News Correspondent Richard Lui

85,000 politicians, delegates, everyday people, and journalists watched as Senator Barack Obama made history by becoming the first African American to hold a major party nomination. He took to the stage at Denver's Invesco Field to give the keynote speech of the night and convention.

With expectations high, Obama's spoke over the course of 45 minutes covering a lot of ground from countering John McCain's attacks head-on, to laying out new details of how he plans to change the country, to his upbringing and family.

Sen. Barack Obama accepted his party's nomination for the presidency Thursday night.

Did you have the chance to see it? If not, you can see part 1 and 2 by clicking here, we'll take you there. CNN Analysts for the most part gave Obama's speech a thumbs up. On our CNN.com Report Card, Obama got four As, and one C; that's a 3.6 grade point average the way we used to do it college. Those who gave him a high grade said things like he "demonstrated great strength and confidence" and "he was specific enough to give comfort to those seeking more meat." Some who weren’t so impressed with his speech said things like "once you remove the gloss, tonight's speech was the same tired Democratic rhetoric of the past 30 years."

But enough of the analysts, what do you think of Obama's speech, thumbs up or down? And for that matter what did you think of the whole week? We've been watching the ratings and viewers have been watching all the networks with numbers up as much as 88% the first night compared to 2004. And when you add up the numbers, almost one in ten people in the US were watching the DNC live as it happened. When it comes to TV, those are big numbers. This isn't even counting the online viewers.

To give you some background, here are some estimated stats of the DNC and RNC conventions:

DNC Estimates
. Total attendees: 50,000
. Convention budget: over $71 million
. Economic Impact on area: over $160 to $200 million (host committee estimate)
. Volunteers: 10,000 estimated (some 20,000 signed up to volunteer)
. Media: 15,000!

RNC Estimates
. Total attendees: 45,000
. Convention budget: over $73 million
. Economic Impact on area: over $150 to $160 million (host committee estimate)
. Volunteers: 10,000 estimated
. Media: 15,000!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the US political process at work so far.
If you did see parts of the DNC, did it change your mind; solidify some of your thoughts, or both? And what did you make of Obama’s speech?

And next week we’re following the Republican National Convention. What do you hope to get out of the RNC? And what do you think Senator John McCain needs to do to win?

Post your responses below, we'll definitely read them, and share them on Morning Express later today.

Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen

All right, the 5 am numbers are coming out and Gustav is still a tropical storm. It’s been lashing Jamaica for the last day and is still hugging their southwest coast this morning. That means tons of rain for the island, maybe as much as 25 inches, and the possibility of mudslides.

Bob Van Dillen forecasts that Tropical Storm Gustav will continue to gather strength.

So where does this thing go from here? The steering current for the last 36 hours has been a high-pressure center over Florida, but that will weaken and move East, allowing the Bermuda high to strengthen and build westward. That would steer Gustav on a northwesterly track, over the Cayman Islands today, reaching the Western tip of Cuba by Sunday. From there, it should keeps its track towards the northern Gulf Coast, making landfall there sometime on Tuesday morning.

The latest computer model tracks actually shift it to the east, so anywhere from the western panhandle of Florida to eastern Texas is in Gustav's range. A few models try to develop an upper level low-pressure area over the southeastern US on Sunday, and that would draw the storm a little east of New Orleans. Stay tuned on that, it’s still up in the air as to the exact track.

The storm's strength still looks to be scary. It runs over hot water and little shear, and may become a category four for a brief period of time in the Gulf of Mexico. The official National Hurricane Center’s forecast maxes the wind out at 125 mph sustained, a strong category 3.

Oh yeah, Tropical Storm Hannah is still out there in the Atlantic north of the Leeward Islands, but that is just too much for my egghead to process right now. It’s a week out from anybody, and may fizzle apart.

Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen

What's up everybody. Just wanted to give you a heads up on Tropical Storm Gustav at 5:38 this morning … Tropical storm Gustav is on the move, just not exactly the direction that was anticipated today.

Louisiana has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Tropical Storm Gustav.

The storm is moving towards the southwest right now, so instead of passing in between Jamaica and Cuba, it will go south of Jamaica today and then head into the Gulf on Sunday.

