Hillary

The convention floor is much more of a sweaty scrum tonight. Every time you stop to gape at Wolf Blitzer or shoot a photograph of some stray senator, there’s seemingly three people demanding that you keep moving. It makes the prospect of actually paying attention to the speech at hand a little difficult. So I retreated to section 244 — not quite noseblood seats, but well above the fray — to watch Virginia Gov. Mark Warner’s speech. Unfortunately it was kind of a snooze. At one point he noted how intimidating it was to deliver the keynote four years after Obama launched his national profile from the same speaking slot. He was right to worry.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who followed him to the podium, was much more biting about the Bush years — and far more entertaining. After a shoutout to the recently departed Stephanie Tubbs Jones, he cut into McCain with some nice lines. “John McCain is sleeping better than ever,” he noted. “John McCain has no problem hitting the snooze button on the economy because he’s never been a part of the middle class. I say to him: John McCain, time for your wake-up call.”

Then he took aim at the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. “George W. Bush came into office on third base and then he stole second,” Strickland quipped. “And John McCain cheered him every step of the way.”