Wes Clark was great on paper as candidate. Smooth on television. Great military career. Energetic, honest, good looking.

But Clark never really amounted to all that much as a politician (and I’m not writing that as criticism).

Tonight, Clark left Wes the candidate behind and showed up as Wes the soldier. It is there, as himself, where he is at his best. This soldier’s story left viewers with a strong message. It is one we’ll see later in the evening. It’s about words v deeds. It’s about not letting any Party corner the market on patriotism or defense. Candidate Clark never really got going. Solider Clark? Once again, the story ends with the words: Mission accomplished.

“War. I’ve been there. Heard the thump of enemy mortars. Seen the tracers fly. Bled on the battlefield. Recovered in hospitals. Received and obeyed orders. Sent men and women into battle. Awarded medals, comforted families, attended funerals. And this soldier has news for you: Anyone who tells you that one political party has a monopoly on the best defense of our nation is committing a fraud on the American people. Franklin Roosevelt said it best: “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

“This hall and this party are filled with veterans who have served under this flag – our flag. We rose and stood reveille to this flag. We saluted this flag. We fought for this flag. And we’ve seen brave men and women buried under this flag. This flag is ours! And nobody will take it away from us.”

I know sometimes (and this trend will only accelerate tonight) it seems like the balloon volunteers get all the credit.

But being here, I can tell you that one of the most amazing, stressful and difficult jobs is done by the folks who distribute the placards (and they look like just regular Americans). In between speeches, they emerge from nowhere wearing traffic director’s bibs and carrying hefty bags filled with the latest signs for the latest speech. They work their way through aisles where there is no room to move. They always look like they can’t get it done and then boom, there’s the Obama sign with the Obama speech and so on and so on.

It seems like such a ridiculous detail. But can you imagine a political speech without a placard? I am as much about the balloons and confetti as the next guy. But tonight, Placard People, I salute you.

There is usually a moment during a rock concert, shortly after it begins, when the lead singer calls out to the lighter-holding, semi-sober, huddled masses:

“Hey. How you folks doing out there tonight? It’s great to be back in the name of your city here.”

And the place always goes nuts.

That sums up the environment here tonight. It is hours before Kerry will walk on the stage and I can already tell you that any question of having the show stolen by great speakers like Clinton and Edwards earlier in the week has already been answered.

The place is packed. It’s hot. We’re crammed in, sweaty shoulder to shoulder. It’s like being bumped around in an issues-oriented mosh pit. And the buzz is remarkable. At least inside the arena, even a phone book reading by Kerry will completely dwarf the rest of the week’s events.

The video montages are getting ovations.

I swear, if Kerry comes out here and asks: “How you folks doing out there tonight?”—the place will go berserk.

It doesn’t read like it’s the easiest speech in the world to deliver, but the first test of John Kerry and his speech writing team has already been passed by a wide margin. The speech has the messages and the bang to do the job. More importantly, it is written to perfectly reflect the personality of the speaker. And that after all is the goal of this entire week.

Here are a few outtakes to peruse before the speech is delivered:

“So tonight, in the city where America’s freedom began, only a few blocks from where the sons and daughters of liberty gave birth to our nation—here tonight, on behalf of a new birth of freedom—on behalf of the middle class who deserve a champion, and those struggling to join it who deserve a fair shot—- for the brave men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day and the families who pray for their return – for all those who believe our best days are ahead of us – for all of you—with great faith in the American people, I accept your nomination for President of the United States.”

...

“In these dangerous days there is a right way and a wrong way to be strong. Strength is more than tough words. After decades of experience in national security, I know the reach of our power and I know the power of our ideals.

“We need to make America once again a beacon in the world. We need to be looked up to and not just feared.

“We need to lead a global effort against nuclear proliferation – to keep the most dangerous weapons in the world out of the most dangerous hands in the world.

“We need a strong military and we need to lead strong alliances. And then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and we will win. The future doesn’t belong to fear; it belongs to freedom.

...

“My fellow citizens, elections are about choices. And choices are about values. In the end, it’s not just policies and programs that matter; the president who sits at that desk must be guided by principle.

“For four years, we’ve heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words. They’re what we live by. They’re about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families.

