editorials and opinion

Remember the Democratic National Convention? The Clintons and the Obamas, Invesco Field, the fireworks?

No, I thought not. It's so last month. So B.S.P. -- Before Sarah Palin. Before Hurricane Gustav and his pals. Before the GOP rediscovered how satisfying it is to bash the news media, liberals and East Coast elites.

And that's a problem for the Democrats.

Republican presidential and vice-presidential nominees Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska have largely succeeded in generating enthusiasm among Republican faithful at the St. Paul, Minn., convention. To win this fall, they must promote a vision that will be persuasive with the electorate as a whole.

Americans suspect grand motives behind foreign policy. We sense our innate exceptionalism as the world's oldest and most successful multinational economic and political union, but we're reluctant about spreading that example, believing it smacks of imperialism.

Who would have ever thought, when we were dozing off in the middle of John McCain's presidential campaign, that he'd reel in Sarah Barracuda and change the game overnight?

"Barracuda," of course, was what they called Gov, Sarah Palin when she was a star point guard on her high school basketball team.

Gideon J. Tucker's famous warning that "No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session" takes on new meaning now that the California Legislature has, in effect, extended its 2008 session because of the budget stalemate.

So now we know.

Now we know what kind of budget the Republicans in the California Legislature have in mind.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- So, it's up to us, folks.

The balloons are popped, the fireworks are spent, grand acceptance speeches have been made. The elaborate Hollywood-type sets have been struck, the flags and strange hats are packed away, the country music CDs silenced. The conventions are over.

John McCain caught a lot of voters by surprise with his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin, who is less than two years into her term as governor of the 49th state, is younger than Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Word from The Wall Street Journal that some law schools have been gaming the grotesque rankings racket of U.S. News & World Report magazine by channeling lower-scoring applicants into part-time programs that don't count in the ratings isn't surprising ("Law School Rankings Reviewed to Deter 'Gaming,' " Aug. 26).

Believe it or not, some people are criticizing the press for its handling of the Sarah Palin story, and we have had grousing about that, some counterpunches being thrown, with no concession of petty pursuits or double standards.