Hurricane Gustav is dominating the news. Bob Dylan is headlining Jazz Aspen tomorrow night. And I'm not going to pass up a chance to highlight the plight of the wrongfully convicted. So here's Bob Dylan singing "Hurricane" about Ruben "Hurricane" Carter.

Gov. Palin is yesterday's news. Big Tent Democrat may decide to write more about it, and you can continue the disussion on his threads. I've had enough. Time to change the conversation to other things. This is an open thread for other topics.

The Democratic National Convention in Denver was a success. How so? Some numbers:

• The Denver Host Committee, which lagged behind its fundraising goal until the end, ended up raising $10 million more than its $40.6 million goal.

• At the Republican convention in New York in 2004, there were 1,800 arrests. Total arrests in Denver: 154.

• The Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau secured 190,000 hotel rooms. 170,000 were put reserved by the DNC.

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"I hope no one will ask me again whether Denver has enough hotel rooms," said Richard Scharf, the bureau's chief executive officer.

• Road closures: "Only a third of the number of roads and highways that were closed for the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

• Denver got 113 new trees and 120 planter pots.

On the security plan, while some people I've talked to think there was too much security, I didn't have any problems with it and thought it was far less obtrusive than that in Boston. The Secret Service said today the security plan in Denver was a huge success and will be the model for future events.

"The Secret Service said yesterday that we have set the standard for how a convention, in terms of security, should be run," Katherine Archuleta, a senior policy adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper and his point-person on DNC planning, said Friday.

That's not to say it was not without incident. According to Denver police Lt. Ron Saunier:

"We had a couple instances out there where unnecessary force was alleged," Saunier said. "We immediately took action and looked at (those allegations) to determine if a case needed to be opened in our Internal Affairs."

As to dollars, all expenses were covered by fundraising, but what about income? Those numbers aren't in yet. But, as Mayor John Hickenlooper said today,

Hickenlooper said he saw benefits that can't be quantified in dollars and cents. "A huge part of the benefit is not just how the world looks at us but how we look at ourselves," Hickenlooper said.

He recalled one of his 2003 campaign themes: "Federico Peña imagined a great city, Wellington Webb built a great city, now it's time to be a great city."

Denver is a great city. I'm so glad the world got a chance to see it.

For me, being at Invesco Field last night was as much about Denver and the 84,000 people who attended as it was about the candidates and the election. As Sen. Obama repeatedly said, "This election isn't about me, it's about you."

Denver didn't just shine last night, it soared.

Congratulations to Denver, the DNC Host Committee, the DNC and all who worked so hard to make the convention such a resounding success.

Gustav is now a Hurricane. Is anyone reading in harm's way?

Do you think it will have an effect on the Republican convention?

"The selection of Governor Palin is an insult to women. She has obviously been chosen to appeal to female voters, but she lacks both the experience and policy positions to serve as Vice-President of the United States."

"The announcement of Governor Palin's selection on John McCain's 72nd Birthday highlights the fact t hat the Vice-President must be qualified to step into the Presidency from Day One. Sarah Palin is a 2-year governor with zero foreign policy experience whose former position was mayor of a town of 9,000."

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"To assume that women will simply support Governor Palin because of her gender is insulting. In fact, the Governor is out of step with mainstream America on women's economic and social issues. For example, Governor Palin embraces John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade and protecting a women's right to make her own health care decisions."

"Governor Palin has also enthusiastically supported the Bush-McCain doctrine of standing up for Big Oil and failed economic policies that has led to a struggling economy."

"American women need quality health care for themselves, economic security for their families, an energy plan that will give us energy independence, and a plan to bring our troops home from Iraq responsibly. "Barack Obama will give us the change we need, while John McCain and Sarah Palin will give us more of the same."

A thought experiment.

Among the people whose names were bandied about as potential VP picks included Charlie Crist, elected the Governor of Florida in 2006, after 4 years as Florida's Attorney General, Tim Kaine, elected the Governor of Virginia in 2006, after 4 years as Lieutenant Governor, and Bobby Jindal, elected Governor of Louisiana after serving 3 years in Congress.

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You can argue that that these three men have somewhat more experience than Sarah Palin, but not much more and in the case of Crist and Kaine, none at the national level. But nothing that say 'well, that proves they have the experience necessary.' So here's the question, if McCain had picked Crist or Jindal, or if Obama had picked Kaine, would we be hearing as much about their lack of experience as we are hearing about Sarah Palin? I think the honest answer is no, though with Kaine you may have. Why? Because the VP slot is not viewed with needing experience when the top of the ticket is perceived as having the necessary experience. John McCain is viewed as having the necessary experience.

So why so much scrutiny of Palin's experience? Not that there would be some scrutiny, but the level of scrutiny we have seen. Why?

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The right wing spin machine is agog over Gov. Sarah Palin's crusading role in ethics reform.

The Washington Post reports on a conversation its reporter had today with the fired Alaska Safety Commissioner I referenced earlier:

The July firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan by Gov. Sarah Palin, who was announced as John McCain's running mate on Friday, has unearthed a stream of soap-opera-like details about Palin, her husband, her family and top state appointees. The controversy has also cut against Palin's reputation for holding an ethical line and standing up to colleagues in the Republican Party over matters of principle.

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Monegan, 57, a respected former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview with The Washington Post's James V. Grimaldi on Friday that the governor repeatedly brought up the topic of her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, after Monegan became the state's commissioner of public safety in December 2006. Palin's husband, Todd, met with Monegan and presented a dossier of information about Wooten, who was going through a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly. Monegan also said Sarah Palin sent him e-mails on the subject, but Monegan declined to disclose them, saying he planned to give them to a legislative investigator looking into the matter.

Palin initially denied that she or anyone in her administration had ever pressured Monegan to fire the trooper, but this summer acknowledged more than a half a dozen contacts over the matter, including one phone call from a Palin administration official to a state police lieutenant. The call was recorded and was released by Palin's office this month.

The investigation into whether Palin's actions were improper is ongoing by the state legislature:

The allegation against Palin, "undercuts one of the points they are making that she is an ethical reformer," said Democratic state Sen. Hollis French, who is managing a $100,000 investigation into the firing of Walter Monegan.

The more I'm learning about Gov. Sarah Palin, and now having heard the McCain's weak justification for it, the more I'm convinced McCain just conceded the election.

McCain's political director just told Campbell Brown on CNN that Palin is qualified to be commander in chief because she was the commander of the Alaska National Guard and has a son who will be going to Iraq.

Gov. Palin is completely unqualified to stand in for a President should that need arise.

Nothing shows McCain's poor judgment as much as this choice. He picked a VP candidate he had met one time before their meeting this weekend. So much for his claim that he prides himself on having strong personal relationships with the people he surrounds himself with.

Campbell says stay tuned, we'll have more on this candidate who is "poised to become a Republican superstar." Hardly, I think she will crash and burn faster than any national candidate in recent memory.

Her complete lack of national experience matters a great deal. I can just see the next 3 am telephone call ad. America won't be laughing. If she had any good sense, she would have turned McCain's offer down and refused to be used as a pawn to grab evangelical and suburban women voters.

There are many reasons why the presidential choice in November matters. Here's one:

As of Friday, Aug. 29, 2008, at least 4,151 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

You're on your own. Play nice and please think before you post.

This is an Open Thread.

We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin’s historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”

Personally, I think that is about all I would say about Sarah Palin myself. But if you must, attack her crazy right wing positions, not her experience, or lack thereof.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only