Our first day on the job provided challenges in droves to Bloggers Corner. For one, the IT connections had not all been established, and it took several hours before all of us were able to reliably get on line and post to our sites. Our strategic placement meant that we could get some good interviews, but that our access to the convention floor was quite limited. In fact, we have to traverse four flights, one down and three up, to get into the main hall, and then we can't get onto the floor itself. Add in the generally lost feeling of not knowing your surroundings and the overwhelming blitz of traffic coming around our area, add a dash of the tightest security I've ever seen, and you get the idea that we could be forgiven a bit of disorientation.

On the whole, after reviewing our work as a group yesterday, I'd have to say that we did pretty well. We stayed mostly focused on the political stories coming out of the convention, and more importantly, we worked together as a unit. One can certainly make the argument that we compete with each other in the marketplace (although I disagree with that somewhat), but we formed a loose bond amongst ourselves pretty quickly. I think you'll see our product improve as the week wears on.

My lasting impression of the convention itself has to do with the message the Republicans sent last night -- they're not backing away from 9/11 or the war on terror. Speaker after speaker addressed both and made it clear that the GOP will not apologize for liberating 50 million people in Southwest Asia. Nor will they back away from securing America from attack, even when it doesn't suit the cash flow of countries that make millions and billions by undermining international sanctions against dictators and genocidal madmen.

One clear distinction has already been made between the two conventions. Both conventions talked about war. One party could only talk about one that was concluded thirty years ago, while the other talked openly about the war being waged against the United States by foreign terrorists right now, a distinction that I hope was not lost on those Americans who tuned it to see John McCain and Rudy Giuliani speak. It shows the lack of Democratic focus on the issues facing the country now. They'd rather celebrate the war most of them fought to end disgracefully a generation ago.

One last thought was something I noticed during Giuliani's speech last night. He spent more time on John Kerry's Senate record than Kerry himself did in Boston. That should provide another clue to the American electorate about the choices we face in November.

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