Observations of Monday night’s session: Didn’t blog real-time, but here are some thoughts triggered by the notes I took. Tuesday sometime, I hope to post a Quicktime piece called “things from the convention hall I doubt you saw on TV.”

1. I think the networks did a good thing by limiting coverage to an hour of prime time as there’s little there there. Unless, that is, you’re a C-SPAN junkie like me. Then, being at an event like this is more entertaining than the Rolling Stones in 1972. Sad when I think about it.

2. Reminds me of the way I felt about attending the Super Bowl (don’t ask which one or what team lost by the length of an outstretched arm holding a football). Unlike a regular season football game where I feel (even with the timeouts for commercials) that the TV viewers are watching what I’m seeing for real. At the Super Bowl, I felt like “the real thing” was what the TV viewers were watching…that I was just getting to observe what was being staged for the folks at home. Attending a political convention in 2004 is like being in a studio audience. The real thing is what’s being seen on TV.

3. And then, just when I think all I’m witnessing is a made-for-TV event, Rudy Giuliani provides a glimpse back into history…what it must have been like when politicians could make rousing speeches without teleprompters. (Sure, he had one, but did he need it?) I have absolutely no idea how the speech was perceived on TV and am writing this before reading any blogging remarks about it. From my vantage point, sitting a couple hundred feet in front of him, I felt like I was experiencing something great: someone with rhetorical skills rarely found today, at his peak, preaching from his heart. He had the crowd mesmerized.

4. Never has something so difficult to get into had so many empty seats.

5. The convention jockies, CJs, are perhaps the dumbest idea ever conceived…dumber still, having them all females. However, it is so dumb, the CJs could develop a cult following complete with fan clubs and tribute websites. Hey, it could happen.

6. John McCain is to Republicans what Bill Bradley is to Democrats. Bigger than life. Genuine greatness. But totally lacking the whole speech-making thing.

7. Lots more notes but gotta sleep.

Can you see me? I called my son from the convention when I notice I’m in the line of view of a cable network TV camera. I’m about to be one of those idiots you see behind the anchorman — talking on a cell phone and waving to someone. Except, I’m trying to be cool and not actually look towards the camera. “Hey, can you see me on TV?” I ask the 13-year-old who answers. His response: “I thought your were in New York. How can you be at the Titans-Cowboys game?”

Question of the day: Perhaps it was the way I was dressed, but having been in business-type settings through lunch, I came back to the hotel, put on some jeans and a black tee-shirt and went out for some coffee. “Are you a protestor?” the young woman at the counter asked me. “Sort of,” I answered. I’m heading out now for a pre-session function and then the big wingding. Later.

NYPD Blue video post: Due to some funky firewall configurations at the rexblog rnc headquarters, I was not able to post this last night. Our crack tech team (thanks, Blair) has provided me with a work-around. Strolling around “the biggest protest ever at a political convention” yesterday it seemed a lot like a St. Patrick’s Day parade with funnier costumes. Sidewalk protest tee-shirt vendors slashing prices about sums it up. At least from my vantage points, all was peaceful and entertaining.

But one thing was obvioius: the level of police presence is hard to comprehend by merely seeing it on TV. So, I’m presenting the first-ever rexblogumentary. I’ve titled it “Express Yourself” (Quicktime, 4.0 M, mirroring encouraged). In it, I provide a glimpse of how New York’s finest appeared prepared to keep things peaceful yesterday. I take back everything I said earlier regarding those NYT writers attempts to explain how New York City is different than other places. I am now convinced. New York is way different. Back in Kansas (and Tennessee), there aren’t this many police in the entire state. I guess with all those red state people here, the Secret Service and local officials felt the need to show some blue.