Democratic Convention

Montgomery County Rep. Chris Van Hollen is the latest Democrat from Maryland to land a speaking role in Charlotte next week, Democratic National Convention organizers announced Friday. The addition of Van Hollen's name to the lineup is not a surprise. As the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, he is well suited to counter Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, the chairman of that committee. In fact, Van Hollen has been doing so for weeks, including during a trip to the Republican convention in Tampa this past week.

Going by the conventional rules of American politics, the Democratic Convention this week was an unmitigated disaster. And, going by the same rules, GOP convention was a disaster, too. So, either the rules of American politics have fundamentally changed, or at least one of the parties is taking an enormous gamble. Since the Nixon years, the GOP has enjoyed a marked advantage over the Democrats at the presidential level. Cultural issues -- race, religion, abortion, patriotism -- have worked to the Republicans' advantage.

The Obama re-election team must be in panic mode. The president is stuck in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in some polls and behind him in others, so in desperation it has reached out to the Big Dog, Bill Clinton, for help. Mr. Clinton will speak next month at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in a Wednesday night position often reserved for the vice presidential nominee. Presidents Obama and Clinton have not had the most cordial relationship, but when you're drowning, your feelings about the lifeguard matter less than his ability to keep you afloat.

For someone as partisan as Gov. Martin O'Malley, it seems strange that his party's most partisan affair - the Democratic National Convention - has, historically speaking, not been especially friendly territory for him. At the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston, then-Mayor O'Malley delivered a full-throated endorsement of presidential nominee John Kerry. The speech is now remembered for its exaggerated rhetoric - "America the beautiful, whose alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears; oh, my friends, to govern is to choose" - and delivery.

Disappointed? Yes.Discouraged? No way.Ross Perot's withdrawal from the presidential campaign yesterday left some of his Maryland volunteers more determined than ever to have Mr. Perot on the November ballot."

Speakers include: Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. On television: MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, C-SPAN, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.; no live coverage on ABC, CBS or NBC.

TONIGHT AT the Democratic convention, they'll wheel out Christopher Reeve for all the world to see. Everyone except Christopher Reeve (and a few other disabled people in the crowd, strategically placed in view of the TV cameras) will stand.Many will weep. And then they'll smile, wiping away tears, as Reeve speaks.It will be an emotional moment, as we once again see Superman in a wheelchair, we hear Superman's determination to some day climb out of that wheelchair and we root for Superman to fly, or at least to walk.

NEW YORK -- He didn't lack for money. He didn't lack for audacity. But in the end, Ross Perot lacked one thing you need if you want to become president:Courage.Perot does not possess, in other words, what both Bill Clinton and George Bush possess.Bill Clinton is not called The Comeback Kid for nothing. After a series of bruising revelations and damaging headlines during the New Hampshire primary this February, Clinton hung tough and stayed in.The press was surprised. They expected him to do what Joe Biden had done when he was accused of plagiarism and what Gary Hart had done when he was accused of womanizing four years ago: cut and run.But Clinton decided he would let the people and not the press judge him. And if the people wanted to bury him, they could simply withhold their votes.

NEW YORK -- One problem with a suspenseless political convention is that there are still several hundred reporters trying to justify their expense accounts and thus tempted to make big ones out of little ones. A result at this Democratic convention is likely to be a dustup over the abortion issue that is supposed to be largely a problem for Republicans this year.Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey has been complaining bitterly about the party's unqualified commitment to abortion rights, which he just as unqualifiedly opposes.

NEW YORK -- In the upper reaches of Madison Square Garden where the most raucous Rangers and Knicks fans convene in more ordinary times, the Democratic National Convention has become a background for music television, comedy and even the views of diminutive sexologist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.During the afternoon, as technicians work in the distant background preparing for the night's speeches, Dr. Ruth tapes segments for the tantalizingly titled show on Nostalgia Network, "It's Never Too Late."

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley offered pointed criticism of Republicans in an address to the Democratic convention on Tuesday, arguing that President Barack Obama is best suited to right the U.S. economy while GOP nominee Mitt Romney's policies would only move the nation backward. The Democrat said Obama's policies have helped the middle class despite recession and stubbornly high unemployment - to a crowd that chanted with him, "forward, not back. " Though he never mentioned President George W. Bush by name, the address was clearly an attempt to tie Romney and vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to the former GOP administration that ended a second term with low approval ratings.

When Gov. Martin O'Malley takes the stage at the Democratic convention to give the most important speech of his political career, he'll have to deliver on one deceptively simple goal: He'll need to make people want to hear more. As an increasingly polished speaker and in-demand message man for his party, O'Malley will have an opportunity in Charlotte to solidify his standing as a possible presidential candidate in 2016. He'll also get the chance to redeem himself from the last time he stood on a convention stage eight years ago and flubbed it with a speech criticized as pretentious.

Montgomery County Rep. Chris Van Hollen is the latest Democrat from Maryland to land a speaking role in Charlotte next week, Democratic National Convention organizers announced Friday. The addition of Van Hollen's name to the lineup is not a surprise. As the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, he is well suited to counter Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, the chairman of that committee. In fact, Van Hollen has been doing so for weeks, including during a trip to the Republican convention in Tampa this past week.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulskiwill have a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention, aides said Wednesday. The Maryland Democrat, who this year became the longest-serving woman in congressional history, will lead a program highlighting the record 12 women running this year for Senate. “In this historic election, with more Democratic women running for Senate at one time than ever before, we have a tremendous opportunity to elect women and hold the Senate for Democrats,” Mikulski said in a statement.

In 1995, Barack Obama released "Dreams From My Father," a compelling memoir full of stories about his life that -- though often not exactly true -- persuaded many people that this young man had a great political future ahead of him. Nearly a decade later, Mr. Obama introduced himself to the country with a stirring speech at the 2004 Democratic convention in which he conceded, "I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story...

The Obama re-election team must be in panic mode. The president is stuck in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in some polls and behind him in others, so in desperation it has reached out to the Big Dog, Bill Clinton, for help. Mr. Clinton will speak next month at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in a Wednesday night position often reserved for the vice presidential nominee. Presidents Obama and Clinton have not had the most cordial relationship, but when you're drowning, your feelings about the lifeguard matter less than his ability to keep you afloat.

Being a losing presidential candidate is like what Mr. Dooley said about vice presidents: "It isn't a crime exactly. You can't be sint to jail f'r it, but it's kind iv a disgrace. It's like writin' anonymous letters. " So it has been, unfairly, for former Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, the Democratic presidential nominee of 1972 who went down to landslide defeat at the hands of, of all people, Richard Nixon in the very year of the infamous Watergate break-in. Mr. McGovern has just celebrated his 90th birthday, having gone on from that humiliating setback to a later-life career as U.S. ambassador to the UN Food and Agricultural Agencies and then as UN global ambassador on world hunger.