High pressure that is centered over Florida is pushing the storm southward now, but the high will move and weaken, allowing Gustav to head northwest again tomorrow.

The storm should turn into a hurricane by Saturday morning and rapidly strengthen into a major hurricane, a Category 3 with 115 MPH winds, by Monday. Hot sea-surface temps, no wind shear to blow it apart, and the fact that the track will not take Gustav over land leads me to believe this hurricane has the potential to be a monster. All the models take it to the northern gulf coast by Monday night/Tuesday morning. I’ll blog again tomorrow about the latest on Gustav.

News Correspondent Richard Lui

Many analysts say Senator Hillary Clinton has jumped and made it over a very tall high-bar after the second night of the Democratic National Convention. She had three major objectives to achieve in 25 minutes.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, with daughter Chelsea, receives a standing ovation from the Democratic delegates.

First, she had to thank delegates representing the 18 million votes she received during the long primary battle with Barack Obama. Committed Clinton delegates wanted to feel they were appreciated and not taken for granted moving in the nomination of Barack Obama.

Clinton also had to unify the party. There have been reports of a Clinton-Obama rift behind the scenes. Did Obama vet Clinton as a VP possibility? Did the Obama camp feel the Clintons were not giving their genuine support for Obama's nomination? Whether those were answered yes or no, poll numbers did seem to indicate unification was needed. An august 24 CNN/Opinion Research poll showed more than one in four Clinton supporters planned on voting for McCain.

Clinton's speech had a third objective, and that was to attack Senator McCain by comparing him to President Bush. Some analysts have said day one of the convention failed in that regard; that the speakers did not go for the GOP jugular strongly enough.

As insurmountable as these three objectives seemed to some analysts, they praised the results, giving Clinton an overall thumbs up. A group of CNN analysts gave Clinton high marks on their scorecard, the same grades they gave Michelle Obama on her speech the night before. They agreed her speech would end speculation that she had not fully embraced Obama as the Democratic candidate, noting that Clinton mentioned Obama by name a dozen times, twice as much as she mentioned the Democratic Party itself.

But mentioning him by name may not mean Clinton “felt it” according to one body language expert. Dan hill, author of "Face Time" which looks at the facial coding in the 2008 election, says her face didn't show emotion when she mentioned his name. He highlighted the "crocodile smile" she had each time she mentioned his name. The one point Clinton was passionate about, Hill says, was when she discussed women's right to vote. She brought up Seneca Hills and the women's march to the convention in 1848. Hill says that was the most intense part of the speech, when her eyes went wide and her eyebrows went low, showing anger and commitment. See full analysis of Clinton's body language during her speech.

One indication that Clinton's speech (emotional analysis and pundit grades included) was not enough to bring all camps together was this: as the lights went down on the convention after her speech some Democrats, namely those who would still prefer to have Clinton has their president, had heard enough and went home for good, not planning to stick around for when Obama accepts the nomination.

November is now some two months away. We'll have to wait until then to find out if that high-bar was indeed an easy clearing or just too tall for the Democrats this year.

From Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel

The LPGA is venturing into uncharted waters—making all of its players learn English if they want to play golf. Starting next year, players will go through an “oral evaluation” and unless they can carry on a "reasonable" conversation in English, they’ll be suspended.

LPGA players who don't speak English could find themselves in the rough.

Sound crazy? Maybe a little. Can you imagine the PGA doing this? Last year's U.S. Open winner Angel Cabrera wouldn’t have been hoisting the trophy.

The tour says the mandate is about improving communication with the players and helping them succeed on and off the course, especially in terms of earning endorsements for themselves and the tour.

The sad reality for the LPGA is that it's losing sponsors. Their most marketable star, Annika Sorenstan—who’s Swedish by the way and speaks perfect English—is retiring. They’re looking for replacements.

Many of the LPGA’s 121 players are from countries outside the US. 46 are from South Korea and some of them say they feel that they’re being unfairly targeted.

The tournament is not coming out and saying this, but it appears that this is about … money. If you can’t speak English, you’re not marketable in America.

