Well, I have high hopes that the two factions can REALLY come together at the end of the convention but who's kidding who here? We all know that there are bitter feelings on both sides beneath the suddenly silky surface and Dowd is right -- Hillary has done everything she can to turn this into HER convention in a variety of ways.

I was an Obama supporter from the very beginning but my neighborhood (West Hollywood, Ca.) was solidly behind Hillary and they still are. The vitriol spewed at Obama is extraordinary, considering they both have very similar viewpoints. Of course, Obama DARED to rain on St. Hillary's parade and I don't think the Hillary camp will ever truly get over it...unless she decides to run in 2012 and I am sure she will.

After reading the HRC memos in Atlantic, I had to laugh. Every evil thought I had about her was proven to be correct. Truly, she played her women over 60 demographic like a Stradivarius and it's really quite sad how utterly cynical and incompetent her campaign really was.

I am a Democrat and proud of it. I have held my nose in the past and voted for the nominee (Kerry:UGH!) and I would have gladly done the same for Hillary. Unfortunately, I do not believe that about the HRC supporters, no matter WHAT they say.

I think the convention will be a big phony love-fest...but we will see how the cookie crumbles when the general election rolls around.

As for Maureen Dowd, she is a very funny, bright and talented writer who pegged Clinton for what she was, is and always will be -- a poll-driven opportunist who has always put personal ambition above party solidarity. Unless, of course, you really believe she wants her name to be placed in nomination for Chelsea.

After reading the pro-Hillary letters, I have to say that the level of utter denial about her ability to win the White House is downright laughable.

Hillary Clinton is unelectable in a general election. Period. Obama may have his demographic faults, but up against the Rovian machinations of the McCain team, The Three Faces of Hillary would be toast. With 30 years of scandals, gaffes and lies (not to mention Bill's resume of ruin), no-one energizes the Republican base and independents more than the spectre of HRC entering the White House as President.

The fact that she won the big "blue collar" states in the primary is irrelevant. It's a whole different ballgame in a general election.

The Democrats made the correct choice. Obama is not going to win by a landslide or even by a comfortable margin. It's going to be razor-close...but in the final analysis he will pick up the electoral votes needed and become the next POTUS.

As for Hillary...good riddance. Her self-absorbed, poll-driven political cynicism is a remnant of the past. Time to turn the page on the jaded politics of personal destruction of which HRC was -- and is -- the master.

Well, I hate to burst the secular bubble but we have ALWAYS been a "Christian nation." Who's kidding who? For anyone to pretend otherwise is in deep denial. How many agnostics/atheists even get elected dogcatcher in this country? Please, it's a mute point.

I absolutely agree with the idea that Obama is a "thinker." That may be his undoing with some impatient voters who want a quick sound byte before they switch back to the Olympics, but for the rest of us, it's a breath of fresh air.

As for McCain, his "My friends" mantra is as annoying as John Edwards' "My Daddy was a mill-worker" spiel. McCain, to me, looked as if he was preaching to the choir. He made no new fans with his canned ham -- and he turned off the swing voters I was with via his Supreme Court discussion.

There is no comparison in the two candidates. Obama is intellectually superior to McCain in every way. His abortion comment was especially well rendered and I thought, overall, he won the night.

Well, Rick Warren said months ago that Obama's pro-choice stance would preclude him for voting for Barack. This is how issue-specific the evangelicals are.

I thought it was far more interesting to hear McCain say he believes life begins at the moment of conception. How does he then justify his support of stem-cell research? Once again, McCain talks the talk but can't justify the walk. The man is an idiot and everyone knows it. As for his Cross-in-the-sand tale...anyone read any Russian writers lately? lol

As this appearance shakes out, it will turn out to be a plus for Obama. He walked into the lion's den and emerged relatively unscathed. He is now 3 points up in the latest Gallup poll.

His VP pick will be announced by Wednesday. Anyone want to make a bet it's Al Gore?

Well, I hope the uplifting rosy scenario turns out to be just what the Democrats ordered...but somehow I don't think so.

I have been talking to quite a few members of the St. Hillary Cult and they are still mad, bitter and have a sense of grossly misguided entitlement about this whole election -- kind of like the Clintons themselves. It's a seething snakepit of acrimony and a big vat of very sour grapes. It is sickening, really, to see grown adults pouting and stamping their collective feet because Mommy didn't win. Ugh.

I hope Obama wins and never speaks to the Clintons again. They have harmed him FAR more than any Republican has and in the process have done a grave disservice to the Democratic party in general. Hillary's speech in Florida the other day was simply robotic. If this is what she considers enthusiastically endorsing Obama, God help us all.