Things to Do in Denver When You're Dems: Hate

A former John McCain strategist described the odd mood in Denver perfectly, Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times: “Submerged hate.” That would explain the uneasy proceedings, which have been marked more by Clintonian drama than anything else. At a recent new conference, Dowd observes, “Hillary looked as if she were straining at the bit to announce her 2012 exploratory committee.”

Bill, meanwhile, has quarreled with Obama over his speech tonight; that Obama caved to what might be Bubba’s “paean to himself and his economic record” only adds to Democrats’ jittery fretting over disunity and second-guessing. They’ve even internalized McCain’s “celebrity” slams, and fear tomorrow’s Invesco Field concert/speech will exacerbate the rap. “It’s something about our party,” said one, “the shtetl mentality.” (More Democratic National Convention stories.)