But South Korean Seon Hwa Lee, the only Asian with multiple victories this year, agrees with the decision. She’s even hired an English tutor because she wants more sponsorship opportunities.

“The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors,” Lee said. “Everybody understands.”

But while it’s a good suggestion, can the tournament demand the players know how to speak English? And if they don’t, is suspending them a bit harsh? If that happens, how do you get your suspension lifted? If you don’t currently know English are you going to be able to learn it in two months?

Is this American arrogance or just good business?

Let us know what you think.

By Writer Keith

It’s the announcement people have been waiting for all summer. No, not who will be on the Vice Presidential ticket. It’s the new cast of the ABC hit “Dancing With The Stars!” I’ll be honest with you … I have not been on board with this show since day one. I don’t care to watch ballroom dancing and I really don’t care about watching marginal celebrities ballroom dancing. I have never watched a moment of the show, except for the clips of Marie Osmond going keister over teakettle that one time. But for reasons beyond me, it’s a smash. People love it. That is why I have some sad news for you fans out there. It pains me to say that will be the last season of “Dancing With The Stars.” Hey, it’s been a nice run.

So what inside information do I have that this is the final season? None. Did I go to a fortuneteller? Nope. But I do know TV. And I do know about proven theories and guaranteed certainties. The curtain will fall on the show because of the following two words:

Ted McGinley.

Yes, as soon as I heard that this veteran actor was on the cast I knew that time was running out. McGinley seems to have made a career of joining long-running shows just about when their time’s up. To paraphrase Apollo Creed, McGinley has retired more shows than social security. Tree leaves in New Hampshire have a better chance of hanging on in the fall than some of his shows. He is the patron saint of the website jumptheshark.com where people try and figure out why shows went wrong.

Now this isn’t his fault. He was usually a good-looking replacement after stars from a show have left. But rest assured, if you are working on a show he comes on you better have your agent on speed dial. Let’s take a look at his hit list.

Happy Days
McGinley played Roger Philips starting in 1980. He was Mrs. C’s nephew and the coach of the Jefferson High Basketball team. By the time he joined the show Richie and Malph were off fighting the “war,” Joanie loved Chachi, and Fonzie was on his way to growing a beard and teaching auto shop. Sir John Gielgud couldn’t have saved this show. By 1984, the doors at Arnold’s were closed and the show was canceled.

The Love Boat
Fresh off of the demise of Happy Days, McGinley came on board “The Love Boat” in 1984 as your cruise photographer “Ace”. This was also the same year that Cruise Director Julie McCoy jumped ship. This was also the time that they could only get people like Jimmy “J.J.” Walker and Menudo to get on board. The Love Boat finally sank in 1986.

Somehow during this time, McGinley found time to be in one of the best college comedies of the decade “Revenge of the Nerds.” This was all well and good until he made a return appearance in “Revenge of the Nerds 3 and 4.”

Married With Children
McGinley was on this show the longest, filling in as Marcy’s new husband for eight years. By the time this was cancelled in 1997, it had run its course. McGinley’s 164 shows were not enough to save this one from the chopping block. But it is fun to note that this was his longest run on a sitcom by more than 100 shows.

Welcome Back, Kotter
Imagine how tough it was to replace Vinnie Barbarino! Wait … that wasn’t McGinley? (checking IMDB) … Let’s move on!

There have been more, but I think you get the point. Much like the laws of gravity, this is pretty close to an exact science. Vegas wouldn’t lay odds on something like this.

Passionate viewers may try and vote McGinley off early just to give the show a chance. But ultimately, the viewers will be ok. They’ll find a new show. If I were a contestant, though, I’d be worried. I mean what do people like Kim Kardashian have to fall back on? Wait, don’t answer that. Just get those Tivo’s ready, this could be the last dance for a while.

Writer Mike

Today is Tuesday, and that means new CD releases. We’ve got a bunch too, including Blues Traveler, Little Feat, Slipknot and one of my favorites–The Verve. The Verve’s latest album “Forth” is essentially a comeback effort after an eight-year absence. There’s plenty of sneer and pop to go around on the album. Check out the single “Love Is Noise."