“We value jobs that pay you more not less than you earned before. We value jobs where, when you put in a week’s work, you can actually pay your bills, provide for your children, and lift up the quality of your life. We value an America where the middle class is not being squeezed, but doing better.”

Last night at the convention, I witnessed firsthand the ups and downs of being a blogger at this convention. At around 8pm, I appeared on Headline News. You can see the piece here (Windows Media format I am ashamed to say). I met several CNN bigs in the green room, I didn’t fiddle with my earpiece, it all went off pretty well. My mom even called to tell me that although she didn’t think Chris Heinz looked all that good the night before, I looked very handsome. Take that, Beantown.

I was riding high. But just moments later, out the of the corner of my eye I saw a small group gathering around someone. When I got closer, I realized that it was Omarosa. It only took a quick once over of her arena credentials (which at the Fleet serve as public resumes and status billboards) for me to realize that Omarosa had way better access than me. Welcome back down to the rung of humanity a notch or two below disliked reality television participants.

Later in the evening, the blogger clan finally found a party we could get into. It was a shindig hosted in part by some of the guys from Google. There were a couple of celebrities, a member of congress and although our blogging group is about 80% male, the party was at least 50% female. People wanted to be where we were. Incidentally, as one who survived the dot com boom/bust cycle, I should inform my fellow bloggers that just about the time women who didn’t work for an internet start-up began showing up for our parties, we went over the cliff. Nevertheless, for the moment, we were all munching on free, Greek appetizers, gulping down complimentary brews and basically living large.

A few hours later, the last of the group found ourselves riding in the back of a cab as we naively tried to find a late night anything in Boston. By the time our search was over, we ended up standing in a line at the 7-11 in Harvard Square. And thus it was hammered home that we had slid back down to the bottom of the DNC party totem pole. And our fifteen minutes of complimentary drinks? Over.

When I got back to my hotel, bleary-eyed, one moment from the night kept popping into my head. After taking some photos on the floor of the arena, I was waiting for one of the giant elevators back up to the seating areas. So was Ted Kennedy. Security officials were informing the Senator that the fire marshalls had temporarily cut off access to one of the floors because of overcrowding. Therefore, Kennedy and his entourage would not all be able to get to their luxury box.

Kennedy grew visibly and rightfully irritated. He asked why he should be penalized because too many people were on the floor? He explained again and again that he was promised a box with all of its seats empty and waiting. At one point, I’m pretty sure he asked the elevator security guy: “Do you know that my committee appropriated the funds for this convention?”

Thinking about that exchange made me a feel a little better. If Ted Kennedy has access issues at a Democratic event in Boston, then it really can happen to anyone. And by the way, when I glanced down to check out Kennedy’s access credentials, I couldn’t help but notice that Omarosa’s were better than his too.

I can still vividly remember staying up until three in the morning watching C-Span and hearing my wife call out to tell me it’s time to go to bed. But I couldn’t tear myself from the television. I was watching the raw video of John Edwards working the Iowa crowds and delivering what had become, overnight, one the best stump speeches ever delivered. And tonght offered a stringing together of those Iowa outtakes along with the extra benefit of having the dad from the mill and the mom from the post office right here in the Fleet.

And when Edwards sticks to that script, talking about two Americas and race and inequality in America (yes, those classic liberal themes), he is remarkable (although he was nowhere near his best tonight). He tells an audience that we can’t allow people of different socioeconomic backgrounds to fall behind just because it’s “wrong.” That’s my kind of politics and my kind of values. Let’s legislate fairness, not try to legislate love and science.

Race and the economic divide are also topics of discussion that have largely disappeared from our national dialogue. And not because the problems are gone. It’s just the attention.

Edwards owned the crowd and the night and delivered just what this pundit ordered. A healthy infusion of the two Americas speech that rings so clearly true to the ears of any who open their eyes to see.

I was a bit surprised that they put Edwards at a podium. He is so much better with a lapel mic that frees him to work the stage. It’s one of the odd parts of these made for TV spectacles. The visuals almost never change. It’s like watching a filmstrip with sound.

But tonight, that sound was good. And it was just what I think this Party and swing voters across the country need to hear.