The Denver doings Wednesday night were surprisingly impressive. I was expecting a pretty slow night, if not a yawner, hoping for maybe a good Biden speech. Instead I was glued to the tube throughout, watching one powerful presentation after another, with few slow spots. Some of the shorter presentations were exceptional -- Tammy Duckworth and Admiral John D. Hutson especially. Hutson, a self-described lifelong Republican until he recently joined the Democratic Party, was not an exciting speaker stylisticly. But his content was laser-sharp -- his five word riff "Arrogance Abroad, Incompetence at Home" is about as good a short meme as we're going to get for the Bush-McCain continuum.

Bill Clinton was polished, eloquent and delivered the requisite endorsement of Obama with panache. The Biden package -- video bio, son's intro, and speech -- was very well-done and his speech was heartfelt and fierce. It's hard to imagine Romney holding up well in comparison. The lesser-known Pawlenty may be a little harder for Biden to target. Obama's surprise visit, joining Biden onstage after his speech, was a huge hit with the delegates and a nice capper for the evening.

C-SPAN proved a good way to go. You don't have to listen to any lame commentary telling you what you see and you get to experience the spectacle unfiltered. Also the colors seem more vivid than the PBS broadcast.

Kudos to the program organizers for producing a tight, mediagenic convention program for Wednesday night. All in all, an excellent set-up for the big day.