Another release today is from “The Lost Trailers.” I’m more into “classic country” but Robin loves these guys and says their hit “Holler Back” is all over the radio. In fact, she loves them so much, she plans to hang out with the band this weekend! Don’t worry though, you’ll be able to check it all out on an upcoming podcast.

As an aside, every time I go online to checkout the upcoming releases, it always reminds me of when I was a kid... when it wasn’t so easy to find out who was coming out with an album and when. I always had to ask the record store clerk and hope that he/she wasn’t in a grumpy mood. They’d loom over me as I’d scan the printout, and make mental notes. Did any of you music geeks do that too? Ah… it’s so much easier now.

News Correspondent Richard Lui

Michelle Obama stressed her love for her husband and her country in the keynote address.

Michelle Obama took to the stage on night one of the Democratic National Convention facing high expectations. Would she be able to assuage her critics who said she didn’t love her country? Would she be able to show that her family is just like any other family in the US? And the hot subject of the day—would she bring Hillary Clinton supporters into the fold to try and get Senator Obama to the White House?

By most accounts she scored well. CNN’s political analysts were largely positive about her speech, scoring her highly (she got all A’s and one B). CNN Contributor Donna Brazile said, “I think she connected Senator Obama’s biography to that of ordinary Americans who are looking for a president who really understands their daily struggles.” Critics, however, said that Michelle Obama did what a spouse of a presidential candidate would do, not necessarily anything special.

John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent underlined the importance of the speech: “Everybody in the hall knows how important this was, not to the people in the hall but the people watching at home who don’t know the Obamas.”

What voters at home saw was what one facial expression expert called an emotional speech from Michelle Obama. Dan Hill is the author of “Face Time,” a book on the 2008 election. He is also an expert on decoding physical expressions for signs of authenticity and meaning. He says Michelle Obama is actually a more emotional speaker than her husband Barack Obama, which worked well for her at the DNC. But he also says that when Michelle Obama mentioned Hillary Clinton, the way she raised the left part of her mouth indicated slight disgust, which gives some fuel to the argument there is still disunity in the Democratic party.

Sen. Edward Kennedy made a surprise speech before a roaring crowd at the convention.

Before Michelle Obama took the stage, Senator Ted Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, addressed a standing, adoring crowd of 20,000 at Pepsi Center. Originally it was to be a taped message, then early yesterday we heard he might stage a possible surprise visit. He showed up in person looking well in a tailored dark blue suit. He spent most of his time talking about the future—saying healthcare was a fundamental right, and that Obama would close the book of the old politics of race, gender, and sexual preference. Many said Kennedy’s speech was the first day’s marquee moment and will be seen as the special event of the convention.

However, CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin said there was a lost opportunity that night: “We have the most unpopular president in American history, and he’s barely been mentioned tonight.”

So what did you think of the convention's opening night? What grade would you give Michelle Obama? Does she get an A, B, C, D, or F? Why? What about Ted Kennedy, was he the high point of the opening night? Let us know, and we’ll be blogging along with you throughout the day.

From Richard Lui

It’s less than three weeks to voters go the polls, and there are still signs healing is needed in the Democratic Party. In a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll out last night, 27 percent of registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee, now back John McCain.

That is an 11 percent jump from late June!

Another jump for McCain: he is now in a dead heat with Obama among registered voters with 47% each. Obama lead by 7% in last month’s CNN/Opinion Research Poll.

Democrats are striving for party unity, though many Clinton-backers aren't yet sold on Obama.

51% Obama
44% McCain

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland says Clinton supporters who are now backing McCain in this poll are “enough to account for most although not all of the support McCain has gained in that time.”

So the objectives for the coming four days in Denver are fairly clear. The Democrats will be moving for party unity. They have taken steps already in the lead up by reinstating full voting rights for Michigan and Florida. In another move towards coming together, we’re hearing that Clinton will release her delegates before the roll call Wednesday night. Then there is Bill Clinton. He will speak Wednesday at the convention. Senator Clinton will speak Tuesday. Their speeches will give her fans a chance to hear their reasons for supporting Obama.

