Television is the name of the game,

These conventions are staged for television, but it's not very good television, and most people are watching more interesting programs. I think a lot of people are going to form their impressions on how the party did by front-page headlines, by the pictures on the front page, by some of the analysis. By what's in the paper.

It's a brave new world.

The great advantage of tackling a novel is that you don't have to bother with such annoying procedures as checking your facts.

Bush used a version of the same technique: 'I heard somebody say, well, maybe so-and-so is not patriotic because they disagree with my position. I totally reject that thought.' Somebody? So-and-so? Who could he be referring to?

Newspapers are trying to use their own Web sites to provide 24-hour coverage, even though the old dinosaur, ink-on-paper version only comes out once a day.