Winners and Losers from Monday

WINNERS:

John Hickenlooper - Already a state wide favorite as Mayor of Denver, he was a smooth talker who avoided the Democratic buzzwords, and spoke with a real message and honor for his city to host the historic event. He is young, and possibly setting himself up for a future run at a federal position.

Reg Weaver - He leads the nations largest teacher's union, and made it clear what was most important to him... education. He spoke with passion and relayed to the troops that Obama cares about education. I don't know O's stance on things with education, but Weaver set the tone for the rest of the night and was the first big bang of the convention.

President Jimmy Carter - Rather than promoting himself, or Obama, he promoted the need to treat other humans the way you want to be treated. It's simple, but he was able to deliver it in a video presentation that was inspiring, and called all, regardless or their stance on political issues, to reach out to the "least of these" and care for the needy and the poor. A class act from a classy guy.

Ted Kennedy - What else is there to say. Not even brain cancer can stop this guy. His devotion to be present yesterday embodied his persistence over the years for the causes he believed in. Regardless of whether you agree with him on those beliefs, it must be said that he is admirable, and by speaking yesterday, bumped Michele Obama off the headliner list and rose as the shining point of the night.

Michele Obama - Even though Kennedy almost stole all of her thunder, Michele still found a way to make some noise with a moving speech empowering people of all backgrounds, and showing that her story and her husband's story were "the american dream." Sure there were plenty of people weeping from her speech and those who seemed to be unusually toucher by her words, but she did a terrific job of doing what she was supposed to do. And that was promote her husband. She's a natural public speaker, and comes off very genuine and transparent. Nice way to end it.

LOSERS:

Nancy Pelosi - I didn't know that brainwashing tactics were still a part of politics, but Nancy proved me wrong last night with her "John McCain is wrong" speech that wrung in the ears of all who were there. Her strong words were only backed up with mediocre points, and it was evident that she is not the most comfortable public speaker the Dems have. Funny coming from a person who's official title has speaker in the name. And she doesn't look right holding that gavel either.

Jesse Jackson Jr. - He was assigned to discuss the story of Barack Obama and how his story is the American story, but if you didn't know that, you might of thought he was supposed to talk about his own story, and his father's story. He is an empowering personality, and terrific public speaker, but I couldn't help but feel he wasn't willing to step aside on this one, and that he wanted people to think about him, more than Barack. His references to past segregation and racism were moving and showed how far we've come as a nation, but then he went further and discussed his own family's strife during those times, rather than continuing on about Obama. He's a good speaker, I just don't think he was all out for Obama as he should have been.

Claire McCaskill - Whenever you are introduced by your children, it's a dangerous risk to take because those who introduce you have the ability to set the tone for your speech. In this case, not in a good way. Her son Ryan spoke for several minutes before she was introduced, and in doing so, I believe, he killed the mood and only received applause when mention his grandmother or mother. I'm very critical when I see young people like myself speaking at such big events, so I'm probably being a little bit of a jerk. But anyway, Claire also delivered a lackluster presentation focusing on her state of Missouri. Her ideas were good, but I think they could have been delivered with more poignancy. Maybe now I'm just looking for problems, haha.