But there are concerns as to Senator Clinton not being vetted as a vice presidential candidate and how the 18 million voters who voted for her will perceive that. Critics also point to the manner in which Clinton was notified of Biden being the vice presidential nominee: the Clinton camp was first notified by intermediaries, followed later by a call from Obama to Clinton.

Senator John McCain and his strategists are not ignoring the cleavage amongst Democratic voters. They released an ad called "Passed Over.” It uses clips of Clinton's own words criticizing Obama during the primary race. The ad says those critical words is why she wasn’t chosen. The ad was released at 3am, perhaps to remind voters of the 3am phone call ad campaign Clinton levied against Obama. Clinton's staff has released a statement saying the McCain campaign must not to be listening to what she's saying now.

So can Clinton backers throwing their support behind McCain cause Obama to lose? There’s still over two months until the election, so perhaps this is part of the healing process many analysts mention. But it has been almost three months since she ended her campaign—and the polling shows some Clinton supporters moving away from Obama. Why do you think this is happening? When might it turnaround if at all? Can the convention make any difference really? Let us know below and we’ll be sharing your blog comments on air today.

From Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel

If you watched the Olympics this weekend—like me—you were probably disappointed when you sat down with a pizza, grabbed the remote … only to see table tennis or marathon running.

Sure marathon running is hard, but good TV, it is not. Unless you stayed up until 2:30 a.m. to watch the Redeem Team or managed to catch the men’s volleyball final, the games that started out great, ended with a resounding “thud”.

Rafer Weigel thinks the scoring sytem in Olympic boxing is in dire need of some updating.

Just like the games don’t feature nude men or deny women anymore, it’s time for the Olympics to make some more changes: cut some events, cut a few days, and get in a few more modern sports. That way at least there will be something worth watching every day and catastrophes like my Saturday night can be avoided in 2012.

Keep sports like baseball and softball—which are both sports and watchable—and get rid of “events” that aren’t, such as:

Table Tennis. Anything resembling a parlor game shouldn’t be in the Olympics. They may as well have darts or Pop-A-Shot. If they do keep it, bring in “kick-the-can” and “hide-and-seek” too. That would be good TV.

Dressage. This is horse dancing. The rider isn’t even the athlete. Baseball and softball don’t have a broad enough appeal but this does? It was introduced as a way for leaders of countries to show off their steeds. Send it the way of the Archduke Ferdinand into history.

Speed walking. Many of my co-workers didn’t even realize this was in the Olympics. It’s good TV for about five seconds because it’s funny. Then it just gets creepy. It deserves a “Saturday Night Live” parody.

Shooting. It would be different if the U.S. dominated like we should. Maybe make it more spectator-friendly by having the shooters walk down a street like an action hero and make the targets jump out at them.

Rhythmic gymnastics. This was on TV Sunday—the last day. Call it what it is: dancing around with a ball, a ribbon or a hula-hoop. Just go all out and bring in Cirque de Soleil.

Trampoline. More parlor games. This gets in but golf doesn’t?

Boxing. The sport that introduced such greats as Cassius Clay has become irrelevant. The scoring system is undecipherable. Bob and I watched as one boxer wailed on another and didn’t even get a single point. If we don’t understand the scoring system we aren’t going to watch. While you’re at it, change the gymnastics scoring system too. Too subjective.

If you think these changes would be drastic, consider many “sports” have come and gone from the games. Here are some of the more memorable casualties.

Tug of War. Yes, tug of war was actually an Olympic event. Afterwards the two teams had potato salad and punch.

Solo synchronized swimming. Isn’t that an oxymoron? How do you become unsynchronized with yourself? Interesting that they tried this before men’s synchronized swimming. That WAS a Saturday Night live parody.

Live pigeon shooting. Over 300 pigeons killed in France in 1900. PETA formed 80 years later.

Pistol dueling. Participants shot at dummies dressed in fancy frocks with a bull’s eye on their chests. People for the Ethical Treatment of Dummies got it cancelled.

Club swinging. Does this really need any commentary?

Long jump for horses. Removed because the horses couldn’t stand on the podiums.

They recently added beach volleyball and BMX—two very good, TV friendly, events. I’d like to also see golf added. What do you think should be taken out? What do you think should be added? Feel free to chime in with ideas of your own.